[Redshift]

Hell yeah, congrats! Almost there.

 

[MotorMouth93]

Some photos from the install process.

The AC compressor clutch wiring was falling apart from oil exposure and I didn't want to wait for a new clutch so I just replaced the damaged wires with new tefzel wire and raychem sheathing with a bullet connector, and it looks a lot better.

To fit under the garage door I had to lower the front of the car by a couple inches with a floor jack under the subframe. I think I had shorter chains when initially removing it so didn't run into this issue. The engine wanted to rotate clockwise a bit when suspended from the lift points so I added the ratchet strap around the engine mount arm to pull it straight.

Aaaand back where it belongs.

Installing the engine took about 2 hours. Installing the Supersprint headers after that was about 7-8, and I scraped the ceramic coating up pretty good. I should have just dropped the subframe. There is just no room on the driver side, but I was able to wiggle everything in after jacking that side up an inch or two. If anyone else installs SS headers like this, here is the order I installed everything so you don't have to guess.

Bank 1 (the easy one)

1) Install #4 pipe, finger tight
2) Install #3 pipe, finger tight
3) Install #1 pipe, leave the nuts really loose
4) Install #2 pipe, finger tight
5) Finger tight #1 pipe
6) Install the collector onto the loose pipes
7) Tighten the nuts in any way you can reach them, I tried to use a torque wrench and was able to get a few but mostly I just tightened them as much as I could with a ratchet or wrench by hand. I jacked this side up a bit but I didn't find that it really helped.

Bank 2 (the really ****ty one)

1) Jack up the driver side of the engine about as far as you can, the transmission will hit the tunnel at some point so stop before you smash it.
2) Install #7 pipe, really loose
3) Install #8 pipe, finger tight
4) Finger tight #7 pipe
5) Install #5 pipe, really loose
6) Install #6 pipe, finger tight
7) Finger tight #5 pipe
8) Lower the engine a bit and install the collector onto the loose pipes.
9) Tighten the nuts by any means necessary. Good luck. For the 2 most difficult nuts right above the steering box I was able to get to them with a ratchet, long extension, flex drive, short extension, then socket. For the others, 12mm wrenches and regular ratchet and sockets worked.

RK plenum plates installed, I liked the idea of being able to remove the plenum without taking off the bolts but that turned out to be BS, due to the angle of the throttle bodies and the studs sticking out you can't get the plenum off. Maybe I'll slot the holes on one side when I take the plenum off to fix the fuel leak.

No more clutch fan, I attached a Spal electric puller fan to the radiator core using those plastic zip tie radiator mounting things, those might be a bit of a "hacky" solution but they worked great for six years in my 540, and wired it up to the secondary air pump connector. I'm going to rewire the SAP relay to activate based on the temperature switch I drilled into the thermostat housing so it should be a fairly clean wiring solution. It just occurred to me that I can reuse the SAP solenoid connector for the temp switch as well if I depin it at the DME, and keep all of my wiring changes completely inside the ebox. In a more perfect world I'd have time to reverse engineer the MSS52 secondary air pump control logic and repurpose it to control an electric fan based on rad outlet temp, but maybe I can do that in the future. Is there anyone here who has started an MSS52 disassembly project? I'd be happy to contribute some code patches.

Plenum parts all cleaned and reinstalled. Once I get it running well I might have to grab a set of those Partee Racing carbon inlet tubes, fabricate some cold air intakes, and rent some dyno time. Tuning, headers, intake, and trumpets should hopefully push whp up to the high 300s.

When putting the plugs and coils back in after priming the oil system, I found that the coils are all no name made in China, and that I bought Bosch spark plugs like 2 years ago instead of NGK. So I've ordered Dinan coils and NGK plugs.

Huge shoutout to the air conditioning unit in my garage for making this possible while it's 95 degrees outside.

