Valve Cover/Banjo Bolt Spring Project Pics.....

[George M]

I posted this on the E-32 board but thought I would share it with my E-34 friends since someone asked about valve cover refinishing not too long ago and banjo bolts are a common subject of discussion. Every spring I check valve clearances to make sure everything looks good and eccentrics are tight etc. This year, I decided to safety wire my banjo bolts and with the cover off, refinish the valve cover and take it to another level by base and clear coating it with high temp paint and changing the paint scheme of the engine bay to a monochrome silver so the overall car is now all silver and black including the engine compartment. I liked the red valve cover but I thought silver looked more purposeful and more in the spirit of a BMW. If interested, I can post the steps for the valve cover refinish. I also refinished the air box with low gloss paint and rubbed it out to recreate the factory finish the same as all the other plastic pieces that I refinished last year when I rebuilt the engine top end. There was a bit of discussion a while ago on safety wiring the banjo bolts and decided it was time because as reported by many others, they do tend to come loose...even with loctite. Have a look at the pics. Saftey wiring is a bit more of a science than I first thought in terms of procedure...direction of the twisting both before and after the oil bar, no. and density of twists...level of tautness, not clamping on the twisted section of wire itself, etc etc. Would like to express thanks to Bill R for his comment about torquing the banjo bolts...I elected to hand torque them this time with a 1/4" drive rachet to keep the aluminum washers from squirting out from under the bolt head. I encourage everyone to change the aluminum washers...4 total if re-torquing their loosened banjo bolts because they clearly do deform...meant to do so by design for retention and sealing with the oil bar. Also, if retorquing of course...loctite loses its bonding capability...so either recoat with liquid loctite 242 or purchase fresh bolts with encapsulated loctite. I learned a lot about safety wiring and want to extend a big thank you to a good friend of this board and mine Don Gale for all his wisdom... thanks a lot brother for helping me out. If you haven't already done so, stop by Don's wonderful website which is a wealth of information relative to these cars. Also, Don has a 4.27 LSD diff for sale in excellent condition if anybody is looking to improve acceleration in their automatic trans M-30 E-34. The 4.27 LSD diff was std. in model year 1991 on these cars.
Hope you like the pics.
George
90 735iL/149k

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30CloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30FullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireFullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireCloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/RearDrResize.jpg

[Bill R.]

brand was the silver and clearcoat that you used .... Looks really sharp...
You'll have to get some safety wire pliers though.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45340

Available here for 8.99 (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45340)

Its almost mandatory if you live here to know how to safety wire...Lol, home of AMARC, MASDC, Bombadier, formerly Learjet, Raytheon formerly hughes more aircraft here than cars almost...



I posted this on the E-32 board but thought I would share it with my E-34 friends since someone asked about valve cover refinishing not too long ago and banjo bolts are a common subject of discussion. Every spring I check valve clearances to make sure everything looks good and eccentrics are tight etc. This year, I decided to safety wire my banjo bolts and with the cover off, refinish the valve cover and take it to another level by base and clear coating it with high temp paint and changing the paint scheme of the engine bay to a monochrome silver so the overall car is now all silver and black including the engine compartment. I liked the red valve cover but I thought silver looked more purposeful and more in the spirit of a BMW. If interested, I can post the steps for the valve cover refinish. I also refinished the air box with low gloss paint and rubbed it out to recreate the factory finish the same as all the other plastic pieces that I refinished last year when I rebuilt the engine top end. There was a bit of discussion a while ago on safety wiring the banjo bolts and decided it was time because as reported by many others, they do tend to come loose...even with loctite. Have a look at the pics. Saftey wiring is a bit more of a science than I first thought in terms of procedure...direction of the twisting both before and after the oil bar, no. and density of twists...level of tautness, not clamping on the twisted section of wire itself, etc etc. Would like to express thanks to Bill R for his comment about torquing the banjo bolts...I elected to hand torque them this time with a 1/4" drive rachet to keep the aluminum washers from squirting out from under the bolt head. I encourage everyone to change the aluminum washers...4 total if re-torquing their loosened banjo bolts because they clearly do deform...meant to do so by design for retention and sealing with the oil bar. Also, if retorquing of course...loctite loses its bonding capability...so either recoat with liquid loctite 242 or purchase fresh bolts with encapsulated loctite. I learned a lot about safety wiring and want to extend a big thank you to a good friend of this board and mine Don Gale for all his wisdom... thanks a lot brother for helping me out. If you haven't already done so, stop by Don's wonderful website which is a wealth of information relative to these cars. Also, Don has a 4.27 LSD diff for sale in excellent condition if anybody is looking to improve acceleration in their automatic trans M-30 E-34. The 4.27 LSD diff was std. in model year 1991 on these cars.
Hope you like the pics.
George
90 735iL/149k

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30CloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30FullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireFullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireCloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/RearDrResize.jpg

[Scott H]

Everything looks great as usual!

