S54 Engine Rebuild questions and journey

[Darbshaw]

Little update, engine is pulled and the next step in the process starts! excited to get this thing torn down and to the machine shop.
Head should be done this week as well, some slight corrosion damage on the inside of cylinder 2 but the guys at the shop don’t suspect it will cause much an issue at all.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Okay so I will most definitely be getting my rods machined once I get the ARP bolts. I’ve already come to terms as well with the rod bearings being a consumable, so ACL is the way to go for the price. I’d have to replace mine 3 times or so to take advantage of fcp’s discount.

Maybe I’ll decide to go with uncoated mains and just stick with true oem. I was looking at the TIS manual for this and there was stuff about the gap measure and different color coded bearings for clearance purposes.
Although you can just buy a set of main bearings and says nothing about clearances or color coding. So is it safe to assume that this is nothing to worry about?

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”

Thanks for the heads up on the mahle rings! I actually found some through an eBay vendor sized for the s54 and they’re only like $175. Any idea what the pricing would be straight from mahle themselves??

Again, sorry for the delay and the multiple posts. Formatting is tough on the phone. I have been busy the past couple weekends with life and haven’t been able to give the M much love. I really do appreciate all of your contributions!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Sorry for the delay guys!! Life’s been super busy and I finally had a day off midweek because I have to work the weekend.

I got my head dropped off at the machine shop yesterday with new valve stem seals! Very excited to get that back and semi reassembled to have it out of the way.
I was also able to get the front all torn off and everything disconnected minus the transmission wiring harness and she’s almost ready to come out!! Good excitement finally, just waiting on being able to rent a cherry picker to get her pulled.

This is going to be my first time building an engine as well so it’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. A lot to learn and a lot of questions 😁


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

Could you expand on what you meant by "mid-range RPM rattling"? Was this a noise you noticed in the exhaust note? Or was the engine itself rattling/shaking during the mid-range? Currently suspecting a blown HG on my M3

So if you’ve ever cleaned your icv the sound that it should make is something to what a cleaned icv sounded like. I noticed this between 2-3k rpm ish range, high gear and like quarter throttle.

I really really do suggest from my experience now, if you’re suspecting a blown hg spend the $40 to buy a compression tester from autozone. (The tented one for me didn’t have the right adapter) I’ll link my old thread for the plinking when I get home today!

Sorry on the long response, life’s been busy lately


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Syfon]

Re-sizing isn't exactly what it ends up being, more of "make the hole round again" as ARP will turn it into a slight egg. 03+ rod bolts seem to have more clamping than ARP and will actually work the other way.
Mix-matching internal engine components isn't bad, but things do need to be weight matched and the rotating assembly balanced any time you do. Though all the S54 parts that I've measured always come out on-point right away.

Yup, the machine shop weight matched the replacement rod & balanced the rotating assembly!

This is my first time assembling a motor, so there a lot for me to learn!

[Pavlo]

Re-sizing isn't exactly what it ends up being, more of "make the hole round again" as ARP will turn it into a slight egg. 03+ rod bolts seem to have more clamping than ARP and will actually work the other way.
Mix-matching internal engine components isn't bad, but things do need to be weight matched and the rotating assembly balanced any time you do. Though all the S54 parts that I've measured always come out on-point right away.

Stock main bearings are plenty good for the engine and never really have any problems. I personally run ACL race for the rods, in part because they have a copper layer and will be easy to keep up with using oil analysis, and in part because they are also fairly soft and have a tendency to not eat your crank up as they begin to fail. Race bearings in general are soft and will wear quicker, but they are easy on the crank. S54 will always go through bearings (despite what people may tell you), there is no magic way to defy physics.

As for piston rings, Mahle is who makes the stock pistons and they will sell you the correct rings for them, just measure your stock ones and order from them.

If you need any parts, I have plenty of extra rods/pistons/pumps... Let me know if you can't find something you need.

One more thing: if you have mid range rattle noises you may have a poorly matched flywheel weight. My old S54 rattled a rod bolt out with an E36 M3 14lb flywheel +pressure plate combo (had the rattle), current setup I switched to the JB racing Grand-Am spec 20lb part and its been doing great.

[Syfon]

Good deal. I’d recommend getting the rod big ends honed if going to ARP. They have a lot more clamping force so you want to make sure the ends stay concentric after applying full torque. If I remember correctly it’s not that expensive. I want to say < $100.

My machine shop told me, due to the s54's connecting rods being of a cracked design, they can not be re-sized. The shop owner was making reference to the one rod which had the spun bearing. As far as I understand, this applies to s54 rods in general (regardless of whether that particular rod has a spun bearing or not).

I replaced rod #3 with a used item from an lci variant. I did not have any machine work done to the rods/pistons. Just had everything cleaned and decontaminated.

I am using ARP rod bolts. FYI, if you're m3 is post February 2003 build, ARP rod bolts are the same for Euro spec S50B30 / S50B32 & S54B32.

[Triqzy]

So in my previous post, I found that my head gasket was blown due to the mid-range rpm rattling. I was able to get my head pulled today to find a completely demolished head gasket and a toasted piston on cylinder 2 and a couple of pistons that are pretty porous looking. This now leads me to a rebuild in mind. I am gonna cap off my previous post as this title fits the current issue better now and we'll start the journey now! //Please keep in mind this is all completely new to me, I grew up racing quads but my dad did the building and I didn't retain much from that time. So A LOT of stupid questions will be coming.

The current mileage is 164k

My current plan for my M3 is to eventually supercharge it and probably sit around 400-500 wheel. Tbh I like the idea of the non-intercooled supercharger kit with the ability to add the intercooler should I desire some more power. I am already planning to do an MLS head gasket while I'm here just to bulletproof its boosted future.

