straight6pwr Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 Who doesn't want a piece of a car in their living room? (besides your wife) Well I do! Been drooling over engine coffee tables everywhere I see them, and I love model building, so it was inevitable for me to do this.The opportunity presented itself when I bought a blown-engine e34 for the rest of the drivetrain, so I saved a bunch of the parts to make this happen. I'm sure you've seen plenty of these projects, but usually they just take the block and spray paint it and call it a day.I'm taking a different route and using the top end of the m60 instead of the block. It will be the heads, the intake manifold/throttle body, and I'm going to carve a replica portion of the block out of wood to save weight and size. Step 1: DisassembleThis is pretty straight forward, and I didn't take any pics.Only special step is I rented a valve spring compressor from autozone and made a custom tool out of conduit ( 3" long x 1" conduit), as the spring tool does not have the reach to get down in the lifter holes. Here's a picture of the valve stem seals after the valves have been removed. Step 2: CleanI'm individual washing and scrubbing every part.The heads were really gross, and cleaning inside them is far too difficult, so I had Kyle chemically wash them at his shop (Thanks Kyle) After cleaning Step 3: Prep and paintI'll be cleaning/polishing all gasket surfaces that will be visible, as well as the hydraulic lifters, and some various bits. Here i've done the polishing on one head and masked them for paint I'm spraying the heads and various parts with duplicolor silver wheel paint. it has a good metallic finish that looks alot like bare aluminum to me. I've used it on some wheel refinishing with good results. Paint finished on the head and lifters and valve springs cleaned and reinstalled. I'll update with more pictures as I go! CMart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earl Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 Awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungCR Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 Really cool! Can't wait to see the finished product Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suspenceful Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 This is awesome. I'd pay for you to make me one andyhundley 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMart Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 I made one in college - here are my takeaways: Good idea using aluminum, I did not.Yours is going to turn out much nicer than mine as it looks like you already have more work in it.Start looking for glass now. Random piece, old table, etc on craigslist. MUCH cheaper than having a custom piece made. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doorman Posted September 30, 2015 Report Share Posted September 30, 2015 Sweet!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 I made one in college - here are my takeaways: Good idea using aluminum, I did not.Yours is going to turn out much nicer than mine as it looks like you already have more work in it.Start looking for glass now. Random piece, old table, etc on craigslist. MUCH cheaper than having a custom piece made. Keep up the good work. thanks for the tips.sure as shit i was driving home from work today and there was some junk on the side of the road and there was a metal frame of sorts that i grabbed if I end up with a frame under the glass too. will definitely keep an eye out for some glass.and yeah i figure the overall weight of the engine part of the table should be just around of 100lbs, which is manageable. i cant imagine what a cast iron lump with crank/pistons weighs. also, are those shotgun shells? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMart Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 Yep shotgun shells. When you rotated the crank/cam it actually raised up and down the shells in the holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassboy3313 Posted October 1, 2015 Report Share Posted October 1, 2015 This is amazing! Nice work to the both of you. I made a couple end tables out of a brake rotor for base and crankshaft as stem before, but unfortunately don't have pics. Can't wait to see the end result on this one tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StriggityStrack Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yours looks amazing! I had this piece when I lived in Milwaukee. I turned it into a wine holder when I moved in with my girl and surprisingly she loves it. It is definitely a conversation starter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StriggityStrack Posted October 2, 2015 Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 I cant wait to see the finished product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yours looks amazing! I had this piece when I lived in Milwaukee. I turned it into a wine holder when I moved in with my girl and surprisingly she loves it. It is definitely a conversation starter. I love the unfinished style, it goes with the look of your room. its good the girl liked it! (i am getting opposition) StriggityStrack 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2015 the other head is finished! started on the cams. they are pretty dull and the lobes started rusting when the parts car sat around awhile. took about 1hr/cam to get every lobe polished up. before one lobe 100% finished. coke/metal polish + 000 steel wool + elbow grease taped up ready for paint. will be gloss black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2015 intake and exhaust cams for 1-4 done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 more parts painted i'm getting way ahead of myself, but this project may involve a custom set of headers. laser cut/cnc/wood/pvc/copper pipe who knows?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 well the original plan was to create a block out of wood and metal brackets since I didnt keep my block from the parts car. miraculously, i found a b40 block with broken bellhousing mount on ebay that was a local seller. after negotiating, i was able to do a trade+cash for my old auto transmission. he was even available the same day so i went and snagged it last night bonuses: its already been stripped and is super clean. also, it has a bunch of the covers/parts: valley pan, rear coolant cover, front idler sprocket, rear main seal. i'm fairly sure, but hopefully the b30 heads and the b40 block have aligning holes for the head bolts. CMart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 some college football (go wisconsin!) and v8 table saturday...thats the good stuff. cam sprockets polished up, ready to be sent off to get plated. Timing chain tensioners and oil separator tube cleaned and polished So here you can see the giant chuck of the block 'ears' missing. someone definitely dropped the block on that corner when it was delivered to the guy i bought it from. here i've also started drilling holes for reshaping the area. Basic shape cut out Surface contoured to match the original machining and sanded smooth. I actually really like the shape it created, it emphasizes the 'V' more on the back of the engine. I might just hack off the starter side to match. also got the other bank of cams done. here they are installed with new hardware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted October 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2015 throttle body done! i actually have a before photo, since when I took it apart i figured i'd never get it back together right without a reference. before: i fully disassembled, cleaned, and painted the housing. also got some new hardware, and a little polishing of the throttle plate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipMF Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted November 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 been busy so not much to update. however, the pile of stuff I sent off to be professional plated came back. i had the cam sprockets, timing chain idler sprocket, and the head bolt spacers (which I will be using for the head bolts and intake manifold bolts) all yellow zinc plated. i love all the variations of color you get with zinc plating. yellows, reds, green, blues. idler sprocket (reassembled on the idler.) cam sprockets head bolt spacers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B C Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Wow! Where did you get that done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted November 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 a place that was recommended to me when I refinished a set of style 5s and need the hardware zinc plated: Del's Plating Works in Houston, TX. They do really good work, and take small jobs, although the minimum order is like $55 + shipping, so it was like $70 to have this stuff done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaiserRolls Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 Starting to look like earls build thread patsbimmer1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted November 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Starting to look like earls build thread Just read through Earl's build. compliment accepted! I always want to fix my cars with that level of detail and cleanliness, but then i remember I'll drive it in the snow one time and all that effort will be for nothing. KaiserRolls 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straight6pwr Posted November 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2015 more stuff is in, time to start building again the glass top pieces: another pile of hardware.from left to right: intake manifold nuts, copper exhaust manifold nuts, exhaust manifold studs, valley pan bolts. did some 'machining' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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