 

[MotorMouth93]

Update: I removed the plenum and turns out one of the crimp fittings at the back of the fuel rail is leaking. I guess better to find that now than later but man that is annoying, I guess the jostling around of being installed and removed caused it to give out.

It looks like the fuel rail assembly is part number is 13537830814 and it is NLA. Googling isn't giving me much so is there a go-to solution for this problem? My own solution would be to cut the crimp fittings off, put new fuel hose on the barbs, and use hose clamps instead of crimps. I got dragged for floating this idea on one of the M5 Facebook groups though...

The crimp connecting the T fitting to the bank 2 fuel rail is leaking, resulting in a significant amount of fuel being dumped into the block drain hole to the bell housing.

In other news, I can't find any other leaks on the engine so that's good. Just have to sort out the fuel issue and it can go get the exhaust welded up.

 

[herrubermensch]

I’m hoping that the car repays me by being reliable and relatively problem free for the foreseeable future! If not I’ll just have to ship it to Peter to sort out along with a blank check.

Before setting the timing, I noticed that two is my already rebuilt little splined insert thingies with the Beisan bits felt a little looser than I would have liked, so I readjusted them with some sandpaper to get them a tiny bit more snug.

For the timing I followed the Partee Racing procedure. Since I don’t have a fixed torque wrench for the 10mm bolts though I did this, but only after verifying the torque setting with an accurate dial wrench on the far end. As long as I kept it close to 90 degrees, the applied torque was accurate.

View attachment 996121

Since some of my cam caps have timeserts the depth of the studs had to be adjusted. With the oil rails in place they stick out 12.5mm nominally.

View attachment 996120

Feels nice to have this all back together with the correct hardware and repaired threads, if you remember from a few months ago the bank 1 valve cover was leaking pretty badly and attached with a bunch of random junk hardware. The front cover had a stud in it for example, one of the bolts was some Audi part with a bunch of silicone on it, a few studs were pulling, etc.

View attachment 996122

At this point I did a leakdown test as a sanity check and found all cylinders to be in the 8-10% range which is not amazing by itself but is about what we saw before (minus the #3 issues) and not to the point of being concerning, and is extremely consistent cylinder to cylinder, and roughly what is to be expected given that the engine is cold and the ring gaps are wide enough for your mom to fit though.

Valve covers cleaned up. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to remove all of the oil staining, they were also in good enough shape that I decided not to refinish them. Lots of old sealant in the gasket grooves where it doesn’t belong to be scrubbed out though.

View attachment 996124

Then a few more hours of hunting through piles of parts and looking at old photos and diagrams and here we are. Fortunately, I had already cleaned most of the parts so I didn’t have to spend too much time on that it was mostly just trying to find stuff and figure out how to put it back together. All of the hoses and O-rings and other rubber bits are new as well, along with all of the difficult-to-reach sensors including knock sensors, cam position sensors, and throttle position sensors.

Does anyone know of a source for the updated VANOS accumulator with the electronic valve? I looked briefly and it seems to be discontinued.

View attachment 996119

I redid the wire harness on one of the VANOS assemblies to do away with the PCB, and instead mounted extremely heavy duty high temp fly back diodes directly to the solenoids with new connectors and tefzel wire. I’m not sure if I will stick with this or just use the original PCBs yet but it was an interesting exercise.

View attachment 996123

At this point I need to adjust the throttle plates and start putting the fuel system and wire harness back on.

I’m hoping that the car repays me by being reliable and relatively problem free for the foreseeable future! If not I’ll just have to ship it to Peter to sort out along with a blank check.

Before setting the timing, I noticed that two is my already rebuilt little splined insert thingies with the Beisan bits felt a little looser than I would have liked, so I readjusted them with some sandpaper to get them a tiny bit more snug.

For the timing I followed the Partee Racing procedure. Since I don’t have a fixed torque wrench for the 10mm bolts though I did this, but only after verifying the torque setting with an accurate dial wrench on the far end. As long as I kept it close to 90 degrees, the applied torque was accurate.

