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V8 Naked

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67K views 122 replies 44 participants last post by  e30jean  
#1 ·
Some months ago I checked out the potential of water as an alternative to gasoline. It didn't work so good, I was left with a mangled rod hanging out of a large hole in the block. Urged to total the car, I resisted - I love my 540i/6 so a decision was made to graft on a new block. Since a 4.6L block from the 2003-2004 X5is is pretty much plug and play we went with that. Same heads, but a lot of porting and polishing. The valves have all been hand lapped and the rods balanced. It took a lot more time than I thought but finally here are some shots of the block, finished. NO VANOS as of yet. This is what the V8 looks like before the oil pan, accessories and various and sundry covers and wiring harnesses cover it up - the V8 naked!

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note oil pump and chain drive at bottom front - the round thing

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=149567&stc=1&d=1212940911

the yellow dots are just a memory aid to make sure the rods are torqued in sequence (3 times)

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=149568&stc=1&d=1212940911

Shows detail of the little oil jets beneath the pistons in each cylinder.
 

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#5 ·
I hit a submerged pothole shortly after one of our tropical downpours and played U-boat. I run an OEM CAI fwiw.
 
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#4 ·
how much hp are you looking at once you're all said and done?

that looks sweet!
 
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#6 ·
xxpanipuri said:
how much hp are you looking at once you're all said and done?
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Hard to say. I kept the original heads and cams, the X5is 4.6L has a compression ratio of 10:5 to 1, instead of 10.0 to 1 of the standard 4.4L block. And longer duration cams. It develops 340HP as opposed to the 290HP 540i. With all the porting and polishing done on my block, olus the extra displacement I'll see a little more torque! Somewhere in between - once it's fully broken in I'll put it on the dyno
 
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#8 ·
Wow! have to use my Rayban :thumbup:

so you use m62b46 pistons and b44 crankhaft right? Do they have a differens between b46 & b44 pistons?

Where did you bought the 4.6L block and how much it cost. I`m intrested ton in m62b46 block to.
 
#9 · (Edited)
The crankshaft (stroke + 2.3 mm) and the pistons ( bore +1.0mm) are new. Same rod specs, I had to replace two of those. The block is OEM, from the factory. If you have a good 4.4 block this is not the cheap way to go, supercharging would be more cost effective! But my old block had a big hole in it - and I will end up with a very strong NA motor. I'm hoping all the valve lapping will give it a lot more "pop" on the throttle.
 

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#13 ·
I'm sure anything is possible but I think the 4.8is motor isn't the best choice to be used in the E39 platform. The biggest reason (and anybody please correct me if I'm wrong) is that the 4.8is is DUAL VANOS whereas the 4.4 and 4.6 and single VANOS and much easier and similar; just size differences.
 
#12 ·
uncle ken said:
Some months ago I checked out the potential of water as an alternative to gasoline.
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uncle ken said:
I hit a submerged pothole shortly after one of our tropical downpours and played U-boat.
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:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Love the wording :thumbup:.

Damn that is a gorgeous engine. You should get another one, make it look just like that - all clean and polished - and lay a sheet of glass over it for a coffee table. Beautiful! I love the M62 naked. BTW, looks like the pothole thing was for the better. I should go play U-Boat....:rofl:
 
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#14 ·
That is beautiful.
 
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#16 ·
Can I say that is the Dumbest thing I've everrr heard.....using water as an alternative to gas???? you're asking for trouble.....the engine looks good though!
 
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#17 ·
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This is the grinder used to relieve the valve seats. Note the intake valve to the right in the second cylinder; it has a prominent ridge (there are actually two). This is how the heads come from the factory. Now see the finished valve seat on the left in the first cylinder: it has been polished and ported and has a smooth curvature, providing a bit more airflow with less turbulence.

Each valve was then carefully finished (hand lapped) so that when the valve closed 100% of the valve surface would hit the valve seat at the same time. You can use dye, like a dentist checking his work by making you bite the blue paper. This technique has been used for racing engines to give a crisper throttle response, it is labor intensive and takes a while.
 
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#20 ·
uncle ken,
I assume that you resleeved the block? Do you know the durations of the cams?

Oh, and I think henry thought you were trying to use one of those hydrogen gas converters to save on gas, which is what I originally thought when reading your first post.
 
#22 ·
Not resleeved - it's a new 4.6L block sourced from Germany. I had a big hole in the side of the old block with a rod sticking out.

Sorry if I seem thin-skinned; I'm still mad at myself for the original dive.

