VAC Motorsports Bearings for S54?

[BahnStormer]

After much research and horror stories, I have decided to do the big ends as a preventative measure on my E46 M3 as my mileage is sitting at 150k..

I also plan to keep the car for a long time, and as it seems that the factory bearings seem to be a weakness on the car, I'. considering upgrading to VAC Motorsports coated bearings..

Does anyone have experience with these?

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

After much research and horror stories, I have decided to do the big ends as a preventative measure on my E46 M3 as my mileage is sitting at 150k..

I also plan to keep the car for a long time, and as it seems that the factory bearings seem to be a weakness on the car, I'. considering upgrading to VAC Motorsports coated bearings..

Does anyone have experience with these?

All the internals of my M3 are bought from Vac Motorsports.

I am running Forged CP Pistons, Horse Power Freak Rods, ARP conrod bolts and Vac Bearings. I also have a set of Vac Motorsports high performance Valves with 6mm single groove locks.

Have had no issues with the engine internals from VAC. They are extremly lightweight and allow the engine to rev more freely.

Go with VAC, they are a great company. Just don't deal with a guy called Mourad. He is a lazy ass salesman and never gets back to you. Speak directly to Tony, the boss at VAC.

[email protected]

If you wish, let him know you from South Africa and that Chris forwarded you to him. Seriously, do not deal with Mourad. You will not get a reply and if you do, its often very short and doesn't answer what you want.

Tony is on form and always willing to help. He is currently testing out some new valve locks that Vac is sending back to me hopefully in the coming week so I can finish my supercharger install.

Hope you come right man! :thumbs:

 

[Peejay]

Interesting.

Are you just going to change the bearings or upgrade other parts as well?
I've heard good things about eci or iec bearings not sure of the name.

 

[calypso]

Subscribed.

 

[M3_FTW]

VAC or nothing. Seriously

 

[S50B32turbo]

You might as well do an oil pump grade. I've read that its insufficient oil supply that gives these M engine bearings a bad name.

 

[born2boost]

Do the ARP Conrod bolt upgrade as well.

 

[Sirhan]

do these problems occur on the later S54 motors on the Z4M?

 

[S50B32turbo]

Bahn You know what :rollsmile: You might as well do forged internals, sleeve your block and boost the shit out of your car. 1000hp!!!!!!!!! Sorry i get carried away when i think about vac stuff:flyfun:

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do these problems occur on the later S54 motors on the Z4M?

Yah its any M engine i think.. but shows on cars that are driven hard or tracked, because those are the conditions were bearing may be starved of oil.

 

[Sirhan]

what would the bearings and the labour for the bearing change cost? .... who would be best to do this fitment locally?

 

[kabal]

this really isnt preventitve maintainance.

A tiny fraction of early S54 motors had bearing issues. people make it seem like these motors are blowing up left right and centre.....

if you took the ratio of say E46 waterpumps (proper preventative maintainence) vs S54 throwing bearings, the figure is probably 10000:1

 

[Andy1GP]

The Bearing recall is old news. If your car has lasted this long then it has either been addressed or wasn't affected. I've seen S54 motors go over 200k km and they get driven like we all drive them. Easy on the warm up and hammered once on temp. They are magic motors. Frequent oil changes are the hero here.

If you do go that route I'm keen to see what the old bearings look like. All of us are.

Subscribed

 

[Clownshoe]

I have done a lot of research on this and without going into details (I would have to look up build dates) but yes early S54 had sub tolerance bearing shells on the crankshaft. After failures of the bearing the oil pumps were first upgraded as a recall before the tolerances on the bearings were addressed. There was a recall done on all M3s. So check the cars history with BMW. It should have got a re-call. The MCoupe were never recalled and ALL S54MCoupes fall into the time where the sub-tolerance bearing shells were used.

I think the issue was resolved sometime in 2003 for production vehicles. So this is one of those time bomb things. If you have a pre2004 S54 that has not had the recall done you DO have bearing shells with the wrong tolerances. There is a possibility that they will let go.

I work with safety where we rank risk by a likelihood and potential severity. So while possible the likelihood is medium to low (depending on how you drive). But the severity if the shells do let go means you need a new engine. That puts the risk into a high category.

Cost would be in the region of R6000 to change the bearings out. New S54...

Recently someone did this and there was evidence that the shells had moved. And you can detect imminent failure by having oil analysis done.

VAG coated shells are the best, especially if you are going to super power at some point.

