Saving a S54 From Parting Out.

[tlow98]

You cannot properly correct improper seats/valves by lapping no matter what you see retards doing on YT etc if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone, if not in good condition then you correct them by cutting or grinding first.

yep. This part of my build went straight to someone with experience and more money in tooling than their house. Not that you need that kind of machine, but their reputation was worth it!

[Anri]

if the sealing surfaces are in good condition leave them alone

Digger,

Thanks for your reply.

Even if the surfaces are in good condition the eccentricity needs to be measured
to ensure as close as possible to 0. I always kiss the the seat and the valve to ensure
good seal.

To note, I really never understood why machine shops would also grind the valve Tip
to make up for the removed layer from the valve....? it always made me smile.

I leave the valve tips alone and the valve adjustment will receive shims which are
1 size down.


Regards,
Anri.

[digger]

Digger,

Thanks for your reply.

Even if the surfaces are in good condition the eccentricity needs to be measured
to ensure as close as possible to 0. I always kiss the the seat and the valve to ensure
good seal.

To note, I really never understood why machine shops would also grind the valve Tip
to make up for the removed layer from the valve....? it always made me smile.

I leave the valve tips alone and the valve adjustment will receive shims which are
1 size down.


Regards,
Anri.

yeah it depends why the head is off, if it is for a legit refresh id always insist on renewing plus also there are better VJ that can be done if building a higher performance engine but if its off because the headgasket and its more of a cleanup/inspection with low mileage since being refreshed then i would let sleeping dogs lie

On the s54 it doesn't matter so much having the tips protruding the same as the lash caps will take up the rest. on other engines its best to have the protrusion the same but if the valves are same and the seats are cut the same depth from the deck it should be pretty close unless the as manufactured dimensions were a bit off or its been refreshed before and was twisted and rather than straightening first then machining the deck the previous machinist just cut the deck

[Anri]

yeah it depends why the head is off, if it is for a legit refresh id always insist on renewing plus also there are better VJ that can be done if building a higher performance engine but if its off because the headgasket and its more of a cleanup/inspection with low mileage since being refreshed then i would let sleeping dogs lie

On the s54 it doesn't matter so much having the tips protruding the same as the lash caps will take up the rest. on other engines its best to have the protrusion the same but if the valves are same and the seats are cut the same depth from the deck it should be pretty close unless the as manufactured dimensions were a bit off or its been refreshed before and was twisted and rather than straightening first then machining the deck the previous machinist just cut the deck

Digger,


The single point I was making it is bloody amount of effort to cut around
~thou from the valve tips to correct the valve re-surface loss of material.

Shims(not lash cap) will be 1 size smaller on all 24v

Absolutely un-necessary step.

Regards,
Anri

[kittenpura]

Hello Anri, I am new to this forum and I cannot send you a private message regarding another "save from part out" job for my s54. Is this of interest to you? Thanks in advance

[Theraqa]

Damn Anri, keep up the good work man, im absolutely in love with this thread, gaining lots of information and motivating me for my first DIY S54 build, for past few months i have been slowly gathering parts of the S54 engine to start building it, only thing i don't have is block itself, but hopefully ill find it soon, i have got crank which has some marks which are not deep but would like to remove so i will be polishing it to "mirror finish".
My good old friend gave me many S54 parts including this cylinder head, which has some damage on water/coolant jackets, i guess for using bad coolant...
Anyways, i was told that you can fill those damaged areas with welds and then resurface, im a bit skeptical about this and that's why would like to know your professional opinion on this, i know its not ideal but its what i got and if it will work i would like to use it.
Also after you mentioned that you coat pistons with special coatings i did bit research, as i did not know anything about this and asked around in my area and found a guy who is coating piston skirts in teflon, in house and he charges 10$ per piston and thats cheap i guess, so i wanted to give it a go, but my concern is teflon coating it self, i know you coat your pistons with different material than this, but after coating the skirts as long as piston to wall clearance wont be too tight it should be fine right?

[TexaZ3]

Fantastic work once again.

[Anri]

Damn Anri, keep up the good work man, im absolutely in love with this thread, gaining lots of information and motivating me for my first DIY S54 build, for past few months i have been slowly gathering parts of the S54 engine to start building it, only thing i don't have is block itself, but hopefully ill find it soon, i have got crank which has some marks which are not deep but would like to remove so i will be polishing it to "mirror finish".
My good old friend gave me many S54 parts including this cylinder head, which has some damage on water/coolant jackets, i guess for using bad coolant...
Anyways, i was told that you can fill those damaged areas with welds and then resurface, im a bit skeptical about this and that's why would like to know your professional opinion on this, i know its not ideal but its what i got and if it will work i would like to use it.
Also after you mentioned that you coat pistons with special coatings i did bit research, as i did not know anything about this and asked around in my area and found a guy who is coating piston skirts in teflon, in house and he charges 10$ per piston and thats cheap i guess, so i wanted to give it a go, but my concern is teflon coating it self, i know you coat your pistons with different material than this, but after coating the skirts as long as piston to wall clearance wont be too tight it should be fine right?

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I use Graphite or Molybdenum its called. Teflon is also good but the moly
is my choice. From the factory the S54 are coated with Graphite which
is the same thing. Many companies will call it differently for marketing
purposes...
The beauty is that it will form between the piston skirt and the bore.
Remember nothing in the world is absolute perfect I mean nothing,
so do the pistons to cylinder wall under work out. The moly will form to
and it will ware out exactly as needed.

The trick when spray is not be too thick as it will cover the factory S54 oil
retention groves/lines design, its part of understanding the engineering
behind. For example line2line is good but they spray all out and it covers
those groves..

