Back in the summer of ’23 I bought a borescope to take a look at the timing chain U-guide since other forum posts about doing so had me wondering. When I looked, the plastic on the guide had definitely shifted in the forward direction but the chain was still riding on it. Now I had planned on doing the rod bearings somewhere in the 13xk range just so I don’t have to worry about it but had no plans on doing the timing anytime soon. With 127k at the time of seeing the shifted guide, I decided to move my rod bearing timeline up and do the timing. I wasn’t going to do the timing without taking a look at the rod bearings first. So I did the bearings first, timing second, decided to also do an under plenum refresh third and added the front wheel wells and Radiator for some while you’re in theres.
I put hours of planning and prep into this. I started with another M5board’s parts list then added extras for the bearings, under plenum refresh etc. I did as much eyeballing of the Real OEM drawings as I could and printed those drawings out to help organize. I picked up some cheap plastic bins and separated parts according to their associated diagram. I did this as I was inventorying everything. I think it ended up being somewhere north of 300 individual parts. It made it way easier to find everything.
A reminder of the space I had to work with..
My plan was to do the rod bearings over a shorter thanksgiving PTO stretch and then the timing and under plenum items over a longer late December PTO stretch. I knocked out the rod bearings according to plan and buttoned up the timing by the end of Dec but ended up doing the under plenum refresh and wheel wells in January. Cleaning everything definitely took the most time.. Every bolt, part and surface and thoroughly cleaned. Most things cast aluminum I removed was cleaned with Eagle 1 Mag wheel etching cleaner, then coated with ACF-50.
Rod Bearings:
For the rod bearing install I used the ECS WPC install guide and it worked well. I did like keeping the steering box attached to the car vs dropping it with the rack and having to drain/refill that system. When hanging the engine, the hanger I have wasn’t going to reach both lift points so used the FL one with a thick rachet strap around the RH engine mount bracket to lift from the front.
Here’s what the old bearings looked like at 129k. I took an oil sample and I’m planning on doing a blackstone analysis done so it can be (roughly) correlated to bearing wear.
All bearings were checked with plastigauge and were all between 0.038-0.051mm.
I kept the upper pan off to avoid getting any junk in there with the timing job and get a cleaner seal with Dreibond where the lower timing cover meets the block. I completely disassembled the pan and replaced the o-rings on the rear sump pickup tubes. (Real OEM shows them in the wrong location)
I did clean them up nice though:
Timing:
The timing had me a little nervous. I have timed static cam timing on a DOHC V6 (i30) a couple times. One of those times involved choosing and setting my own cam timing via drilling for new dowel pin locations. With this job though, the price of screwing up was monetarily a whole order of magnitude higher than anything I have messed with previously. I used @jamiepeers DIY along with TIS (BMW service software), whatever was on youtube and whatever I could find otherwise. In retrospect, setting the timing on the S62 isn’t as bad as I thought but I needed to reread everything available several times to feel comfortable.
For new to me special tools I picked up a TDC pin from ECS and some 8/100mm 303 stainless shafts for cam securing pins ($39), which fit very snug and worked perfectly.
Some choices made with the timing job parts:
– Inspected and left the secondary chain/tensioners since they see half the revs and are not known to fail.
- Went the M60 (BMW 540) LH chain guide route. At the time I could still get the S62 part but would likely have to drill my own oil holes in the plastic. I figured if I was going to have to do that, I might as well save $200 and go the M60 route. Cliffs are, buy the M60 guide (11311747411), drill three oil holes in the plastic to mimic the S62, put plastic on old S62 aluminum guide frame with new o-ring (11421741129) in between the plastic and the aluminum guide. Then either carefully transfer over the little o-ring that goes on the tip of the plastic oil supply shaft or buy new (11421713597).
More detailed info here.
- A list of things that were replaced/serviced while I was in there: VANOS hub plate and supporting rings, all oil separator hoses (separators were replaced 30k ago), PCV hoses/grommets, water pump and pulley, radiator, all forward coolant hoses, temp sensor above thermostat, Secondary Air valve and vac lines to/from solenoid, VANOS filter (S54/M3 kit), VANOS oil lines, VANOS diaphragm springs with newer style c-clips, oil pump chain tensioner and painted the oil drain tube. VANOS boards were pulled to relieve pressure in the system when rotating the cams. New o-rings and gaskets were used even though they had 20k on them.
