the red beast is back and better than ever!

[Randell]

2 weeks without my bimmer, ohh the agony.. the TS astra i was driving was lifeless, i think i can blame front wheel drive, a 4 cylinder that sounds like an electric toothbrush and electric steering for that

but now... the bimmer is back and better than ever before!

it needed 9 welds to the head, pretty serious corrosion.. i checked the head out before it went back on and the welding was excellent, couldn't be spotted unless you held a lamp over it. the old HG was a wreck, there was a neat little path from the coolant channel to the oil channel which eventually decided to burrow its way into the cylinder itself, hence the hydrolock. the head was skimmed and from the looks of it that's the last time that can be done, though hopefully this will give me a few years of solid driving.

the block looked fine, the timing chain and sprockets were like new, and the camshaft lobes were to my amazement basically perfect.. there was almost no wear at all !

so it was just the head weld ($750 alone, ouch), head gasket, all new hoses and belts and new plugs.. it was enough to clean me out for the month and max out my credit card again, but oh god, it's GOOD ! it's like a brand new engine, the power and smoothness is sublime, the only issue left is a slight rumble at idle, but we're putting that down to engine mounts which i will (attempt to) install myself in the near future

fuel consumption has gone from over 17L/100km to about 12.5 in city driving, which is amazing. in 35000km i will have paid for this repair in fuel savings alone