Month: December 2021

BMW N55 Engine Rebuild Project Part 9 – Engine Install and Assembly

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It has been over a month and if you are following my BMW N55 Engine rebuild project, you might be wondering what the heck happened and why haven’t I posted a video on the rest of the assembly, install of the engine and of course the engine running! This isn’t because I haven’t been working on it or the lack of trying, but mostly because I ran into a very major, what I assume to be electrical issue that I am not equipped or knowledgeable enough to fix. I wanted my last video in the rebuild series to be where I start the engine at the very end, but unfortunately, it will not be this video. The video where I explain what I have tried and my results is coming up shortly, but in this video, I will go over the remaining assembly and installation of the engine.

But before I continue, check out the BMW N55 engine rebuild playlist from the beginning if this is your first video here and hit that like button for the YouTube algorithm to help out the channel, it’s free!

In the last couple videos in this series, I installed the front and rear crankshaft seals, the valve and oil pan gaskets and the injectors. Now, of course there is still plenty left to do at this point, so I installed the high-pressure fuel pump. I’ve decided not a get a new one and reused the one that came on the original engine. Of course, I got a new O ring installed on it to make sure there were no leaks in the future. With the fuel pump installed, I could then install the oil filter housing, once again, renewing the gaskets as this is a very common spot for oil to leak from on these engines. I then torqued the bolts to spec as I mention in the video.

Some of you will no doubt comment below asking why haven’t I replaced this or that or upgraded certain parts and it’s an easy guess , it all comes to down to cost. Just like with any other project, there is a budget limitation and I have set myself a limited budget for the engine and car. If you don’t like the sound of that, don’t worry! I’ll be looking for my next project in a few short months and I’ll be modifying and upgrading at the same time of the rebuild on that one. Or least that’s my plan. This project was proving to myself that I can rebuild an engine without anyone’s help. Anyway, as you can see, I have also reused the VANOS solenoid. These tested just fine and I gave them a good clean right before installing.

At this point, things started moving a little faster. I installed the high-pressure fuel lines from the fuel pump to the injectors. You want to use a crowfoot wrenches to torque these down and prevent fuel leaks in the future.

With this side of the engine looking a little more complete, it was time to switch to the other side and install the exhaust manifold with the turbocharger.

I scraped remnants of the old gaskets out, cleaned the area and then installed them one by one. They should fit on there snuggly and will be crushed when the assembly is installed and torqued down. The O rings on the oil lines are a quick swap for a set of new ones and it’s time to marry it to the engine. I suggest angling the engine a little more or have someone help you as it can be a little awkward to get it in there and put the first couple bolts in at the same time. A cordless drill makes a quick work of getting the flange nuts finger tight and then it’s time for the torque wrench to get these up to spec. It’s important not to retighten them after the first or second round and follow the procedure exactly if you don’t want to have exhaust leaks in the future. Off camera, I also attached and torqued down the turbo oil lines as well as the bracket below the turbo housing itself and after some more plumbing, this side of the engine is done for now.

I then switched to the front of the engine and the first item on my list was to switch over the belt tensioner from the old block to the newly built engine. This is one of those items I didn’t really think about at the time of building the engine, but I would definitely recommend switching out the idler pulley for a new one. This might be a future DIY I will tackle with the engine in the car. In the meantime, I install the vibration damper, which now I have learned would have benefited from a front crank seal guard plate, you live and you learn! If any of you think of doing something like this at home, it’s honestly worth it just for the amount of engine knowledge you will get in the return, not to mention the patience! Anyway, I drop the front differential in place and torque it to spec. Next on the list is the water pump, this sucker just goes in and with a help of a couple bolts it’s in place.