View attachment 996121

Since some of my cam caps have timeserts the depth of the studs had to be adjusted. With the oil rails in place they stick out 12.5mm nominally.

View attachment 996120

Feels nice to have this all back together with the correct hardware and repaired threads, if you remember from a few months ago the bank 1 valve cover was leaking pretty badly and attached with a bunch of random junk hardware. The front cover had a stud in it for example, one of the bolts was some Audi part with a bunch of silicone on it, a few studs were pulling, etc.

View attachment 996122

At this point I did a leakdown test as a sanity check and found all cylinders to be in the 8-10% range which is not amazing by itself but is about what we saw before (minus the #3 issues) and not to the point of being concerning, and is extremely consistent cylinder to cylinder, and roughly what is to be expected given that the engine is cold and the ring gaps are wide enough for your mom to fit though.

Valve covers cleaned up. I decided it wasn’t worth the effort to remove all of the oil staining, they were also in good enough shape that I decided not to refinish them. Lots of old sealant in the gasket grooves where it doesn’t belong to be scrubbed out though.

View attachment 996124

Then a few more hours of hunting through piles of parts and looking at old photos and diagrams and here we are. Fortunately, I had already cleaned most of the parts so I didn’t have to spend too much time on that it was mostly just trying to find stuff and figure out how to put it back together. All of the hoses and O-rings and other rubber bits are new as well, along with all of the difficult-to-reach sensors including knock sensors, cam position sensors, and throttle position sensors.

Does anyone know of a source for the updated VANOS accumulator with the electronic valve? I looked briefly and it seems to be discontinued.

View attachment 996119

I redid the wire harness on one of the VANOS assemblies to do away with the PCB, and instead mounted extremely heavy duty high temp fly back diodes directly to the solenoids with new connectors and tefzel wire. I’m not sure if I will stick with this or just use the original PCBs yet but it was an interesting exercise.

View attachment 996123

At this point I need to adjust the throttle plates and start putting the fuel system and wire harness back on.

I love the vanos mod. But why not embed the flyback diodes in the wiring (i.e., outside the vanos unit) rather than on the solenoids themselves? I've always thought that was the ticket.

--Peter

 

[herrubermensch]

Congrats on getting it back together and getting it running. 8-10% leakdown with those ring gaps is awesome. Going to burn some oil, but that's ok. Yeah, one of the RK plates has to come off, but you can leave the other one on. Still easier than those stupid rubber gaskets with hose clamps! But of course, the best solution would be our plenum that gets rid of the plates altogether!

--Peter

 

[nyc951]

It looks like the fuel rail assembly is part number is 13537830814 and it is NLA. Googling isn't giving me much so is there a go-to solution for this problem? My own solution would be to cut the crimp fittings off, put new fuel hose on the barbs, and use hose clamps instead of crimps. I got dragged for floating this idea on one of the M5 Facebook groups though...

The crimp connecting the T fitting to the bank 2 fuel rail is leaking, resulting in a significant amount of fuel being dumped into the block drain hole to the bell housing.

View attachment 996715

Can the fuel rail assembly be removed from the car so a shop that does hydraulic hoses can cut out the old hose and crimp fittings and install new units? Thats assuming they have new hose that matches size and radius of the factory one.

 

[JohnAnthony]

Can the fuel rail assembly be removed from the car so a shop that does hydraulic hoses can cut out the old hose and crimp fittings and install new units? Thats assuming they have new hose that matches size and radius of the factory one.

Yes, unless you meant just the section at the top of the engine. It's one large piece that snakes further down the back of the engine bay. You have x3 connections:
x1 hose clamp/bmw 1-time use clamp
x1 fuel quick-connect
x1 ventilation quick-connect

In total you're looking at x5 pieces of fuel-hose, with x7 crimped ends/points.

