S54 Engine Rebuild questions and journey

[digger]

Any reasoning to this digger? I don’t have much of an issue spending the extra cost of it comes to it but I’m not just really in the market of spending more to spend more. I’ve been in the process of cleaning and inspecting the stock rods and I haven’t seen anything to cause an issue to warrant a replacement.

These rods are the weak point at like 600 wheel or so. Although that’s not my plan as of now with this car. If I decided to go that route I’d need/want to reopen the engine anyways.

I just was seeing if there was any real justification to spending that extra money besides it being a “peace of mind” or a “while you’re there” type thing.


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They come with reusable ARP bolts and big ends are properly sized with the those bolts, better margin against tuning issues etc, iirc its not a stock rebuild

[Darbshaw]

Any reasoning to this digger? I don’t have much of an issue spending the extra cost of it comes to it but I’m not just really in the market of spending more to spend more. I’ve been in the process of cleaning and inspecting the stock rods and I haven’t seen anything to cause an issue to warrant a replacement.

These rods are the weak point at like 600 wheel or so. Although that’s not my plan as of now with this car. If I decided to go that route I’d need/want to reopen the engine anyways.

I just was seeing if there was any real justification to spending that extra money besides it being a “peace of mind” or a “while you’re there” type thing.


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[digger]

i'd get a set from Mahle MS 4032 alloy pistons and get a nice middle of the road $$$ wise rod like ZRP I-beam or Molnar H-beam

[Darbshaw]

looking at that piston that came out, and seeing the wear on the skirt where it looks like there's some kind of anti-wear coating/plating, and having just dove into the M96/97 bore score issues.......do the Wiseco or other aftermarket pistons come with an anti-wear treatment on the skirts?

To my understanding the wiseco pistons do come with skirt coating. Compared to the je pistons which appear to be bare

Edit: Took the time to run through Wiseco’s parts catalog. These fall under their sport compact series, which have the Armor Glide skirt coating.


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[tnord]

looking at that piston that came out, and seeing the wear on the skirt where it looks like there's some kind of anti-wear coating/plating, and having just dove into the M96/97 bore score issues.......do the Wiseco or other aftermarket pistons come with an anti-wear treatment on the skirts?

[Darbshaw]

I dropped the block and crank off to the shop yesterday as well. Shop recommended a oversize so we’re going to take a step up to 87.5mm. Trying to find a torque plate to rent. Found a fella on Facebook off an e36 page but his is only 87mm so trying to work a deal there do get his expanded. Hopefully that will be a cheaper route.

As for pistons I’m currently set on the weisco 11.5:1 CR found a really good deal on them online and I’m just waiting to pull the trigger.

Really tossing back and forth the idea of needing new rods, or just reusing my old ones. With my current goals I wouldn’t need new rods and could stay in a safe range for the engine.

My reasoning here is because if I ever were do go super power hungry I would need/want lower compression pistons and then at that point I’m planning to replace the rods anyways. I’m set on arp studs either way.

Any input on the rod debate? I understand it’s a while you’re there type thing, but with my above reasoning is it really worth justifying a 25-30% price increase over the entire build?

Thanks again guys!!!


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[Darbshaw]

that ring land where the crack is is shiny.....is it protruding and did it score the bore in that position?

those bearings look good. i need to replace mine, maybe this winter, and that's a pretty strong endorsement.

From what I can tell there was no significant scoring into the bores. Although you can most definitely tell the piston was spreading out and making contact at the crack. The top ring maintained its shape and position up until it was removed from the block. Broke into 3 the second it cleared it.

Honestly I think this was a very good endorsement for the longevity of the rod bearings. Although my current mindset is to go with the ACL bearings due to the lower cost and no real escaping the rod bearing issue. Since they’re going to need to be replaced anyways, I just can’t really justify an additional 500% price hike for a wear item like that.
Maybe I lose an additional 20k miles on life but that’s justifiable IMHO.


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[e46mpwrd]

Good to see WPC treated bearings last. I thought I read somewhere, someone had experienced more wear and was not impressed. Good to see them proven though. I have a set I have been holding on to since the M3Forum GB that will go in during my rebuild.

[tnord]

that ring land where the crack is is shiny.....is it protruding and did it score the bore in that position?

those bearings look good. i need to replace mine, maybe this winter, and that's a pretty strong endorsement.

[Darbshaw]

Also, cylinder 2 was my previous problem piston and showed the most damage. All in all very happy I went to check the head gasket when I did. Cylinder 2’s compression ring was shattered on removal, along with a pretty heavy crack in the piston.

Also I’ve been uploading all the pics to the google driver fold I shared at the opening post


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[Darbshaw]

Also if anyone was curious what the wpc treated rod bearings look like at roughly 50k miles here ya go

Honestly pretty happy with how these look. I dunno if I would personally run these over the price difference in ACL bearings but an impressive result nonetheless




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[Darbshaw]

You just reminded me, I need to clean my timing case cover too. Still has grease and shit all over it!

I'm hoping to get the timing chain/guides/case cover on soon, along with the head, cams, vanos and time everything.

Life just gets in the way sometimes.

Trust me I totally understand with life getting in the way. I have to work this weekend so I have tomorrow off and decided to use the night to tear down the engine.
Picking up the head tomorrow and swapping them with the block and crank. Fingers crossed they can get away with just honing the engine and we’ll be making some great steps. If they do have to bore it out, just going to slow the process.


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[Syfon]

Thanks man I’m excited now that I’m actually making some progress.

Oh the cleaning has already commenced, I got some degreaser and brushes and have been going to town as I pull components off or while some are still on. My timing cover itself had such a thick layer of crud it was a little nasty. Kinda forgot that it’s supposed to be that aluminum color.

You just reminded me, I need to clean my timing case cover too. Still has grease and shit all over it!

I'm hoping to get the timing chain/guides/case cover on soon, along with the head, cams, vanos and time everything.

Life just gets in the way sometimes.

[Darbshaw]

I can't remember if the main bolts are one time use (I'm pretty sure they are, check the relevant TIS document). I replaced all 14 main bolts.

Make sure you replace the head bolts too.

Great work on getting the motor pulled! Now go full anal and clean every single component including the entire bay! I slowly worked through my engine bay and degreased/scrubbed everything. I then scrubbed every engine component. It will be nice when it's all back together and it's literally clean just like it came from the factory

Thanks man I’m excited now that I’m actually making some progress.

Oh the cleaning has already commenced, I got some degreaser and brushes and have been going to town as I pull components off or while some are still on. My timing cover itself had such a thick layer of crud it was a little nasty. Kinda forgot that it’s supposed to be that aluminum color.


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[Syfon]

Along with that are the main bolts one time use stretches as well? I didn’t even think about this and budget them in but they don’t seem “too pricey”

I can't remember if the main bolts are one time use (I'm pretty sure they are, check the relevant TIS document). I replaced all 14 main bolts.

Make sure you replace the head bolts too.

Great work on getting the motor pulled! Now go full anal and clean every single component including the entire bay! I slowly worked through my engine bay and degreased/scrubbed everything. I then scrubbed every engine component. It will be nice when it's all back together and it's literally clean just like it came from the factory