E39 M5 restoration project Version 2.0

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Straight in to taking care of the important bits, the engine.

Vanos test in GT1 tells me the exhaust advance value on Bank 1 in crank degrees is way out of wack, like 11 degrees out.

Bank 2 passes with flying colours.

No fault codes in relation to Vanos, so the issue points to being mechanical.

I initially swapped the solenoid packs from bank to bank thinking it may be a solenoid issue. No joy, time to open the engine up.

This engine is very clean on the inside. It was apparently rebult 35k ago with :

-New oil control rings (excessive oil consumption)

-rod bearings

-all new chains, tensioners and guides

Bank 1 valve cover was removed this evening in preparation to check static cam timing, as per the DIS recommendation during the Bank 1 vanos test. Bank 2 cover and some other bits to be removed in order to do the work.

This is the underside of the valve cover on bank 1. Usually these are gummed up badly with old oil so it means one less cleaning job to do.

[kulgan 1042]

Wow, that's so clean.

[Michael. 2312]

Holy clean!

Interesting pictures. You know how I like pic posts

Is this E39 'better' than the first one given the engine / mechanical condition?

Edited September 15, 2015 by Michael.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

This one's cleaner than the other for sure, but that's because it's all been apart recently and cleaned.

Vanos adjustment units need to be removed in the next few days to get to this leak.

Found one of the oil rails munted a bit. Where it's dented oil flows through to lubricate each cam bearing journal.

[Arma 134]

Looks hella clean!

The S62's don't really suffer from the same timing chain issues as the 540s do they?

[dkonsta1 109]

Good work so far. Very much impressed with the GT1 ability to check vanos.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Thanks. Gt1 is a dinosaur of an app, more so running on a vm.

[M3AN 4015]

Thanks. Gt1 is a dinosaur of an app, more so running on a vm.

Yes, but a godsend when even an indi wants to charge $60 for a code read...

Props on the purchase and diagnostics Martin.

[NUSTAD 243]

Awesome - you just need another 5 M5 so you can drive a different one each day of the week.....

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Hit a bit of a brick wall over the weekend. Got to the point of checking static cam timing, as suspected the exhaust cam on bank 1 was way off the alignment window on the first cam bearing cap. Correcting the cam timing is easy, however to do so the vanos gears need to be in the initial position. For the exhaust cam that's off time, the vanos gear cannot be retracted as per the proper procedure. This suggests the vanos piston is stuck or there is excessive spring plate tension which essentially sandwiches the vanos assembly to the cam gear. My only options are now to loosen all hub bolts and try move the vanos to initial position, then set static timing and proceed on with disconnecting the vanos units for a refurb. Or I remove the bank 1 vanos unit prior to setting the timing in one of 2 ways. if I have to remove the vanos unit prior to seting the timing, more investigation will be required to figure out what's causing the vanos gears/piston for this cam to get stuck.

To set the timing on an s62, you need to spend about 20 mins on a bench grinder making a 27mm wrench to look like this

This the bank 1 exhaust cam, as you can see the marking on the cam is way off the window in the bearing cap. All other cams ok.

The position of the vanos piston needs to be close to flush at the end of the bore when the vanos and cams are in the initial position, as you can see here bank 1 exhaust piston is about half way up the bore, so needs further work to get it to the initial position before the cam timing can be corrected.

[KwS 2372]

Can you rock the cam back and forth whilst pulling forward on the piston? I used that technique when i did the vanos on my M3 as the varnish buildup (and the fact the solenoids were sticking) meant my vanos was getting stuck.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Can you rock the cam back and forth whilst pulling forward on the piston? I used that technique when i did the vanos on my M3 as the varnish buildup (and the fact the solenoids were sticking) meant my vanos was getting stuck.

I know the piston spins freely in the bore, I can turn the 10mm nut that joins the helical/splined gears to the piston. I havn't tried encouraging the piston to move up more in the bore as I retard the cam, but I can see now how I possibly could with a screw driver so will give that a try before loosening the spring plate tension. Cheers for the pointer Kelvin!

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Managed to set the timing for bank 1 exhaust cam after work last night. To be able to do so, as mentioned I needed the vanos on this cam to be in initial position. To achieve this I loosened the hub bolts to be able to relieve spring tension between the vanos hub and cam gear and wiggle the piston forward to it's initial position. I then followed the normal procedure to time up the cam. To get the cam to line up once you crank the engine over a few times to check it's position you need to adjust the cam slightly out of the timing window to compensate for slack in the chains. Then when you crank the engine over a few times and check it falls in the window like this :

So with the timing issue out of the way, I now need to remove the vanos unit on the other bank of cams to replace a leaking o-ring.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Bank 1 vanos unit dismantled, cleaned up and now waiting for new o-rings.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Bit more progress done today while I wait for new parts. HUGE thanks to Josh for helping me clean and re-solder the Vanos actuators.

Vanos hubs and spring plate diaphragms removed but not before the upper chain cover comes off, there is a real b@stard of a bolt to get to, you can only turn it one flat at a time with a ring spanner, patience level 100 unlocked.

The spring plates changed after 9/2001, these were made thicker, and the concaved plate is intalled back to front compared to the old style. This apparently helps significantly with vanos rattle, we'll see.

[kulgan 1042]

This thread is frigging awesome.

Great work your doing. And I'm a fan of detailed pics too.

Keep em coming.

[dkonsta1 109]

Good on you Martin. You deserve a job in the BMW motorsport team.

[KwS 2372]

i must be sick in the head, i love seeing photos of vanos rebuilds. Vanos units are such cool pieces of engineering.

Excellent work.

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Time for a bigger desk at this rate. Could've removed both vanos units and timing covers at the same time but didn't want to risk loosing/forgetting where I put parts in an already cluttered garage.

Looks like someone put a 540i lower chain tensioner in. Although they fit and measure up the same, the M5 tensioner has more.. tension. Hopefully the new one comes in before next weekend.

Previous owner fitted a new water pump and was very generous with the silicone sealant, spent a while cleaning it all off and from the thermo housing cover in the first pic.

Nekk week the mail man should be delivering all the seals, sensors, tensioners, washers, bolts and Eisenmman race exhaust to put this one back on the road.

[M3AN 4015]

Looking very tidy in there now Martin, you're adding value by the minute it seems!

Edited October 7, 2015 by M3AN

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

Parts arrived.

Forgot to order some extra critical bits though, so an extra 2 sets of vanos spring plates ordered.

Vanos unit oil pump washer and circlips replaced with revision B versions. The new circlip retains more equal preasure on the washer beneath it. Have seen these end up in the oil pan..

You can see here how the pump drive has been squashing the washer and slowly eating away at it.

New o-rings for the bank 1 vanos unit. The one under the 24mm socket in this pic doesn't seat nicely..

and ends up doing this if not seated correctly prior to instalment. This is the bank 2 vanos unit freshly removed :

Installed the timing cover on bank 1 and removed bank 2. Not fun.

bank 1 vanos unit back on. Timing set after and came out perfect after rotating the crank around for 3 cyl # 1 ignition TDC revolutions.

[M3AN 4015]

Your alignment pins look just like mine!

[BreakMyWindow 1870]

8mm drill bits?

I also used an 8mm drill bit wrapped in electrical tape to lock the crank.

[M3AN 4015]

8mm drill bits?

Yep, flash as bro!

[Ahmedsinc 414]

8mm engineers punch works good too. Paid $8 for mine, 12mm knurled shaft so real easy to get it back out once done!