On the same topic, I'm surprised there isn't an simple aftermarket solution. The S62 fuel rails are very basic (linear shapes) without bends or offsets. The hoses were obviously going to be the first to go, but the rails and that Tee-connection seems very susceptible to cracks.

 

[herrubermensch]

Yes, unless you meant just the section at the top of the engine. It's one large piece that snakes further down the back of the engine bay. You have x3 connections:
x1 hose clamp/bmw 1-time use clamp
x1 fuel quick-connect
x1 ventilation quick-connect

In total you're looking at x5 pieces of fuel-hose, with x7 crimped ends/points.

On the same topic, I'm surprised there isn't an simple aftermarket solution. The S62 fuel rails are very basic (linear shapes) without bends or offsets. The hoses were obviously going to be the first to go, but the rails and that Tee-connection seems very susceptible to cracks.

In process, but a number of projects with priority ahead of it, starting with carbon intakes.
—Peter

 

[MotorMouth93]

@herrubermensch I chickened out and ended up not using that wire harness I made and just put the stock one back on for now, I didn't really like having the diodes in there either on the solenoids so just reflowed the solders in the original harness. Might revisit that project in the future, but after I get it running right.

I removed the fuel rail assembly (what a pain that was) and cut off the crimps with a dremel. As for the question of how to reassemble, with the time crunch for my slot at the shop for exhaust work, I think I'm just going to use hose clamps for now and do away with the W shaped hard pipe and just make it a soft line the whole way, and it should be perfectly safe since hose clamps in this size are rated up to about 200psi.

Then buy a used fuel rail and rebuild that one properly with crimps and maybe some nice braided SS hoses.

Here's the "repair". I got some 5/16 fuel hose rated for 145psi and fuel hose clamps. I did away with the metal pipes behind the cylinder head completely because getting those in and out sucks, they take away room you need to access things like CPS and TPS, and they just add extra unnecessary connections for both the evap purge line and main fuel feed. Over on the far right you can see my greatest sin which is fuel hose jammed over the ridge on the quick connect nipple with 2 hose clamps cranked down on either side. This is going to be replaced ASAP with a proper fitting, but I ruined the one I had in a lathe incident and this works well enough to get the car to the

For the properly repaired set of rails I'm going to keep this same layout I think, since it is SO much easier to work with and I don't really see any downside to removing the metal pipes.

Anyways, with the hoses replaced I started the car again, this time with no intake box so I could see the fittings and make sure no leaks, and they are dry. I also connected my computer and looked at the codes, since I was seeing some VANOS and misfire codes after the first start, and the scary ones are gone. When putting the intake box back on this time I coated the paper gaskets between the plenum plates and the throttles with hylomar blue gasket dressing since I got the plenum plates 2nd hand and RK wouldn't sell me a new set.

Current codes:

39/40 for rear O2 sensors which are disconnected since there's no exhaust
63 for secondary air valve which is deleted and I haven't flashed my custom t00n to make that go away yet
77 for intake air temp sensor? I had the MAFs disconnected so I suspect it's related?
143 for ebox fan, need to look into that
41/57 for the disconnected MAFs

No errors related to cam position or VANOS though, and also no misfires so I'm happy about that. It's hard to really say how the engine sounds since the exhaust is so loud but I haven't been able to pick out any concerning noises either, and all of the potential leak spots are dry so far.

I also need to get ISTA set up on my laptop so I can properly bleed the ABS, since I re. I've pumped a lot of fluid through the brakes and they are still feeling kinda spongey.

 

[technician117]

@herrubermensch I chickened out and ended up not using that wire harness I made and just put the stock one back on for now, I didn't really like having the diodes in there either on the solenoids so just reflowed the solders in the original harness. Might revisit that project in the future, but after I get it running right.

