Jake's Epic BMW 135i Build Thread! (5+ Years of Ownership)

[REKIII]

patsbimmer1 said:

That's awesome!  That thing is definitely not stealthy by any means.  Although I think you threw the sleeper image out of the window a long time ago that giant front mount isn't fooling anyone.

It is still a 1 series.  Still cute by anyones measure.  Like the LS Miata.....still a miata, lol.

[suspenceful]

170, 170, 80, 170, 170, 170. I blame this forum and won't ever be returning.

[Jeff]

suspenceful said:

170, 170, 80, 170, 170, 170. I blame this forum and won't ever be returning.

I think you should be blaming snap for this epidemic.

All votes for snaps banning say aye.....

[B C]

Really sorry to hear this news!

[Daggerty]

When you do a compression test there is two possible results good or wibimmers.

[B C]

Daggerty said:

When you do a compression test there is two possible results good or wibimmers.

[HipMF]

That sucks.

If possible, check that the valves are seating before tearing the head off/pulling the motor. Could be something dumb like a broken lock/retainer ring/piece of something stuck in there/etc.

[B C]

Carbon

[Jdesign]

Super bummer man. Like HipMF said, check everything before claiming sudden death.

[suspenceful]

HipMF said:

That sucks.

If possible, check that the valves are seating before tearing the head off/pulling the motor. Could be something dumb like a broken lock/retainer ring/piece of something stuck in there/etc.

Did a wet test. Tablespoon of oil boosted compression from 80 to 120psi. I'm 99.9% sure it's a ring or ringland. Leakdown and borescope this week.

[patsbimmer1]

suspenceful said:

Did a wet test. Tablespoon of oil boosted compression from 80 to 120psi. I'm 99.9% sure it's a ring or ringland. Leakdown and borescope this week.

That would definitely indicate a ring problem.  Easy fix if the cylinder walls are fine!  Fingers crossed!

[suspenceful]

patsbimmer1 said:

That would definitely indicate a ring problem.  Easy fix if the cylinder walls are fine!  Fingers crossed!

I don't know if "easy" is the right word, lol. Getting in there to replace a piston isn't a walk in the park.

[patsbimmer1]

It books as a 30+ hr job.  It's time consuming but easy.  Especially when you consider the cost of a used engine... much easier on the wallet.  Just get Paul to "help" lol.

[patsbimmer1]

In contrast, r&r engine is about 28 book hours.

[Iceddragon]

Pardon my ignorance, what exactly happened with this? What did those numbers mean? I'm assuming cylinder pressure?

I love this build and you guys sound like its dead

[Jeff]

patsbimmer1 said:

It books as a 30+ hr job.  It's time consuming but easy.  Especially when you consider the cost of a used engine... much easier on the wallet.  Just get Paul to "help" lol.

Its crazy how long shop times are sometimes.

[patsbimmer1]

Jeff said:

Its crazy how long shop times are sometimes.

Not to sidetrack the thread but yes.  Honestly they UNDER estimate a lot of this shit.  They don't take rust and wear into consideration.

[i_love_cars]

just get a used motor. It's gonna cost you $1500 in parts to do a full rebuild which is the only acceptable answer if you are tearing down the engine in the first place. You're not just gonna replace 1 ring or 1 piston. You're gonna do a complete overhaul including pistons. Then you need to make sure you do it right, and whether or not you did it right becomes far more obvious when you're making +350 whp/tq over factory power. So you'll be spending a lot of time here. The engine has too many miles on it to NOT overhaul everything if you tear it down. 

you need to pull the motor regardless, so factoring in what your time is worth, you'll have a lot of hours into a teardown/rebuild on top of pulling/reinstalling the motor. Considering a used motor with less than half the miles on your current engine can be had for $3k and it's a straight swap, I wouldn't even be considering a rebuild. N54 motors are a commodity. When you grenade one, you just go get a used one and replace it. That's just what you do. This isn't an old M50 or something where finding good used examples is hard to do and you have to be more serious about rebuilding (plus parts are way cheaper for those anyway). I can throw a rock out the window and hit 5 n54 motors on the used market within walking distance of my bathroom all with 50k miles on them.

[patsbimmer1]

i_love_cars said:

just get a used motor. It's gonna cost you $1500 in parts to do a full rebuild which is the only acceptable answer if you are tearing down the engine in the first place. You're not just gonna replace 1 ring or 1 piston. You're gonna do a complete overhaul including pistons. Then you need to make sure you do it right, and whether or not you did it right becomes far more obvious when you're making +350 whp/tq over factory power. So you'll be spending a lot of time here. The engine has too many miles on it to NOT overhaul everything if you tear it down. 

you need to pull the motor regardless, so factoring in what your time is worth, you'll have a lot of hours into a teardown/rebuild on top of pulling/reinstalling the motor. Considering a used motor with less than half the miles on your current engine can be had for $3k and it's a straight swap, I wouldn't even be considering a rebuild. N54 motors are a commodity. When you grenade one, you just go get a used one and replace it. That's just what you do. This isn't an old M50 or something where finding good used examples is hard to do and you have to be more serious about rebuilding (plus parts are way cheaper for those anyway). I can throw a rock out the window and hit 5 n54 motors on the used market within walking distance of my bathroom all with 50k miles on them. 

Why do you have rocks in your bathroom?

[suspenceful]

Iceddragon said:

Pardon my ignorance, what exactly happened with this? What did those numbers mean? I'm assuming cylinder pressure?

I love this build and you guys sound like its dead

It lost compression on cylinder #3, motor is constantly misfiring and running rough. Needs to be repaired internally or replaced.

Chances are, it's gonna be a while until the car is back on the road. I don't have the funds.

Jeff said:

Its crazy how long shop times are sometimes.

True, but to be fair, I bet this is accurate. I spent a lot of time replacing the turbos and would assume pulling the motor and re-installing it would probably take awhile.

i_love_cars said:

just get a used motor. It's gonna cost you $1500 in parts to do a full rebuild which is the only acceptable answer if you are tearing down the engine in the first place. You're not just gonna replace 1 ring or 1 piston. You're gonna do a complete overhaul including pistons. Then you need to make sure you do it right, and whether or not you did it right becomes far more obvious when you're making +350 whp/tq over factory power. So you'll be spending a lot of time here. The engine has too many miles on it to NOT overhaul everything if you tear it down. 

you need to pull the motor regardless, so factoring in what your time is worth, you'll have a lot of hours into a teardown/rebuild on top of pulling/reinstalling the motor. Considering a used motor with less than half the miles on your current engine can be had for $3k and it's a straight swap, I wouldn't even be considering a rebuild. N54 motors are a commodity. When you grenade one, you just go get a used one and replace it. That's just what you do. This isn't an old M50 or something where finding good used examples is hard to do and you have to be more serious about rebuilding (plus parts are way cheaper for those anyway). I can throw a rock out the window and hit 5 n54 motors on the used market within walking distance of my bathroom all with 50k miles on them. 

I'm fully aware of the situation I'm in. Problem is, I don't have the funds.

Care to share links to motors in WI with less than 50k miles? I've found a couple for ~$2500, but this was the lowest mileage one I could find locally.

http://bayauto.com/used-parts/BMW/BMW_335I/BH0380/2007/Engine_Assembly/1001605770