What's going on in my shop currently...

[George Hill]

Next we had Mike's Spec E46 car come in, it had kicked a connecting rod out at CoTA a few months prior and we had been looking for a good "budget" replacement engine.








I don't trust a M54 (or many engines for that matter) that I can't hear run so we sourced a 330 auto convertible and parted it out for it's heart and then did the normal maintenance you would do on an M54 engine.








The GSR oil pump had eaten some metal and we felt it should be addressed, most of the parts were ok, but the housing needed to be replaced. To use the GSR parts the oil pump housing has to be modified, unfortunately we couldn't get the specs on the modification but with a little trial and error and reverse engineering we got if figured out.






Unfortunately the owner decided that he needed to refocus his hobbies and had to let the car go, but the car quickly sold and is somewhere in the NE now and hopefully battling it out with the huge SE46 field those races attract.




After that we had Scott in with his M3 and when it was all said and done we had done the "big 3." Previously you saw the documentation on the bent cam sensor gear, now this is the rest of the project.

The entire rear was pulled apart, this is 99% of everthing from the transmission backwards comes out of the car. The bottomside of the chassis is power washed, cleaned and inspected. All areas of concern are identified and addressed. CMP Auto Engineering plates are welded in, seam sealed and painted (the color looks off, but in person the match is very close to OE and with everything assembled I don't think most would notice).






The rear suspension was completely refreshed as well.




Moving on to the engine bay new rod bearings installed and at 175k if these were original they were in fantastic shape! Along with that we a new oil level sensor, thermostat (and housing), tensioner, engine mounts and stainless steel brake lines.








The oil pump was disassembled, inspected and cleaned.






And to add to the list of cars with front struts assembled this car at least had the correct bumpstops, but they were installed upside down.

[tlow98]

I applaud getting creative with the m5 shadow line. Every person on insta that complained has never tried removing that trim. For a crusher car who cares.

[Andy2424]

top class

[George Hill]

***Lots of videos in this post, so click the pic and it should take you to the video (I don't know how to embed the video, lol)


Next up we have Neil's 180k mile M3 that came in for a Vanos refresh. This was an interesting one as I have never seen a "dented" hub tab. We did all the usuall stuff and replaced the hub.








After that we had an early model S54 swapped touring come in with a noise from the front suspension. I verified the noise and then went to lift the car to inspect the suspension. As I was lifting (the hood was open) I saw something move in the strut tower area that caught my eye. After a closer inspection (there was a strut brace installed) I found one of the worst cracked strut towers I've ever seen.

After repairing the cracks we added strut tower reinforcement plates and got it wrapped up, no problem.






This is a video showing the movement when taking weight off and on the suspension.




Next we finished off the E39 M5 donor car for the touring built. I couldn't bring myself to scrap the shadowline trim, but also didn't want to have to deal with disassembling from the doors and then having to store it. I ended up cutting the top off the doors off, I got a lot of flack on IG about this, but it worked out well, lol








Scrapped another 330ci parts car. The family lived on a hill and the son forgot to set the parking brake and left it in nuetral. They came out later to found the car "gone" some searching found it across the street and down an embankment smashed into a tree. They started to part it out and then decided it wasn't worth it so I picked it up. Shame as it was a real nice 330/6MT with only 115xxx miles (the seats are in my X5 now, lol).








This is a video.




Parted out an M3 to make a "S54 swap kit" for a later date, this is 99% of the parts pile I use when converting a touring or sedan.




This is a video.




I was lucky when I started the shop as I ran into a guy who had an endurance race car running in the WRL organization. We had actually met a few years prior where I bought some wheels from him. I wasn't sure if they were going to fit on my BBK so when I came to buy them I literally brought a knuckle with the caliper on it so we could test fit, lol. He remembered that as it stuck in his mind and when we connected a few years later he asked me to help with his race program. We started by swapping an S54 into his E36 M3 and ran it for the first time at WRL @ CoTA in 2018.




We then eventually bought a really really nice HPDE E46 M3 that we immediately ruined turning into a race car, lol.