I removed the fuel rail assembly (what a pain that was) and cut off the crimps with a dremel. As for the question of how to reassemble, with the time crunch for my slot at the shop for exhaust work, I think I'm just going to use hose clamps for now and do away with the W shaped hard pipe and just make it a soft line the whole way, and it should be perfectly safe since hose clamps in this size are rated up to about 200psi.

Then buy a used fuel rail and rebuild that one properly with crimps and maybe some nice braided SS hoses.



Here's the "repair". I got some 5/16 fuel hose rated for 145psi and fuel hose clamps. I did away with the metal pipes behind the cylinder head completely because getting those in and out sucks, they take away room you need to access things like CPS and TPS, and they just add extra unnecessary connections for both the evap purge line and main fuel feed. Over on the far right you can see my greatest sin which is fuel hose jammed over the ridge on the quick connect nipple with 2 hose clamps cranked down on either side. This is going to be replaced ASAP with a proper fitting, but I ruined the one I had in a lathe incident and this works well enough to get the car to the

For the properly repaired set of rails I'm going to keep this same layout I think, since it is SO much easier to work with and I don't really see any downside to removing the metal pipes.



Anyways, with the hoses replaced I started the car again, this time with no intake box so I could see the fittings and make sure no leaks, and they are dry. I also connected my computer and looked at the codes, since I was seeing some VANOS and misfire codes after the first start, and the scary ones are gone. When putting the intake box back on this time I coated the paper gaskets between the plenum plates and the throttles with hylomar blue gasket dressing since I got the plenum plates 2nd hand and RK wouldn't sell me a new set.

Current codes:

39/40 for rear O2 sensors which are disconnected since there's no exhaust
63 for secondary air valve which is deleted and I haven't flashed my custom t00n to make that go away yet
77 for intake air temp sensor? I had the MAFs disconnected so I suspect it's related?
143 for ebox fan, need to look into that
41/57 for the disconnected MAFs

No errors related to cam position or VANOS though, and also no misfires so I'm happy about that. It's hard to really say how the engine sounds since the exhaust is so loud but I haven't been able to pick out any concerning noises either, and all of the potential leak spots are dry so far.

I also need to get ISTA set up on my laptop so I can properly bleed the ABS, since I re. I've pumped a lot of fluid through the brakes and they are still feeling kinda spongey.

Nice work, as always. I see no issue with your fuel system fix beyond what you already pointed out.

Good relief for the codes. Nothing to worry about there. Ebox fan code can be the bane of M5 existence. Over the years I've replaced them with used ones and within months or a few short years the code is back. They're super sensitive for some reason. Bench testing most of them showed they worked. Ultimately I sucked it up a few years ago and bought a new one from FCP. It's been fine. The air temp sensor code is indeed because the MAF's are unplugged. The sensor wiring is in the passenger side I believe. All MAF's are built for it obviously regardless of side.

re: brakes. ISTA/DIS/INPA can all help if you have trapped air within the ABS hydraulic unit. All it does is active the valves and run the ABS pump. INPA you have to do it all manually. DIS there is a "program" for it. I've not used ISTA on an E39 but suspect it's the same program as DIS. If you still have a soft pedal issue after driving the car, you might look at the precharge pump (make sure you activate this too with your bleeding if you had the whole system open).

 

[technician117]

Plenum parts all cleaned and reinstalled. Once I get it running well I might have to grab a set of those Partee Racing carbon inlet tubes, fabricate some cold air intakes, and rent some dyno time. Tuning, headers, intake, and trumpets should hopefully push whp up to the high 300s.

When putting the plugs and coils back in after priming the oil system, I found that the coils are all no name made in China, and that I bought Bosch spark plugs like 2 years ago instead of NGK. So I've ordered Dinan coils and NGK plugs.

Huge shoutout to the air conditioning unit in my garage for making this possible while it's 95 degrees outside.

re: bolded above. That's essentially what I have on my track car. It made a conservative/repeatable 395 whp with safe custom tuning from Peter's guy Matt Lambert. It would easily do over 400 wheel with a little more timing but we wanted to stay safe for the outlier track conditions - extra hot air temps and sustained high rpm/high load running.