- VANOS hub gear bolts were upgraded to the new 10.9 version.
- Cam bolts were upgraded to 12.9 bolts.
My U-guide did not actually break any clips yet but it had a lot of play.
When I was going through the TIS timing procedure and when rotating the crank in the opposite direction, with the cams locked, I actually spun the cam hubs to where the bolt holes were misaligned with the cam locking pins. I know this doesn’t really matter from a function standpoint but it might make it hard to tighten half the hub holts then the other half. So I made sure the top bolts all aligned with the cam locking pins.
Cleaning up the timing covers
Upper pan install
The oil pump screen was clean, with the exception of some silicone
Here’s a clip I took of getting the sweet tooth setup.
More or less the better this is, the easier it is for the VANOS units to adjust.
https://youtu.be/_jzCsb0q3Rc?si=f4hY_4qMUiq1FTwSLining up the splined shaft while installing the VANOS unit
VANOS and splined shafts fully seated
Updated VANOS washers and C-clips
Cleaning up the VANOS
Checking the timing for the first time
Vanos filter replacement
Lower pan install
SAS vac and inlet lines
I was on my last day of PTO (Jan 2nd) and the engine was mostly buttoned up minus everything above the ITBs. I could have started it without the plenum but slapped it all together to avoid a CEL. With the fuel pump fuse removed, I cranked the engine in cycles until the oil light went out. With the FP fuse in it started right up and surprisingly wasn’t much louder than usual. I found one leak at the banjo fitting that goes to the upper pan but fixed it just by tightening. I got it up to temp and chalked it up as a W.
Under Plenum:
Progress was way slower here but at least the pressure was off. Now as far as I know, nothing has ever been replaced under the plenum. I decided to replace: the gasket flanges, TPSes, fuel tank breather valve, brake booster T line, an infamous #17 elbow (with brass) on the Real OEM drawing, hoses #5,7,11,16 and FPR elbow with hose to LH strut tower. The FPR vac line between the ITB and below was actually ripped. The booster hose probably took the longest since it was basically hard plastic at the TB ports. All the hoses were a bit annoying though.
I did trim down the brass elbow since it was pushing the #16 hose into the throttle actuator otherwise.
One of the 3 rubber lines on the lower plenum that run to the pipe which connects all three sections was seeping oil bad. The p/n on the hoses goes nowhere, as confirmed by at least one post on m5board, but I just replaced it with 8mm ID Conti fuel injection hose.
Wheel wells:
When I was dropping the subframe the finder liners reminded me they’re past due for replacement. I ordered those along with the one time use plastic rivets that go into the fender. With the crumpling liners removed, I cleaned the sheet metal as best as I could with a brush and spray bottle since my garage has no running water. With everything installed I hit the wheel wells with some Maxima SC1 high gloss coating left over from my suspension install. The passenger side hard to get pics of since it was about 2’ from the wall..
I also added thrust bearings to the PSS9s. Someone suggested this and after a year of use I can see why. I could not find sealed bearings that would fit with my super tight wheel setup so I’ll just consider them a maintenance item. I found Porsche guys have the same issue with PSS9s and use SKF AXK 6085s with success so I went with those.
I had to replace the top mounts on the rear coilovers so I cleaned up the wheel wells in the process.
I finally went for a 30 min stop and go drive on Jan 26th and it went well with the exception of a coolant leak from the Aux fan temp switch sensor. I realized I didn’t buy a replacement to go in the new lower rad hose and rolled the dice on the o-ring.. So that’s in the mail. But! So far so good!
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95 SLE... a keeper. 241k miles. Low and Slow.
97 BMW 528i
98 Infiniti vq35'd i30: 13.3@104mph, 30MPG Hwy (RIP)
02 Jag X-type
03 BMW M5
05 Chevy Cobalt LS
07 Infiniti G35s 6MT (Sold)
07 Ducati Monster S2R 800 with DS1000 swap
83 Yamaha IT175K
72 Yamaha DS7: '74 RD250 swap, JL chambers
Info on dropping a 92-99:
Here.
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