[BrianMN]

Awesome! I assume 25lbs of walnut shells was enough for one car?

[Sigma 3]

Originally Posted by JamesM3M5

Here's the BMW adapter:

Originally Posted by JamesM3M5

You may need to use a 8-10" long wand attachment on the end of the gun. It would help with getting the blast media on the parts way down in the head. It's about 10mm ID hole.

The BMW tool has long wands to get way down into the Mini and N54 heads.

So there is more to the BMW tool than the pic you posted?

[Zasquatch]

Originally Posted by JamesM3M5

You may need to use a 8-10" long wand attachment on the end of the gun. It would help with getting the blast media on the parts way down in the head. It's about 10mm ID hole.

The BMW tool has long wands to get way down into the Mini and N54 heads.

Gotcha. Thanks. So you kinda just move the wand in and out to get all the chamber? Or is there enough play in it to actually rotate it about, like the OP said he did with his conic hole?

Also, when the adapter is pushed into the runner, how do you get the exterior portion that the adapter is covering? Unless I am misunderstanding how the adapter plugs into the head, it looks like the first inch or so would be covered by the adapter?

[Bullet]

Around what milage should you get your valves cleaned??

[Eracer76]

Originally Posted by Zasquatch

what did you use to wipe everything done with afterwards?

I just used compressed air to blow the dust out real good, then I sprayed a touch of carb cleaner in there and wiped them out with paper towels. It was only dust from the walnut blasting, So Im sure just blowing them out would have been just fine.

Originally Posted by joshuo

Very nice! how did you move each piston to top dead center?

Actually, having my automotive background experience, I did a VERY easy trick that Im surprised nobody has figured out yet
All you have to do is unplug this wire in the picture, and then use a small jumper wire to tap that spade to a 12v source, which happens to be that big battery cable/ bolt right above it... doing so will bump the engine over for you until you see that the certain valves are closed

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Eracer76

Thanks everyone!!
It was quite the task doing the actual cleaning. But once I got the set up working properly, things went much faster, unfortunately I didnt get it figured out until the last two ports! lol.. So the whole job took me about 10 hours from turing the first wrench, to pulling the car out of the garage.

There were many reasons it took me so long to do the job. One reason was that the sandblaster gun kept clogging up on me, so I kept adjusting the tip in and out with no luck, it would spray for a couple seconds then clog... Then I eventually ended up breaking the ceramic tip by over tightening the set screw that holds it in the gun. So... I started rigging all different types of tips using misc crap in my garage, different hose barbs, deep sockets and so on... and nothing seemed to be working very good. Come to find out, I had too much precipitation in my air compressor and it was causing the walnut media to clog up in the gun. So I made a trip to Home Depot for a water/air separator and installed that in my air line... Now I got the walnuts flowing good! Actually too good! To the point it was filling up the ports before the vacuum could suck it out.... So off to the store I went for a bigger hose and I got some 1/2" ID instead of 3/8"... Then after modding my plate for the bigger hose, it seemed to be working good, but still spraying too much media, so I tried using some more different rigged "tips" and I ended up using a 1/4" drive 6mm deep socket stuck in the end of the gun and it works great now!

So, I know I spent about 4 hours messing with the set up and a couple trips to the store, to get it working effectively. And once I found the right combination of media flow via the tip size and the air pressure, and enough suction... things went much faster!

Overall, it was a good learning experience and I would do it again no problem, because I know I could do it in about 4 hours next time!



FYI, This is the sandblaster and walnut shells that I bought... even after the misc crap from Home Depot, I still spent less then $100 to do the job!
http://www.harborfreight.com/portabl...kit-37025.html



http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-...dia-92150.html

[Eracer76]

Sorry guys, I don't have a picture of my "plate", and being that it was only a 1/2" thick piece MDF wood, it was pretty beat up from using it, and drilling on it to fit my multiple attempts at different gun tips, so I just threw it in the trash when I was done. lol

So all it was, was just a 1/2" thick piece of MDF wood, cut slightly bigger then the port opening, with two holes drilled into it, one for the gun, and one for a rubber hose that I stuck into the vacuum hose. Then when one valve looked good, I flipped it over and did the other valve.

