New to me M3, sparkly oil, looking for impressions

[Pklauser]

How did you go about sealing the interface to the cyl head? I cleaned mine thoroughly and used some gasket maker in there. Hoping it holds up!

Same exact thing here! Fingers crossed there, as well as the sides of the cover!

[cobra]

Same exact thing here! Fingers crossed there, as well as the sides of the cover!

The sides should get new gaskets. Or... old gaskets plus sealant? Haha!

[Pklauser]

The sides should get new gaskets. Or... old gaskets plus sealant? Haha!

Yep, I used new ones, but I'll never not be nervous when working with a hard-to-access gasket.

[Pklauser]

Alright, I ended up having to make a tool as well to effectively get this seal in. May not be as legit as cobra 's, but with a label like this, you know it's the real deal:


Shoutout to heinzboehmer , I believe it was his build journal that showed a similar tool.

Used the plastic cup method to get it started. Left the plastic cup in place while I tapped the perimeter of the seal in as far as I could, then removed the cup and used my wood tool to get it the rest of the way in:



Again, not totally convinced I didn't heck something up, but it looks good and I believe in iterations, we'll call this iteration 1, and now I have the tool if I need to come back for iteration 2.

[cobra]

You did it!!! Looks like it went in great.

[Pklauser]

Happy Friday y'all



Getting into the fun of it now, and have a question. Looking at the crank, I can't help but notice that the counterweights of the crank are blue for cylinder 1 🤔
My initial thought was: I'm fucked, but the rod cap isn't blue, and the bearing/journal look fine.









Doing some reading online it sounds like this could just be a result of the manufacturing process? Couldn't find anything specific to S54s, but other motors apparently have similar phenomena. It's not pictured, but it's blue all the way to the other side of the counterweight, something I don't think would be possible from a failed bearing or something in this crank's past.

So yea, other than that question, I'm pretty much stuck right now since I don't have the rod bolts, with this engine not being original to this car I didn't know if it was going to have the reusable ones or not, and apparently it does not.

These bearings were allegedly done ~7K ago, looking at them here, do any expert eyes want to weigh in on if they think that's true? They look minimally worn to me, but what do I know. Part of me thinks I should still replace them all since I'm here, but the other part of me is thinking if the PO didn't lie to me...why replace these.

[Slideways]

The crank is treated from factory which gives it that blue color. The bearing looks new, but you might want to take a look at the rod side. If they look new, IMO don't see a good reason to throw away parts.

[Pklauser]

The crank is treated from factory which gives it that blue color. The bearing looks new, but you might want to take a look at the rod side. If they look new, IMO don't see a good reason to throw away parts.

Cool, that lines up with what I'd read elsewhere. I attached a picture where you can see the rod side of the shell. I guess my one concern is that I don't know what bearings got used, and if I'm going to pull off all the caps to check wear...I feel like I may as well put on OE bearings for the peace of mind. Of course now I'm into "oh I should probably plastigauge too"...the "while I'm in there" doesn't end.

[cobra]

-The blue is normal
-That bearing looks damn near brand new.
-I wouldn't recommend plasti-gauging. I did it on mine and then realized I couldn't do anything about it even if it was slightly off. If you do decide to do it, make sure you put a super thin layer of oil on the bearing when setting the plastic thing on there or it will stick and be a REAL bitch to scrape off. As long as you don't have oil behind the bearing shell, your measurement will be right.

Word of warning. Be EXTREMELY careful with that oil pump chain tensioner. Damn things are so brittle.

[Slideways]

Cool, that lines up with what I'd read elsewhere. I attached a picture where you can see the rod side of the shell. I guess my one concern is that I don't know what bearings got used, and if I'm going to pull off all the caps to check wear...I feel like I may as well put on OE bearings for the peace of mind. Of course now I'm into "oh I should probably plastigauge too"...the "while I'm in there" doesn't end.

Those look like OE bearings based on the color and top layer. Part number is on the back of the bearing, but those look like OE.

[jet_dogg]

-The blue is normal
-That bearing looks damn near brand new.
-I wouldn't recommend plasti-gauging. I did it on mine and then realized I couldn't do anything about it even if it was slightly off. If you do decide to do it, make sure you put a super thin layer of oil on the bearing when setting the plastic thing on there or it will stick and be a REAL bitch to scrape off. As long as you don't have oil behind the bearing shell, your measurement will be right.

Word of warning. Be EXTREMELY careful with that oil pump chain tensioner. Damn things are so brittle.

You didn't replace the tensioner while you were in there? Still probably the original one asking for trouble.

[cobra]

You didn't replace the tensioner while you were in there? Still probably the original one asking for trouble.

I replaced mine. I am not sure if OP replaced his.

[Pklauser]

Those look like OE bearings based on the color and top layer. Part number is on the back of the bearing, but those look like OE.

Yea pulled the one out of the shell and you're right, numbers line up.

I did notice once I was looking at it again this morning that it's got a little nick on one side that didn't show in the pictures yesterday. Not sure if that was installation error or what. I'll make the call tomorrow since that's when I'll order parts, but I'm leaning towards replacing all of them for the peace of mind. I don't think it makes sense to deal with the M10 torque sequence to check them all if I'm not going to replace them all.

[Pklauser]

It doesn't end...Alright so ordered all new OE rod bearings from FCP. I wasn't thrilled with how they were packed, and one had a damaged box, so I wanted to double check their condition. A number of them have some scrapes, or downright chips I can feel with my finger. Am I wrong for expecting perfection in rod bearings? Frustrating.





What are people's thoughts for the marks that are more like rub marks, should I be concerned about those as well, or is that just in some layer that gets wiped off after first start anyway?

[cobra]

The outermost layer is a dry lubricant that can practically rub off on your fingers. It's to add additional lubrication on that initial start-up to prevent wearing out the layers beneath. I think it's a dusting of molybdenum disulfide or something.

The way these are made and transported on conveyors they get little marks like you're seeing and it's normal. I bet even the plastic bag can cause some weird looking marks.

Dents/nick/scratched you can FEEL with your fingernail are NOT acceptable. In all likelihood they will get flattened out immediately into the soft underlayer, but you paid good money for these they shouldn't have gouges.

Based on your pics I only see 1 worth returning. In reality I bet they would all work just fine.

FWIW I purchased all my bearings on their own separate order so that they would be shipped in their own box. I had 2 shipments now from FCP with damaged items because they were banging around loosely in the box. They put some big heavy things in the same box as some delicate things. Kind of a PITA, but they will replace them and ship them quickly too. Good luck.