If you track your Z4M and think your bearings are fine look at this pic

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by dre99gsx

Did you look at your mains bearings? Usually, oiling issues will show up everywhere, including camshaft bearing surfaces. Going to an upgraded oil pump or oil cooler may not have done much as it seems to me you just have wear from racing, particularly at constant high rpm.

Lots of Supra guys running OEM blocks with over 100,000 miles on massive turbos have seen bearings looking like they were never used, but not many guys run the engines at 8000rpm or prolonged track use.

Goodluck! Looks like a maintenance item for these motors.

The mains and the cams were good , the rod bearings are a weakness on the S54 , mainly because they are a bit on the narrow side .

[ZStig]

what the replacement cost for this thing?

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by ZStig

what the replacement cost for this thing?

The race bearing kit is around 550 for 6 upper and 6 lower bearings, plus labor for the install. Expect around 8 hours. A shop that has done S54 bearings a ton could do it in 4.

[kennyfrc]

It's my belief that over 90% of the bearing wear occurs between 7500-8000RPM.

A tune/setup has power peaking at >7500 may be your best compromise between power/wear.

I got lucky with my setup in that the power peaks at around 7200 and when driving hard I shift as the tach just touches the yellow.

My lead never comes back over 1-2PPM on UOA and most often is 0.

[RobertRO]

Starting the summer of 2012 I switched to Liqui Moly 10W60.
During hot summer days (35+ deg. C air temperature, highway speed of 170+ Km/h) the Liqui Moly oil temperature is about 5 deg. C lower than when using Castrol TWS.
Just felt it may be useful to report this.

[kennyfrc]

Originally Posted by RobertRO

Starting the summer of 2012 I switched to Liqui Moly 10W60.
During hot summer days (35+ deg. C air temperature, highway speed of 170+ Km/h) the Liqui Moly oil temperature is about 5 deg. C lower than when using Castrol TWS.
Just felt it may be useful to report this.

I find that redline 10W-60 runs cooler than TWS also.

[gmd2003]

Bottom line is because of our engine design the bearings are a wear item if you drive our cars like they were meant to be driven or an 80 year old grandma.If you track our cars this will happen sooner rather than later with the stock setup ( high temps on track , narrow bearings ). No oil brand will protect you from this . For me why have a high revving I6 if you are going to drive it like a Camry . No short shifting on track for me . That's why I have fixed the temperature issue , and replaced the bearings with a better one, now I can drive my car like it was meant to be driven for many more years . The rest of the engine was pristine , our engines are far from glass guys .

[22022]

Originally Posted by gmd2003

The race bearing kit is around 550 for 6 upper and 6 lower bearings, plus labor for the install. Expect around 8 hours. A shop that has done S54 bearings a ton could do it in 4.

I am assuming they did all the work for under the car, by removing the oil pan without removing the motor.

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by 22022

I am assuming they did all the work for under the car, by removing the oil pan without removing the motor.

Correct .

[beta]

Originally Posted by gmd2003

I went with an M6 OEM oil cooler with braided lines and AN fittings . The trick is a mounting solution for what ever core you choose . Fortunately , Fluid Motor Union developed a setup as a one off for someone else and still had extras for the bracket setup . It's really nice kit , it was 1,600 total . My oil temps on track in SC heat has gone from 250+ to 215 and that is with a non intercooler supercharger setup .

Is this your oil cooler?

http://www.fluidmotorunion.com/archives/12643

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by beta

Is this your oil cooler?

http://www.fluidmotorunion.com/archives/12643

Yes sir that's it , it's a very nice setup that is a very straightforward install.

[SmartBastard]

Ouch, that looks pretty bad, did you run the car in winter?

[beta]

De-railing the thread somewhat, but I'm wondering how hard it would be to adapt a setrab oil cooler. Anyone know the dimensions of the stock oil cooler?

I know ESS uses a setrab cooler, but they won't sell it to you unless you get stage 2.

[ZStig]

Originally Posted by beta

De-railing the thread somewhat, but I'm wondering how hard it would be to adapt a setrab oil cooler. Anyone know the dimensions of the stock oil cooler?

I know ESS uses a setrab cooler, but they won't sell it to you unless you get stage 2.

talk to VAC Motorsports in Philly, they have options.

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by SmartBastard

Ouch, that looks pretty bad, did you run the car in winter?

I live in SC , so no the car did not see freezing temps . Although this was caused by the opposite problem , high temps.

[beta]

Originally Posted by ZStig

talk to VAC Motorsports in Philly, they have options.

Good info, looks like they have at least one oil cooler kit.

[elwesso]

Where do you guys tap the return/feed for the oil coolers?

[beta]

I also found out VAC has a bolt-on oil cooler for the e46.

Was hoping to get the dimensions of our stock cooler, so that maybe we can find something we can adapt to have it in the stock location/stock size. I figure we can get more efficiency out of the package, but keep the car mostly stock. Plenty of people are tracking without issue, so it doesn't need to be a huge upgrade, maybe just a more modern/efficient cooler with slightly more capacity.

[gmd2003]

Originally Posted by beta

I also found out VAC has a bolt-on oil cooler for the e46.

Was hoping to get the dimensions of our stock cooler, so that maybe we can find something we can adapt to have it in the stock location/stock size. I figure we can get more efficiency out of the package, but keep the car mostly stock. Plenty of people are tracking without issue, so it doesn't need to be a huge upgrade, maybe just a more modern/efficient cooler with slightly more capacity.

That's why I went with M6 oil cooler, it adds almost a liter of extra capacity , yet with a custom bracket , fits in the OEM position without any cutting/ trimming or blocking of the radiator . Now on track my avg temps have dropped 40 degrees which is huge as far as increasing the engines lifespan . Not going into limp mode from high oil temps doesn't mean you are not having issues related to high oil temps. I never had a temp limp mode on track and look at my bearings. Increasing the oil cooling capacity was the best mod I have done .

[53Fatman]

Hope you like it

In the german forums its the same discussion about the rod bearings on nearly every M engine (S50B30, S50B32, S54B32, S62B50, S65B40, S85B50). Some look good, some bad.

Greetings

Karsten

[RobertRO]

Originally Posted by gmd2003

That's why I went with M6 oil cooler, it adds almost a liter of extra capacity , yet with a custom bracket , fits in the OEM position without any cutting/ trimming or blocking of the radiator . Now on track my avg temps have dropped 40 degrees which is huge as far as increasing the engines lifespan

Nice find. I have two questions:

1. Can you please confirm that the M6 oil cooler is part number 17 22 2 282 499 - which fits E60 M5, E61N M5, E63 M6 and E64 M6?

2. What about oil cooler lines? Do the original Z4M fit the M6 oil cooler without mods, or custom made lines are needed?

[elwesso]

It looks to me that there is some sort of block fitting that goes onto the oil cooler, and it appears that part is the same, so it would only require a custom bracket which would probably be a pretty simple thing to fabricate.