Strider's S54 Rebuild

[Strider]

So I am posting some pics of the 325i. There are a few before and after the PlastiDip...and then there will be a few 2 hours after we finished everything a week ago.

Here is the day I brought her home!
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Here it is the morning after Elric and I, with some help from my son, dipped the whole car black (Clear was starting to peel pretty significantly...note the regular M3 brakes)
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Decided to dip the wheels that day since I had it up on the lift installing comp brakes.
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2 hours after leaving the shop that same day my son calls me....this is what it looked like. (He borrowed it to go to church..hydroplaned coming out of a roundabout)
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Here it is outside the shop.
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Short story - The insurance co. has totaled it out, and I bought it back today. I have been kicking around finding a shell and moving all the go fast goodies over, but after looking at it closer, I think I am going to try and repair this myself, and just buy a different daily driver.

This thread will follow the rebuild. I am not a mechanic by any stretch, but I figure this will be a good time to learn.

Any suggestions of things you would do if you were rebuilding from here?

First things - Visit to the collision center to get the front frame member straightened. Going to do a fan delete, new waterpump, upgraded radiator, and looking now for a donor e46 sedan that can give up the hood, and bumper crossmember as well as parts and pieces of the front clip. Replacing all fluids brake, diff...etc.

Not sure how long this will take, but I will try to update the thread with descriptions and pictures everytime we do something.

[Avetiso]

A new shell is completely unnecessary. Good luck. Ill post the link to my rebuild soon, mine was hit worse than yours.

[Strider]

A few more pictures of the damage:

Front of the motor with the hood pried open and the radiator removed.
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One more of the front. That frame member on the left of the shot is the one that needs straightening.
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The motor in happier days...
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[Stigissimo]

To be honest I chuckled pretty hard when I saw that you had plasti-dipped your car, as I just bought a can of plasti-dip yesterday and now find it comical that somebody would spray the whole car with it. But, I must admit, I think it looks pretty damn badass. Turned out real nice.

[Oli77]

Man, that's a bummer.

Avetiso brought one back from the grave (http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?8519-Bringing-it-Back-to-Life&highlight=back+grave) before, listen to him.

[Strider]

That would be a lot of cans! I resisted the idea for a long time, but the clearcoat peel just really degraded, so I just felt that it was a much better temp solution while the new paint job made its way into the starting lineup on the car budget.

We bought the dip by the gallon and used a sprayer. It turned out very even and very smooth. Plus, if I hated it, I could just peel it off.

[Johnmadd]

I thought an e30 would acquire this engine? Imo... that rebuild is going to cost. Good luck on what you decide, I'm interested either way.

[derbo]

Good luck sir!

[Strider]

I kicked it around, and after looking it over and talking with my mechanic (plus given my lack of fabrication experience), bolt ons will probably be my best bet. I hope the rebuild stays under 5k. Now, I am not making the car perfect. I will not be painting it yet, and I will be doing as much of the work myself as I can. It is probably like a boat....if you think it will be 5000, budget 7500.

I will keep the thread updated and would love any feedback.

[Avetiso]

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?8519-Bringing-it-Back-to-Life&highlight=bringing+back

There you go. Russians over here in Sacramento do this on a daily basis, and I've seen much worse get fixed. I also worked at a dealership dedicated to salvage cars for seven months. I've had a lot of exposure to this, and I myself have done this with two cars already (2008 Jetta and my ZHP).

Feel free to message me. Vas might be able to offer some info to you as well; he is much closer to you than I am and may know more about things East Coast.

[kayger12]

Don't have much to offer other than moral support. Well, I mean I can hold your beer while you work...

Looking forward to watching this develop.

[johnrando]

+1 Moral support and will watch the progress with interest. GL!

[Avetiso]

Don't have much to offer other than moral support. Well, I mean I can hold your beer while you work...

Looking forward to watching this develop.
:rofl You make that sound useless. So many body/frame shop guys I know would love to have something hold stuff for them. They wouldn't pay to hire somebody, but if they have a son with free time, it's gonna be him.

[Torxuvin]

Looking forward to seeing it back on the road. I want to drive it at next year's meet. ;)

[Strider]

Thanks for the support. This will be by far and away my most ambitious undertaking on a car. The shop where the car currently sits has agreed to let me keep it there and work on it as I can, but I don't want to wear out my welcome. I want to get it to a point where I feel I can complete the rest of it off of a lift and then bring it over to my garage.

If you see or hear of any donor e46 sedans with rear end damage within reasonable distance from Raleigh NC, I would appreciate the heads up. I am beating the bushes and have not found one yet.

Many years ago my wife got upset with me because I taught my then 3 year old to bring me a beer in the garage. It made him feel helpful and he was much easier to train than the dog.

