Hey everyone, I’m lurking the forum all the time, but don’t post too much anymore, figured I would post some info on my recent vehicle. It’s not worthy of a build thread like some other cars on here lol, so I figured this would suffice.
I picked this bish up around this time last year, drove it all summer and it was a blast! I got it from a local in OP, it was a Oklahoma/Arizona car it’s whole life and hasn’t seen one winter. The paint is shot from being sandblasted in Arizona, the undercarriage is a bit dusty, but oh so clean haha.
Sometime in January, I took the valve cover off for a few reasons, A. I’ve seen M52’s build up with sludge so I was curious, and B. The PCV line that plugs into the valve cover was filled with lovely milkshake 
After further investigation, I found the Air/Oil Separator had failed and decided it was time to replace all the PCV components and head gasket. The S52 ran like a champ with 180k on it and I couldn’t really complain about it. While I was in the engine, I build some homemade head stands for $15, disassembled it and replaced the valve seals, since I had a brand new set sitting in my room.
I scrubbed the shit out of the cylinder head, because unfortunately I don’t have any extra funds/income at this moment due to me having a seizure in the beginning of the year, which in turn didn’t allow me to drive for a few months, and it’s hard not having a running car on the road, this is currently my only vehicle.
While the head was apart, I found every piston in all of the 24 rockers was stuck, which would explain my top end rattle, which is pretty common in these engines. So this being a tight budget, I found a write-up on how to disassemble the tappets and clean them out 
So now they are all perfect and work like they should :tup:
I cleaned all of the carbon out of the combustion chambers and piston tops, didn’t take pics since it was a messy process. Next step was install and torque down the head.
During the process of the head cleaning/dis-assembly I installed a newer ZF trans with about a 100k clocked on it, along with a UUC Lightweight flywheel and a E39 Sachs M5 pressure plate with a Kevlar disc. I decided to replace the transmission because, mine had the infamous 5th gear lean, and I couldn’t find anyone selling the detent tools to install new shift pins and correct the issue, so I bought this transmission. It’s an awesome setup and I can’t wait to see how it is on the road! I may need a slave cylinder, but I have a brand new one if need be. No pics because this was also messy, and transmissions are heavy, especially laying on your back during install haha.
I picked up a Suede Nardi wheel from PaulB over the winter and got to installing that, it feels 100x better than the stock wheel, and I LOVED the 3-spoke OEM wheel. But I gave that to my buddy with a 96 M3 so he can ditch the ugly 4-spoke wheel. Not a fan of those haha. Question on the Nardi wheel, the horn button seems to be missing a clip that doesn’t allow the button to bounce back after pressing it in, can anyone shed some light on this or have a pic of a horn button not installed? I’m sure I can find info on it, just haven’t searched yet.
Also over the winter when I got the transmission, I also picked up a complete, ready to go Active Autowerks stage 2 supercharger kit, with DME from BREETIME, which I’m super pumped about! I would have liked to install it last year, but problems arose along with the headgasket, so I’m glad I found the problems now to correct and not have to deal with it later after the blower was on. Part of the game! Lol.
The kit also came with a FMIC, I installed it on my car last year, to test fit it behind the bumper, which it fit perfect without trimming. I left it on my car for the summer without the rest of the kit, yeah I know, poser city bitch lol. Well sadly, while wrenching on the engine, my jack failed and crunched the interfooler It’s a good and bad thing.
The bad is, I’m not sure I can install the kit with my current piping setup. These kits run without intercoolers, it’s only 6lbs, but I would have liked it on there because it’s part of the full kit. Plus with the current fund situation, I can’t afford a new one. Anyone wanna donate a 350hp aluminum precision FMIC? :-* haha
The good is, the intercoolers that AA provide from this gen kit suck, and basically don’t do shit for cooling, and have garbage plastic end tanks. I guess you can say this is “balling” on a budget…maybe? Haha.
Today my bestest friend Alex ('91DA on the forum) came up to buy a viper spec T56 trans for his LS1 swap and dropped off his Road Stars for me to use They have basically 4 brand new tires on them, the rears have a stretched 205/45. Stretched tires aren’t really my thing, but after seeing them on the car, I don’t mind them at all. It’s nothing crazy, but the more I look at the car, the more I’m falling in love with them haha.
Pic of my pits being good and lazy while I’ve been working on this thing non stop. I’m sorry, I mean “murder” dogs haha, just kidding. Love these bitches lol.
I apologize for the lack of my picture skills, and the amount of filth on the car haha. It’s been sitting in the garage for about 7 months now, 2 months too long haha. I’m hoping my good friend Ricky with the 96 M3 can come up from Rochester in a few weeks to work his detail/clay bar magic and get this shitty paint looking good from 5-10 feet away.
Right now progress is held up, due to my Dad’s 99 jimmy blowing a brake line and needing both front calipers due to the bleeders being rotted and stripped, but I’ll have it sorted tomorrow. After that, next on the to-do list is to finish the engine, install the cams, rockers, cam trays etc. Also have a brand new aluminum radiator that is going to get installed as well, just have to get it from Alex. I’d like to also get my H&R rear sway bar with adjustable end links installed, along with rebuilding the rear suspension, since I have the parts. Also install the supercharger kit and buy some front strut reinforcement plates and weld up the towers because they are torn I have a lot on my plate and hope I can meet my goals with the car this summer and enjoy the most of it. I’ve never loved a car so much like this one. Sure it’s old, it’s loud, it rattles, but it’s fucking fun as hell. No plans of getting rid of this one.
I apologize for the long and seemingly unnecessary post, but I figured I haven’t posted anything like this in a while, so why not. Thanks for reading, and hope you enjoy!
-Anthony
:edit:
I’m sure most of you have seen this pic before, but this is the car last year when I got it, sitting on OZ Mito’s. I still have the wheels, but I won’t be able to re-finish them and get tires this year, hence running the Road Stars.
Also this fell out of the cylinder head and I can’t figure out where it belongs, if it even belongs in there for the life of me. I’ve checked every blow-out diagram of every component in the cylinder head and can’t find it anywhere. It’s beginning to make me think that it doesn’t belong in there and some how fell into the engine maybe through the oil fill? on accident.
