New PVC plate more power?

[632 Regal]

Bunch of thoughts being thrown out here before I forget, pretty much like a log of what I did.

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Grabbed a cheap Bapmic PVC from E bay for 14 bux and change because It looked like a puddle of oil in the back of the intake. Got my new #30 torx bit in the mail and decided to try and see if I could do the plate without pulling the intake. Very carefully I managed to crack all the torx bolts loose and replaced the plate and gasket. Easy deal actually. The intake did have a lot of oil in it, not mere vapors. This plate at one time has been replaced by a genuine BMW plate in the past from the replacement hex allen bolt replacing a lost torx bolt. No clue how long ago but the vacuum tube back into the crankspace was not oily at all. Everything seems strange at this point. Took the old one apart and no rips or tears, seems intact after disassembly.

So moving on I wanted to check the plugs and boots... WoW. Talk about swimming in oil. Soaked as much as I could with shop towels and pulled the coil bolts. Front #1 coil totally loose. Stripped threads in the magnesium camshaft covers. Need to get a heli coil kit before I do the valve cover gaskets for sure. All the rest of the coil studs seem to be holding. Plastic valve cover bolt threads are gone. Turned the front coil studs in about 3 threads and it seems to hold for now. That is good.

What causes the magnesium covers to desintigrate? Seriously the paint is like there has been paint remover applied and under that a layer of...? All I know is it is eating itself from the outside in, very strange. Plugs look very good actually, boots a little swollen from oil.

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Okay. Went for a drive as it warmed up. Stopped at a store for a couple minutes and when I arrived I noticed the idle at 700-750 RPM. Never been that high when warm. 5 minutes later got back in the car (still idling) was at 550ish... never been under 600 since I owned this car. Not sure about the slight miss which could have been the loose coil or not. It's not a serious hard miss though. Seems smoother which I will confirm later.

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Hit the throttle to get into lane and something seemed different which I assumed was my imagination. Neither me or my son mentioned a thing. On the way back on a flat part of road I hit it and it dropped into 1st, and 2nd, to me I felt a much bigger pull, so said nothing. Climbing back into the mountain it did seem to have more power. Flat road spot! Bam hit it again and it is (to me) seriously starting to pull much harder than ever.
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How can replacing a PVC plate and one loose coil do this. Remember this car was always a slug and when I first got it. When checked the #1 coil it was tight. Could the vacuume difference to the fuel pressure rail make that much of a difference? Still might be my imagination.

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Want to reset the cams but seriously no one sells used ones? Read on this and some cam tools are square and then I read that someone measured the ones he bought and there was about a 2mm difference in the top and bottom angles, said it was a parellogram vs square. That sounds like the set I want vs garbage if I am going to try this.

Will check acceleration again tomorrow merging as I drive my kid to work. Why he can't will come later.

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Anyone have any idea on what I just experienced today?

[genphreak]

The VCGs are vital, yes. They do cause (even though remote to the PVC plate, they are connected via the sump and the plastic oil separator in the front of the M60) loss of vacuum should make a big difference to the fuel pressure. I don't know about the coil but if loose it is not grounding properly and the outcomes will likely seem random.

If the boots are now clean inside and out and the plugs can connect to ground with the vibration they are likely to be impacted by, just relax and be happy with where you are. Did you change the VCGs?

M60 covers do vary, I had a set which sound like yours, and another set that have seen more work but are not suffering this 'alumelt' syndrome!

[632 Regal]

Did not get gaskets yet. There is still oil puddled up on all plugs except the one I happened to check. The plugs have the BROD even though they look good otherwise. The plan is to get gaskets, steal 6 new boots from the E46 and buy 2 more for the V8. The boots clean up but didn't want to dump all that oil into the engine until I can reseal the gaskets and clean the covers. Was looking into new ones, think I'll invest in a heli coil set instead.

[genphreak]

Did not get gaskets yet. There is still oil puddled up on all plugs except the one I happened to check. The plugs have the BROD even though they look good otherwise. The plan is to get gaskets, steal 6 new boots from the E46 and buy 2 more for the V8. The boots clean up but didn't want to dump all that oil into the engine until I can reseal the gaskets and clean the covers. Was looking into new ones, think I'll invest in a heli coil set instead.

Are you positive the oil is bubbling form the cylinders? How many plug threads are stripped? Usually the oil just dribbles down from the VCG once the butyl rubber gives up.

I say as this happened to me once on an M50 when I didn't tighten the plugs enough.

[632 Regal]

Are you positive the oil is bubbling form the cylinders? How many plug threads are stripped? Usually the oil just dribbles down from the VCG once the butyl rubber gives up.

I say as this happened to me once on an M50 when I didn't tighten the plugs enough.

Noooo... lol. None of the plugs are stripped to my knowledge, definetely coming from the VC gaskets. Some of the threads for coilpacks and the plastic cover are stripped. Just ordered the gaskets, need to grab a couple boots and wait for participating weather. Going to wire wheel the BROD off the plugs as the one plug I saw looked good other wise. Dielectric grease will come in handy on assembly.