To the forum members, as you can see by my post count I'm not a very active user on the forum, therefore before I begin I must give a brief background of myself..
I am not a full time mechanic or BMW Mastertech and don't claim to be, however I have always been very mechanically minded, particularly when it comes to cars..so much so that I won the science prize at school for building a solar powered car, got awarded a scholarship to complete mechanical engineering at Columbia University in New York as well as have a patent pending for a hydrogen powered engine, which has been praised by the engineering department at Columbia for being potentially industry-changing.. so I know the difference between straight and skew..
I have always serviced, worked on and modified my own cars (to the limitations of my garage) as I quite frankly get freaked out at the thought of not knowing what was done or not done to my car.. I have come to the conclusion (through experience) that the standard of workmanship which I expect is an extremely rare commodity in South Africa and is astronomical in price, hence why I do things myself..I work on all of my cars and my family's cars, as well as friends who have gotten to know me, but I must reinforce that this is not my business.. I do it for fun.
I learnt about Vanos because I had every Vanos issue happen to me, which can be seen in this thread below..
http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=44469
I have experienced incorrect timing symptoms (detonation, hesitations and inconsistent power and torque delivery) as I myself had incorrect timing as a consequence of not using the correct timing tool.. I used Pythagoras and geometry to calculate the correct angles, however I set up the cams to be perpendicular to the block (which was incorrect), purely because I understood that that was what the cam bridge tool did.. Consequently I got hold of the correct tool and have rectified my own car, and as a few of the forum members can attest, my car runs very smoothly now and gives strong dyno figures for a bone stock car.. YOU CANNOT SET THE TIMING WITHOUT THE CORRECT TOOL.
At this stage I must add that I am a strong believer in setting these cars up stock.. Gone are the days of Golf II GTis, vernier pullies and running hotter cam advancements, because this is what the Vanos does..in real time. On that point, the Vanos CANNOT do it's job if the timing isn't calibrated to stock..the computer needs to have accurate reference points in order to work the way it was designed to..and these engines were designed to have high output with a linear and broad torque response. It's as simple as that. Rolls Royce Aerospace (the manufacturers of S54 Vanos) know what they are doing.
Peter, I got to know you last year and we got along very well.. You are very passionate about your work and appear to be a very caring man. I truly sympathise with both your and Chris's pain, as you put your heart into a masterpiece of an engine and Chris has spent a dear fortune to make his dream a reality. I can understand why emotions are running high, and I am confident that once the dust has settled this matter will be resolved fairly and amicably.
Having said that, we are here to get to the bottom of a problem where the ultimate intention of this thread at this stage is to conclude responsibility for the misfortune experienced by Jezebel. Maybe she just doesn't like her name and is being moody about it..
The request for me to go through the inns and outs of my timing procedures and how I came to my conclusion that the timing is out is simply implying that my work is in question, and judging by the nature of this thread, this is going to lead to an endless backwards and forwards of poking, emotions, trolling and apportioning blame. I am not here to correct anyone or be corrected.. I am not here to add fuel for the entertainment of browsers and fence-sitters. I merely offered to help those who asked for my help, and we achieved results. Great results.
Everyone who has brought their S54 to me to redo the vanos and timing after it was set by you has experienced
- an improvement in low end torque
- a higher maximum power reading at the dyno
- a flatter and more consistent torque delivery
- significantly less hesitation
- significantly less preignition/detonation
- a better driving experience
- no more fault codes related to Vanos and timing
The results speak, not photos, emotive words or semantics.
A final point to add is that, of all the S54s I redid the timing on, every single one of them had incorrect timing BY DIFFERENT DEGREES. This inconsistancy indicates to me that it is not merely a matter of the use of an incorrect tool, because if this was the case then every car's timing would be out by exactly the same amount each time. This leads me to conclude that incorrect procedure was followed, in addition to the incorrect timing tool being used.