[Strider]

Cam, you can drive it up from Butner after lunch if you feel up to it... :)

[Avetiso]

Strider. Find someone with access to either copart.com or iaai.com. You can bid on thousands of salvage cars. I'm sure you will find what you need there.

[Strider]

Thanks...I will ask my friend at a local body shop. I am sure that they get some high end cars this way and rebuild them.

[Torxuvin]

Cam, you can drive it up from Butner after lunch if you feel up to it... :)

Sweet. I do love getting my hands on a S54 whenever possible. Let's see what's around besides wendy's though next year. :biggrin

[Torxuvin]

Many years ago my wife got upset with me because I taught my then 3 year old to bring me a beer in the garage. It made him feel helpful and he was much easier to train than the dog.

:rofl

[Johnmadd]

I know someone as well, ill ask when I go back to work after my short vacation.

[Strider]

There is a mexican place in Butner, but I am not so sure that is the best choice with 3 hours in an enclosed metal and glass cabin staring down at you...:shifty

[Ryans323i]

I didn't realize the accident happened right after the plastidip. Again, glad Holt walked away ok.

Quite an undertaking. I'm here for moral support as well and can't wait to see this beast in person. What are you thinking for a daily driver?

Sent from my walkie talkie.

[Strider]

Thanks Ryan...of course my first question was "Are you ok", but my second question was, "It is driveable?"

Whatever I end up getting as a daily, I hope it is half as distinctive and well done as yours! I really loved your car.

I am considering a 135i, a 335i, and possibly (gasp!) and Audi RS6.

Can't wait for the next get together, and I hope I am at least to a point with reviving the beast that it can go on a road trip.

[JupiterBMW]

If I were you, I'd look at a blown motor sedan and just transplant the powertrain into it... It would be far easier and at the end of the day, you'd have a clean title car. Because no matter how well a car is 'rebuilt', lets be real, we all prefer a car with a clean title.

Either way, the car had an amazing look and I'm sure the successor will be just as nice, probably even better! Seeing that powerplant in a sedan makes my hear flutter... Maybe someday... If you do decide to bail on a rebuild, I'm calling dibs on any and all parts needed to put that thing into my ZHP.

[Strider]

Jupiter - Here are three shots of one of the lights. Given the line on the projector and the ballast, I am pretty sure they are AL lights. If you look at the top down shot, there is a hole in the black plastic.(About an inch northeast of the yellow sticker with the bar code) This is the connector that broke on both of the black plastic housings. I am not sure just how much holding is required of these mounting points, but if it is not critical, I can JB Weld something there that can attach to the car, and count on the rest of the connectors to hold the light. Just don't know enough about the system to make an educated guess here.

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[Hornung418]

Those are indeed ALs. The ZKWs have the ballast built into the light housing.

Sorry to learn about the accident. Amazing how well the dip held up to a tree! Hope it goes smoothly.

From a GS3, this was sent.

[JupiterBMW]

Ahh dammit... The good thing, those are AL lights and will never have burnt bowls, so you don't want to ditch them... The bad thing, finding replacement housings will be very hard. People always take apart ZKW lights, but these lights are very different and therefore the housings are not interchangeable, nor are the parts inside. In the pic of the light you posted, I do see the hole. As well, you can see the other top mounting tab is busted off (about 2" to the right of the yellow lightning bolt triangle voltage warning sticker in that same pic). I'd have to see better, clearer shots of the entire things, all sides, to determine if the other locations are busted off as well.

Either way, hang onto them. Most non ZHP E46s (facelift sedans of course) came with the ALs. For some reason, it seems the ZHP was always outfitted with the ZKW versions. So, perhaps you can find a set if someone is parting out a car. Unfortunately, the lights bolt directly to the radiator support bar, so any cars with front end damage will most likely have busted mounting tabs (they're really the weakpoint in the lights).

At the absolute LEAST, if you'd be interested/willing, you can send these to me and I could work on retrofitting the AL guts into the ZKW light. It might be possible to retrofit in the inner housing/bowl assembly as it has similar mounting points. I have two ZKW lights here now, and I am going to work on retrofitting the FXR kit for Tony. I could use the housings to mock up and see how possible it'd be to set you up with something. Like I said, I know there are ZKW light housings to be had, just not so easy to find AL housings.

The only remaining thought I have is to go to the car. Most likely, the mounting tabs are still bolted to the radiator support bar. I'd get them and see how they fit. Its very possible to get them back in place. If the breaks are fairly clean, you can epoxy them back into place. All 4 mounting tabs on the lights are honestly overkill, the lights would be plenty stable with two of the four... More is better, but if you're desperate, it'd work...

Let me know how else I can help..


