Bought an E46 M3... No regrets (so far).

[Gibbo]

It was only the earlier (up until very early 2003?) E46 M3s that needed the rod bearing recall.

All years still have same bearing wear however and as such beyond 100k miles un-changed is like a ticking bomb, you might get to 150k without incident whereas on the flip side they might fail at 101k.

As such it should be considered as routine every 100k service item on the S54.

 

[Rybo89]

Mrk your car is a ticking timebomb mate.

 

[Amos91]

Ooohhhh Eventuri... bang.

 

[teknokid]

Work has continued on the engine, with a few days off over Christmas/New Year coming in handy.

The cylinder head has been completely stripped, cleaned and valve guide clearances checked (head face to be skimmed still). With the head off, it was also the perfect opportunity to stick the head on a CMM and record all the relevant information required for cam design.

The exhaust valve guides show a little more wear than the inlets (less than half a thousandth of an inch), but all are within tolerance and should be good for a fresh build.

Taking a closer look at the throttle bodies it can be seen where BMW have ported the butterfly and head ends of the casting, but the middle is left as cast. This isn't a massive problem, as the surface roughness in this area is probably quite good pre fuel injection. However, there's obviously a little bit of mis-allignment in the castings as all the throttle bodies have an edge running down the sides.

Inspecting closer there was a few other areas that could be tidied up, so some time was taken (it takes around an hour per body) to blend the surfaces inside. The surfaces were deliberately left a little rough to help build a turbulent layer which should aid fuel/air mixing.

On the development front, things are progressing well towards the new cam. It's quite obvious additional lift won't be possible without changing springs, but considering the valve sizes it's unlikely additional lift will improve flow dramatically (KED Engine #2 pictured).

New cams will be manufactured from scratch, so a full drawing of the shaft itself is required. This is now 99% complete..

Next on the list is to rebuild the Vanos and push on with the cam design!

 

[hurfdurf]

It was only the earlier (up until very early 2003?) E46 M3s that needed the rod bearing recall.

What about Z4M's?

 

[Gibbo]

What about Z4M's?

If it needed the recall it would have being done, though I believe the Z4M was not available until after this time anyway.

The rod bearing can still and do wear out though with time, its just an inherent problem of both the S54 and S65 motors due to the high RPM nature.

I know of a guy with CS which was a 2005 car and his rod bearings failed, well it went like mine, but his started to knock and flicker the red oil light on a track day, he pulled over and as it idled it knocked. Like me he was lucky and no crank damage, he did the shells, bolts and oil change and all was well, his car had done 88,000 miles which is low mileage for this but he'd done a lot of track work.

Unfortunately its about how long is a piece of string, some fail, some do not but if you read various forums, facebook groups its a problem on S54 and S65 that raises its head from time to time and those tracking the cars or keeping them have pretty much made it a service item and those changing them out before failure show considerable wear with some just about starting to show copper. So its certainly a wear and tear thing, but not an official service sheduled item but a manufacturer generally does not put on the service schedule an engine rebuild every xxx amount of miles.

 

[Bunka]

New cams will be manufactured from scratch, so a full drawing of the shaft itself is required. This is now 99% complete..

 

[T0pPredator]

Ahh crap, this was a few days ago..

Still running beautifully! Any symptoms or warning signs for these failures?

 

[Gibbo]

Ahh crap, this was a few days ago..

Still running beautifully! Any symptoms or warning signs for these failures?

No symptoms really and you could be fine for another 50k or more.

First sign is after a long or hard drive, so everything is fully upto temperature and oil thinner due to being hot, at idle the engine will knock from the bottom end and a gentle rev will make it go away. This is the stage where you normally get lucky and just new shells, bolts, gaskets and oil change is needed.

Worse would be red oil light on, very loud knocking even with revs or engine seizure.

