The supercharged M54 is out, and being rebuilt

[JC5]

Well after some heaving & hoeing I finally pulled out the old M54 for a rebuild. Nothing catastrophic happened. Just 170,000 miles, some worn rings, and new FI cams to go in.





Wire harness and coolant plumbing removed


Oil pump nut secure


The balancer was impossible to get off. The torque spec is 300 ft-lb. Seven years and it was pretty well seized on there.


Balancer removal tools




Stripped and off to the machine shop this morning

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

You're aware that the M54B30 doesn't generally lose the oil pump nut, right? The problem is that it likes to break the gear shaft. You might want to look at seeing if TC Kline has found a new pump manufacturer, as nothing else seems to work.

[JC5]

I had never heard that before. Most sources say the nut has been known to back off. In what type of scenarios has the shaft broken; racing? Haven't seen any mention of a new and improved pump, besides the $3k motorsport version, ans that one is waaaaaay out of the budget. Maybe if it popped up used or something. I was just going to replace it with a new one for peace of mind.

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

The failure rate in GAC 330s apparently approached unity. The M54B30 seems to have some weird harmonic that is not compatible with the pump when driven at high RPMs.

I shouldn't say that the nut doesn't back off, but it doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as the pump flat out shearing off the gear.

[Uber-Goober]

What sort of HP and LB are you expecting out of this? This will be a great sleeper. From what I remember you had a stock looking exhaust so not giving away anything at all...

[JC5]

Now that I recall, that does sound familiar. At one of the dyno days, at York Auto, someone had mentioned the continuous high RPM's had something to do with harmonics and the oil pump failure in racing. Didn't know it had to do with the shaft. Unfortunately I still can't afford the $3k for the motorsport pump. I have been keeping an eye out for a used one from one of the race shops (Turner, Bimmerworld...), just in case it managed to be in budget. No luck as of yet. May just pop a weld on the standard pump bolt, and have one potential issue nipped in the bud.

[JC5]

What sort of HP and LB are you expecting out of this? This will be a great sleeper. From what I remember you had a stock looking exhaust so not giving away anything at all...

To tell the truth I'm looking at the bottom end as a preventative maintenance and learning rebuild. This is my first time undertaking a rebuild. So far so good. If I can fit in a slightly better part like ARP/Racewear studs, or that motorport pump, I will, but no real "performance enhancers" down there. She's been good to me over the years, and I plan to keep her. We've been together since I picked her up at Towson BMW with 11 miles on the clock.

The car is plenty quick now. A bit of a sleeper. It usually takes a while for anyone to pick up the stuff that has been done, and I generally don't kiss and tell.... maybe the guys in the club...

I'm not a real number guy. If a number has to be attached.. safely in the 300's rwhp on Ed's dyno. More importantly to know when we read the graphs no potential issues are seen. I just want the car running well.






and fast

[Uber-Goober]

To tell the truth I'm looking at the bottom end as a preventative maintenance and learning rebuild. This is my first time undertaking a rebuild. So far so good. If I can fit in a slightly better part like ARP/Racewear studs, or that motorport pump, I will, but no real "performance enhancers" down there. She's been good to me over the years, and I plan to keep her. We've been together since I picked her up at Towson BMW with 11 miles on the clock.

The car is plenty quick now. A bit of a sleeper. It usually takes a while for anyone to pick up the stuff that has been done, and I generally don't kiss and tell.... maybe the guys in the club...

I'm not a real number guy. If a number has to be attached.. safely in the 300's rwhp on Ed's dyno. More importantly to know when we read the graphs no potential issues are seen. I just want the car running well.






and fast

Nice. It's good to have confidence in your vehicle when your foot gets heavy.

Are you replacing rings, or getting it bored out? Did you have to replace the pistons with lower compression or just a thicker head gasket for the blower?

[JC5]

So far just rings, bearings and a stock head gasket. From initial inpection the block is looking pretty decent. I'll know more in a few days when the machinist pulls it a part. No need or budget to lower compression with pistons.

A custom tune will be nice when it's back together. There is an OBII guru in Florida. Last time we were in Florida hurricain Wilma blew in over us in Broward county. A palm tree took out a t-bird three spaces down from the 5

[Uber-Goober]

Have you done any brake work or anything else on your fiver you would recommend?

[JC5]

Have you done any brake work or anything else on your fiver you would recommend?

too much stuff... do you have one... what do you specifically want to know?

There a few ways to go on brakes for the e39 530. The brakes are the same size from the 530 to the M5, except the M5 has a larger rear set up due the car's weight. A few S/C 530's have swapped out to the total M5 set up. One has gone for the total aftermarket setup, and loves it. Brembo, I think.

After a conversation with http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/ we decided to stay with the original set up to save weight, and improve the system components. Weight is a concern for me. He does sell all aspects of the system (components, BBK, and occasionally m5 set ups). Eventually I will probably move into a Stoptech, but as of right now the system more than meets my needs.

[Uber-Goober]

too much stuff... do you have one... what do you specifically want to know?

There a few ways to go on brakes for the e39 530. The brakes are the same size from the 530 to the M5, except the M5 has a larger rear set up due the car's weight. A few S/C 530's have swapped out to the total M5 set up. One has gone for the total aftermarket setup, and loves it. Brembo, I think.

After a conversation with http://store.zeckhausen.com/catalog/ we decided to stay with the original set up to save weight, and improve the system components. Weight is a concern for me. He does sell all aspects of the system (components, BBK, and occasionally m5 set ups). Eventually I will probably move into a Stoptech, but as of right now the system more than meets my needs.

I am mostly curious about brake upgrades, and weather it's worth the money, or if going with better pads and rotors is the way to go. When you say M5, do you mean stock M5 or aftermarket M5 parts?

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

BBKs are a complete waste of money unless you track the car regularly. If you really, really have to have lots of bite, do what I do and run Hawk HP+ pads with lots of anti-squeal.

Keep in mind that BBKs add rotating mass (making the car slower), can negatively impact stopping distance (front only kits - if they say they've calibrated the bias to match your stock brakes, that means they aren't doing anything more than your stock brakes. If they don't, then that means that your stopping distance lengthens as you stop using your rear brakes.), and cost a LOT of money. Unless you're cracking rotors or eating pads every weekend, they don't make sense.

[Uber-Goober]

Thanks for the insight. I don't track the car, just wanted to see options. Are you saying you are using Hawk HP+ with stock rotors?

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

Yes. One caveat is that the HP+ MUST NEVER, EVER be used on track. Its fade characteristics make that a bad idea.