Oh side note, my wife and I went for a walk today, checked on your in-laws house in the neighborhood. Looks nice. :thumbsup

[Mtnman]

In for rebuild or whatever this turns into!

[Strider]

Thanks for the insight. I will swing by the patient tomorrow and see if I can find the tabs and how well they match up to the housings. Epoxy is my friend. The bottom tabs are intact, it was just the tops that snapped.

See, I told you I wan't stalking you! It is my mom's sister. My uncle is an enginerd out at Pratt and Whitney working on some seriously big turbofans. :)

[cakM3]

Jupiter ... shots of one of the lights. Given the line on the projector and the ballast, I am pretty sure they are AL lights. If you look at the top down shot, there is a hole in the black plastic.(About an inch northeast of the yellow sticker with the bar code) This is the connector that broke on both of the black plastic housings. I am not sure just how much holding is required of these mounting points, but if it is not critical, I can JB Weld something there that can attach to the car, and count on the rest of the connectors to hold the light. Just don't know enough about the system to make an educated guess here.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp37/macdctr/Library2/IMG_4695_zpsa777700e.jpg



James,

Regarding your headlights, the line on the projector lens are Bosch projector lens. They are ever slightly frosted to produce a softer light output compared to the polished clear ZKW lens. All Bosch projector lens (ones with lines on them) are found on all Xenon AL headlight assemblies. This is the quickest way to determine the difference between a ZKW headlight assembly and AL headlight assembly. You also can look at the headlight lens at the bottom inner corner and either see the AL or ZKW symbol there. Hope this clears things. :thumbsup

[Strider]

Ok, just inspected the lights and both have the bottom 2 mounting points intact. One light has one of the top mounting points intact, and the pictured one has both top mounts snapped off. One of the connectors going into the one of the lights ballasts is cracked, but it is a clean crack and the electrical connection appears intact. I am going to try to save them here since they appear to be close, and your statement that 4 mounting points is a gracious plenty. I am certain I can get 3 solid mounting points on both, and do something with that fourth spot that might not be as tight, but will help with stability.

Thanks for the help. I felt so helpless during this whole situation, that if feels good to be doing something...anything really, that is moving towards the direction of getting the car, or more specifically, the powerplant, back on the road.

One of the big reasons I want to try and keep this one going is all the welding work already done to reinforce the subframe mounting. I am sure that I could get someone to weld new reinforcement, but welding is one of the areas I have zero experience in.

[Strider]

I see that now Charlie. Thanks for the heads up. It was great meeting you this weekend!

[JupiterBMW]

Ok, just inspected the lights and both have the bottom 2 mounting points intact. One light has one of the top mounting points intact, and the pictured one has both top mounts snapped off. One of the connectors going into the one of the lights ballasts is cracked, but it is a clean crack and the electrical connection appears intact. I am going to try to save them here since they appear to be close, and your statement that 4 mounting points is a gracious plenty. I am certain I can get 3 solid mounting points on both, and do something with that fourth spot that might not be as tight, but will help with stability.

Thanks for the help. I felt so helpless during this whole situation, that if feels good to be doing something...anything really, that is moving towards the direction of getting the car, or more specifically, the powerplant, back on the road.

One of the big reasons I want to try and keep this one going is all the welding work already done to reinforce the subframe mounting. I am sure that I could get someone to weld new reinforcement, but welding is one of the areas I have zero experience in.

Good to hear. You'll be fine with 3 of the 4 mounting bolts. I actually stopped installing the lower, inner bolts on my car because they're such a PITA to deal with, and my headlights are in and out fairly often... Don't ask, I have an obsession with headlights apparently... Let me know if need any other help...

[cakM3]

I see that now Charlie. Thanks for the heads up. It was great meeting you this weekend!

the feeling is mutual James. I look forward to seeing progress one way or another....either way I hope you are able to salvage the ///M drivetrain.....

[Strider]

Went back to the patient and found 2 of the 3 clips broken off of the headlights. A little JB Kwik and they are back on and strong as ever.

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[cakM3]

James, that JB Kwik is amazing stuff :thumbsup

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD using Tapatalk 2

[ELCID86]

I have an obsession with headlights apparently... Yep! And thanks for the help on mine and the new lens.

[Strider]

Today was a shop day. Lots of stuff to do on the car. From looking at the pictures, it sure does not feel like progress, but sometimes you have to make a mess to clean it up right.

We pulled the engine, tranny, driveshaft, and LSD today.

Luckily, it looks like only some bushings and bearings need to be replaced, and that the driveshaft came through without damage even though the driveline went about 1 inch towards the back of the car.