As its become quite an issue in the last couple of years as cars getting older and more used for track work, there are now quite a few specialist who are familiar with the problem and can upgrade the shells for you and turn it around in a day. A Reeve Performance, Darren Wood, Evolve are some of the specialist who have all done the job on S54 and S65 engines.

 

[T0pPredator]

I'll make a point of having a listen, thanks for that.
Probably best if I also start making plans to have it done in the coming year..

Any idea how much it will likely set me back?

 

[Gibbo]

I'll make a point of having a listen, thanks for that.
Probably best if I also start making plans to have it done in the coming year..

Any idea how much it will likely set me back?

No idea, I did mine myself and the parts were supplied for free.

Just call up the three specialist for a quote and compare, probably best to time it at the same time as car needing a service.

 

[teknokid]

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past few weeks, progress has continued on the M3 with the cams also edging closer to production.

Anyway, when the engine originally blew on the car the rod smashed a hole through the block and damaged the SMG pump. With the help of Burkhart engineering, parts in need of replacement were identified and ordered. A mornings work later, and the SMG pump is back together and (hopefully) as good as new.

I've also started work on the exhaust ports, hoping to tidy them up a bit and improve the surface finish. It's very time consuming, but after a first pass they're already looking much better!

Next weeks fun... Fitting a new fuel tank & fuel pump assembly.

 

[teknokid]

I've been a little quiet on updates recently, apologies for that! The build has been progressing nicely and yesterday saw the rear subframe removed from the car - it'll be taken back to bare metal and treated before going back under the car.

Anyway, what's happened on the build?

I took some time off work to visit Arrow, who's S54 rods will be finding their way into this build. The quality of their workmanship is just insane! A few pictures from the visit:

I also spent some time wrapping the manifolds in Mishimoto head wrap, which should help to keep heat in the engine bay to a minimum:

It seemed like a shame to shroud the exhaust system with all the BMW aly head shields, so these were promptly put to one side and the paint work protected with some gold heat tape. The engine bay also received a clean and a few patches of surface rust were sanded back and re-painted with hard wearing enamel paint:

The standard oil filter cap seemed like a nice area to make some aesthetic improvements, so I spent some time on CAD designing up some a new billet replacement, which is in production as we speak:

 

[teknokid]

It's been a busy few weeks, with plenty of work happening on the car. The entire rear end of the car is currently in the air to allow for a a new fuel tank and fuel lines to be fitted. All the rear-suspension has been stripped out and will soon be re-painted.

In terms of visual updates, I've had the steering wheel re-trimmed, added some carbon paddles and also got an engine cover to suit:

New pistons also arrived to go with the Arrow rods. Ticked a few upgrade boxes...

Gave the cylinder head and valves a good clean, before lapping them all back in ready for the head to be built back up:

Also had the exhaust hangers anodised, whilst KED oil filter lids are also progressing nicely through production...

Lastly, the crank is currently receiving a full regrind. Upon closer inspection, I found the mains weren't all running true (there was about 0.1 run out). There also appeared to be some fairly serious scoring here too, which didn't polish out as expected. The big ends are also being re-ground due to shell damage to a few of them.

I'm incredibly lucky to work around fantastic machinery and talented people. The chap grinding my crank kindly informed me that there was nearly 0.5mm of variation between big end throws! Not sure if this is all cranks or just mine, but I can't believe one would escape quality control like that. Further investigation will take place on others...

Unlike the majority of crank grinders, the one seen above doesn't just 'follow' the journal that's already there. It offsets the crank then indexes round, which means all of the big ends could be brought closer to optimal alignment.

 

[teknokid]

Once again, apologies for the delay in getting updates written up. Work on the M3 hasn't slowed, with work on building up the engine finally underway...

Firstly though, the rear suspension is finally back together after a few months apart, with everything freshly coated in epoxy mastic which should keep them protected for a while...

Numerous items have been fitted, including Powerflex bushes all round, Powerflex lower arms, new Meyle bearings, 'new' fuel tank and carbon canister delete..