I have seen pistons from all manufactures up until today I have never seen
single one to match the deep skirt oil retention groves on the Factory S54
pistons!!!!!!! that is one reason why you will neeeever ever see them score
!!!!! Bore is smooth and the skirt is the one to retain oil and that is why S54
pistons at 300k miles on healthy and good maintained engine with regular
oil changes look like new. Tell your local source to spray them in Moly instead
of Teflon.

$10 does not sound right. why ? The preparation is the most important
otherwise you are waisting time and energy and if I describe the process you
will understand why 10 bucks is not realistic quote. If you have hard time to
find local source to do it properly, sent me PM.

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Gents,

Along with S54s, parallel I am working as well on rebuilding highend S38 engine with cams,
stand alone etc...

I wanted to share in quick, I went crazy with the valve seat work. I did hi flow valve angels
and the Eccentricity to 0 I am after all out proper sealing

https://www.instagram.com/p/CvLfF3wgb7Y/

Regards,
Anri

[Theraqa]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

I use Graphite or Molybdenum its called. Teflon is also good but the moly
is my choice. From the factory the S54 are coated with Graphite which
is the same thing. Many companies will call it differently for marketing
purposes...
The beauty is that it will form between the piston skirt and the bore.
Remember nothing in the world is absolute perfect I mean nothing,
so do the pistons to cylinder wall under work out. The moly will form to
and it will ware out exactly as needed.

The trick when spray is not be too thick as it will cover the factory S54 oil
retention groves/lines design, its part of understanding the engineering
behind. For example line2line is good but they spray all out and it covers
those groves..

I have seen pistons from all manufactures up until today I have never seen
single one to match the deep skirt oil retention groves on the Factory S54
pistons!!!!!!! that is one reason why you will neeeever ever see them score
!!!!! Bore is smooth and the skirt is the one to retain oil and that is why S54
pistons at 300k miles on healthy and good maintained engine with regular
oil changes look like new. Tell your local source to spray them in Moly instead
of Teflon.

$10 does not sound right. why ? The preparation is the most important
otherwise you are waisting time and energy and if I describe the process you
will understand why 10 bucks is not realistic quote. If you have hard time to
find local source to do it properly, sent me PM.

Regards,
Anri

Thanks for reply Anri
Yeah 10$ per piston seems to good to be true especially because to coat properly i know that it needs sand blasting, cleaning, baking etc, but i haven't spoke to guy yet so i have to confirm his method, if its legit or not, i dont want those coatings to flake off and float around in my engine lol. Anyways ill ask local engine builders and some people i know if they ever used his service and then ill decide carefully.
I would use your service but unfortunately i don't live in US so thats kinda making things harder.
Also what about cylinder head question that i asked you, i showed that cylinder head to my local engine builder who builds high performance NA M5X and M6X strokers and he said it should fine as long there are no crack in head, he also suggested me to pressure test the head before fixing it, just to make sure everything.

[Anri]

Also what about cylinder head question that i asked you, i showed that cylinder head to my local engine builder who builds high performance NA M5X and M6X strokers and he said it should fine as long there are no crack in head, he also suggested me to pressure test the head before fixing it, just to make sure everything.

Hi,

It's up to you. Sometimes you will find quality welding and the time one spends
on performing quality head repair can reach the price of used in great condition
then why bother to repair it ?

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Before assembling valve springs, retainers, spring pads,
I ultrasonic clean those to make sure they are all clean and free of sludge.
The springs tend to collect sludge from inside the wire not visible to naked
eye and if not clean they will contaminate the new valve stem seals..

(When I was in the market of purchasing valve spring tester I tried every tester
on the market. Digital with the software, the big-blue, the manual digital
(similar to the big blue). After I tested them using the same spring the
numbers and results were all the same. I decided to go with the Big-Blue
as it is rock reliable accurate and not relaying on any sort of potential failures
from the sensor/s.)

Ones the springs are all clean I perform test at installed height and peak
lift to see if any spring fatigue in the rates may be seen.

Moving ahead.

Regards
Anri

[Anri]

The proper way to torque the damper to the crank is via using the
locking tool so that way the crank will not get twisted. Every gen.
BMW inline 6 has its own tool.

ARP hi torque grease is used to torque the M12x1.5x110mm.
These torque so much better than just using std oil...very important
is to put some under the torx-head...

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Moving on installing the cylinder head.

It is critically important to install the cylinder head bolts as will call it "Dry" what does it mean?
BMW says lube light the bolts and install, if done this way the oil will come out from the threads
while the bolt is torqued and that is not good to have oil around...the multi layer gasket or
even any gasket.

What I do its a bit of procedure, I use ARP on the bolt thread and then screw them on the block
all the way in, what ever extra comes out I wipe out. Done this way between the bolt thread and
the block thread there is just the right amount. It Is also important to use very little on the washers.
The factory bolts with ARP torque wonderfully. Much better than using using just oil.

I am not using ARP studs. This is one large nonsense for NA engines....it's more marketing thing
to keep the parts industry going. DTM S14 engines were running 140hp/l on std road going bolts..
and highly doubt the P54 was on ARP studs...On Boost its different story.

The std bolts are designed to work as a spring without distorting the cylinder head under
heat cycles.

Regards,
Anri

[Anri]

Cylinder head gasket:

Well, after removing ~0.55mm from the deck height
the stock gasket will not work for sure.

I ordered MLS Cometic, I was not sure why I thought that
they were made differently for each engine and make..

In the Cometic casket design I don't like 2 things......
I made a quick call to Cometic and started asking question
in regards of my concerns and I kept having the same answer
over and over again which was "we never had any problems..."

I was on a cross road to make a decision either risk it or go
with something I feel more comfortable to use.

MLS/Cometic was dropped from the list.

So the choice of mine will remain Proprietary for now.


Regards,
Anri.