well.... guess what guys... nothings blown at all.... and yes it is crank related.... the crank has SNAPPED! but behind the cyliders.... basically the flywheel is only behing pushed in becuase its held against the clutch.... we did an awfully loud compression test and turns out both cylinders have good compression "around 150 i think" it wasnt untill dad noticed the flywheel being pushed in and out as it turned and then he got a prybar and it was kinda just loose....

so full rebuild time!

but for the meanwhile, the D*lly engine is going in the car, got most of it stripped down today, was going to take the engine out in its own but then realising i need the crossbox off the D*lly to, we've got my 18th party all day tomorrow... so depending how bad the hangovers on sunday are.. will depend on how much we get done, but im hoping to be driving her home on sunday afternoon! the good thing is that we know the D*lly engine runs as we drove it the 10 miles from home upto the unit october of... 07... and it hasnt ran since that day! swapping the good bits over... plugs pointsbox+cond, leads, all that, and will sort out an oil change n filter sometime in the week!

will let you all know how its going on sunday

Sure the crank's snapped? It's not unknown for flywheel bolts to shear...

Oh, and you need a BMW, you can drive them happily with the oil light on for ten-fifteen minutes, then top the oil up (4litres!) and it's fine!

lol.... the only beamer i'd ever have is a 2002 with the round rear lights... Z3 or the Z3 coupe hehe

well we're unsure and wont entirely know untill sunday once the engine n box come out and get separated! but you can move the flywheel back and forward and aparently it gets pushed back as it turns... i will be uploading a video onto youtube tonight of her running earlier "for 10 seconds" lots of grindy bangy clattery noises....

Doesn't sound like a "snapped" crank to me. I'm certainly no expert on these things but if the crank had snapped or flywheel bolts had sheared then it wouldn't turn over (for a compression test) let alone start and run for 10 seconds.

I'm gonna post up my "Engine removal/refitting" guide in a bit anyway if that'll help you Joe-good luck.

Hi Spanners,
unfortunately, if the crank does break, it's most often at a very shallow angle through the rear main bearing.
That does allow enough drive to be transmitted from the flywheel to allow the engine to start and run 'after a fashion'.
I've only seen 3 of these in 3 decades, so luckily it's very unusual.

Fingers crossed that it's a flywheel bolt or two? that's let go...

ken

Actually if you follow an engine re build with the Haynes you wont go far wrong...there is no big secrets! Make sure everything is clean, un worn and... erm... just keep spinning the crank by hand after every stage.

The torque settings are from the factory manual so assume clean dry assembly of PERFECT parts, for the smaller stuff (esp. in alloy) like head banjos dont go ape with the wrench, the heads and mains etc will take full Haynes torque.

Simples
Sean

Right guys, been away for a while

we took the engine and box out today, and then stripped the engine down and eventually... 2 empty crank cases the crankshaft definatly snapped! and luckily, just after (or at) the end of the conrod for the left cylinder! so yes it was still kinda connected but only due to the bits that had sheared keeping it inline and intact!

after looking on ecas i realised the only way of rebuilding the engine is with a 2nd hand crank, there is one on ebay atm from that "classic (2)2cv recyling" guy in oxford which isnt far, so we're ringing up and hopefully going down to see what else hes got in the week (hopefully soon!) obviously i know there isnt a lifetime garantee on a 2nd hand crank but thats the only option i have, no way can i.. we.. afford a rebuilt ecas engine or a crankshaft... i mean £871 bloody quid.... whereas on ebay £30 seems like pennies!

so will let you guys know whats going on, and also the ol flea market may come in useful!

+1



I've got an engine with a crank in here, you can have it for nowt if you come and pic it up, or I can take it to reg day.