 

[kabal]

I work with safety where we rank risk by a likelihood and potential severity. So while possible the likelihood is medium to low (depending on how you drive). But the severity if the shells do let go means you need a new engine. That puts the risk into a high category.

I am interested how safety/risk assessment substanciates these risk levels?

this is similar to saying: flying on an airplane is extremely safe, and the chance of a crash is very low. however, if you crash, you will most probably die, therefore flying on an airplane is a high risk?? this is a deductive fallacy

 

[Clownshoe]

I work with safety where we rank risk by a likelihood and potential severity. So while possible the likelihood is medium to low (depending on how you drive). But the severity if the shells do let go means you need a new engine. That puts the risk into a high category.

I am interested how safety/risk assessment substanciates these risk levels?

this is similar to saying: flying on an airplane is extremely safe, and the chance of a crash is very low. however, if you crash, you will most probably die, therefore flying on an airplane is a high risk?? this is a deductive fallacy

Actually yes. That is why airlines have the highest safety standards of any industry besides nuclear. The severity of an accident is so high no matter how rare it is the risk is still high. To manage that risk you put in safety standards and checks. That is why you are politely asked to listen to a presentation on what to do in an accident. They kid you and do everything humanly possible but it is still a high risk.

Now go flying on a plane with sub-tolerance bearing shells and see where you stand.

I need to get mine done. I forgot with the last service, but if it goes bang I will only have myself to blame.

 

[Xack]

Lol, loving this thread, move up th Charger build please Crashraise:

 

[BahnStormer]

this really isnt preventitve maintainance.

A tiny fraction of early S54 motors had bearing issues. people make it seem like these motors are blowing up left right and centre.....

if you took the ratio of say E46 waterpumps (proper preventative maintainence) vs S54 throwing bearings, the figure is probably 10000:1

You see people have been putting the fear of G*d into me that these bearings are a time bomb, regardless of the recall.. at this stage I just don't know what to believe anymore.. and looking at the cost vs the risk I'm thinking that it would be a good idea..

I'm not experiencing any knocking sounds or anything like that..

Perhaps the best thing to do at this stage would be to do an oil analysis before one starts digging away.. Does anyone know who to use for the oil analysis, where they are and how to go about it?

Oh, and what's the deal with the water pump?

 

[Crash_Nemesis]

Lol, loving this thread, move up th Charger build please Crashraise:

Will do as soon as I get those locks from Vac...

Also, Vanos is currently being sorted. Got Lysis, a Vanos Guru, to come take a look at my Vanos issues. Looks to be oil related as I have a massive oil leak and the Vanos works on oil Pressure. Possibly the metal gasket that sits between the Vanos and the Cylinder head, as this was never replaced when Gtech rebuilt the engine. Also the Crush Washers that sit on top of the Vanos are single use only, and they were not replaced by Gtech. Whenever the car actuates the Vanos, OIL sprays out and its now gotten to a point where I have no choice but to open her up again and sort this out.

Will keep you guys posted in my own relevant thread.

 

[Clownshoe]

this really isnt preventitve maintainance.

A tiny fraction of early S54 motors had bearing issues. people make it seem like these motors are blowing up left right and centre.....

if you took the ratio of say E46 waterpumps (proper preventative maintainence) vs S54 throwing bearings, the figure is probably 10000:1

You see people have been putting the fear of G*d into me that these bearings are a time bomb, regardless of the recall.. at this stage I just don't know what to believe anymore.. and looking at the cost vs the risk I'm thinking that it would be a good idea..

I'm not experiencing any knocking sounds or anything like that..

Perhaps the best thing to do at this stage would be to do an oil analysis before one starts digging away.. Does anyone know who to use for the oil analysis, where they are and how to go about it?

Oh, and what's the deal with the water pump?

So your vehicle had the re-call done? If so you should not have a problem. Essentially the risk is eliminated.

I have been trying to find a thread on Bimmerforums where a Z3 MCoupe S54 owner (South African) ordered VAG bearing shells but the coatings got damaged in shipping. He eventually ended up having the coating done locally. But for the life of me I cannot find the thread. He was extremely happy with the finish on the local coatings.

 

[kabal]

Oh, and what's the deal with the water pump?

your waterpump will, at some stage, fail :fencelook:

this is a common e46 issue. thankfully it is not catastrophic, and can quite easily be done in an afternoon. http://www.bmwfanatics.co.za/showthread.php?tid=28049&pid=295603#pid295603