[KurtM]

Looks great George, I like the silver, almost looks light sandblasted raw aluminum w/Polished accents.
Great job

Kurt
95 525ia

[Jason]

I posted this on the E-32 board but thought I would share it with my E-34 friends since someone asked about valve cover refinishing not too long ago and banjo bolts are a common subject of discussion. Every spring I check valve clearances to make sure everything looks good and eccentrics are tight etc. This year, I decided to safety wire my banjo bolts and with the cover off, refinish the valve cover and take it to another level by base and clear coating it with high temp paint and changing the paint scheme of the engine bay to a monochrome silver so the overall car is now all silver and black including the engine compartment. I liked the red valve cover but I thought silver looked more purposeful and more in the spirit of a BMW. If interested, I can post the steps for the valve cover refinish. I also refinished the air box with low gloss paint and rubbed it out to recreate the factory finish the same as all the other plastic pieces that I refinished last year when I rebuilt the engine top end. There was a bit of discussion a while ago on safety wiring the banjo bolts and decided it was time because as reported by many others, they do tend to come loose...even with loctite. Have a look at the pics. Saftey wiring is a bit more of a science than I first thought in terms of procedure...direction of the twisting both before and after the oil bar, no. and density of twists...level of tautness, not clamping on the twisted section of wire itself, etc etc. Would like to express thanks to Bill R for his comment about torquing the banjo bolts...I elected to hand torque them this time with a 1/4" drive rachet to keep the aluminum washers from squirting out from under the bolt head. I encourage everyone to change the aluminum washers...4 total if re-torquing their loosened banjo bolts because they clearly do deform...meant to do so by design for retention and sealing with the oil bar. Also, if retorquing of course...loctite loses its bonding capability...so either recoat with liquid loctite 242 or purchase fresh bolts with encapsulated loctite. I learned a lot about safety wiring and want to extend a big thank you to a good friend of this board and mine Don Gale for all his wisdom... thanks a lot brother for helping me out. If you haven't already done so, stop by Don's wonderful website which is a wealth of information relative to these cars. Also, Don has a 4.27 LSD diff for sale in excellent condition if anybody is looking to improve acceleration in their automatic trans M-30 E-34. The 4.27 LSD diff was std. in model year 1991 on these cars.
Hope you like the pics.
George
90 735iL/149k

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30CloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/M30FullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireFullView.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/SafetyWireCloseUp.jpg

http://members.roadfly.com/georgemann/RearDrResize.jpg

[Martin in Bellevue]

Agreed, looks great. What paint is that?

Kinda wish somebody would try a bronzit valve cover so I don't end up trying it on my non-spare valve cover.

[George M]

appreciate the validation. Bill...thanks for the link...yes safety wire pliers would be better no question. If I built more engines, I would have a pair in my tool box. Really believe the way to go for the banjo bolts. And Martin, if you can find bronzit in a high temp paint, I say go for it. The growing trend in hotrod building as many know on the board is a matching engine/ accessory color with the outside body paint work. The great car builder Chip Foose says it well..you have two cars from an aesthetic standpoint...the engine and the body. If you notice, many of his impeccable hotrods have the engine bay tied into the body work. That said, If you want a real nice finish on your engine or car body for that matter, be prepared to polish out the paint...particularly if shooting from a can, even in ideal conditions...60-70 deg. F and 50% humidity to make the paint flow without graininess. Here is the paint I used and some general steps:

BMW Engine Paint:

-Intake Manifold: Duplicolor Cast Coat Aluminum DE1650
500 deg ceramic

-Exhaust Manifold: Plasti-kote Cast Iron Grey HP-17
900 F – oven bake after application

-Valve Cover: Duplicolor Aluminum DE1615
500 deg ceramic
Duplicolor Clear DE1636
500 deg ceramic

-Plastic Trim: Duplicolor Low Gloss Black DE1634
500 deg ceramic

Valve Cover Refinishing Method:

1. Paint Stripper/Simple Green/Garden Hose/3M Abrasive Pads/Dawn
dishwashing detergent.
2. Alcohol – Denatured
3. Spray Base coat…~1/2 can, let dry ~5 days
4. Brush out BMW logo/bars…begin with 220 grit first, finish with 400
grit to achieve just the right brushed texture.
5. Spray Top Clear Coat also ~ 1/2can…let dry 4-5 days, then rub out. Spray generally comes out less than perfect. If you want a factory finish, be prepared to rub with progressively finer cutting media to remove
orange peel and level the paint. Start with 1000 grit wet paper or a good cutting paste rubbing compound by hand, with damp cloth. Second: Fine Cut compound. Finish with Meguair’s no. 2 polish, SMR GEPC or equivalent to achieve a nice factory look high gloss. Shooting clear coat over the aluminum paint color really gives it some depth and warmth. You can shoot the clear right over the base coat right away but I wanted to brush the letters out and then shoot the clear over the whole thing to seal the brushed aluminum from oxidation. If you wait more than an hour, you should let the base coat cure for about 5 days.