Here are some pictures:

Up on the lift with the exhaust removed.
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LSD on the floor. Notice the bushing on the top left of the housing. It has been forced out. That is the amount of distance that the driveline moved.
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Driveshaft - Center bearing is completely shot, but it did not bend the driveshaft, so that was good news.
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Transmission Crossmember and bushings. Here you can see some real damage done by the impact. No refurb here. Will have to replace this.
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[Strider]

Second picture post - These are just some shots of the engine coming out. I have never taken an engine or transmission out. Glad I had help!

Jeff (Elric) was there, as well as the owners of the shop - Luxury Auto Works. They have been great with this project.

Here is some slight damage to the tunnel close to where the driveshaft goes into the LSD. It was pushed up against there, but luckily, the car did not run.
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Here is the transmission dog bone. The poly bushings tore completely.
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Engine and Tranny on the hoist
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Engine and Tranny on the ground
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The rolling chassis with the heart of rock and roll removed. Look at the left bumper attachment point. It is tweaked towards the middle. To the frame straightener.
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That is all for today. The roller heads to the frame shop next week. And then I am going to see how long it takes to find a donor front clip.

[danewilson77]

Great work.

HTC DNA, Williamsburg, VA

[kayger12]

Making some good headway. Nice.

Sent from the Last Next Best Thing.

[UdubBadger]

crud that stucks

[Strider]

Yeah, I'm not too happy about it, but on a bright note, I am learning quite a bit. Also, I love the S54 drivetrain and did not want to just part it out. I have been following your rehab of your M3. It is coming along nicely. I am sure you are enjoying the torque!

[UdubBadger]

Very much so. Guess we are sort of brothers in arms for a while huh?

At least these repairs are rewarding :)


- Goin' H.A.M. Mobile

[Strider]

Yeah, very much so. I have to pick and choose my mods because I am in a sedan, so it is sometimes hard to find things that crossover. I actually picked up a couple of extra contracts locally just for "Car Money" so I can hopefully have the car back on the road before the end of summer. Parts are not cheap, and while I have everything out, I am going to look at the clutch, probably do a valve adjustment, and anything else that makes sense to do while everything is out.

[JupiterBMW]

Wow, great work so far and glad to hear you're making progress. Looking forward to the next installment.

[Strider]

Thanks...the next installment will involve some outside help, and money. Getting into it now, I am actually hopeful that I will have everything done by the Outer Banks get together in September.

Nice photography, BTW. I am paying attention and seeing if it helps me any...and trust me, my picture taking needs some assistance.

[johnrando]

:thumbsup

[Strider]

So I added a new daily driver. :devilish
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The M is off to the frame shop this week to be straightened. Ordering some parts...anyone have any recommendations on aftermarket radiators and types of tranny, motor, and diff mounts?

[Avetiso]

I think a lot of people here go with Behr radiators from ECS. I'm sure not sure if you need an M or 330i rad, though. You should be good with after market, though.

I think AKG has some nice stuff for you in terms of bushings/mounts.

[Strider]

It needs an M radiator. Someone had mentioned that some of the aftermarket radiators were a better product at the same price point. I will look over at ECS to see what they have. Just building my parts stockpile for now until my frame and front clip get rebuilt, then I can bolt on all the new goodies.

[Johnmadd]

This is an awesome thread.

[danewilson77]

Behr radiator and why not go with ///M3 mounts?

HTC DNA ON TT4 BETA, WILLIAMSBURG, VA

[UdubBadger]

Yeah I got a Behr when I did mind on the ZHP, top quality.

[Strider]

Good idea Dane. I am thinking about doing the fan delete off of the water pump and just going with an electric fan since I have to replace the water pump anyway due to the accident.

I am trying to find a good salvage E46 to get the front clip, so a stock radiator with M mounts would probably be the easiest route.

[derbo]

Glad this is making great progress!!!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 2

[Strider]

Quick update on the rebuild. The car is at the body shop getting straightened out, and they called late last week letting me know that they cannot complete the job without a hood, and the lower radiator support. I still don't have a donor front clip...so I ended up ordering a hood and rad support. They arrive tomorrow, and I will hopefully have pictures of the newly straightened car to post up next week sometime.

While the engine is out, I am going to install the Besian Systems parts for the S54 (Oil pump disk, vanos rattle kit and seals), probably replace the valve cover gasket, the oil pan gasket, and replace the plugs.

Any other suggestions for "Engine Out" service?

[Avetiso]

Clean up your engine bay before you put it back in.

[cakM3]

James, how many miles do you have on your S54? if you have high mileage, have you considered replacing the exhaust cam sprocket (the one with the tabs on it)? This is something I'm revisiting regarding my Vanos. I'm looking into rebuilding it for peace of mind. Since I have 153k on my engine w/ original parts, I figure it might be a good thing to rebuild the Vanos. Just food for thought since your engine is out at the moment...:thumbsup