BimmerFest BMW Forum banner

Operation .5 liters per cylinder.

27K views 342 replies 27 participants last post by  dc_wright 
#1 ·
Okay guys, as most of you know I am planning on rebuilding my engine with the rotating assembly from an M54B30. I'm hoping to start with in the next week so I figured it was build thread time.
So far I have the bottom of an M54B30 with the oil pan off sitting in my living room (hells yes for not having a woman in the house) and I'm about to order Bavauto gasket sets for the top and bottom end of my engine.
If any one has a lead on a set of S50B30 camshafts I would certainly appreciate it if you'd point me their way.
I was toying with the idea of a baby turbo, but I'm poor so that'l have to wait.

Here's a few pics of what's happening so far:

Engine Hoists:

Are for pansies.

Here it is opened up:




Stay tuned for sexy updates.
 
See less See more
3
#153 ·
gotcha. nice to know what things are and how they're spelt.

otherwise, one might think a forge is a cross between a chrysler product and a ford....:angel:

but i digress.....

df
it thought this is what happened when you crossed Ford things with Chrysler things :eek: ...
 

Attachments

#157 ·
So after the badly needed infusion of capital that came in the form of selling my Passat we are back under way.

I'm taking the head off so I can measure the bore and order piston rings, but I have one quick question, how do you get the vanos unit to pop off the cam shaft?. I've unbolted it, but it doesn't want to come off and I'm disinclined to try forcing it. Attached picture is what I'm talking about.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
 

Attachments

#162 ·
:bustingup :bustingup :bustingup

Sent from my Galaxy Tab using BimmerApp
 
#167 ·
So you're going to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and drink sam adams? On my way...
 
#169 ·
mmmm beer...

side note: every time i see the obligatory "standing in the empty engine bay" picture I just lose a little bit of morale when i see the wires and cables everywhere, knowing that hours/days of frustration are in my immediate future.
 
#170 ·
mmmm beer...

side note: every time i see the obligatory "standing in the empty engine bay" picture I just lose a little bit of morale when i see the wires and cables everywhere, knowing that hours/days of frustration are in my immediate future.
If some 16 year old kid with no experience can do an engine swap on an e36, I'm sure you can easily :)

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Bimmer App
 
#172 ·
........ Ken..... you ass hole......

I just realized that all the pictures I took too help remember where stuff goes was on my old phone, which is on the side of a road in E bumblefuk-nowhere'sburg West Virginia.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
 
#174 ·
........ Ken..... you ass hole......

I just realized that all the pictures I took too help remember where stuff goes was on my old phone, which is on the side of a road in E bumblefuk-nowhere'sburg West Virginia.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
:bustingup
 
#173 ·
:rofl:
 
#178 ·
So I should have read through the bently manual more thoroughly because I don't have an E8 torx socket.
Guess I'll just spend the rest of the evening cleaning 20 years of grime off of my vanos unit.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
 
#179 · (Edited)
You should get the lisle torx socket set. Like $15 and it has every E torx bit you will ever need for BMWs.

I have this.

But it looks like there's a better one.
 
#180 ·
So today I've been snowed in so I couldn't acquire the E8 torx socket, but I was bored so I decided too mess around with camshafts

In his oh so detailed write up, Hakentt gave the incredibly helpful information that if you decided to use an M54B30 intake cam you would "need to grind it a bit" I wanted too compare cams to see what the offending extension was, but as I don't own the removal tool had been planning to wait until the head was off so I could secure the valves open and safely remove the cam, but then I thought "well, the resale values of an M50 cam with 1/4 of a million miles on it is probably pretty low" and decided to try loosening it slowly. By loosening the 14 nuts 1/4 turn at a time I was able to remove the cam without cracking it.

Turns out the Vanos gear is 7 or 8 mm longer, but it's not actually milled out of the cam casting, it's threaded in and can probably be removed with a giant F-in torx bit.

Pictures:
top M50TUB25 intake cam, bottom M54B30 intake cam
Difference in Vanos gear.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
 

Attachments

#181 ·
Does any one know how/ if these gears can be removed?, I like the idea of swapping them a lot more than grinding but I don't even know if they're normal or reverse threaded.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Bimmer App
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top