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Originally Posted by bignosejim
Sorry to hear about your engine. I just did a quick search on realoem and it looks like you could get any S54 engine. If the engine comes from a M3 though, you'll have to reuse your oil pan or find an oil pan from another Z4 or Z3. Looks like all S54's share the block and head. I don't know what makes the oil pan different, but they are different part numbers.
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I really appreciate the heads up, I let them know at the shop that I have the zed at currently and they told me that they were aware as they had done a swap on an M3 and purchased a Z4 engine. That turned into quite the fiasco as they dove into that job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westersund
All S54's share block and pistons so if you can find an engine with a healthy block but otherwise not runing for cheap that might be an option. Don't know if you'd need all new pistons or if you can only change out the damaged one.
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I think the biggest issue is finding that block, I know they run around 7-800, but when you do find one it's still a gamble, let alone I have a cracked piston head and all my old hardware would have to be swapped out. To my understanding, between the service costs and everything else that has to be done in order to prep the new block with the old head (which would still need machining more than likely), the cost would simply be too high. I would prefer to keep most of the original engine if possible, but right now it doesn't seem very feasible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vanne
nah new pistons and rings should be done in one go. and should not be too expensive..
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That's the thought, and it may come down to cost savings at the end of the day to be honest. I have a finite budget that I can throw into this thing and I'll likely be borrowing a bit here and there to just get it back up and going in order to continue working. We will see though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pokeybritches
If you've already been laid off, it will be difficult to get a loan, at least at a reasonable APR. It's unfortunate that the times you actually need to borrow money, no one wants to lend it.
Have you tried contacting your insurance company?
If you're not against selling the car, there is a WTB thread in the classifieds for a rolling chassis.
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I had thought about selling the chassis, but I wondered what I would do outside of that. My only thoughts are reverting to a bike or something very inexpensive. The monthly on this right now is around 380, which is pretty darn affordable for the car of your dreams. Throwing the donor engine into it seems to be the best bet to not only keep a car that I enjoy driving but to also get back on the road without having to invest in a beater that I'm just going to want to get rid of as soon as possible.
After speaking to the shop they didn't feel comfortable working through an insurance angle, I prodded them as I was there and wanted to figure out what other options I might have. I think the best bet here is going to BMW of NA and seeing what they might have to say about such a failure. It's so uncommon and I'm not sure if the previous owner of this vehicle had some serious modifications, but as far as I could tell it was pretty well stock. All of it could have been reverted, but that would have taken a serious penny and a lot of time and effort (assuming it was coming from FI). I can't imagine there was much else that could have caused this other than someone really going all out on the engine before I assumed ownership.
Once again thank you for all the kind words and wishes.
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MOST RECENT UPDATE
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I have been speaking with Lang Racing about rebuilding an S54 that he purchased not too long ago. The cost seems a little astronomical but from what I've been told he's the best in the business. It would make sense to go through with his rebuild program, I'm just looking to see what I can afford. I have an estimate from him that came through on Friday night but I had a military training event to attend and was unable to really go through everything. I will be looking through it soon and asking y'all what is
absolutely essential and what I might be able to cut out of the rebuild process. I don't know what he's looking at giving me for the core, but even he agrees that the crack is a fluke event. We'll see what BMW of NA has to say and I'll continue to work on from there.