Making A 50 Year Old BMW Engine New Again! M30 Inline 6 Engine Restoration

[@orangechicken7219]

It's beautiful to see something like that, I have a 535iA E34, 530i E34, 730i E32 (and a 628csiA E24,I'm restarting it since 15y of stationnary, for a good friend), I love this engine I love working on it, I hope I could do this good work you did on it. Amazing job!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@orangechicken7219 thank you!!!

[@tonysargent5665]

this is amazing work, i hope one day I have the same amount of skill and talent as you show in this video

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@tonysargent5665 thank you very much Tony! I appreciate that!!!

[@mikesphoenix_e46m3]

Wow i love these kind of videos and the attention to detail you done it yet again josh cant wait to the next video when you fitting back in

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thank you!!!!

[@JatsaMotors]

I love the M30. I have an genuine 1989 535i 5MT M-Technic. Typ210 3.64 LSD, M-Tech sport package including all original bumpers, spoiler and on the inside original sport seats and M-Tech 1 steering wheel. And you did an amazing job on the engine restoration. You have the same quality of your work and videos as Streten.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@JatsaMotors that sounds like an amazing and rare E34! Take good care of it!! And thank you for the awesome compliment!!

[@BerwhaleTheAvenger-b5s]

Jeez, memories. I never want to do another M30 head rebuild again, ever. Those rocker shafts, a complete PITA. It's worth mentioning the cam spray bar - there is a 'V' stamped into one end and this must point to the front of the head otherwise only 6 cam lobes are lubricated. The two banjo oil feed bolts - BMW sell them still and for the last 10 or 15 years they have been a revised design with a slightly different thread pitch so they 'bite' into the alloy head better plus they have dried thread locker on them. Do them up to 12nm with new washers and you never have to touch them again. Same with M10's. I've always made the oil holes fractionally bigger as well.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@BerwhaleTheAvenger-b5s I cant say ive ever heard about the directionality on the oil sprayer bar. Interesting. Ill need to do some research on that! They revised the banjo bolts but guess what, they NLA’d them. Cant get em anywhere, I tried! Its ridiculous

[@BerwhaleTheAvenger-b5s]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Doesn't surprise me. BMW have discontinued around 30,000 parts in the last couple of years - even things like E53 X5 rear upper control arms and the M73 V12 water pump. Look on the spray bar at the flat crimped ends and you'll see the V scribed in on one end. Some also have an arrow on the tube - page 116-11 in the Bentley E34 manual.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@ great thank you!

[@RalphKramden-il5pf]

@@m3nameisjosh464You can't say that anymore. The sprayer bar is definitely directional, although the mark is far from obvious. l have a new, unused, MM version, upgraded for improved oil flow to the number 1 cam lobes and rockers. LMK if you want it. lf you can provide an email address for direct communication, l'll get back to you.

[@RalphKramden-il5pf]

Same here. lt's especially difficult being dyslexic.

[@e28forever30]

Love the M30, such a legendary engine. Built like a tank, used over an incredibly long period of time, spanning from the E3 to the E34. Base for the first M engine.

[@IrieFabs]

Bulletproof if it is allowed to warm up properly - and I don't mean water temperature ;)

[@m3nameisjosh464]

True that!!! Absolutely legendary engine!

[@enjoythehunt5135]

@@e28forever30 facts.. derived and expanded from the M10.. without the m30 no M division imo.

[@juancorrea9037]

Now, that was a good learning video. The engine looks awesome. The only thing I've noticed is that during the video, I could see the torque on a few things but not on others. Also a complete list of tools would be nice for some of us that has never done a full rebuild on those engines. That would help us not to have to Google all the torques and tools needed. Great video Josh! I did learned a lot. Can't wait to see it run.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thanks Juan! Yeah that is my fault, which really came down to me rushing to edit this video before today. I used a bentley manual with all the specs. All this work can be done with standard sockets/ wrenches. Definitely need the crank holder/ large breaker bar/ 36mm socket/ 41mm socket/

[@juancorrea9037]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Awesome, thanx a lot!

