Technician
Well-known member
here is my story.
December 2011-
less than 200km after a service a spark plug fell apart.
long story short i had a "bad" plug from Bosch.
the platinum insert fell out of the insulator of the plug.
the car still ran after replacing the plug, but over some time knocking occurred especially at low RPM, where high torque was needed.
myself and my mechanic Alex determined that it was a piston slap.
the compression was slightly down, the power was there but the knocking noise drove me insane.
so i decided to strip everything and see what the damage was
the piece of plug smashed into the piston, damaging the ring and in turn damaging the bore.
Bad cylinder and piston:
What the other pistons looked like:
Old chain guides and oil pump:
Old pistons and bearings:
after a complete break down, i had to take the tough decision and decided to fix it properly. i am planning on keeping the car for a very long time and couldn't do some parts right, then leave other parts with almost 20 years wear.
it took me 2 years to do the following.
i completely stripped every part of the engine.
everything was basically done;
all new gaskets and seals
all new chains and guides from BMW
new water pump, thermostat
new plumbing
new clutch and all the goes with it
all new bearings BMW (R6220-)
Oil pump BMW (R4800-)
Arias Piston Kit (S50B30) E36 M3, 86.5mm Bore (R12000-)
Vanos seals (Axis)
had the cams checked and lightly polished
had the block re-bored, we opened it up to 86.5mm, (it cleaned up all the scars)
had the head re-done, re-shimmed, valve seats changed and re-engineered.
had the crank checked and balanced
had the con-rods checked
we balanced the complete motor with pistons and flywheel.
More pictures:
sure i could of taken short cuts, or had a "quick fix"
but if you have the time and the knowledge at hand why not do it properly.
all i can say is after a very long time (almost 2 years) and some hard earned money spent i am very happy with the results.
i have done over 6000km with the "new" motor
its still very tight but as smooth as hell and a job well done.
not everyone has the opportunity to drive a car with a "new" e36 M3 motor.
Have to say thanks to my mechanic and friend Alex from Antonie motors.
And Shaun Singh from tunetech for all the advanced work.
December 2011-
less than 200km after a service a spark plug fell apart.
long story short i had a "bad" plug from Bosch.
the platinum insert fell out of the insulator of the plug.
the car still ran after replacing the plug, but over some time knocking occurred especially at low RPM, where high torque was needed.
myself and my mechanic Alex determined that it was a piston slap.
the compression was slightly down, the power was there but the knocking noise drove me insane.
so i decided to strip everything and see what the damage was
the piece of plug smashed into the piston, damaging the ring and in turn damaging the bore.
Bad cylinder and piston:
What the other pistons looked like:
Old chain guides and oil pump:
Old pistons and bearings:
after a complete break down, i had to take the tough decision and decided to fix it properly. i am planning on keeping the car for a very long time and couldn't do some parts right, then leave other parts with almost 20 years wear.
it took me 2 years to do the following.
i completely stripped every part of the engine.
everything was basically done;
all new gaskets and seals
all new chains and guides from BMW
new water pump, thermostat
new plumbing
new clutch and all the goes with it
all new bearings BMW (R6220-)
Oil pump BMW (R4800-)
Arias Piston Kit (S50B30) E36 M3, 86.5mm Bore (R12000-)
Vanos seals (Axis)
had the cams checked and lightly polished
had the block re-bored, we opened it up to 86.5mm, (it cleaned up all the scars)
had the head re-done, re-shimmed, valve seats changed and re-engineered.
had the crank checked and balanced
had the con-rods checked
we balanced the complete motor with pistons and flywheel.
More pictures:
sure i could of taken short cuts, or had a "quick fix"
but if you have the time and the knowledge at hand why not do it properly.
all i can say is after a very long time (almost 2 years) and some hard earned money spent i am very happy with the results.
i have done over 6000km with the "new" motor
its still very tight but as smooth as hell and a job well done.
not everyone has the opportunity to drive a car with a "new" e36 M3 motor.
Have to say thanks to my mechanic and friend Alex from Antonie motors.
And Shaun Singh from tunetech for all the advanced work.