I also took some time off work to visit the guys at Wavetrac europe, which proved to be incredibly insightful. Suffice to say, a diff was duly purchased and will be built up over the next few weeks.

The block has returned from the machine shop, whilst the credit card took a hammering to pool the rest of the parts:

Nice honed finish in the oversize bores!

Cannot praise the quality of the components enough, super impressed with all of the above.

Setting the ring gap - trying to keep them as tight as possible!

Crank has been re-ground and balanced -running oversize BE and Mains shells from Hack Engineering. Balancing was impressive, with the crank 540% over the new, stricter balance factor. Once complete this was just 10% (from 540gmm to just 12gmm).

Pistons ready for fitting...

Crank spins beautifully, with all the mains torqued down using the all important ARP assembly lube.

Rod bolts all stretched to the required 5-5.5 thou limit - I cannot explain how hard it is to do this with a spanner!

Chain guides on, head studs in. Just waiting on chains before the oil pump, sump and front cover can be bolted in place.

And lastly, the head is back together having been skimmed, valves cleaned and lapped, new KED DLC rockers and rocker shafts.

It's finally coming together which is a huge relief - looking forward to pushing this in anger!

 

[teknokid]

It's been a long while since I've updated this - apologies! It's fair to say the builds come a long way...

So that's where we're at now, just waiting on the first set of prototype KED cams before firing into life. With any luck it should crank over for the first time in the next week....

A bit more background on how it's got here:

Engine ready to go in, built up with most of the ancillaries. This was a full scratch build - everything has been stripped, checked and rebuilt.

https://scontent-sjc2-1.cdninstagra...cache_key=MTU2MjI1NjEzOTk3Nzc4MDYwOQ==.2&se=7
Tyres also arrived, which will be wrapped around a set of CSL Reps (I know, sorry!).

Cooling also saw a bit of an overhaul, with a selection of CSF goodies going in. Not only do they look great, but they should help keep the temperatures under control (especially with the increased power output).

With a load of shrouding stripped out the front, the logo's nice a prominent!

Vanos has received a full overhaul with Hack Engineering, along with a polish to give it a real shine.

There's a lot more detail to be had, some of which I'll try and type up in the next few weeks. The only major part missing from the car is the brakes, for which I'll hopefully have a bit more news soon.

Thanks all for the comments and feedback so far. The plan is to get it fired up, mapped and then dyno'd to see what the cams give. There should be some good gains, as we've been fairly aggressive on the design, tailoring it far more towards a full on track car...

 

[T0pPredator]

Looks like its coming together nicely! The vanos made me smile. I've so far resisted the urge to polish mine, despite the potential weight savings. ;D

 

[teknokid]

Looks like its coming together nicely! The vanos made me smile. I've so far resisted the urge to polish mine, despite the potential weight savings. ;D

I’ve read online that polishing adds at least 20hp

 

[Gibbo]

I also spent some time wrapping the manifolds in Mishimoto head wrap, which should help to keep heat in the engine bay to a minimum:

It seemed like a shame to shroud the exhaust system with all the BMW aly head shields, so these were promptly put to one side and the paint work protected with some gold heat tape. The engine bay also received a clean and a few patches of surface rust were sanded back and re-painted with hard wearing enamel paint:

Car is looking awesome mate!

I've still got all the heatshields on my car, would you say there is much weight in the engine bay ones?

Could one wrap the manifolds whilst installed on the car or do they need to come off?

 

[teknokid]

Car is looking awesome mate!

I've still got all the heatshields on my car, would you say there is much weight in the engine bay ones?

Could one wrap the manifolds whilst installed on the car or do they need to come off?

Thank you, it's slowly getting there!

Not much weight in them at all to be honest - I removed them purely for cosmetic reasons. I certainly wouldn't want to wrap the manifolds in the car either. Theoretically it's possible, but you'd want to have hands/arms a lot more flexible than mine!