Originally Posted by Zasquatch

Gotcha. Thanks. So you kinda just move the wand in and out to get all the chamber? Or is there enough play in it to actually rotate it about, like the OP said he did with his conic hole?

Also, when the adapter is pushed into the runner, how do you get the exterior portion that the adapter is covering? Unless I am misunderstanding how the adapter plugs into the head, it looks like the first inch or so would be covered by the adapter?

That BMW adaptor would be nice to have, but then I'd probably have to come up with yet another "rigged tip" for my gun to fit into the hole. It looks like it only fits into the port about 1/4", which isnt a big deal because its usually not very dirty that close to the opening... But being that the gun tip hole is in the center, you would almost need a little bit longer gun tip to reach over to the valve... were as with my home made plate, I just flipped it over to do each valve.

[JamesM3M5]

Yeah, sorry guys, there is a whole pressurized hopper and gun system that goes with the BMW tool. It's about $800 from the dealer, which does include Mini and N54 adapters. The $50 adapter can help, or it sounds easier to make the MDF/plywood rig that the OP did to save money. If you're only doing it once every 20-30k miles, it doesn't make sense to go to a lot of trouble to make the BMW part work unless your media gun has different tips you can screw on.

[ashleymarie0792]

can you message me the items you used.. and how many miles you are at ?

[805beemer]

Heres the operating manual for the BMW Group Carbon Blaster:http://www.minitechinfo.com/tsb/atta...ing_Manual.pdf

I'm having mine cleaned at BMW of Santa Maria next wed. I'll have them take some before and after pics.

[Thumperx]

link not working....

[805beemer]

Originally Posted by Thumperx

link not working....

oops, should be fixed now

[Zasquatch]

any risk of f-ing up seals or anything else using this blast method? I know its what BMW does, but I want to mark sure there is nothing bad that can come if it...

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by JamesM3M5

Yeah, sorry guys, there is a whole pressurized hopper and gun system that goes with the BMW tool. It's about $800 from the dealer, which does include Mini and N54 adapters.

Do you have by any chance a part number for that system so that I can order it completely from the dealer? There are several N54 users here in Luxembourg that would be interested in this and we would acquire it together, which would make it worth the price.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[Bagelfast]

Does anyone know what our intake vales are made of?? SS?

Cuz i know some companies coat there intake valves with a special coating, i.e. titanium intake valves, and sand blasting destorys this coating.

[Zasquatch]

81 29 2 208 034 I believe

[Fundahl]

Originally Posted by 1LUMI335

Does anyone know what our intake vales are made of?? SS?

Cuz i know some companies coat there intake valves with a special coating, i.e. titanium intake valves, and sand blasting destorys this coating.

Another solution is to soak each set of valves in a BG cleaning solution with them closed, and then scrub them with a non-scratching brush.

This walnut blasting seems to clean very well though. The more options the better!

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by Fundahl

Another solution is to soak each set of valves in a BG cleaning solution with them closed, and then scrub them with a non-scratching brush.

Yes, you can do that as well. But it takes ages - whereas with the walnut shell blaster you can do this in a couple hours max.

Considering that BMW quoted me at least 1000 EUR for the procedure, it could be well worth it to acquire their original tool. IF it is available outside of BMW, that is.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by Zasquatch

81 29 2 208 034 I believe

Looks correct, the German term is "Strahlmittelgerät". Question is now where to source it.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[Zasquatch]

tisher and ecs tuning both show it as available, but their prices are way over the $790 MSRP...

[JamesM3M5]

Any BMW parts dealer should be able to get you the tool, unless they put some sort of restriction on it in Europe. I wouldn't think so.

[Rotary Rasp]

Originally Posted by 1LUMI335

Does anyone know what our intake vales are made of?? SS?

Cuz i know some companies coat there intake valves with a special coating, i.e. titanium intake valves, and sand blasting destorys this coating.

Good question considering BMW use to Nikasil some parts of their engines.