IT'S DONE!!! Sorta...

[SnakeyesTx]

It will be 8 weeks exactly tomorrow.

So here's the summation of what the hell happened :

* Took car in for what was suspected to be a headgasket going bad (156k miles.. it was probably about time) Come to find out the headgasket was fine, but there was a crack in cylinder 4 between the exhaust port and a coolant passage, which was pressurizing my cooling system and blew a hose. The swollen radiator tank should have been an indicator as well.

* Original estimate of $2,300 USD to rebuild/resurface the head, new gasket set, labor and all the juices. Head was disassembled in 2 days and sent to machine shop. Machine shop was backed up so 8 days later the head comes back with a huge green circle around it with the word crack (as if it weren't obvious to the eye). Still had to pay them for disassembly, tanking and mangaflux.

* The idea was to acquire a new or used/rebuilt head and continue with previous repair idea. Idea was quickly thrown out when it was verified that the deck of the block was warped pretty bad near previously mentioned crack in head. Now we're looking at a total rebuild since decking the block would require disassembly of the entire rotating assembly (crank/rods/pistons) and there's no way in hell I wouldn't replace the bearings/rings/pistons while I was in there. Bill elevates to over $5,000 now.

* An alternative was reached when my shop found me a wrecked 95 "525" at a salvager she knows of. The car was rear ended and it had only 79k miles on it. Total price for the entire engine was $1,600 (thank you to those who offered me your available engines when I was in search of one). Obvious choice was made. Including labor, the bill comes out to $3,400 with my "practically family labor rate." (its about 1/2 standard book rate)

* I figure it won't get done any faster if I keep dropping by the shop and pestering them, so I tell her (the owner of the shop - her son in law is the mechanic) to call me if she needs anything or has any questions I could get answered here So I wait about 1 week before dropping in. My old motor is laying on the floor half apart, and my new one... is not there. The next day its there after she chews the source out. Another 2 weeks go by. At this point its determined that the oil pan is completely different. My suspicions are starting to tell me that this isn't a 525 M50. They send the motor back, along with mine by that shops request to swap over the non-matching parts. It takes them over a week to do it and return it. Now my shop is backed up with smaller jobs that need to get done. My car sits more or less for about 3 weeks. Last week I drop in wondering what's going on. "Exhaust doesn't match at all." Come to find out the exhaust manifolds are different. GREAT! Now I call the source of my engine and say "Look jackasses, don't fawkin' lie to me, it came out of a 325 didn't it?" They check their records and say "Yeah, I don't see how we coulda mixed that one up!" I hung up a split second after saying "Well, its not that you mixed #$^& up, you never had a 525 there to begin with." So they send the exhaust manifolds back, and now everything is in the car bolted up. (This includes a new radiator and shroud and fan clutch)

* I get the call about an hour ago. "Our nightmare is over.. yeah... it runs... pretty well too. No, you can't pick it up yet. Jack says the front end shakes something aweful, did you know about this?" All she hears is laughter on her end. Yes, I know. It was like that before I bought the car. She asks why haven't I fixed it yet? I tell her... because that's what you get to do tomorrow morning while I'm in class!

Gave her the part number for the 750i bushings that I found on bmwe34.net and told her I'd see her tomorrow!

-Saga Over?-

Let's hope so. If this one pops... I swear... I'll just give in and get 2 jobs and buy a 335 Bi-turbo crate motor and ECU. How's that for modernity!

[Randell]

that makes every problem i've had with my car (many) seem insignificant... what a mission... perhaps it's time to find a new mechanic, they sound a few cans short of a six pack!

[Fetch]

omg

[genphreak]

The reputation these cars have at shops is best summed up;

Bee Em Trouble-euws

[Dave M]

Glad its over. No doubt you're happy to see it again. When I swapped out my well worn cylinder block with a much newer M50, the cheapest source had one from a wrecked e36 (much more common). So I figured, what the heck, i'll throw my oil pan on and away I go. Well, since the engine mounting points are different, I had to tap out the ones for the e34 as they had been encrusted with rust and wouldn't hold a bolt, nevermind and engine. So I re-aquainted myself with a tap and die set and rigged up some new, larger mounting holes.

Oh yeah, almost forgot (this might rival your pain), when I re-assembled EVERYTHING, I discovered that the crankshaft in the rebuilt block they sent me was bent. So i got to do it all over again

Out of interest, why didn't they just swap over your oil pan and manifolds? Could have saved you some time.

Dave M

[SnakeyesTx]

They did, sorta. The place the motor came from insisted on swapping them and will continue to honor their warranty since they did it. The process of them picking it up, putting on their queue of things to do, then actually doing it and shipping it back took a lot longer than anyone had anticipated.

[Ross]

Bugger My Wallet

[SnakeyesTx]

Absolutely

Total bill came out to $3825.20. I'd post pictures of after, but the only obvious new stuff you'd notice would be the radiator and fan shroud