[@jotighe2]

great content. great format.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@jotighe2 thank you!!

[@aymn_mrwan]

Really clean job 👏🏻 keep it up, you are an artist

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@aymn_mrwan thank you mate!

[@AliRafaty]

nice job boro

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@AliRafaty thank you!

[@harveydolden8572]

What a great build mate you should be proud 👍

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@harveydolden8572 thank you!

[@DailyDrivenClasssics]

Cant wait to make my e9 engine look like this aswell. Great video

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Thank you!!! Its a lot of fun! Mostly

[@Bryan2.0411]

I strongly believe the earlier m30 intake manifolds were the best. Better flowing. You can actually disassemble each runner and port and polish them for even better flow including the throttle body outlet and the throttbody itself. The later one's were not that great with a smaller chamber. Yeah 80s. Find the earliest m30 manifold with the later bigger displacement engine. You'll rock. Think of ITBs but not.Trust me I know coming from a BMW family my father who was a BMW Tech since the early 70s. BMW sponsored him to stay in this country and I worked for two BMW dealerships since the 90s. He taught me everything I know and I went to Lincoln Tech with flying colors.👍🏽👌🏽

[@enjoythehunt5135]

Indeed... I picked up an early m30 then found a euro m30.. same manifold and I'll be porting them for a bit more air.. throttle body I've got from a Range Rover which is bigger than a B35 throttle body.

[@Bryan2.0411]

Yes! There was and still is a company called, "Mertic Mechcanics". They know all.

[@Bryan2.0411]

You can also port and polish exhaust manifolds to get more power without headers.

[@enjoythehunt5135]

@@Bryan2.0411 funny thing I've sold an itb kit to Metric Mechanics.. yes yes their knowledgeable big time

[@Bryan2.0411]

@@enjoythehunt5135 Good man.

[@alecfloyd3771]

thanks for uploading this! I feel you may have been a bit inspired by Streten and his blue blanket / parts display overview on his S65 video. love it!!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Hahahah I did this with my e28 M30 build 2 years ago! But of course I aspire to be like Sreten!

[@alecfloyd3771]

@@m3nameisjosh464 haha fair play! thanks for the upload. great looking engine

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@ thank you!

[@stevenpike7530]

Excellent!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

🤝🤝🤝

[@robertpit5000]

This is great. Could you share how much you spend on parts and motor work (vapor etc)?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@robertpit5000 thanks! Vapor honing on all parts: $880 Head resurface/ refresh: $650 New seals/ gaskets etc: ~$500 paint/ prep materials: $100-200

[@Moocow444]

BMW guru

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@Moocow444 🤝🤝🤝

[@jbr46874]

the black e34 is fucking beautiful

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@jbr46874 hmm I dont own a black one. I believe thats my Daytona violet in the back haha

[@tarro1114]

I'm from Munich Bavaria, the home of BMW headquarters haha. I love your BMW content. Currently owning an E36 318i as my first car. I'm really want to get an E34 as next one. The E24 would also be a DREAM, but I have very littel knowledge of wrenching unfortunatelly and I also wouldn't have the money to maintain an E24. The car just looks so damn beautiful. How did you start learning about how to work on cars man?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@tarro1114 thank you! I learned by just doing! I bought my e34 525i and just started working on it

[@davidaguilar2966]

So glad you made this video, been thinking about getting a clean e28 and rebuilding the M30 in it. Gives me an idea and sign to do it. If you don’t mind me asking though where do you usually get parts from?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Go for it man!! All the consumable parts are from fcpeuro.com or Wallothnesch.com

[@barrykrysko3153]

Very Streten like!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

A great inspiration!

[@bavariansharks7149]

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@Vivianauxito]

Another solid video, Bro. We released a portable air pump for off-road use. Can we invite you to do a review? If yes, how can we connect with you?

