330Ci ZHP

[— kung fu jesus —]

Pretty sure that is a baffle. The PCV system connects near that at the front.

Might also be for VANOS (BMWs VTEC).

[— kung fu jesus —]

Continuing, I went about carefully prying out the old VC bolt grommets. The bolts are special shoulder bolts through rubber grommets and a washer. Bolt>washer >grommet >VC>head.

Like the VCG, the grommets were plasticized and hard.



Old on the left, new on the right.






Doused the VC in brake clean.





Then I used a zip tie to scrape out the VCG channel. This is often overlooked, and that can lead to premature VCG failure or leaks.



Used a folding table as another work surface.


I also cleaned the washers individually with an old sanding pad. There are 15 bolts, washer and grommets.



I then cleaned the mating surface on the head where the VCG lands. Wiped it down with a microfiber cloth, then scraped it with a razor, then brushed it with a brass wire brush. Then a quick clean with another microfiber and brake clean.





Cleaned the heat shield above the exhaust manifold.



Made sure the far rear of the engine was clean too.



Old VCG vs new(right).



Laid in the new VCG.



I applied a super light coat of shin etsu grease to all the grommets and VCG. Basically, put some on my palms, rubbed them together to heat up the grease, ran my hands along all the new rubber parts. Want to see if the extends the life.



Used ultra black RTV in the corners.




M

While waiting for the RTV to set, I changed the spark plugs.



Definitely originals. Not bad for 106k.





Laid on the VC and started torquing it down.



These are the VC bolts with the washer and grommets installed.



Unpackaged the coils. Old on top, again definitely original. The new coils below. These are the same coils the turbo cars use. They sustain those cars to 450-500 hp, they will be fine for my purposes. Much better engineered and built…and less expensive.







They slip right in. These use a cam lock connector to the harness which is really slick and easy to use. I wish more cars used this style of fastener.







I will wrap this up tomorrow!

[chiefmg]

Kind of surprised you didn't have some leaks given the condition of those rubber parts. Your plugs look similar to those used in RX-8s with those multiple ground electrodes.

[— kung fu jesus —]

It was *just* beginning to leak and I was starting to smell it.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Wrapped up the car today. I had a lot going on this weekend, hence the 3-day journey.

I had damaged the ignition harness pretty bad removing it on Friday because I’m an idiot. Fortunately, I’m in metro Atlanta, found the exact same harness on another car being parted out 20 miles away (in Cumming, GA…insert joke). Big city livin’ FTW.

The car was about 80% together when I finished last night. I just spent extra time cleaning the engine bay while I had room.



At this point, it was beauty covers, install cowl, take it for a shake down.



The car does feel a bit smoother, more responsive. On the freeway, dropping down to 3rd or 4th, she eats and rolls out with a bit more punch in midrange under load. Pretty pleased with this.

[HarryB]

So nice to see someone taking maintenance work seriously and tackling all these "boring" bits with proper care, hats off again to you sir! Really like the coil connectors too, but hate their wiring. I mean, guess it could be damaged by breathing on it or something.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Thanks!

If you like tinkering with exact engineering, regular maintenance on most German cars is just that. The assemblies and design are pretty different than Japanese or American cars.

BMWs are highly modular. Think Hondas to the 10th power. I’m told Mercedes and Audi/VW are similar to varying degrees.

I have been thinking about a future purchase (cars), like usual, and am starting to compile a short list of cars I would like own in the future. I am excited about owning an electric car, but would like to have a V8 car for dual use (daily driver and track) before we move away from ICE.

I was thinking what I would do without a shitbox to keep running or modifying, but how enjoyable a car with modern amenities and the power to match might be.

So far, I have 2 solid candidates and am casually looking for others. The criteria is:

* 400 HP minimum
* naturally aspirated
* 8-10 speed semi auto with responsive paddle shifting
*RWD
* able to withstand track use without extensive modication or catastrophic failure.
* $30K>

Neither of the candidates so far are a Corvette. I have to read more and search for more options. This is a slow burn search, but fun nevertheless.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Neither of the candidates so far are a Corvette. I have to read more and search for more options. This is a slow burn search, but fun nevertheless.

87C6FC7B-C638-44BF-8085-6709DD94806A.jpeg

[— kung fu jesus —]

* able to withstand track use without extensive modication or catastrophic failure.

^ there.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

7CE312B4-B48E-49D9-9033-C28A0B0F01E9.jpeg

[— kung fu jesus —]

Sorry, Bubba. Corvettes need some fairly extensive mods for track use and I wouldn’t really want to DD one. Great w/e car though.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Yeah, all those needed structural reinforcements before track use...oh wait, that was BMW.

[— kung fu jesus —]

Oiling primarily, but I understand what you are saying.

[HarryB]

The criteria is:

* 400 HP minimum
* naturally aspirated
* 8-10 speed semi auto with responsive paddle shifting
*RWD
* able to withstand track use without extensive modication or catastrophic failure.
* $30K>

I would add wagon to the criteria you have mentioned (although weight penalty might be a significant drawback for track use). I would be looking at CTS-Vs or ATS-Vs...

[— kung fu jesus —]

Weight isn't so much a penalty with that level of power and I look forward to that added power and weight to my perf driving repertoire.

I will add those to the research pile!

As of now, the two I am researching are the '18+ Mustang and the Lexus IS-F.