Note: Also rubbed out air-box cover which came out of the can a bit flatter than low gloss and a rougher texture than what I wanted. Rubbing it out smoothed out the paint texture and slightly increased gloss to make it look how I wanted.
HTH's,
George

[Scott H]

Rubbing it out smoothed out the... texture and slightly increased gloss to make it.....how I wanted.

I have found similar results from similar actions George. :D

Seriously, thanks for the extra tips.....I will probably spend (waste in some opinions) time doing similar things when I start taking mine apart. Good reference materials here.

Scott

[632 Regal]

George, do you ever drive this thing? Havent seen your engine bay for a while, figured it would be dirty or something by now. Damn thats nice!!!

[George M]

Hope it helps some that want to make the dive :-)..not for everyone as you say....only for the hopelessly possessed. As you know Scott...steps for refinishing are fairly standard...slight differences depending on paint used, type of surface etc. But will help those take some of the guesswork out that haven't been there before.
I got one whale of an education from professional motorcycle painter John Borella who used to frequent this board....believe John still has his 535i 5 spd. He taught me a lot. Also learned a lot from refinishing my wheels...Jr gave me many great tips also.
George

[George M]

did drive it last summer quite a bit....about 4K miles or so. Stored winters.
I just like tinkering with it...as much as driving it. Like Barry Meguair says...I'm car crazy....lol. Wish I was Barry Meguair's son and owned 50 cars.
George

[RobPatt]

I love that clean silver look. Real smoooth and cleeean. (hard to maintain?) Kudos :D

Winfred, do you think a spray on stripper from Home Depot, etc will or will not take off the outer silver coating on the M50 cover? My current finish is solid w/only corrosion around the plug holes... but it could use more luster. If I can't strip or prep it well...I need the new paint to adhere... I got a high temp flat black.... I'd rather keep what I've got if I'm going to be stuck w/a crappy looking cover. Short of better info, I guess I'd try and strip a hidden portion and see how it goes before proceeding to the exposed vanos area.... thx, Rob.

[DueyT]

George, was your VC the M tri-coloured one before it was red? I remember seing an M-slash painted VC somewhere, way back but can't recall if it was yours.

Cheers,
Duey

[winfred]

i tried aircraft stripper once and it didn't get it all and that the best spray on stripper i've used


I love that clean silver look. Real smoooth and cleeean. (hard to maintain?) Kudos :D

Winfred, do you think a spray on stripper from Home Depot, etc will or will not take off the outer silver coating on the M50 cover? My current finish is solid w/only corrosion around the plug holes... but it could use more luster. If I can't strip or prep it well...I need the new paint to adhere... I got a high temp flat black.... I'd rather keep what I've got if I'm going to be stuck w/a crappy looking cover. Short of better info, I guess I'd try and strip a hidden portion and see how it goes before proceeding to the exposed vanos area.... thx, Rob.

[John B.]

Very nice job George! I did my v/ cover & manifold in silver also using the Eastwood Aluma Blast last time I set the valves(winter 03). It gives a nice beadblasted look to the aluminum & seems to hold up well plus the silver brightens up the black engine bay,. Since my car sees a lot of winter use I haven't gotten too carried away under the hood. I did brush Waxoyl onto all exposed parts & fasteners under the car this fall to keep things from corroding. We'll see how effective that is in the spring.

[Paul in NZ]

george with your permission i am gonna save that pic and put it on my webpage,which by the way what happened to your pic of the red one!!!!!
http://www.bimmer.info/bmw/kiwi535/M-30PassSdResize.jpg
I plan one day to have a silver valve cover like that but am thinking of bmw blue highlights.....but you may have changed my mind.
I frequent motorcycle racing on occasion and some of the safety wiring you see is an art in itself!
Duey i think it was gordon that did the tricolour valve cover

[George M]

wow...a bolt from the past...lol. My old valve cover before I redid it in Aluminum cover. Would love to see pics of your engine John B.
Quite right Paul...the tri-color valve cover was Gordon's signature...and he isn't even from the US :-)
George

[John B.]

[QUOTE=George ) Would love to see pics of your engine John B.
George[/QUOTE]

No you wouldn't, I took a look under the hood this morning an it wasn't a pretty site. My valve cover has oil sweat from the filler cap & a breather hose & the rest of it looks like what you'd expect from a winter daily driver. I keep my 535i in top mechanical shape but don't have time to detail a car that's going out in the winter slop regularly. My vintage Alfas and motorcycles that don't see daily use are where I'd spend that kind of time if I was so inclined.

[Incantation]

that looks amazing.. i wish mine was like that