£25 m104 🤔- water damage assessment?

[JC220]

OK caveat to this is I bought this as a bit of fun and this thing could be junk!!

I wanted the trans and was told I "had" to take the m104 engine also with it for +£25

It has been outside for maybe up to 6 months! In rain and all sorts. Not covered - yes not good.

I did check the trans and it has a couple quarts clean ATF in it and no water inside so that is good. Engine has water filling up the intake




This is how it sat at their yard. I'm going tomorrow to collect it. I will pump water from manifold before they lift it.

I am thinking of drying it out and plug wells. Pull plugs, put scope down to check for rust/ water damage. Same thing for sump plug check if the crank is all rusty or not.

Then maybe use Diesel or ATF in the bores for a couple days before gently trying to bar it over. Dont want to hurt it if by a small chance it's still a serviceable spare motor.

Thoughts on what I should be doing (besides running away!)

 

[gerryvz]

Don't you just hate it when you are forced to add more parts to the hoard. That totally sucks.

I think a lot of the external parts are trash, but there should also be a lot of salvageable stuff there, that you can hoard or sell as spares. Obviously, the interior is going to be quite nice. I guess it depends on how much you want to keep that you might need. Seems to me that it is probably not worth much, so if I'd been held up at gunpoint and forced to take that engine, I'd scavenge what I could in good condition, and donate the lump as scrap. Transmission, perhaps I'd keep and rebuild.

 

[EngineerSam]

Do I see a M104 powered GO-CART in the future?

 

[JC220]

Do I see a M104 powered GO-CART in the future?

Make that a twin engine m104 Go-Cart

I already have another nice 320 M104 Spare engine tucked away.

 

[JC220]

Don't you just hate it when you are forced to add more parts to the hoard. That totally sucks.

I think a lot of the external parts are trash, but there should also be a lot of salvageable stuff there, that you can hoard or sell as spares. Obviously, the interior is going to be quite nice. I guess it depends on how much you want to keep that you might need. Seems to me that it is probably not worth much, so if I'd been held up at gunpoint and forced to take that engine, I'd scavenge what I could in good condition, and donate the lump as scrap. Transmission, perhaps I'd keep and rebuild.

Yes some of the parts like the coil packs will be the first thing to come off and go in the bin. As will the belt and any corroded accessories although the alternator and starter will serve as cores for rebuilds.

I hope that inside the engine will be OK and if that's the case the hoarder in me will want to keep it complete in terms of the block and head for storage.

If it were fit to, and was to be put into use in the future then of course it would require a valve job, reseal and cosmetic restoration at a minimum to do it right.

Ill do some more checks tomorrow and pull the cam cover to see if it's a boat anchor or not.

The thing is at the moment m104s arent worth much yes. Because they are very good engines and seldom require replacement. Many of them here are being exported to Africa and similar. Fast forward 10 years and maybe there will be few or overpriced ones around so may as well keep a couple aside if I can and sit on them so to speak. Especially at £25

 

[JC220]

Got it inside and cleaned the cams of the very light whiff of brown they had. All cleaned up nicely and so far so good. Plugs all look normal and added ATF in the cylinders for good measure. Crank moves freely just rocking gently back and forth a little by hand. Will give the ATF at least 24 hours to soak into the ring packs then give it a turn over and borescope the cylinders next week



If the borescope checks out then I know I have a spare motor worth holding onto

 

[JC220]

Hmm when looking at my own photos I noticed something.

The head bolts on that m104 have paint markings on them. Non factory markings. White paint marks which would have been done to track which bolts were angle tightened. Meaning the head has been off this engine before. Likely to fix the typical m104 head gasket oil leaks and it is dry of oil on those areas.

And when taking the accessories off today I could tell someone had been there before. Including the water pump which was a replacement.

Aesthetically its down on its luck but appears like it's been maintained fairly well.

 

[JC220]

Spent just a couple hours today on this engine. It turned over very easily by hand so I really dont think water made it's way into any of the cylinders

All of the ancillaries turned too. Starter and alternator will be set aside to be fully rebuilt. Got most of the cut hoses and crap off it and the transmission separated.



I'm kind if thinking of putting on the spare updated m104 harness I have in my hoard some day, suspending it beside my 320CE coupe, extend the fuel hoses etc and try firing it up and running it for a minute or two a few times over to try and expell any residual moisture and wake the neighbours up. Wouldn't take too long to rig it up. (I have a plethora of m104 spares on the shelf including a full ignition system etc)

Anyway consciously trying not to get sidetracked by this will give it a proper steam clean, maybe spray a bracket or two also to lift the appearance for now and set it aside so other projects can resume

 

[JC220]

It appears the supply of m104s may be drying up and prices going up:




I'm glad I have 2no good used 320 m104 engines stashed away for future use. Both owe me very little cost wise at the time. One was £25 and the other one was £100 IIRC.