News on the Alpina engine from Poland (Patreon)

And the news is not good.

It arrived rather quickly and yesterday I unpacked it, started filming and taking a closer look.
I removed all of the spark plugs so I can look inside the cylinders. Nothing too horrible at first, but the engine has heavy carbon deposits on the pistons and valves. Then I tried to turn it over by hand, it moved a bit and then it was stuck. 

I thought it was something in the top end, but the seller told me he turned it over 4 times before he packed it. So I worked it back and forth and it freed up. The carbon inside is so bad it was actually stopping pistons from moving.

I could then properly look at all cylinders, more or less okay for a used engine, but unfortunately cylinder #8 is scored as you can see in the pictures. One big scratch going from the top to bottom, one thinner long one and loads of smaller scratches. So that block is toast as well. Valvetronic gear on bank 1 is also pretty worn and damaged.

The seller said the engine has 80.000 km (50k miles) which is highly unlikely given the state of it. If those scratches are light, that cylinder could be perhaps honed, but I know from experience with the old block, they won't be.
I sent the guy the pictures and he said that he doesn't see a problem here, that the compression is good, but if I want I can send it back.

So I'm sending it back on Monday as this is far from a healthy engine and certainly not usable in that condition.

This here is the reason why in the first place I decided to sleeve the block. Finding a used one in good condition is going to be very difficult as they all end up with scored cylinders sooner or later. Out of all BMW engines I worked on, this Alpina engine is by far the worst one. Just incredibly fragile and short-lasting.

There are 2 more Alpina H1 engines for sale in Poland and on paper, this one looked the best and most promising which is why I bought it.

Giving up? Nein. Not yet. I found a guy selling a complete Alpina B5/B7 swap (engine, intercooler, supercharger, oil cooler, Alpina covers, DME...) about an hour and a half away from me. 160k km (90k miles) removed from a crashed car, he has pictures of the car and Carfax. I'll go to see and inspect that one in the upcoming days. The problem is the price though, he's asking 8.500 euros for the lot which is a lot of money. Sure, it's a complete swap, but I just need the engine and finding buyers for other stuff is going to be difficult. He's been selling this stuff for about 4 months now so I'll see what can be done once I go and see it.

If that engine also turns out not to be good and has scored cylinders, then it's probably best to forget about finding a used engine in good condition. It just won't happen. 

That will leave us with two options: brand new block and pistons at 7.250 euro or send the block back to Nenad to do it right and order custom pistons for 3.000 euro. The latter will take several months at least, if not longer.

Got some thinking to do. Either way, first I'll see that nearby engine and take it from there. Although, at the price he's asking, I'd rather go for a new block and pistons...

Anyway, just wanted to give you a quick update. I'll do another once I see the other engine.

Cheers! :)