[@brenden0311]

Tucking that water bottle and brake clean method away for later

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Comes in handy sometimes!

[@tenaciousjeebs]

Wait…you used an aluminum oxide stone to grind the deck while the bottom end was still assembled? It would be impossible to clean out the block properly after that.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

The internet is a cesspool of arguments regarding stones/ scotch brites etc. use WD-40 to keep it wet, clothes in each cylinder, air compressor/ vacuum afterwards. Once I start engine I immediately change oil after a few minutes. Done multiple engines with these methods.

[@puttitat2851]

According to the Torque Test Channel oiling the threads of bolts that should be torqued is a no-go as they'll measure way lower than the actual torque (like having it click at 50 lb-ft but the actual force being like 75 lb-ft) - what's your experience with this?

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@puttitat2851 It is recommended for the head bolts to be lightly oiled, and by lightly I mean a drop on the threads, next to nothing. Its worked fine on all my head gasket jobs so far.

[@puttitat2851]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Thanks for the info! 😃 And thank you for all the great content, would love to do a restoration on an M20 or M30 someday.

[@ZoeDonna-0708]

Hi man, I love your videos, I wonder if you would be interested to go ahead and make a review video on car audio or AI interactive screens?

[@Hosenhoffen]

I want to get something with an M30. Do you have a recommendation on which car or which engine I should look for?

[@e28forever30]

E28!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

E28 535i E34 535i are great options!

[@IrieFabs]

Give it the headers from schmiedmann :)

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Need to keep it originaln

[@JY-vr8ok]

My machinist originally saw two valves out by eye then it turned into 8😒when machining FYI don’t float your valves on an interference engine! When you have no rev limiter!!

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@JY-vr8ok ouch dudeee

[@brenden0311]

33:54 money shot

[@m3nameisjosh464]

😎😎

[@RalphKramden-il5pf]

lt's difficult to understand the rationale for removing the engine from the car, doing only a complete top end overhaul and prettying up parts which would have functioned perfectly as they were, while neglecting the pistons, bores, crank and rod bearings. Even with good, equal compression readings, this does make much sense, especially since it's far less complicated, time consuming and costly than all the work being done everywhere else. As noted at the outset, this is a 50 year old engine. Tearing down the entire thing, doing a cleanup boring, installing oversize rings, or new oversize pistons, if necessary, and magnafluxing, polishing and rebalancing the crank seems like the best way to ensure continued long term reliability and OE performance. Having rebuilt a few of these engines back in the Pleistocene, we always did that unless the customer was adamant about skipping it. For our own engines, on cars we wanted to keep, the alternative was never even considered

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@RalphKramden-il5pf while I understand your point of overhauling the bottom end if engine is out, though I didn’t feel necessary on this one, once you remove everything to get the cylinder head off, and you have the transmission off for a clutch job, whats left from removing the block….. 2 nuts on the motor mounts. Its negligible the additional work involved to remove the whole thing. Plus how much easier it makes, oil pan gasket, timing cover, head removal, timing, cleaning/ painting the block, etc. Ive done head gaskets in car, the back pain isn’t worth it to me.

[@RalphKramden-il5pf]

@@m3nameisjosh464 Understood. Good luck with it.

[@HollinP]

the M30 has to be the most ridiculously engineered tractor motor i’ve ever seen, You aren’t supposed to torque the bolts until after the engine runs? That’s insane. And then the timing chain tensioner is ridiculous aswell.

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Hahahsshsh literally dude!!!

[@enjoythehunt5135]

Didnt wanna add headers instead of manifolds? Yeah i know then exhaust has to be changed...

[@m3nameisjosh464]

Nahhh need it all original

[@jessekeasler4278]

Happy Monday everyone let’s kick this week off right 🫡

[@m3nameisjosh464]

@@jessekeasler4278 yesssir!!!!💪🏼