E46 M3 S54 VANOS Rebuild

[lbo99 39]

Good day, I'm just wondering what people is doing out there regarding their vanos rebuild?

Will I be better off buying individual beisan parts and then let chch bmw to rebuild it for me or should I just buy a rebuilt vanos unit from bimmerworld or drvanos and install it.

Car is currently approaching the 200k mark, thinking it should be time to rebuild the vanos.

Feel free to post your comments, cheers :)

[M3AN 4016]

Buy exactly what Beisan says to buy, including any uprated BMW parts.

Have you checked if BMW will actually install it for you? I'd be very surprised if they said yes.

You really want somebody that has done it before to do it for you, that'll be much faster, less expensive and less risky. If you simply can't find somebody with experience then you need a trusted shop and they need to read and understand the entire procedure before they give you a quote. Most will simply say "no" when they see the procedure. Don't do a cash job, you need CGA cover if your engine goes boom.

If you're handy it's a good job to do yourself.

The alternative, which will take your car off the road for a while, is to remove the unit, send it to somebody (like Kayne Barrie) and have them rebuild it and send it back.

An off the shelf rebuilt unit will be expensive... not a route I'd go down.

Regardless of what the instructions say make sure you use a new valve gasket kit.

 

[lbo99 39]

On 10/10/2019 at 5:43 PM, M3AN said:

Buy exactly what Beisan says to buy, including any uprated BMW parts.

Have you checked if BMW will actually install it for you? I'd be very surprised if they said yes.

You really want somebody that has done it before to do it for you, that'll be much faster, less expensive and less risky. If you simply can't find somebody with experience then you need a trusted shop and they need to read and understand the entire procedure before they give you a quote. Most will simply say "no" when they see the procedure. Don't do a cash job, you need CGA cover if your engine goes boom.

If you're handy it's a good job to do yourself.

The alternative, which will take your car off the road for a while, is to remove the unit, send it to somebody (like Kayne Barrie) and have them rebuild it and send it back.

An off the shelf rebuilt unit will be expensive... not a route I'd go down.

Regardless of what the instructions say make sure you use a new valve gasket kit.

 

Thank you for your suggestion. I asked chch bmw at the start of the year and got quoted 4.7k just for labour to rebuild the vanos and change the rod bearings. This is providing that I provide all the parts by myself. Apparently I was told that there will be no warranty since I wanted to use the stuff from Beisan (the hubs, seals, chain guides etc) and rod bearings from VAC Motorsport, which is aftermarket not oem. That doesn’t sound very convincing for me but I really want to make sure that the right people do that job for me. It’s CHRISTCHURCH so there isn’t much option out there for me. Might just bring the car up north to get them done properly. Should start saving up and hopefully get it done by next year ?

[M3AN 4016]

BMW aren't necessarily the right people actually, they have very little experience with these type of procedures.

Shop around for a reputable engine builder for the bottom end, VANOS you may need to ship, I don't know the ChCh market, perhaps @Aaron has a better idea. $4.7k is stupid money, don't do that.

I suspect the best you'll get is a start-up warranty from any independent. There are a few in Auckland that will rebuild your VANOS for you.

[zero 1162]

Kayne Barrie motorsport would be a good person to do the vanos for you.

He is just north of Auckland, so you would need to ship but he has a very solid reputation.

[lbo99 39]

On 10/14/2019 at 9:56 PM, M3AN said:

BMW aren't necessarily the right people actually, they have very little experience with these type of procedures.

Shop around for a reputable engine builder for the bottom end, VANOS you may need to ship, I don't know the ChCh market, perhaps @Aaron has a better idea. $4.7k is stupid money, don't do that.

I suspect the best you'll get is a start-up warranty from any independent. There are a few in Auckland that will rebuild your VANOS for you.

Thanks for your comment Dave!

I totally agree with what you said. Had been thinking about HELLBM as they’re quite known of doing S54 stuff. I think I kinda know Aaron from our local bmw fb page (if we’re thinking of the same guy). He is the guy who have a red e36 track car and does most of the car stuff with his dad aye. I think he sells shifters for e36 and e46. 

Edited October 15, 2019 by lbo99

[M3AN 4016]

Yep, same Aaron. He has a lot of industry contacts down there hence the suggestion.

I don't want to publicly promote one well known local 'vendor' over another but Kayne (KBM) and Ray (Hell) have both done the work, you might want to talk to both and suss out availability and cost, as well as the sense of confidence you get from the discussion, before deciding. That's if you want to remove it and send it of course.

[Karter16 407]

On 10/10/2019 at 11:45 AM, lbo99 said:

Good day, I'm just wondering what people is doing out there regarding their vanos rebuild?

Will I be better off buying individual beisan parts and then let chch bmw to rebuild it for me or should I just buy a rebuilt vanos unit from bimmerworld or drvanos and install it.

Car is currently approaching the 200k mark, thinking it should be time to rebuild the vanos.

Feel free to post your comments, cheers

 

Hiya,

Having done the VANOS myself I would say that the most complex/fiddly part of the whole exercise is getting the position/timing right when re-attaching the VANOS unit. I point that out, because if you purchase a whole replacement unit from Dr VANOS or similar and plan to install it yourself it's worth pointing out that the installation isn't a complete walk in the park (I'd argue that reinstalling the unit is more complex than the disassembly and rebuild of the unit).

Good luck with figuring out the best option ?