 

[MotorMouth93]

@technician117 395whp is great! I'd be ecstatic if I could get anywhere close to that. I had the brake system nearly completely empty when I removed the little pipes going to the rear of the car and calipers so I suspect air is trapped just about everywhere it possibly can be. Good to know INPA can do it, I already have that set up but I'd read elsewhere that it couldn't do it but I'll look again. I'll probably just ignore the ebox fan code for now..

For the quick disconnect issue went to the local junk yard and grabbed a fuel hose off of an E53 and used it as a donor for the QD fittings, which I'm pretty sure are just SAE 5/16" quick disconnects, and I can feel a lot better about driving the car this way. New hose is on order so I don't have to rely on used parts.

The car is now back sitting on it's own wheels for the first time since December, and I'm planning on ripping it around for 20-30 miles and changing the oil this evening, I don't really believe in light break ins so I'm planning on pushing up to 75-80%. Since I didn't change the rings and just lightly treated the cylinders with AN30 compound though there's arguably not really anything to break in here, so I'll probably switch to Amsoil full synth 10w60 after this and call it good.

Looking back, if I'd known how much of a scope creep disaster this was going to be, I would have just gone ahead and had the cylinders properly reworked.

Edit: Started the car up, and it died immediately. Great. Then I realized I'd forgotten to hook up the brake booster line so it was just a massive vacuum leak, I'd previously capped it and removed that cap.

Drove the car for about 10 miles. I never went wide open throttle but I was giving it probably 60-80% and good lord it was LOUD, I was wearing ear plugs and it was still ridiculous. It sounded like those old hot rods with headers just dumping straight out, which is not a sound that should come from one of these cars. Then changed the oil and nothing concerning came out which is nice, just a few metallic specks like you'd expect from a rebuild and a few globs of the assembly grease I used on the camshaft, and refilled with more conventional 15w40 which I'll probably run for ~200 miles this time before making the switch to the 10w60 full synthetic. I was worried the Fumoto valve in the oil pan would take like an hour to drain but it wasn't bad at all, just took a few minutes and it's really nice being able to just reach under and flip the little lever without even jacking up the car and there's no mess or risk of destroying the pan further, so I'm happy with that change. Still no oil leaks.

The rear ride height is dang near perfect with those 1/4" spacers I made to go above the rear shock assemblies, the wheel gaps match front and rear now. It's stock ride height so probably too high for most people but I think it looks great on this car.

The diff is also dry, I noticed a small amount of oil on it the other day but I think that was just oil I put on the seal lips when installing the flanges dripping down over months, I put it on pretty liberally.

At some point during the drive the headlights started pointing straight down, and shortly after that I got the ABS trifecta with speedo still working. Headlights were easy, the front ride height sensor had just popped off the control arm and was dangling, but I'm not sure about the ABS trifecta, the wheel speed sensors appear to be fine and it was working for quite a while before the lights came on. (checked codes and got 114 for the pressure sensor)

The brakes are definitely a bit spongey still but I didn't feel like I was going to die so that's good. I'm hoping maybe just not being bled properly is the cause for my pressure sensor code. Also no leaking calipers or flares that I can find, I had to reflare the front right hard pipe after the nut got destroyed and that's holding, it's the first and only brake flare I've had to do, as well as the rebuilt calipers and hard line mid pipe connections. I did notice that I got the front rotors on the wrong sides.

No cooling system issues that I can tell either, the rebuilt heater valve/pump seems to work great, and without even running and the heater set to 90F the car it took 1.5 gallons of coolant, then after driving I topped it off with another cup or two.

I need to order some new O2 sensors, the ones on the car now were in the headers when I got them, and my original O2 sensors have been sitting out in the yard for 9 months.

