[bshambam]

I've been doing as much clean up of the engine bay as I can while I go. It will make working on the car much easier/cleaner in the future. It's an old car... so I'm going to assume i'll need to tinker with it at least once a summer season.

This is how the side of the engine looked the first time I removed the intake manifold.


Having some more experience w/ the car now, I think most of the oil/grease buildup is due to the bad oil filter housing gasket. I tried to use degreaser to clean the gunk but I couldn't get it all off.

I tried again last week with more degreaser + hot water, followed by a good strong pressure wash. I think it did the trick!

[bshambam]

I previously noticed the power steering reservoir cap was gunky and I think it was leaking.
I went ahead and replaced the 3 dollar gasket. Lets see if that fixes the problem.

[bshambam]

Since I want to cover most of the bulk issues of a 10-year old car engine and transmission wise, I went ahead and pulled out the vanos solenoids and replaced them with new, oem ones.

Old ones.



New ones


Visual Comparison between new and old

[michaelalex17]

Originally Posted by bshambam

Since I want to cover most of the bulk issues of a 10-year old car engine and transmission wise, I went ahead and pulled out the vanos solenoids and replaced them with new, oem ones.

Old ones.



New ones


Visual Comparison between new and old

Notice any difference with the new Vanos solenoids?

[bshambam]

Originally Posted by michaelalex17

Notice any difference with the new Vanos solenoids?

I'll be sure to report back when I get the car on the road.

[bshambam]

Finally had time to sit in front of the computer.... as if we needed more of that? ha!

Here is the first concept of the Front Seal Tool.



Just starting off and it can get a bit complicated. I'll refine and clean it up as I go along.

[bshambam]

Here is an update. I think I'm satisfied enough with it to print it out. It will be 2 pieces compared to the 3 pieces that are sold on the market.



The pieces I'll need to pull the existing seal out


And the piece with the alignment tool provided to put it back in.

[bshambam]

I had some down time during work today so I managed to make both prints for the weekend! Super excited to try things out.

[bshambam]

I had to do some slight modification to the piece in order to fit some of the bolt heads



Here is the piece bolted into place, with the first test screw to extract the crank seal



And all the extractor screws are aligned & in-place

[bshambam]

well now....
This whole front seal installation DIY process took a turn for the worse..

[bshambam]

Butttttt

There's always a positive light @ the end of the tunnel... or... when you screwed the duck and fix it with bling

[bshambam]

This is a disclaimer for anyone who may be interested in the ATI Harmonic Damper for the n52.

The oem Crank Hub bolts will not work. The flange is too big for the machining & boss size at the damper (the flange size of the oem bolt is 15mm, whereas the damper only has approx. 14mm circumference). You will need to buy your own bolts. Calvin from VAC has not replied to my bolt inquiry and ATI does not list any bolts on their website.

[bshambam]

Successfully re-installed the Front Crank Seal with the required Loctite sealant.

Installed the seal guard that i picked up on ebay. It cost 130 bucks.

[bshambam]

Update: Calvin from VAC gave me a call and it was a mistake. The crank hub does in fact come with bolts....

However... I went ahead and purchased stainless steel hardened socket bolts from mcmaster carr.... for a good 80 dollars haha ouch.

[tetsuo111]

Originally Posted by bshambam

Since I want to cover most of the bulk issues of a 10-year old car engine and transmission wise, I went ahead and pulled out the vanos solenoids and replaced them with new, oem ones.

Curious - what should we look for when visually inspecting the solenoids?

Thanks for documenting your experience!

[bshambam]

Originally Posted by tetsuo111

Curious - what should we look for when visually inspecting the solenoids?

Thanks for documenting your experience!

You tend not to see hard debris anywhere near these solenoids. As per youtube, the only true way to test functionality is to set them up on a rig with power and let them cycle through clean oil.

That process would also help purge impure particulates.

I don't think visuals really help in this situation due to the nature of the electronic component.

