BRM Head Pull

Hey fellas pulling the head on my wifes 06. The only thing I took off the back of the motor was the downpipe and turbo drain/mount. How hard should this thing be to seperate from the block once everything is taken apart?

Ask Frank06. It is heavy. The Gaskets are likely well formed and so due diligence with many seam separators (thin putty knives). Never done it on mine. Frank rebuilds these.

There is a fastener that connects the plastic cover behind the timing belt to the head. I remember needing to remove the cam sensor as well. It doesn't take much at all to separate the head from the block. But, with the turbo and intake on it the unit is pretty heavy. It's manageable if you're even remotely strong though.

Did you remove egr?

Pretty easy job. Hardest part is dealing with the vacuum harness, as it is not a nice neat package bolted to the firewall like on ALH and BEW cars. It is sort of stuffed in a wad on the BRM's engine with lots of little twists and bends mostly in one small area. Just take care as to not break anything and keep track of how it sits so you get it back together correctly.

Also, unlike the ALH, BEW, and BHW, the BRM's EGR cooler mounts bolt to the block, not the intake. So that will have to be unbolted from the intake at the tubes. You can leave the EGR cooler bolted to the block and lift the head off, just need to get the changeover valve's vacuum line off.

Turbo oil feed pipe is also a bit fiddly, maybe moreso than the other transverse engines.

If you want more room on the backside, the A5's firewall has a removable section which makes the job easier. You have to take the wiper arms off then the cowl trim off first. Easy.

Depending on the nature of what all you are doing, you can remove the inner timing cover from the timing belt end of the engine to make it more roomy to get off. Or you can leave it in place, but be careful as you can break it if you move the head the wrong way.

I lift the head off with the turbo, intake, EGR valve, all in one chunk.

Thanks so much oilhammer! Burning the midnight oil!

Go ahead and plan on replacing the turbo oil feed. The few I've worked on are seized and twist the tube up.

Did yours come off okay?

oilhammer said:

It is sort of stuffed in a wad on the BRM's engine with lots of little twists and bends mostly in one small area.

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We, here at Meyerhoff, call this the BRM-uda Triangle. Doesn't seem as funny when I type it out like that but it really wasn't very funny in the first place.

banshee365 said:

Go ahead and plan on replacing the turbo oil feed. The few I've worked on are seized and twist the tube up.

Did yours come off okay?

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I've actually never had a BRM line seize up. Happens a lot on other motors. I've been sitting on a replacement BRM oil line for a couple of years. And I do A LOT of BRM turbos.

By the way, why are you pulling the head OP? If possible, it would be wise to run BS011 and get your deltaP. It is likely time for a new turbo anyway. These things melt vanes.

runonbeer said:

We, here at Meyerhoff, call this the BRM-uda Triangle. Doesn't seem as funny when I type it out like that but it really wasn't very funny in the first place.

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I thought it was funny.

I have only ever had one BRM turbo line give me issues. Do not seem nearly as common as the ALH or BEW ones. I think maybe because the orientation of the BRM's turbo puts the oil pipe union way up high and somewhat better protected from the elements?