Fast forward a few years and I'm not as hands on in the program as we started but I still do his engine program and help with some other odds and ends. Well 2021 was a great year for them, the class they run is GP1 and last year they won the national championship for GP1 as well as the overall first place title for WRL. Really happy to be apart of this group and see where the race program has gone.






Videos:

[George Hill]

Next up was a 55k Phoenix Yellow M3 that was recently purchased by the owners and they were getting caught up on the big 3 and taking care of an potential SMG problem by swapping.




But first during inspection... this is a new one for me, not only did this car still have the original shipping spacers installed in the front struts, but someone had replced the struts and springs and reinstalled the spacers into the new setup!








From there the transmission was converted to full manual in house and the complete swap performed (note the elusive brown/orange clutch switch, lol). Everything works like it should as is the case with all of our swaps.










Also taken care of at this time was locking down the vanos, nothing really exciting here, just the usual... and of course a really clean engine.






While we are on the subject of the car, since then (about 8 months ago) the car was back for rod bearings. BMW history showed they were replaced at 6k miles and the car with now almost 60k seemed like it would be a bit soon, but the peace of mind is priceless and now they know. We also did the usual engine mounts and steering coupler.



IMG_4266 by George, on Flickr


Oil pump, disassembled and inspected, all was good.




And of course, no E46 is complete without a BlueBus. They were thinking about an aftermarket radio until we discussed this option and once you know, you know.

[George Hill]

Back in the shop for production work was an E39 in for some basic maintenance, a waterpump and tensioner, power steering hose, thermostat and engine mounts.




Then an E90 in for an evaporator replacement. E9x cars have as much of an evaporator issue as the E46s and replacement is very similar by removing almost everything in front of the seats, lol. The last pic shows the UV dye in the refrigerant oil that is visibale with a UV light through yellow lenses which shows the source of leak(s).


















Next, we had in an M3 that came in for a long list of items and we started with a general inspection to make sure the car was fit for the future plans. During the inspection it was found the check engine light was on and there was a noise from the top end of the engine. After scanning for faults camshaft sensor and Vanos faults were found to be present, the vanos test was run and it failed to complete. Looking through the service records of this car, there had been various Vanos related issues going back 30k miles with multiple repeat repairs.

With the valve cover off and a thorough inspection it was found the intake cam sensor wheel on the camshaft was bent and contacting the cylinder head. Likely what happened was someone adjusted the valve lash and in the process of reinstalling the follower bent the tooth on the wheel. Why this wasn’t immediately rectified is beyond me, luckily it’s an easy fix to swap out the wheel without any further disassembly.

Once complete the engine was assembled and the vanos test ran again, this time passing.

[Cronenberged]

I've said it before buy my pocketbook is damn lucky you don't live close to me because I would be horrendously lazy if you did.

Same haha

[George Hill]

I've said it before buy my pocketbook is damn lucky you don't live close to me because I would be horrendously lazy if you did.

NE TN? Who knows what the future holds, lol. I do love that part of the country.

[oceansize]

I've said it before buy my pocketbook is damn lucky you don't live close to me because I would be horrendously lazy if you did.

[George Hill]

I'm still way behind, we left off in August of '21...

Did a bunch of work on a pair of E65s, I know most people don't like these for whatever reason but I think they got a bad rap and I while I wouldn't want it as my only car they do drive nice.












Then drove 750 miles round trip to pickup a basket case of an E46 M3... 218k miles, no start, SMG issues, hadn't run in years and very neglected. Lots of work to get it "sorted" but finally got it up and running. It had some sketchy "custom" wiring to the SMG pump that didn't work, replacing the pump got it to and start. Once running it had lots of Vanos faults which ended up being a faulty vanos unit that was worn and creating to little pressure to properly operate the system. I then sorted everything to make it a "complete" donor and now I need to sell it... ideally to someone wanting to DIY a sedan/touring conversion.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSzA1uArwDu/

Timing just a bit off...




Broken tab...






Backwards diaphragm spring...




Filth...




