Vanos rebuild

A

Argenta

Senior member
Yoyoyo, where do one find the correct parts for a good price?
Been looking around it seems like a good deal buying all S54 related stuff from BesianSystems, then cambolts etc (rest of the stuff) from Hack Engineering. Or..?

Also I’ve only found DIY guide’s on the M3, tho I’m sure on our cars the radiator frame is in the way..
Is there a Z4M guide anywhere?
 
Argenta said:
Yoyoyo, where do one find the correct parts for a good price?
Been looking around it seems like a good deal buying all S54 related stuff from BesianSystems, then cambolts etc (rest of the stuff) from Hack Engineering. Or..?

Also I’ve only found DIY guide’s on the M3, tho I’m sure on our cars the radiator frame is in the way..
Is there a Z4M guide anywhere?
Click to expand...

Give Ben at Hack a shout, knows his stuff when it comes to the S54 VANOS. Besian has a guide on the website. Bear in mind you'll need various other tools to do it properly, timing cams etc.
Have you got specific VANOS issues? I've spoken to various specialists, some rate Besian stuff....some say stay away and re-do with BMW parts....I would certainly do some reasearch before commiting to one way or another...I ended up paying Steve (MR Vanos) to give me a whole new recon unit eventually...£1000 odd all in....
 
AndyBeech said:
I've spoken to various specialists, some rate Besian stuff....some say stay away and re-do with BMW parts....I would certainly do some reasearch before commiting to one way or another...I ended up paying Steve (MR Vanos) to give me a whole new recon unit eventually...£1000 odd all in....
Click to expand...

Any chance you could elaborate a little? I appreciate you may not want to name names but this is the first i've heard of any 'stay away' comments regarding beisan stuff :)
 
beanie said:
AndyBeech said:
I've spoken to various specialists, some rate Besian stuff....some say stay away and re-do with BMW parts....I would certainly do some reasearch before commiting to one way or another...I ended up paying Steve (MR Vanos) to give me a whole new recon unit eventually...£1000 odd all in....
Click to expand...

Any chance you could elaborate a little? I appreciate you may not want to name names but this is the first i've heard of any 'stay away' comments regarding beisan stuff :)
Click to expand...

Nothing bad or naming names needed. I had my own issues which probably were partially my own fault for letting too many separate garages have a bite at fixing various issues that came up, all unrelated to each other or separate, I'll never know. It would take me an age to write up my full VANOS experience....in a nutshell, mine was a total PITA for whatever reason that ended in an incurable whirring sound from the unit, so that was basically scrap in the end.

If I was going to touch the VANOS again though, for any issues, I would just get a recon one fitted by Mr Vanos (or other) and have done with it. You know what you're getting, the unit is tried and tested and it has a warranty, job done. As far as I'm aware, he recons units with all original BMW parts, and no anti rattle kits etc. take from that what you will :)

I'm certainly not saying stay away from Besian, just like I say, do your research and weigh up the options. If you're doing it yourself, make sure you know what you're doing and yeah you can save a fair wedge. If you're getting a garage to do it, then parts and labour won't be that far off the cost of a recon unit with guarantee. You don't have that if you go the Besian route and have issues afterwards....which you shouldn't, but you never know.
 
Thanx for your answers, I’ve decided I’ll go for a vanos filter + oil change first, and see the results. I don’t yet have that 2-3000rpm rattle.

As for MrVanos or xkr8 systems I found nothing much...?
Hack are out of vanos filter kits.
Ended up buying filter/o-rings from BMW.
 
AndyBeech said:
Bear in mind you'll need various other tools to do it properly, timing cams etc.
Click to expand...
I changed the seals on my 2.5 M54 without having to time the cams, is the S54 different in that respect?
 
Argenta said:
Thanx for your answers, I’ve decided I’ll go for a vanos filter + oil change first, and see the results. I don’t yet have that 2-3000rpm rattle.

As for MrVanos or xkr8 systems I found nothing much...?
Hack are out of vanos filter kits.
Ended up buying filter/o-rings from BMW.
Click to expand...

