Non-BMW Stuff on a BMW Forum

[gilber33]

Head sitting back on! 

[KaiserRolls]

Progress!

[gilber33]

Another question:

I put in the new torx head bolts, torqued them down, and then just realized the old head bolts had washers. I didn't use them, I see most people say they should be used. I want to put them in, but are my head bolts garbage now?

I know they're torqued down but the engine hasn't, obviously, been ran or anything, are the new head bolts garbage if I remove them to install the washers?

[straight6pwr]

they are TTY, so, once you've tightened and removed  'em, they are garbage.

and yes, you definitely need the washers. the final torque you applied to the bolts is affected if washers were not used. aka, you might not have sufficient torque and you risk head gasket problems.

[B C]

I would personally run the washers to help distribute the compressive load on the cast aluminum and prevent a place where a crack may begin to form.

[gilber33]

I will order new bolts then. That's annoying.

[gilber33]

Engine getting back together (even though I have to replace the head bolts). And got all my parts back from being powder coated! 

[gilber33]

Ran into some issues with trying to put in the new steering rack. I got the Garagistic spacer kit (which was a PITA to put in) but once that was in I could not line up the new rack at either the front or rear bolt holes. The rack doesn't match the front bolt holes anyways, so I guess that doesn't matter. 

But here are a couple pics. This is as far as I can get the bolt through the subframe on the DS. I do not have enough room to tilt the rack all the way to get the bolt through the bottom hole. Additionally, just to get it started the steering column pieces are separated where the spacers are which is shown in the images. 

I think the only way to make it fit is by having the steering rack splines further into the column, but then the pinch bolt wouldn't fit into the slot on the rack. 

The rack apparently came from a 1999 E36 M3. Any help is appreciated.

[gilber33]

This old thread says only pre 98 racks, but other sites just say e36 and don't say that 99s wouldn't work.  Does the 99 rack just not work? 

[gilber33]

New head bolts in and started putting on some of the fresh bits and pieces. Starting to look more like a complete engine. 

[Jdesign]

You might need to tilt the rack inside the sub frame to get it to line up. I had to bend the tabs on mine which caused the rack to tilt. Once you tighten it down it shouldn't matter. 

The motor looks great, its a shame you have to take it back apart.

[SteelBlue]

gilber33 said:

This old thread says only pre 98 racks, but other sites just say e36 and don't say that 99s wouldn't work.  Does the 99 rack just not work? 

Any update on the rack situation? Will be doing the same thing shortly.

[gilber33]

The rack is in.

Jdesign said:

The motor looks great, its a shame you have to take it back apart.

I plan on dropping it in whole. So I can keep on working on it little by little. 

SteelBlue said:

Any update on the rack situation? Will be doing the same thing shortly.

It's all in. My issue with it was none of the write ups mentioned that the steering column does not have the slot for the pinch bolt, so you can use it to get the knuckle to the right length. 

Since I did this without the engine in the car I didn't remove the entire knuckle from the column, otherwise I would have known that.

[gilber33]

Anyone know how to remove this shift knob?

[jc43089]

gilber33 said:

Anyone know how to remove this shift knob?

With fire!  Stock ones pull off, some aftermarket might have a set screw?

[gilber33]

jc43089 said:

With fire!  Stock ones pull off, some aftermarket might have a set screw?

Someone else suggested that. I'm going to try that next. I'm doing a short shifter anyways, so if I don't find a set screw, then sawzall it is. 

I tried pulling it off and that thing is not budging.

[jc43089]

You don't have to get the shift knob off to remove the shift lever, it comes out the top.  The white cup around the base needs to rotate and then will pull up, assuming you already removed the selector rod underneath.

[gilber33]

Yeah, I suppose I could have done that too. I just used a hammer and beat the selector out of the knob. I'm not keeping either, so I didn't really care. 

Also decided to switch focus to the drivetrain so I can get the engine back in the car. New clutch, rebuilding selector rod stuff and shaft seals for the transmission.

[Earl]

If you don't have a new shifter I have a Ruff Short Shift lever a available if you're interested

[gilber33]

Earl said:

If you don't have a new shifter I have a Ruff Short Shift lever a available if you're interested

I haven't ordered any of that stuff yet. I was going to get the Z3 shifter/ZHP knob kit from ECS.