Stripped (now fixed) bolt threads...



But, all clean and going back together.






Only to find the system fails the Vanos test after (2) consecutive runs. After a bunch of parts swapping to know exactly what the issue was and with the help of Rajaie at Beisan Systems we found the vanos oil pump shaft was worn, the shaft diameter should be 26.070mm and we measured it as low as 26.04mm. According to Raj, just a .01mm loss would be a problem.

A new (to the car) and freshened vanos unit was installed and now the engine is running like a sewing machine.


Ivan brought his touring in as he was having some electrical issues which were traced down to a burnt contact on the ignition switch. At the same time we knocked out some other maintenance including coolant pipes, crankcase vent valve, coils, interior trim and wipers.








Then Aldwin brought in his touring for a misfire and vibration on acceleration. Found it had a cracked spark plug so he got new spark plugs and coils too. The vibration ended up being a wasted center support bearing.








Crystal dropped off her new (to her) M3...




The RACP had been previously reinforced but this crack in the LR wheel arch was missed, so a quick repair got it cleaned up.








The rear shock comes out for that repair and was found to be missing the paper gasket between the mount and the body. This will cause an audible noise and even when these cars were new people would complain about it, BMWs fix was to just add a second gaskets so for her we added (2) new gaskets per side.






Also found the front springs not oriented on the struts correctly.






The car was also due for a valve adjustment and while the Vanos had been "done" before there were some overlooked items so it came all back apart to correct these oversights.




Next, Mike brought his 38k mile M3 in for a Vanos lookover... only 38k miles and the vanos bolts were broken.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CTVrHe7JrVx/

This post is getting long so I'll wrap it up here.

[George Hill]

love the E30 touring, maybe one day

It is a sweet car and a hoot to drive with the S50.

[lvm3sm46]

love the E30 touring, maybe one day

[George Hill]

I know, 2 posts in one day, lol.... Continuing on...

Scrapped George's 330i sedan donor

Video: https://www.instagram.com/p/CQJItm5Jf4S/


Vanos service on Mpower04 LSB M3










The shop picked up an E53 X5 that had been sitting for a long time... Normally a titan silver with gray interior X5 doesn't interest me but this one happened to have a manual transmission. Luckily it was misdiagnosed and it took longer to fix what they had done (trying to start it) than it did to actually get it going. The plan was to sort out its issues, swap the interior to black and small lift with all terrain tires. Here we are 9 months later and its still not on the road, lol. The black interior is almost done and some other add ons created a huge time suck (as most projects do).










HPB started working with a company to produce Carbon Fiber slicktop roof skins for E46 tourings. It's been a long journey but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

IMG_7274 by George, on Flickr










Built another S54 touring, this one turned out real nice. It was a pleasure to work with Paras as he is a true enthusiast and we have similar view points on how these cars should be built. His car was already VERY clean (and nicely sorted) and now we just made it that better.








Empty....








He already had the RACP reinforced but we addressed a couple spots that were missed.










The usual on the engine.






90k mile rod bearings.




Broken Vanos hub tab.




Wiring modifications.








Modern Sanden A/C compressor conversion for Bob's E28 and evaporator replacement while we were at it.

[George Hill]

Back to customer work...

Built an E39T with a S62 swap. Slate green metallic on black and at first I wasn't impressed with this color combo but after it was done the touches Francis added really made me a believer, I am super in love with the look of this car. We did all the usual freshening, installed KW Coilovers and kept the rear self leveling. SuperSprint headers, aftermarket cats and dual exhaust out the back. Francis had the all the seats redone and the rears where patterned after the M5 to complete the look.












An E90 M3 in to replace the DCT transmission and install BE rod bearings.








Hail threat had the shop stuffed and this is a pretty cool grouping of cars.
1. E39 Touring with S62
2. E30 Touring with Euro S50
3. E46 M3, well setup HPDE car
4. E36 M3 with S54
5. E36 Track car
6. E46 Touing in line for S54 swap
7. The shops Fox Turbo S52 project






Rod bearings on an E60 M5, again BE's when in here.








