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<E30> valve noise/engine ground strap



Replaced all the hex head bolts in my sister-in-law's '87 325iC with the
Torx head bolts today and readjusted the valves too.  Got some questions
now that everything is back together and the test drive is over...  Yowsa,
it's amazing what proper valve clearances AND new spark plugs will do for a
car's performance!  :-)

1.  The engine was "noisy" before (lots of valve train noise) but it's
worse now that everything is adjusted correctly (stone cold engine, 0.25
mm, right?).  I discovered that most of the valves were too tight.  Now it
sounds like they're too loose but I checked the clearances twice and I've
adjusted valves on lots of cars and am quite sure I didn't do anything
wrong here.  Are 325i's (the 6 cylinder versions) noisy?  The car sounds
like my old TR7 or maybe like a Porsche 914 or VW :-(  Alas, I also cleaned
the valve cover and all that nice sound-insulating varnish is now missing
as well :-)  Any comments???  Maybe I should hunt down that guy around here
who has a car like this one and ask to listen to it :-)

2.  While putting the valve cover back on, I came upon a note in Bentley
that says to replace the ground strap on the 6 cylinder cars.  Ack.  This
car has NO ground strap there.  I did a quick look;  there doesn't seem to
be any place that the engine is grounded to the chassis by such a strap so
I'm wondering if I'm missing one after all or if the convertible versions
of this car just don't have one here.  I made one anyway for good measure
but I'm curious.  If I'm supposed to have a ground strap, what do they look
like and where does it connect to?  It's supposed to go from head cover
mounting stud #6.  By the way, the car used to crank quite a while before
firing up.  Now it fires up immediately!  Did the "new" ground strap do
that?  Hmmmmm.

Thanks,
Jim

PS:  Thanks to all who replied about the hub centering rings for the
aftermarket wheels.  Discount Tire Direct had some and all my rear
vibration is gone now that they're on!