BMW's galore!

I did wonder where that plate might originate from? I initially thought Kent.

Well the new twin cam 1.9 arrived the other evening. It was an hour and a half late though and everyone in the workshop had gone home! As a result I got to look at the new engine and box before waving them off, to supposedly be brought back to me today. There was just no way 2 of us were going to be able to slide the lump out of the rear of the Picasso it was sat in and I didn't want to risk it being dropped and damaged. Anyway, the promise of it being returned today (Sunday) turned out to be the ramblings of a bullshitter and I am back on the hunt for a suitable M42 or M44.

What's missing from the M42?

Feel free to PM with a price etc. That said, I have been chatting with the guys at Bogg Brothers and am considering going with a Yamaha R1 carb' set up, as they're pretty confident that the variable venturi design will mean I can gain drivability without sacrificing top end power.

Well I've been racking up the miles on the daily commute to work in Penzance and loving every minute. Well I was right up until I went to fire up the 02 and was met with the dreaded click from the starter, down to a flat battery. Now this had happened before but I was at home and a quick charge was all that was required. This time though, I was 20+ miles from home and I had to call the RAC to come rescue me. They took well over 3 bloody hours to arrive with a fully charged battery, which then allowed me to drive home. Fortunately, here in Cornwall we still have old men in sheds who can fix things, so the alternator should be ready by this time tomorrow for the fraction of the price of a new one. Happy days!

Thanks to Adam (a couple of posts up) I will soon have an M42 to drop into the 02's engine bay. The intention is to run it with S54 throttle bodies and a DTA standalone ignition system. I'm properly excited at the prospect and looking forward to having a 5th gear and an LSD to make the most of it. The M42 will be getting properly rebuilt over the coming winter though, so the M10 will be staying for the foreseeable future. What will be happening though, is I will be heading up to the good folk at Bogg Brothers and letting them work their M10 magic while fitting the lovely R1 carb kit pictured above.

I'm also looking forward to taking the 02 to the gathering at Shelsey this year. Yes, I'm still sad that the E30 M3 is gone, but for me this is the kind of 02 that inspired the original M3 and I'm very happy to own and drive it. I still need to sort that reg' plate out though. 8)

Car is looking really excellent and great work you are doing! Bqr sticker - do you bmx?

This is such a nice car and as you said a real worthy successor to your E30. I always enjoy following your threads and like how well you do your updates.

That's awesome Mark, a great time in bmx to be riding. I still ride and the quality and quantity of facilities is amazing now, but there's not quite the same spirit with so much to be discovered as there used to be.

Keep up the great work on your bmw. I'm over in Devon so hope to see it cruising through one day!

-Sam

Well it's about time we had some bad news. frown The M10 developed the worlds worst cam chain noise and was running like a pig, as the timing was jumping about all over the show. It would appear that someone (prior to my taking delivery of the car) thought it would be a great idea to put an 8mm nut and an alloy spacer in with the tensioner piston and spring. It's almost as if the chain was so forked and stretched that they needed the additional metal bits to shut the thing up?! Obviously it was only a matter of time before the thing was going to grenade itself and become an expensive paperweight. So, that any events for 2019 out the window. As you can imagine, I'm not happy

Do it ..do it NOW ...