Quote:
Originally Posted by Shipkiller
Cutting off three threads still leaves you with five threads exposed. It's not a elegant solution but it does work and saves time.
|
Dropping the engine by removing the rubber engine mounts is 15 minutes work if you have a carlift and a transmission jack. (remove the top engine mount nuts, lift the car, remove the underplating (plastic and aluminium) and lower engine mount nuts, jack up the engine 1" with the transmission jack and a block of wood, remove engine mounts, lower engine on subframe/steering rack).
You need a socket set with 2 extensions to get the top engine mount nuts (from above).
And even then it is a tight fit, the vanos just clears the threads.
Cutting off the threads is probably just as much work, and leaves damage obviously.
Partly loosening the front subframe on top did not do the trick for me (I removed the top 4 bolts and 2 lower nuts); I was not able to bend it even the slightest bit (maybe 1mm or so). It is a pretty sturdy subframe bolted multiple times to the rest of the chassis.
If you don't have a carlift you must use axle stands or something like that, and it gets less enjoyable removing stuff on your back under the car. So my advice is rent an auto lift for a few bucks at a diy garage (if you don't have one yourself) or something like that (I don't know if diy garages exist in the US)
This procedure is nessecary for all m54 pre facelift z4's. I don't know if the vanos clears with the facelift models (/m s54 and n54 engines), but all pre fl m54 z4's have the same dimensions afaik.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SamuelL421
Where did you get your anti-rattle/parts from? I was looking at the vanos-bmw site posted by Alexmsk77, but I wasn't sure if there were other providers or a best source?
|
As for the seals: I think you can get them anywhere you like. I've got them form a UK supplier (as I live in europe and then I save on p&p and taxes). These are generic type teflon seals and rubber o-rings.
As for anti rattle kits: beisan is probably the only one that makes/supplies these. So if you think about installing the anti rattle you may save on p&p.
That
http://www.vanos-bmw.com is situated in russia?!?
I think
http://www.beisansystems.com/ is more practical
. They are the best known supplier for this repair.
The diy guides on their site are good.
Be shure that if you do the anti rattle kit, you will need the plastic vice grips and an impact wrench.
Another tip: when you remove the vanos you will need a new (metal) vanos gasket (bmw 11361433817), some liquid gasket (bmw subscribes Threebond 1104, which is different than the normal blue silicon based liquid gasket. This stuff looks more like a latex based substance and is very sticky compared to the silicon based stuff), and probably a new set of cilinder head gaskets (bmw 11120030496). Especially the gaskets around the ignition coils/spark plugs will be hardened by the oil/high temps.
And if you decide to refurb your aluminium vanos housing by glass beadblasting (mine was pretty corroded; always rainy around here...) be sure to install the exhaust vanos relais before you mount the vanos unit to the engine (it is a pain to install that one after as I noticed....) the intake side relais you have to install afterwards but that is no problem.
This is my vanos before/after:
before (all internal parts masked of course)
After sandblasting (glass beads)