[Skoidat69]

Originally Posted by bshambam

This is a disclaimer for anyone who may be interested in the ATI Harmonic Damper for the n52.

The oem Crank Hub bolts will not work. The flange is too big for the machining & boss size at the damper (the flange size of the oem bolt is 15mm, whereas the damper only has approx. 14mm circumference). You will need to buy your own bolts. Calvin from VAC has not replied to my bolt inquiry and ATI does not list any bolts on their website.

Originally Posted by bshambam

This is a disclaimer for anyone who may be interested in the ATI Harmonic Damper for the n52.

The oem Crank Hub bolts will not work. The flange is too big for the machining & boss size at the damper (the flange size of the oem bolt is 15mm, whereas the damper only has approx. 14mm circumference). You will need to buy your own bolts. Calvin from VAC has not replied to my bolt inquiry and ATI does not list any bolts on their website.

What is the advantage of the ATI Harmonic Damper?

[bshambam]

Originally Posted by Skoidat69

What is the advantage of the ATI Harmonic Damper?

The ATI Damper uses fluid to take out unwanted frequencies that the oem balancer is not prepared for, nor the original rubber component of the pulley. The pulley is 12 years old now, and i'm sure the german rubber is all dried up.

There are zero performance advantages to the engine in it's OEM configuration.

However, If were to push it to it's max ie: hit the rev limiter all the time, and aggressively pushing it on the track, that is when you would see the maximum advantage. The reason why I purchased it was to extend the longevity of the engine and the long IL-6 crankshaft.

The chain linked balancer inside the engine, attached to the crankshaft is supposed to take out a lot of the frequency within the engine, but this does not include the flywheel nor the pulley.

There is internal engine balance, with your pistons, rods, crankshafts all balanced from cylinders 1-6, and there is external balance inclusive of the components mentioned on the internal balance + flywheel & pulley weight.

to my knowledge, most manufacturers don't do external balance unless they are building race cars, and my 12 year old e91 is not lol

I've put fluid balancer's on all my cars. It is an rather expensive piece at 1100 dollars, but you are paying that high price for a reason.

[bshambam]

I had to take a bit of a break from the car but I'm back at it.

First things first was to repair and replace the damaged window regulator & rear passenger side window after the break-in.




I replaced all of the butal tape so that i can re-establish the weather seal



And good as new!....albeit, without the ceramic tint I had put on. A problem for another day.

[bshambam]

Next up was to replace the key fob housing and battery!

[theMeeks]

Notice you did the OFHG... Any issues with the VCG or ESS seals?

[Runnin'Rich]

Wow you're doing a really good job here bringing this e91 manual back to good health.
I'm in BC too, I have the same car but in white,

I've done the same jobs as you:
Water pump & thermostat
Clutch & flywheel
except I chickened out of doing the rear main seal when I saw the price of the tool!
When I originally bought the car, I found it really hard to shift smoothly - if I didn't really concentrate I would perform a jerky shift. My partner didn't like to drive the car at all!

I found changing the clutch and flywheel really improved the lash in the powertrain making easier to shift smoothly.

Last week I replaced the oil pan gasket and ended up replacing the two front axle shafts too. I checked the play in the front axles and it was moderate, much less than the lash in the diff and transfer case. However In my quest for better shifting I spent the money in hope new axles would help!
Luckily I found this has removed the 1st gear kangarooing / bucking / shunting I was feeling when going on and off the throttle in 1st gear in a car park.

I'm still not 100% happy with the drivability. My current gripe is: if I push the clutch down before completely coming off the throttle (trying to do fast shifts) I get a thud in the Powertrain. I think this could be transmission mount / engine mounts.

I guess I want to be able to bang through the gears quickly when pulling onto the highway from stationary. Right now I have to be super smooth and careful with releasing the clutch perfectly or it just becomes jerky in the cabin.

I also find when I turn the car off sometimes there is a slight rattling / clacking noise as the engine winds to rest.

Curious to see how new vanos solenoids improve the idle on yours. Mine is a little rough on hot restart