The X5 4.6is engine uses lumpier cams with more aggressive mapping of the cam phasing mechanism. I am still using the original heads and cams from the 4.4L block and hope all the work on the intake ports and valves will suffice to ramp up the intake volume; - we will see! The compression ratio increases from 10.0:1 to 10.5:1 since the crank is the 4.6L unit, as are the larger diameter pistons. Both engines use the same spec rods, I had to replace two of those. The rod sets varied as much as 12 gm and considerable grinding was done to bring them all within 2 gm of each other.

I have planned some other stuff while the engine and driveline are out. Put in a Rogue SS kit and transmission mounts. New clutch. Car has 50K on it so I will R&R the cooling system. The 4.6L block has an oil temp gauge fitting so I am hoping to have oil temp too.

The wilder cams are always a later option, once my wallet stops smokin'.

Image
 
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#23 ·
Do you have someone doing the ecu tuning for you? Reason I ask is because the engine management system will adapt within certain % changes. For instance, if you have a rich mixture the ecu will adapt up to a +/-10% change. With port and polishing and higher compression it would seem that these mixtures will be out of this threshold %. I am just interested in your plans for tuning.

I rebuilt my 99 m62 engine a while back and was about to do a port and polish however time didn't permit. I ended up decking the heads and using the thinner headgasket set that was available for that engine. After everything was buttoned up I have to say that the engine felt rock solid. Can't wait to see the results with your project!
 
#26 ·
I'm not the builder! Mike Perkins is the craftsman. I'm just sittin' here with my tongue hanging out waiting for the final result. I'll ask Mike about the mapping and report back. Glad to hear your M62 came out so well - I'm hoping for the same result. Should add that this is my daily driver so reliability counts in the decision-making process as well.

http://www.bavarianmachine.com/index.html

i guess the oil plug wasn't big enough for ya, i know you texans do everything big. your next mod should be some ski's mounted underneath and a trolling motor to boot.
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Looking into fitting a fish finder from Bass Pro for those troublesome hidden potholes!
 
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#39 ·
With or w/o a CAI it is easy to hydrolock the motor. When your bumper pushes water the water will rise and then it is right into the intake.
 
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#41 · (Edited)
uncle ken said:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=149567&stc=1&d=1212940911

the yellow dots are just a memory aid to make sure the rods are torqued in sequence (3 times)QUOTE]

In the picture showing the bottom end, are those 4 bolt mains or are those 6 bolt mains?

Looking at one of the main bearing caps I can see the 2 normal straight in bolts and the 2 splayed bolt heads but it also looks like there are 2 side bolts on some of the bearing caps. All you can see in the picture is the edge of the hex head which come into the bearing cap from outside of the engine block.
Click to expand...
 
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#42 ·
4 bolt mains. Here's another view...

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Well it looks like OP's loss is his gain once this is all put together......
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Yeah hopefully after all the time and effort it will be worth it. Once we knew we needed a new block and I realized the 4.6 would bolt right in it was all downhill after that :))

With or w/o a CAI it is easy to hydrolock the motor. When your bumper pushes water the water will rise and then it is right into the intake.
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That's exactly what happened. There was a bow wave from the MSport front spoiler scooping water out of the the puddle. You could see the leaves and other trash forming a distinct high water line on the front of the radiator when things were pulled apart.
 

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#43 ·
Thanks Ken on the 4 bolt mains.

Regarding the bow wave it happened to me at a very slow speed, it hydrolocked but didn't break anything. Bow wave is a good description.

I ran 5 complete oil changes in one afternoon to make sure everything was washed out. All the dirt that might have been in there though the water source was clean rain water over concrete.
 
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#44 ·
As I may have said earlier the inside of the car never even got wet. I waited out the street flooding, it was just damn bad luck. To anyone reading this far, be cautious of any amount of water on the road beyond just wet pavement. Double if you have a front spoiler and triple if you have dropped the car atall.

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Here's the fateful day - cellphone pix sorry. The hole in question is just off the front of the flatbed truck; I was coming into the driveway and checking oncoming traffic as I crossed the street from the opposite side. Doesn't look like much does it? I didn't think so either.
 

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#64 ·
not quite sure, but i think the vette is snikering at ya. i like the kit you offer too. how long for ups to deliver it to the door, and what skill level is it. :rofl:
but really i remeber when ya did it. glad to see you had fun putting it together again, nice write up too. no you can say you have one of a kind.:thumbup:
oh put in a gps, ya know for that next storm.
 
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