ChrisFix asked me to build him a cheap and reliable M54 engine as a backup for his endurance E46 car
The goal here is to build a reliable engine by addressing the most common failures and upgrading those commonly failed parts. We're not building an engine with more horsepower but rather an engine that will last for several endurance races and hopefully beyond. In this video I tear the engine down to the bare block so we can start fresh. The next video will explain the process at the machine shop and I start to put it all back together with new gaskets from FCP Euro and some upgraded Parts from Turner Motorsports. SEE PART 2 HERE!!! • Part 2 of building a B...
Check out Jamie's Store!: ourwearhouse.com/collections/...
Here is the TikTok video, some of the comments are hilarious! bit.ly/3gyz0VZ
Turner Motorsports BMW Performance Parts (Mostly E46 but they have lots more!)
--- E36, E46 Rear Shock Tower Mount Reinforcement Kit:
bit.ly/335AGmN
--- Turner Motorsport Race Alternator Pulley For E46/Z3 M54 Bosch Alternator: bit.ly/3rzwZiG
--- ECS V4 Cross Drilled & Slotted Brake Rotor Pair - Front (325x25) - E46 Z4: bit.ly/3gsF6as
--- M54 Billet Aluminum Dipstick:
bit.ly/3rxQEPU
--- E46 Non-M Flat Oval Carbon Fiber Strut Brace With Silver End Plates: bit.ly/3uuOaDR
--- VRSF Chargepipe Upgrade Kit - N55:
bit.ly/3uiqVwC
--- VRSF Chargepipe Upgrade Kit - N54:
bit.ly/3AGhFnn
--- E46 Silicone Intake Boot - M54 3.0:
bit.ly/346a2dU
FCP EURO PARTS (I love how they do the work for you and put all the parts you need in one easy kit!)
--- E46 Control Arm Kit: bit.ly/3rNQIes
--- BMW 5W40 Oil Change Kit - Liqui Moly: bit.ly/34hQSlH
--- BMW Ignition Service Kit (E39 E46 E53): bit.ly/333vMGS
--- BMW Engine and Transmission Mount Kit: bit.ly/3rANRpr
--- BMW Cold Climate PCV Breather System Kit: bit.ly/3rzzeT8
--- BMW E46 Cooling System Overhaul Kit: bit.ly/3rAQbNc
--- BMW Valve Cover Gasket Kit (M54): bit.ly/3GBsdWd
--- BMW Engine Oil Filter Housing Gasket Kit (M54): bit.ly/3gxdYad
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Jamie is the Owner of Elite Motor Works in Sarasota Florida, Check out his social media in the links below:
-- TikTok: / jamiesgarage
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Check out Jamie’s Shop Elite Motor Works
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See part 2 here! (if you liked this video, consider a thumbs up. Thank you! ) kzhead.info/sun/frp-Y5Zqq1-lpK8/bejne.html
What she sees: 15:28
I hope this engine never gets used :P.... But at least if it does I know we will be good to go!
Better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it 🤘
I hope it gets turbocharged :)
Chris be like: Hey guy, ChrisFix here!! And today I need an engine for my lemons BMW and then I'm gonna show YOU all at home how to swap your engines!!!
Imagane if Aron blows the new engine agan.Hahahahaha It wasent arons fault i saw your video i was not a human mistake.👍
@@jajex6071 nope
This engine is so well built now chris should swap in this one and keep the other one as an emergency 😭😂
Yeah.. this collaboration is great.. "i know a friend who knows a friend but he calls a different friend, but each can do certain stuff".. just prove to be true.. ! 😂😅😄
chris rodknock ?
When is episode 2 coming up?
exhaust value
chris said that having this engine installed at the start would require it to be added to the total price of the car, but having it as a backup was okay
Having just gone through the pain of a rebuild on one of these engines, me and my engine builder found out something during the rebuild that is worthy of note. Check the rods and piston weights, the rods in mine were found to be within 1g of each other, but the pistons were massively different, the biggest difference found was 7grams between the heaviest and lightest stock piston. At 7k rpms, i dug around to check online for G loads, a piston sees around 3500g, this works out to around 240N, or 24kg (nearly 50lbs!) of unbalanced mass thrashing around on the crank.
Thx for the warning
😳
We did get it rebuilt, made 261bhp / 333Nm with a 7k RPM limit :) Mostly stock parts but some choice bearings and ARP components and a Achillies oil pump. DM me if you want the full spec list, but we did do a full dynamic balancing on the engine, and it makes quite the difference
Do you know the reason behind these differences in weight?