Most of the big items are now installed, so I install the engine support that will attach to the engine mount and then the heatshield above the exhaust manifold that holds the vacuum regulator. I then position the spark plug and injector wires in their place, torque down the spark plugs and then install the ignition coils. The top of the engine is pretty much done at this stage and I can proceed to installing the wiring loom on the front of the engine. There are lots of small little wires going everywhere here, but luckily, they all seem to just be long enough to plug into the sensor or part that it’s supposed to. The plugs are different between them most of the time as well. One important item here is to not forget the ground wire on the bottom left corner of the engine. The same goes for the intake side of the engine, the bird nest of wires slides onto the engine and then I start sorting them out and plugging in what I can. The rest will be plugged in once the ECU and the rest of the intake sensors are close by.

Look at this beauty now! It’s starting to look more and more like a real engine and at this point I’m getting really excited to get this finished and put it back in the car, but before I get too excited, we still have to install a couple of parts. If you are wondering why am I struggling with this on the engine hoist, well.. it was impossible to do while on the engine stand as the engine stand was in the way of the bolts for the flywheel and I couldn’t think of any other way of doing this at the time.

And now for one of my favorite shots of this video, I love how after weeks of working on this engine and replacing most of the parts on the inside, it slides into the engine bay and is ready to be connected to its life lines. One of the struggles I had here is getting the AC compressor to go around the engine. I chose not to disconnect it as I don’t’ have the equipment to draw off the refrigerant in the system and having to call someone in sounded like a hassle.

THE END:

Well, this part was filmed over a month ago and OH how I wish it went to plan. The engine was supposed to fire up at that point and after some finishing touches, I would be enjoying my BMW 335i and all the work I have put into it. Unfortunately, it did not go to plan from this point on and the engine wouldn’t start. It would crank for as long as the battery would allow, but would not fire or even sputter. With that in mind, it’s time to end this video as it’s already far longer than I wanted it to be, but I wanted to show each step. Subscribe to the channel to stay tuned and to find out what I have tried so far to get the engine started. The list is long and I think you will find it interesting where my head was going troubleshooting this engine. That’s all for now, thank you so much for watching and I will see you in the next one!

Most Requested Mod on my BMWs – Replacing Kidney Grills on BMW Z4 and 550

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Hey guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy channel. Ever since I started posting videos online, I have gotten many suggestions, requests, complaints and even compliments once in a while, but the part that seemed to bother people the most and maybe had the most comments overall was that I had the M colors on the grill! So, in this video I’m replacing the fake M kidney grills with regular gloss black on both the BMW Z4 and the 550i.

Now, I installed mine before I knew how much people hated these and the stigma behind them. Everyone knows not to put M badges on a regular car, but what’s the harm in the M kidney grills? Well, apparently a lot as you cannot go on a forum or video without people complaining and hating on cars! So, for your pleasure and mine, let’s get these new shiny black ONLY grills installed and make the world a better place!

Do you agree with the general opinion? Leave a comment down below and let me know your opinion on this and while you are there, hit that like bottom for the Youtube Algorithm and maybe more than 20 people will see this video. Let’s get to it!

BMW Z4 Cat-Back Exhaust – SuperSprint Sport Muffler

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Hey Guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy Channel. About a year ago, I decided to upgrade the sound on my BMW Z4 and as the first step, I went with a SuperSprint resonator delete. It definitely made a difference and I got many more pop and burbles while driving, but OF COURSE, I wanted more. So, a few months ago, I ordered the sport muffler from the same company. I’m not sponsored by SuperSprint and I paid full price, the reason I picked them was because.. well, no one else makes stuff for this car. When I tool this muffler to a couple local shops, they all told me it would be 600-800 dollars to make the pipe between the muffler and the existing resonator delete pipe out of stainless steel. Since the pre-made stainless steel pipe was half the price from SuperSprint, I went for it. Unfortunately, it went on backorder and I had to wait a couple of months for all the parts to get here.

Finally, I have everything needed to have a full Cat-back exhaust on my BMW Z4. Meaning everything past the catalytic converter will be aftermarket and should sound much throatier and more aggressive. It will also allow me to start looking into some tunes in the future. Will the sound be worth the price? Let’s get all of this installed and find out together!