 

[nyc951]

Glad to hear the shake down run was successful. Regarding the trifecta - the shop reset my steering angle sensor after the abs module was rebuilt to turn off the warning lights.

Remind me what springs you’re using that requires the spacers in the back?

 

[MotorMouth93]

The shock/strut/spring assemblies are 100% new OEM parts as of last year. For whatever reason though the M5 (and 540i Mtech II) suspension has a slightly smaller wheel gap in the rear than the front, so I "fixed" it by putting a 1/4" spacer in the rear at the expense of whatever handling benefit caused BMW to make that choice in the first place.

I got a code 114 from the DSC module for the pressure sensor, so I'm hoping that is just due to the system not being properly bled. I had the module rebuilt last year and it was working fine then, before I did all the work, so hopefully it's not gone bad again.

 

[ThePhantom]

What made you go with aftermarket headers? And how did you decide to go with supersprint vs the other brands (evolve, einhorn, etc)? I understand you have to get them coated to reduce heat and corrosion along with modifying other parts to protect them from the added heat (ex: PS hoses)...Not sure what else is involved.

 

[MotorMouth93]

The stock headers are pretty unfortunate and it seemed like a shame to put them back in after doing all this work was the main reason. And as far as the brand choice goes there really wasn't much actual thought there, I wanted good quality and fit which meant SS, Evolve, or Einhorn (am I missing any others?), then I just bought whatever used ones popped up first for what I considered to be a decent price which was $2500.

 

[technician117]

That ABS code is likely for the precharge pump and why (mostly why) your brakes still feel spongy IMO. You could swap in a pressure sensor first though as that's that other obvious reason for that code.

 

[MotorMouth93]

Do the precharge pumps often fail? Or just get air trapped? It was working previously and it does kick on when I run the test in Inpa.

 

[technician117]

Do the precharge pumps often fail? Or just get air trapped? It was working previously and it does kick on when I run the test in Inpa.

The one way check valve inside seems to be a weak point. It bleeds off pressure if it leaks. Good that you can hear it run when activated with INPA. If you've activated it a few times since bleeding the brakes, you might bleed them again to push any air out that may have been stuck.

 

[MotorMouth93]

Great to know! Once the car comes back from getting the exhaust done I'll mess with the brakes some more. I'm not driving it/starting it up anymore though since with the open headers it shakes the whole house, and the neighbors houses. The engine itself seems to sound great but it's hard to tell with the noise from the exhaust. The trifecta did not appear the 2nd time I drove the car though so hopefully it's just a bleeding issue.

NGK plugs and new coils showed up so I went ahead and installed those. I originally bought Bosch plugs thinking they were the correct ones then found out they were supposed to be NGK. Probably won't make a difference but I feel better. I will miss working on a clean engine with no dirt or grime.

Comparison of the electrode design.

With the plugs and coils out, I hooked up my leakdown gauges out of curiosity and got some better than expected results. I'm not sure if the improvement is in the valves sealing up better after running or in the bottom end but I'll take it either way.

1) 4%
2) 2%
3) 6%
4) 6%
5) 6%
6) 4%
7) 4%
8) 6%

Which compared to the 8-10% I was seeing pre-run I'm pretty happy with. Also pretty good and much more consistent compared to what I was seeing before I tore anything apart last winter. I'm not surprised that a few cylinders got a tiny bit worse overall, since I did open up some of the 2nd ring gaps, but it could also just be margin of error in my somewhat crappy tester.

1) 8%
2) 2%
3) 70-100% (the reason for the rebuild)
4) 8%
5) 6%
6) 2%
7) 8%
8) 4%

Passenger side doors double lock deleted, new lock actuators, vapor barriers resealed, and new clips installed. Along with replacing the trim clips on the ends with nuts and plastic "washers" made out of 1/6" ABS pieces I cut. I've found these clips seem to loosen up from the doors being repeatedly closed so this keeps them nice and tight, it just means the whole door card has to come off to remove the trim.