Seems like the weekend for headgaskets! Mine is done.

[JoeS]

All in all this was just a remove and replace event. But I found it to be rather a bitch. The not fun part was cleaning the cooling system. I had a mess of oil in my cooling system and mud in the resevior. After getting everything a back together, I filled the cooling system up with water and 1/2 cup of Cascade ( dish washer soap disolved). I ran the car for about 10 minutes and cool, and then drained. I could not even believe the **** that came out there. I filled the cooling system up 3 times with water for a complete flushing ( i pulled the block plug everytime - what a mess).

While I had everything disassembled, I took the opportunity to put in an adjustable cam gear to see if i could get some more fun out of my Schrick cam. I set it 2 degrees advance. So far after only an afternoon of driving, I can definitely tell that the sweet spot were the cam comes on has moved down in the rpm range. I think i like it.

[BMW-F1-FAN]

did it smoke for a while after replacement?

All in all this was just a remove and replace event. But I found it to be rather a bitch. The not fun part was cleaning the cooling system. I had a mess of oil in my cooling system and mud in the resevior. After getting everything a back together, I filled the cooling system up with water and 1/2 cup of Cascade ( dish washer soap disolved). I ran the car for about 10 minutes and cool, and then drained. I could not even believe the **** that came out there. I filled the cooling system up 3 times with water for a complete flushing ( i pulled the block plug everytime - what a mess).

While I had everything disassembled, I took the opportunity to put in an adjustable cam gear to see if i could get some more fun out of my Schrick cam. I set it 2 degrees advance. So far after only an afternoon of driving, I can definitely tell that the sweet spot were the cam comes on has moved down in the rpm range. I think i like it.

[silver-e34]

i almost blew my headgasket when my water pump went out on me and it overheated i replaced it and forgot to bleed the system and of course the gauge didnt register it overheatin because it had no water going to the sensor i noticed when it started pinging and clunking on the test drive lucky i pulled over let it get cool and bled it and all is fine close call. i was almost sure it would have blown it but i got lucky

[JoeS]

It smoked only for about 3 - 5 minutes. Just to burn off the residual. My question to your delima - You clean did you get the gasket surfaces on the head and block? When i had the machine shop test my head, i had them clean it to death. My block surface was not so clean, there was some staining and very mild pitting due to the leaking.
I got about my compressor and course brush and polished it right up.
Another question - how reliable is your torque wrench? When is the last time you had it calibrated? And what was the final torque value you used?

Joe

[BMW-F1-FAN]

Everything was cleaned real well. The torque wrench is brand new. Craftsman Digitork. Work real well. 58 ft/lbs. After 25 mins then an additional 35 degrees.

It smoked only for about 3 - 5 minutes. Just to burn off the residual. My question to your delima - You clean did you get the gasket surfaces on the head and block? When i had the machine shop test my head, i had them clean it to death. My block surface was not so clean, there was some staining and very mild pitting due to the leaking.
I got about my compressor and course brush and polished it right up.
Another question - how reliable is your torque wrench? When is the last time you had it calibrated? And what was the final torque value you used?

Joe