My questions come in regards to the bottom end of the engine. The cylinder walls look in fairly good shape and no obvious and apparent damage to anything besides the melted and porous bits of pistons. Since I am going to be getting new pistons, rings, etc, I plan to get the cylinder bore honed to get a truly fresh start back to it. New aftermarket pistons will run me roughly $1400 for just the head itself, let alone the connecting rods if I cannot reuse the current ones. I can fetch cleaned and used OEM pistons with conrods for roughly $300 shipped to my door. I read earlier that the weak point of these engines when power hunting is the rods and head gasket but they are good up to roughly 600 or so which I truly don't see myself ever chasing from this car/engine.

Would I run into any issues with a rehoned bore and running stock pistons and that stock diameter? Obviously the process to hone it takes away the material and would mean the ring gap would increase. Does anyone know how much is acceptable for these engines? Or if this is even a possible approach? Or does wanting/needing the engine honed pretty much ruin my chances to run the stock pistons and rods to save some money.

Last bit to start, is there even any real benefit to running new aftermarket pistons? Minus obviously being brand new but like power or efficiency gain? Or is it really only recommended for those true high boost high HP setups?

Thank you for everyone that is going to contribute or tag along for the ride! I may not respond to everyone's posts all the time but I do appreciate you all. As of right now, I am a little sad but really optimistic and excited about the journey ahead of me. If anyone is on this forum is around the Charleston/Huntington WV area and wants to tag along with a helping hand in person I wouldn't mind meeting a new friend along the way. I'm going to be doing all of this out of my decently small one-car garage on jack stands so it'll be a fun time.

Folder with pictures of the parts post teardown: https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...IN?usp=sharing (Hopefully it will give you guys access to the whole folder)

Could you expand on what you meant by "mid-range RPM rattling"? Was this a noise you noticed in the exhaust note? Or was the engine itself rattling/shaking during the mid-range? Currently suspecting a blown HG on my M3

[SliM3]

I’ve priced it out as of right now for using ARP bolts either way. Figure I’ll go with this and head studs for just a little extra piece of mind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good deal. I’d recommend getting the rod big ends honed if going to ARP. They have a lot more clamping force so you want to make sure the ends stay concentric after applying full torque. If I remember correctly it’s not that expensive. I want to say < $100.

[Darbshaw]

One other item worth considering is a fresh set of rod bolts.

I’ve priced it out as of right now for using ARP bolts either way. Figure I’ll go with this and head studs for just a little extra piece of mind.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SliM3]

One other item worth considering is a fresh set of rod bolts.

[Darbshaw]

NPR (Nippon Piston Ring Co.) are the OE piston ring manufacturer for many many motor vehicle companies. They manufacture millions of sets of rings every year. I purchased these exact rings from Hack Engineering. Have already received and installed them on the oe pistons.

The rings look good straight out of the box. I mean, I don't exactly work with engines every day so it's not like I see piston rings all day lol but compared to the oe rings, they are the exact size/shape and have the same chamfer.

Make sure you orient the rings correctly! https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...s-pins/CQzlDQe

FYI, I'm doing a full rebuild on my s54. Spun bearing, machined crank, new oversize main & rod bearings, cams, airbox and refreshing literally everything else.

Have a read if you like! https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...hweel-and-more

I’ll definitely give it a follow once I’m off my phone, I think it’s breaking the link.

I may go the oem route for the pistons and rods then. Sadly I just missed a heck of a deal on eBay for 6 already cleaned and good to go. Just needing rings.

I think i May save the after market pistons and rods for if I really decide to go power hungry on the car. Although I don’t see me ever searching for more than 400-500 wheel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Syfon]

Alright so I was able to find npr rings for the engine. A full set on eBay and then a set on back order for hackengeneering.co.uk these are both going to run roughly $250 which is justifiable for the cost.
I also read about Hastings piston rings but these seem to be something that I would have to size out as it seems that don’t make specifically sized ones for our engines.

Any reviews on npr for their rings or anyone who purchased these rings? I know Hastings is a tried and true trusted brand. Just a matter of finding the proper size for those


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NPR (Nippon Piston Ring Co.) are the OE piston ring manufacturer for many many motor vehicle companies. They manufacture millions of sets of rings every year. I purchased these exact rings from Hack Engineering. Have already received and installed them on the oe pistons.

The rings look good straight out of the box. I mean, I don't exactly work with engines every day so it's not like I see piston rings all day lol but compared to the oe rings, they are the exact size/shape and have the same chamfer.

Make sure you orient the rings correctly! https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...s-pins/CQzlDQe

FYI, I'm doing a full rebuild on my s54. Spun bearing, machined crank, new oversize main & rod bearings, cams, airbox and refreshing literally everything else.

Have a read if you like! https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...hweel-and-more

[Darbshaw]

Alright so I was able to find npr rings for the engine. A full set on eBay and then a set on back order for hackengeneering.co.uk these are both going to run roughly $250 which is justifiable for the cost.
I also read about Hastings piston rings but these seem to be something that I would have to size out as it seems that don’t make specifically sized ones for our engines.

Any reviews on npr for their rings or anyone who purchased these rings? I know Hastings is a tried and true trusted brand. Just a matter of finding the proper size for those


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Darbshaw]

As long as you get new rings you'll be good. Used rings do not play nice with a fresh hone. Contrary to popular belief honing does not remove significant amounts of material; It only affects the surface of the bore (cross hatching) and should have no bearing on ring gaps.





Not really, unless you're looking to change CR or run higher lift cams that need additional valve relief.

[/QUOTE]

Okay I’m glad to hear some additional response on this question. Do you know of any better options than oem for the piston rings?

Oem rings run for about $150/piston where that evens out to about the cost of just a whole forged piston set with everything included. (Weisco, JE)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk