Well, after driving the car more it seems the smoking out of the exhaust did not fully resolve and cylinder 7 spark plug was always oily and 8 was oily, although less so than 7. I decided to investigate deeper in the engine as I had a hunch about what was going on. And unfortunately, that hunch was right.
I had read a few posts over the years and seen a few documented cases of scored cylinders in the N62 which can cause excessive crankcase pressure and smoking. Cylinder 8 had cylinder wall scoring, as pictured below:
But cylinder 7 was even worse. On one side, you can see deep scoring and it looks like the coating of some sort is being scraped off. I'm not entirely sure what happened, or why, it never overheated (in my ownership, anyways) and oddly enough, it still runs pretty well - it juts smokes a little bit, but consistently.
But the opposite side of cylinder 7 was a whole different story. Not even sure what I'm looking at here, but I know for sure it isn't good:
So cosmetics are on hold and a 4.8 engine will be going in soon. I am currently focusing on emptying my storage unit as I am sick of paying monthly rent over there - but as soon as that's done, this will be my priority.
I write this blog as sort of a stream of conciousness, and update the posts continuously as things progress - moving to a new post when it's become too lengthy. So if the tense seems off here or there, that is why. At some point I plan on cleaning it up for clarity but, as of this update (which is a couple weeks after the last update) I wanted to update as the storage unit is finally emptied.
When I closed up the shop, all the stuff had to go somewhere; thus renting the storage unit. And then more and more stuff got moved in there from my house as time went on, some came out - but certainly more went in. A year and a half ago - it looked like this. Literally floor to ceiling with... stuff. You can't even see all the way back in this picture as it was taken at night and I was using my headlights to look inside. Some of it was valuable, some only valuable to me and frankly just some absolute junk.
This was earlier today. A lot of it got thrown out or donated. Some if it got sold. The rest got moved into the house I now own, with ample storage space (thanks in part to the shed I built in the backyard and the shelves I built in the garage).
The feeling of looking back on my empty shop was a very negative one. It wasn't a decision I wanted to make and it felt like it was taken from me. Looking back on it though, it was one of the best things to have happened to me. After closing the shop a regular customer told me to apply the company he worked at as they needed people and I've been there since then and honestly I absolutely love what I do. More than that though and to the point of the build, it's really great to have wrenching be a fun hobby again, instead of a job.
I had long believed that if you do what you love you never work a day in your life. My current experience has re-contextualized this a bit though. If you love your job, you never feel the burden of work. If your job is your hobby, you don't have hobbies - you have a job. I now feel this is an important distinction.
Anyways, the point of all of this is to say that while I looked back at my empty shop with a heavy heart, I look at this empty storage unit feeling very grateful and with a huge appreciation for where I am. Emptying this storage unit feels like I am finally closing that chapter of my life and I am really excited for what is next.
And what is next is, of course, rebuilding a 4.8 N62
I found a 4.8 locally for sale and was allowed to look inside with my borescope. Cylinder 1 had an oily plug and looked like this inside:
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