After getting the car up in the air as far as I felt would be safe, I still did not have enough space to cut the exhaust off with precision, so I went to my local shop to get it installed instead of proceeding on the driveway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t film as it was getting installed, but here is the end result! It looks great and cost me less than a nice dinner for two but now let’s see how it sounds. There are 3 different version of exhaust in this video. The first few clips I have stock exhaust, then you will hear resonator delete and finally full cat-back super sprint exhaust. Now would be a great time to hit that like button for YouTube algorithm and of course leave a comment down below letting me know what you think of the sound. Don’t forget, this a turbo 4 cylinder and not a V8!

BMW N55 Engine Rebuild Project Part 8 – Front Crankshaft Seal DIY (No Special Tools)

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Hey guys and welcome back to the SimpleCarGuy channel. I’m still working on my BMW N55 engine rebuild and as one of the last steps, I’m installing a brand new front crankshaft seal. Just like with the rear crankshaft seal, I will not be using any special tools for this job as I think it’s doable with the stuff you already have in the garage. Of course, if you do these often or aren’t sure of my technique, buy the correct tools for the job. However, if you’d like to see my DIY method, this is the video for you! If you’re interested in the rebuild project, check out the link in the description to start from the beginning and don’t forget to give this video a like to support my channel. Now to the job at hand.

If you are doing this with the engine still in the car, you will of course have to remove some parts to get to the seal. Luckily, it’s not nearly as bad as the rear seal. To start with, you’ll remove the underbody protection panel and most of the air ducts that’s in the way on the top of the engine by the radiator and with enough space remove the radiator fan as well. Your transmission oil cooler might be in the way, but you don’t have to remove it. It can be moved to the side. With a lot more space, you can now remove the serpentine belt that’s wrapped around the vibration damper. Now, to remove the 8 screws holding it to the crankshaft, you will need to secure the crankshaft in place or it will move as you try to loosen the bolts. You can get a simple stopper tool for a few bucks and block the crankshaft from moving at the flywheel and release the screws.

Now that you finally have access to the front crankshaft seal, you’ll have to remove it. This can be a little tricky without the special tool, but whatever you do, do not release the main bolt unless you want to be timing the engine as well. The way I removed my seal was by screwing a thin screw into the seal and then pulling it out with a hammer by leveraging it against the engine block. It popped out without much hesitation.

Finally, we are at the install stage and the first step, as always is to really clean the area as well as you can. A good degreaser will help you get rid of any oil on the engine block and insure a good seal. Once everything is clean, the seal can be installed. Once again, you can use the fancy install tool, but I will use what I have.

To install the seal, I use the little plastic cone that it came with and my old seal to get it seated on the crankshaft. No force is really needed here, it should go in easily and once you start feeling a little bit of resistance, grab a mallet and tap it in place. Check that the inner seal is seated properly and not bent over itself as well as the little groves lined up with the seam on the block and then go to town with your mallet. You don’t want to hit it hard, so slow and steady wins the race here. As long as it’s going in evenly, we are getting it done. You also don’t want to hit the seal directly and use the old seal to distribute the weight, this is very important to avoid damage to the new seal. After some time, it will start to feel like it’s not moving anymore and as long as it looks to be in the right stop, you are done with this part.  

The next step is to use a liquid sealing compound to avoid any leaks in the future. There are two different sealants you can use, the one I showed you at the beginning of the video and one I will show you in just a few seconds. Whichever one you use; you will need a primer for good adhesion.

After everything is cured, re-assemble the car and have many more happy miles without an oil leak at the front crankshaft seal. Anyway, thank you guys so much for watching, leave me a comment down letting me know how hard or easy this was for you, subscribe to the channel if it’s your first time watching and I’ll see you in the next one video when we finish the engine and put it back in the car.