We started producing parts for transmission swaps. If you want to install a transmission from a N5x car they just about bolt up without issue but on those engines the starter bolts to the block and on the M/S5x engines the starter bolts to the transmission. So when you mate a M/S5x engine to a N5x trans there is no where to attatch the starter. Some companies make adapter plates that sandwhich between the block and trans but then those require custom flywheels as well. Our solution allows these transmissions to be used with an OE design clutch/flexplate kit which makes these swaps operate very much like a factory car. We've got these now in HPB cars, but also in some DCT, S6-53 and 8HP swaps around the world.








Here's the E30T with the Euro S50 swap, came in with some drivability issues related to failed intake hoses. But once we started down the rabbitt hole we found a bunch of issues with the swap and really started sorting out this car as best as possible which ultimately led to another set of injectors, a DME, custom tune by Mark D'Sylva, reworking the throttle linkage to get WOT, new wheel bearing and hub, rebuilding the drivesahft and a new transmission crossmember and shift lever.

[George Hill]

Lack of updates but not lack of progress and shop fun. I mostly post on Instagram now, but I need to keep up my forum posts as at the end of the day I DO prefer this media. So, here's a long but condensed update on some of the highlights that came through the shop in the last year.

We left off with Eileen getting some paint work, and now all back together.




After some datalogging I decided to put on my Karbonious CSL plenum and after some tuning the car made a bit less than I hoped for but the sound was incredible. We were chasing some issues with the combination that most thought were the header design, so I swapped back to a stock intake and MAF tune and started running that setup. My goal was to do whatever it takes to keep the headers because of their sound.




The KK headers gave me some issues and so I swapped them temporarily (although they are still on now) for a set of Euros and then put the CSL plenum back on... so many changes are you keeping up? lol Tracked the car with that setup and the S6-53 and it was really good, definitely happy with it.




Then we changed it up and took the car to Hot Rod DragWeek which is a 5 day long drag and drive event. Starts at a dragstrip on Monday and then every day you make at least one pass and drive to the next track, typically 275 +/- miles away. You do this until eventually ending back at the first track on Friday. Car with the lowest average wins. We were not competitive, just doing it to do it and prove the car.






We did have to put a clutch in the car (to be fair I had a feeling it needed to be done and should have replaced it before the trip). Luckily there was a guy following the event with a mobile lift and that made it a bit of an easy swap. We also "sealed the hood," which means over the entire event we never opened the hood. So a dozen or so 1/4 mile passes and over 1000 miles with no issues other than the clutch, very happy with that.






We suspected the engine was heat soaking and so after we completed the event we pulled the hood and ran our quickest time of 12.89 @ 107mph which was a bit off what I hoped for but overall I was super happy with the car and the experience. And then on the way home stopped at Hallett Motor Racing Circuit for some road racing... love this car.






Since then I did some more driving with the setup as is and proved the S6-53 combo and swap as a worthwhile option against other transmission swaps. But this car is not just to have fun but to also test products and ideas, so... Out with the 6MT and in with the ZF8 automatic transmission.











This is an 8HP45 auto transmission from a 2014 535i F10. It is controlled by a standalone TCU by TurboLamik. Combined with an F10 shifter and SSG steering wheel with paddles, this is a ridicuously fun combination.

We then loaded the car up and went to Florida to attend another drag and drive event called Sick Week, same format as Drag Week, just a different promoter. This combo was basically unproven but went fabulously. Ultimately we didn't run as fast but it's got potential to be much quicker. We found the torque converter is just to tight and won't let the engine rev up on the launch. When we made passes with the 6MT, I'd launch around 5-5500 RPM, but with the auto we leave about 2200 RPM so the engine just bogs until it gets some RPM. Once its revved up, it flies. Looking at the split times, if we can make the car launch as fast as the 6MT it's going to pick up 2-3 tenths overall. The auto gave us NO issues and its an excellent option at this point now that we can see where we need to modify the setup.








This post ended up being much longer than I had planned... I guess I'll continue it with customer cars next.