@@HnK_Alex Given the M54 was built by computer and it was the first generation of BMW's where the engineers were pushed to build to a price rather to a specification, I'd hazard a guess they increased the weight tolerance to reduce costs and this was the result. (Mechanical engineer here by trade, working for a well known engine supplier if anyone asks)
Love the tear down! Throw some ZHP/Shrick cams in there while you are it! Chris won’t know….until the 1st drive lol
🤫 😂
If we dont know... no body will know ;)
Nobody's Gonna Know... They're Gonna Know... How Would They Know...
Yeah all we need is the 50sKid in here and we have all the e46 KZheadrs. Much love to you all. And a thousand thank yous!
@@dtmfool789 @50skid deserves all the shoutouts he has ever got. man has thoroughly taught the proper repair procedures for literally almost everything e46. helped me immensely over the years w his knowledge
"This pin will fall out and get sucked into the engine".... I swear, every time I see a BMW getting worked on I learn another new way they've engineered their owner engines to murder themselves. I've never heard of so many catastrophic issues with one manufacturer!
yea that a surprising amount of plastic
exhaust value
I bet they are great when they are working right, but I'd have anxiety owning a BMW, Merc, Audi, VW etc My 12 year old Honda might not be as pretty but I can floor it everywhere if I desire and I've never felt like it's going to break in anyway. I had colleagues with similarly aged 3 series and an A3 which looked really shiny and had loads of tech but they were falling apart mechanically and were costing them both fortunes in repairs. Funnily enough the Audi owner was also a Devereaux! :)
@@brianmcintyre14 yeah, and between us here: japanese cars may not be sexiest beasts around (with some exceptions like NSX, R34, RX7, and my favorite 240Z Fairlady) but they're for sure very reliable. You can beat the crap out of them and you won't have as many issues as with modern European cars. No wonder why Aussies and Ruskies sometimes buy even used JDM cars in bulk.
We Germans are geniuses at building cars but also are geniuses at killing them 😂😂
It’s not the crossover we expected but it’s the crossover we deserve!!! Love it
Vanos: variable Nockenwellensteuerung in German. Nockenwellen = camshaft, Steuerung = control, regulation. Excellent video, Chrisfix brought me here. Also subscribed!
Germans: how can we turn a sentence into a single word?
Also about the cams E= Einlass (Intake) A=Auslass (Exhaust) 😀
@@tass2001 I'm just gonna say "PDK" lol
Even if your content was shit, which it’s not at all I love every moment of it I would still watch just to stare at how clean neat and extremely organized your shop is!
Thats definitely the cleanest workshop i've seen in my lifetime.
You imagine they clean it all up before the video? They probably do...
Shout out to the person(s) filming and editing, really good job. Not to mention the memes 😁
Im at Aero Engineering, and for parts that experience sterss, we are told to round up to the higher number. For example, if a shaft will experience shear stress and break at 92 [N] , we round it up to 100 [N] because safety. due to the ammount of times i have heard FAIL, i think BMW rounds the number down :)
Then makes it out of plastic for good measure ;)
@@dreadpenguinlord340 ahahaha true
Subscribed!! How you explain every step, every component, and what the issue is with every part is very comprehensive! These are the videos advanced shade tree mechanics love!
Awesome, thank you!
I feel guilty seeing ChrisFix's face.
Some things are just not meant to be seen 😉
First time a saw his full face was in one of SK04's videos 6-7 years ago. might've been deleted or edited out though. Or maybe it was on another channel.
You can see his whole face in a few of the earlier videos. It's in the reflection of a car if I remember correctly.
@@eXX0n in his oil change video U can see the reflection from the car
Then he is a mandalorian no more.
18:57 E most likely "Einlass" (inlet/intake), and A most certainly "Auslass" (outlet/"exit")
Yep. Was gonna say the same thing.
I have 2 - m54b25 have done all this same maintenance stuff . But Jamie taught me something today ! I did not know about the coolant drain on the block . Appreciate that Jamie ..
Thanks Jamie for the quality video, as an e46/m54b30 owner, it’s often times hard to find full depth videos that are explanatory and useful. You were able to tear this complex motor apart with ease and demonstrated how we can too. Thank you for your time, I’ll be tuned in for part 2.
one of the best engine videos ive seen ,, ive been building engines for nearly 40 years and this has just the right level of detail , looking forwards to the follow up videos.
Im so glad you're making youtube videos
Hij kan het goed uitleggen.
Eiii you that film guy!
I can't wait for part two. Your channel is always entertaining, and I learn a lot from minor details to actual builds. Excellent work.
This is one of the best M54 teardown videos on youtube. Clear, concise, great for figuring out what the greasy lump I'm staring at in my engine bay actually is and how it's meant to come out.
I wish everyone made videos like this, great commentary and explanations during the teardown and awesome camera angles. Great job, I am definitely subscribing to your channel.
This guy is a very good mechanic. Perfect job.
I love these reviews. Reminds me of watching my dad rebuild a 67 Malibu and a 69 L88. I would just sit in awe as shelves filled with parts and he hummed country songs. Watching the video and just reading some of these comments is a realization of how skillful and knowledgeable you all are. Thank you for sharing!
Jamie has been collaborating with a lot of KZheadrs lately! Pretty cool Jamie love to see your growing so fast like you are you certainly deserve it !!
Sorry to say this, but this is the absolute best part about ChrisFix‘ endurance race series 😅
Love the teardown and the video, really interesting and well done! On a side note, not sure if you guys are doing the editing, but I feel like some of the sound effects are too loud when compared to the voice. Maybe consider exporting the video with loudness normalization applied (BS.1770-3, -14 LUFS, 0 LU, -1 dBTP) so there's no sudden change of sound when using sound effects (which are great btw). This maybe requires to bump the voice track by a few dB in case it's too quiet after the export, but I think it'd definitely improve the sound so it matches the quality of the rest of the video.
Thanks for the feedback, we will work on that. 👊
That was an amazing teardown video. Most instructional vids are boring af. Good instruction and not at all boring. Well done!!👍👍
Very interesting and informative. Great camera placements during tear down. One take away that I got is the sizeable amount of "plastic" on the engine.
The oil pick up tube was different for the XI motors too because of the oil pan. I had to swap mine over when I dropped a b30 into my wagon. If you already mentioned that and I missed it, my bad!
I absolutely love these videos. No BS and well photographed. Great job.
It's really lovely watching you work on BMWs. Love the hidden humour, too! On a note, M52TU were already dual vanos.
These videos are awesome!! Keep ‘em coming Jamie!!!
I swear to god I’d leave my job and move country to work for you 😂🙌🏼
There is one major issue with this teardown. Since those engines tend to warp cylinder heads by raising the middle part, it's advised to remove the head bolts in reversed order to the installation, so starting from the outside to the centre of the head. Not following that procedure may cause additional warpage, which will be resurfaced but will still translate to worse camshaft journals alignment. Other than that excellent work.
really like the call outs on the possible weak points. very informative!!!
Jamie you are truly a talented man! Great video and great detail. Wow!
loved the teardown, especially the explanation of the entire engine components and there purpose, you’d make a good instructor Jamie, is it possible to get a insight to your toolcart, im an hourly tech starting and specializing in BMW, i would like to know what tools you recommend. thanks
Humble Mechanic actually has a great video he recently posted. It’s the same tool cart I use. Check out his video. You’re definitely going to need Torx, inverted torx sockets. I also use Snap-On 1/4” shallow wobble sockets a lot!
I feel if the video focused on what DOESN'T fail on these engines, it would fit in tiktok
You explained your video so well like all of us have a BMW at home, its really pleasure to watching your work.
This is awesome. Bravo. My engine is getting old and this is helping me learn about an engine so I can figure what my engine’s problems are.
This will be good
I'm really looking forward to the reassembly. I'd consider myself quite experienced but I'm allways looking for new things to learn. Like M52s are prone to throw out the threads when the head bolts are tightened, whats your workaround?
Aluminum block M52's and M54's frequently have the head stud issue, so what you do in that case is install Timeserts. That ends up making the threads stronger than stock and bulletproofs that part of the engine.
@@DannysGarage thank you For this Tip, those time-serts Look amazing
Aw man part 2!? That's definitely gonna be the part I'm most interested about. First one of your videos I've watched but super interesting learn a lot slight "how it works" vibes and i like how it's also kinda structured like a TV show, definitely gonna keep an eye out for part 2
I love the quick relieve valve thats an awesome idea!!
There is nothing more expensive than taking your BMW to a non BMW shop. It's the little things like any other mechanic would pull out the disa valve see the plastic thing flopping around go "hey it broke" and not think about pulling the metal pin out of the air intake before it gets sucked into the rest of the engine.
Awesome collaboration! It's always surprising to me how many common failure and wear points BMW engines have. Looks like you'll get this on tip top for Chris. The TikTok troll was hilarious.
This is the best video I’ve ever seen on KZhead so far great job guys and 🤞
Nice tip on marking the rod to find the other tdc quickly!!
You should do the m56 aluminum valve cover upgrade too. It's so worth it and you already have the ms43 ignition style too so it's a stupid easy and worthwhile upgrade. Great video!
Yeah, that disa pin will ruin your day. Luckily, mine 'only' bent 2 valves on cylinder 5 and flattened my spark plug before it bounced back into the intake and got lodged there. Not great... On the plus side, it was as good an excuse as any to freshen up my 20 year old engine.
I'll definitely be addressing that if I get the 330ci I'm looking at
@@spicysnowman8886be careful when removing and reinstalling the DISA unit, that's when my pin dropped out. I ended up replacing the pin with a long wood screw that goed all the way into the valve. 3rd car I've done this on and they hold up perfectly.
Excellent quality of video and work. Keep it up !
Such a detailed breakdown. Awesome content
Reliable is a relative term
After watching this video, I’m left wondering about German engineering. Has BMW improved on parts quality since this engine?
Unlike the rest of the automotive industry, BMW and Porsche never figured out how to make a rod bearings.
The opposite actually. They use cheaper quality parts in order to sell at same price but earn more profit. But all manufactures are doing this, even normal products like an electric razor are reducing quality to lower cost to manufacture.
No it's gotten worse.... way worse
As a person who's been wrenching on VW I can tell you that it's getting worse. And German engineering it's about making sure that a simple process turns into an oddessy.
Jamie this is a great video. Very detailed. This will help me in the future for when I have to work on my daughters 325xi. Great job as always. I’m looking forward to the next one. Thanks again.
Thank you!! 🤘
Hey man! I came here from ChrisFix. I've always been a DIYer for my family cars ever since my kids were young. Now they've grown up I no longer have to have family cars so I bought a Z3 and have fixed her up, have been thinking of giving her engine an overhaul. Stoked to find a BMW specific overhaul. I subbed!
planned to fail means that they designed in bolt holes to replace parts when they fail, most manufacturers back in the old days didn't really need that because half your engine could be missing but it would still chug along for 10 years only needing oil changes. Can't wait for them to start doing sealed gas tanks
Man OH MAN!!! The cardboard template you made is absolutely genius!!! I can't believe I've never seen this before or thought of it myself but I will most definitely be using it starting TODAY I have an engine to pull out of a Chevy truck
We need part 2 man I can't wait to see how the engine will do!
I love watching bmw guys work on stuff. It’s basically a montage of “this is super common issue, and this, and that” lol. They are such lovely cars but man can they ever bite you.
Do you do boat engines too?
Only for BMW boats
This is exceedingly helpful for me, I just took in a 01 325i and this helps me know what I should be looking out for
came from ChrisFix, and as a fellow mechanic, I love your style. Instant sub!
The m54 engine is by far the most reliable engine bmw has made only if it’s been maintained well, but now it’s going to be even more reliable than a new🤯
M57 is really good too, but I guess americans got shafted with that one :D
This is what you call reliable?
@@zockheem Older BMWs can be super reliable if they are MAINTAINED. You dont change the water pump when it breaks, you change it before it breaks. It's a sophisticated engine, so oil changes are actually important. German engines are made to be maintained, not run until they explode. The DISA valve is one of very few actual problems of the M54.
@@Vaino_Hotti Last I checked oil changed were important for any engine you're not trying to kill. The engine isn't sophisticated it's plain junk. I've seen a Toyota V6 run with no oil pan. These things blow up with oil in them. Plastic water pumps and water plastic water lines.... REALLY? And why can't BMW design a proper rod bearing? My 2002 suburban with a 5.3 ls has over 300k on the motor. Im not racing the truck but it does tow my 4000 lbs t-bird from Michigan to Ga regularly. No smoked bearing at all. Matter a fact it still pulls like a freight train up the mountains with a load. When racing you don't want "sophisticated" you want RELIABLE. I would've definitely LS swapped this car.
@@zockheem Frequent oil changes keep the inside clean, and that's important for things like variable valve timing (VANOS). The simple, basic hunks of iron keep going longer with old dirty oil, like your 5.3 LS. And even those have lifter tick issues, cam phaser issues and DOD issues mostly due to old oil. I bet your cam bearings aren't exactly the healthiest after 300k. Only the S65 and S85 engines have an actual rod bearing issue, and that's mostly due to hard use and the engines revving over 8k. As if GM never made shit engines... Almost all manufacturers have used plastic & composite water pumps and plastic coolant pipes at some point. And if the water pumps and coolant pipes are changed when they should be, they rarely are an issue. Like the M54, the LS is a good engine, but they have their issues, no engine is perfect.
Looks like bmw engine aren't that cleverly designed. There is not a single part you haven't say "they tend to fail/leak" about.
Every plastic or rubber part in every engine ever made will fail or leak over time.
Welcome to working on 20 year old engines
Dude, I'm really loving your channel. Way to go. I remember seeing your video on how you wanted to make videos and such and now your doing it. Fun combination of knowledge and humor. I actually stumbled on your KZhead shorts and watched the ramen emblem fix. I was so annoyed thinking wtf is this man doing lol then proceed to watch all of your videos from start
I love these long videos, I look forward to more in the future.
9:20 it would have been smarter of bmw to not put plastic parts in every critical engine component. That way they dont break in 4 different ways, destroying the engine. They make all these high performance engines and somewhere inbetween you have these shitty plastic parts...
Many years ago I was the Parts Manager at a dealership which specialized in used BMWs. This is bringing back some memories.
Wow. Nice video. Very detailed. I can't wait to see part 2
Great stuff! Can't wait for part two!!
Thanks to ChrzisFix I found your KZhead channel. Bro you make amazing BMW content. I’m now subscribed to your channel. Can’t wait to see the build of Chris’s engine.
Jamie this was awesome. I could watch your content all day no matter how long!! Shorts are great on KZhead.. but Longs are where it’s at! Cheers
Really great video - well organized with great information and great camera work.
What a great informative disassembly !!! 👍👍👍
I subscribed! Why? Very clear, very informative, and I learned a lot in such a short time. No fluff. All relevant and practical information. Great job!!
Subscribed! Awesome video. I have a 3 series and a 5 series both with M54 engines. You're the man for this content
I love how Jamie explains the details. His very thorough. That's look like a lot of work and replacing many parts, not sure how all the labour and parts are "cheap"
Thanks for this video. I needed it for my car. Exactly the same engine. Alot of money advice here new sub!
Great video. The tips and details are amazing
I'm doing a refresh on a M54b30 before I slap a turbo on it. A lot of good info in this video.
Bro it feels so good to have a whole workshop of your own dude. It looks so good too and professional
Honestly, super informative and helpful video. As a mechanic, I find it difficult to explain. and visually show what I am doing, quite impressed, AND now I am ready for my e30 m54b30 swap knowing my stock maintenance and refresh will be mint condition!
I enjoy watching motor videos. This video had me to follow your channel 💯👍🏾
I never heard of you before ChrisFix's video. Boy have I been missing on some good videos! Subscribed and following your channel!
Awesome! Thank you!
Hey man. Thanks for this video. I literally have a m54b30 sitting on a stand in my garage and I’ve never torn one down fully. Im scared to start! But this video made it much easier for me to get the motivation to do it because you made it so simple. Also, The M52TU had dual intake and exhaust cam timing control with the Vanos. TU for technical update. So not all m52s are single cam control.
Came for Chrisfix and staying for Jamie. Great channel with expert work
You did a great job man I really enjoy your work . so I'm a new subscriber😃🥳
great job...looking forward for your part 2.........see ya
Great content, top quality editing and a joy to watch, a sub from me and looking forward to part 2! all the best
Lolol loved the drain valve. Great vid.
I'm watching this vid only bc I'm not super experienced with BMW. I specialise in Mercedes vehicles. And knowing me I get a bit scared when trying something new or different.But watching the teardown of this makes me really appreciate this engine and just how they put it together. Very German but actually really simple and many important components were put in very accessible places.
6:41 worth sili spray is like a gift from god when it comes to air and coolant piping. It’s probably my most used can at the dealership
Love the video - always fun to watch
I'm new in this channel and love your working.
Great sense of humour! New fan!
great vid dude. keep up the good work
I love the relationship between y’all
Been looking forward to this video. Just subscribed too. Looking forward to the next video