Mr Vanos has a website - but I can tell you, change out of £1000 will be next to nothing. That does include labour and all associated parts / recon unit / takes your old unit / probably do valve clearances while he's in there if you ask nicely :wink: And the nice cushion of a guarantee for the VANOS unit.

xkr8, not heard of them when it comes to the S54. Hack and Besian are the main suppliers for our parts.

Filter and O-rings are best from BMW anyway so that's fine. What I would say is if you do it, just buy a new valve block sealing plate from BMW, it's only cheap and saves messing around cutting out the old rings putting new ones in...which personally I would highly not recommend anyway (at least for the valve sealing plate...). The other O-rings are good to replace though obviously.

Dave - If you do the whole procedure ie. cam bolts and unit fully off then it'll need the timing done for sure. Uprated cam bolts is probably the key part you want to do along with the oil pump disc. Lots of info on those (potential) failures.

Duck - Besian and Hack recommended them as part of their rebuild, but I would agree probably not strictly necessary unless you have the loud 'marbles in a can' rattle....
 
AndyBeech said:
Dave - If you do the whole procedure ie. cam bolts and unit fully off then it'll need the timing done for sure. Uprated cam bolts is probably the key part you want to do along with the oil pump disc. Lots of info on those (potential) failures.
Click to expand...
The correct procedure is to use special camshaft and crankshaft locking tools so that the timing is never allowed to deviate.

Definitely want new cam bolts and either a redrilled oil pump disc (which is ultimately only a band-aid) or an improved aftermarket hub on the oil pump side.

My understanding is that Z4Ms are less likely to have VANOS rattle but either way the rattle isn't damaging?
 
As above, the S54 requires the cam locking/timing tools when doing the Vanos, whereas the M54 doesn't - However the rest of the procedure is very similar to the M54. So I have to again say - £1000. feck.....

Mike
 
Ducklakeview said:
As above, the S54 requires the cam locking/timing tools when doing the Vanos, whereas the M54 doesn't - However the rest of the procedure is very similar to the M54.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks all, learnt something there. :)
 
Mangozac said:
AndyBeech said:
Dave - If you do the whole procedure ie. cam bolts and unit fully off then it'll need the timing done for sure. Uprated cam bolts is probably the key part you want to do along with the oil pump disc. Lots of info on those (potential) failures.
Click to expand...
The correct procedure is to use special camshaft and crankshaft locking tools so that the timing is never allowed to deviate.

Definitely want new cam bolts and either a redrilled oil pump disc (which is ultimately only a band-aid) or an improved aftermarket hub on the oil pump side.

My understanding is that Z4Ms are less likely to have VANOS rattle but either way the rattle isn't damaging?
Click to expand...

True that, my bad, was a few years ago since I got involved in the whole procedure! I had a load of pictures with the whole procedure at some point, probably about still somewhere (loads on the Besian website anyway). The rattle isn't damaging as far as I'm aware, I had a totally different kind of sound, probably bearing related in the end but at that the point cost of investigation vs a refurb was a no brainer. Warranty will last me and probably the next owner as well so least that parts covered.

Yup a grand isn't cheap for sure, but it's about standard when you factor in M tax. Besian parts plus a specialist to fit is going to be around £600-700. The procedure might be similar(ish) to the M54, but there are more parts involved and that's where the cost is. If you got an all new VANOS unit from BMW (without fitting) it would be way way over the double the cost alone.

There's options and that's why I say do you're research if you're thinking of getting it done. Apart from Steve being sometimes difficult to get hold of (allegedly, I didn't have a problem personally), he's got a great rep for doing these and been doing it for years in the M community, he did my old E36 M3 back in the day. I didn't feel like I was ripped off, I would just rather have gone that route in the first place! :roll:
 
Thanks for that Andy, certainly food for thought :thumbsup:

I don't think that £1000 is too bad at all given its using genuine parts, includes labour and a warranty. Lets face it, there's no cheap way to do this unless you can diy it, but frankly I'd happily pay the extra to give the burden of responsibility to someone else-if I screw it up I'll end up paying twice!
 
Beedub said:
yeah i think a grand is reasonable too......
Click to expand...

My indy's an ex BMW master tech, he did a complete overhaul of the vanos including solenoids a CDV delete and a gearbox oil change for just over half of that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom