From the back, so cylinder 2nd from the front. I can see what you’re saying, but wouldn’t #6 show it too?
I hope not😟. Not many miles on it. Years, yes, but not miles. I’ll also run the borescope down to make sure so scratches on the cylinder wall.
That’s regular maintenance for the N54, which is the engine in the '07-'11 E90 335i - Twin turbo 3.0L w/direct injection, and the N55 - the later open-deck replacement for the N54, used across the range. I have a 335i with the N54. Walnut blasting should be done every ~80-90K miles is my understanding. The culprit is the direct injection. Since fuel never touches the intake valves, they don’t get cleaned, and carbon from breather fumes gets them gunked up.
The only saving grace is it is MUCH easier to remove the intake manifold than on, for example, the M54 in the '99-'05 E46 325i. About 30 minutes to get it off, and about the same to put it back on. And, at about 90 minutes, the M54 is WAY quicker and easier than the E-type!
Regards,
Ray L.
1 Like
I assume you make sure the intakes you’re working on are closed?
How do you walk with that giant brain??
It’s reeealy hard. Keeps wanting fall forward, kinda like Dolly Parton😎
1 Like
No 6 does, but 5 seems to get the brunt of it. When I was autocrossing one of my cars years ago I forgot to disconnect the breather system and flattened the rod bearing in 5 through detonation. The fumes effectively lower the octane rating of the fuel. No. six survived but I had to pull the engine, and crank etc to fix it. Never made that mistake again.
Very interesting. Helps ease my mind. I’ll keep an eye on it. Thank you
Larry can you post a picture of the rear of the intake cam, including the bearing cap. I’d like to see what the cam drive looks like. Thanks
Terry, you mean the drive end for the tach gen?
Larry
I’d like to see the right rear cam bearing cap you have on the head in particular, if your valve cover is off – that is. Otherwise it’s too much work.
Thanks Larry. They continued to use the cowl type bearing cap into Ser II even after they discontinued the tach drive. Eventually they resorted to valve covers that were flat along the bottom rear where the tach drive went, and used a bearing cap like the other 5, without the cowl. Was wondering what you had. Thanks
Ok. Thanks for the info. As this was an early SII engine it makes some senseif the head belongs to the block. But it’s funny they put SI cams into it. Perhaps so when clearances were checked they would correspond to what a S1 should have🤷🏻♂️
Larry
Larry,
The change to parabolic cams came well into Series 2 production (around November 1969). Many Series 2 cars have non-parabolic cams, so to call them “S1 cams” is a bit of a misnomer.
Ok thanks David. I was always under the impression that they were part of the changes including changing to Strombergs. Thank you for setting me straight.