R55 Cooper S

[scrw.]

Bought with a miss fire off ebay cheap. Head gasket is gone so busy replacing the HG (after a head skim & pressure check) major coolant parts and timing chain. Expect it will also get a bigger intercooler and sport cat downpipe ready for a full exhaust and remap in the future.

2019-12-28_09-19-58 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

IMG-20191228-WA0013 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

IMG-20191228-WA0010 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Just waiting to get the air con de gassed so I can finish stripping the front end off, will start on the intake side stripdown tomorrow.

[Darren93]

Seems to be rare to see the HG go on these? Could be a good find.

[scrw.]

more done today, gas now out so radiator stuff now removed

2019-12-29_05-10-34 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

2019-12-29_05-09-59 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Intake hose next to the TB
2019-12-29_05-10-13 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Unsure if I should take the inlet manifold off and clean it out. It is all disconnected but something is still attached at the bottom stopping me lifting it out.

Rad, air con rad, intercooler and cobra sport cat/downpipe just ordered,

[mike9009]

I owned an R55 for about six years. Lovely little car.

Check the timing chain and tensioner whilst it is in bits. Also, keep an eye on the oil level - they like a drink of it.....

Mike

[scrw.]

Head is finally off, fairly carbon free by the looks, and no obvious signs of a cracked head. HG fell into a couple of pieces when taken off so I am hoping it was just it delaminating that caused the issue. Timing chain guides are shot,, and the top guide has fallen into the gallery, think I will have to take the sump off to clean up all the bits.

2019-12-30_09-00-39 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

2019-12-30_09-01-13 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Hopefully get the head dropped off an an engineering place tomorrow for a skim.

[scrw.]

remains of the timing gear
2020-01-01_08-40-06 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

cams and followers out, off to be skimmed and the valve seals replaced
2020-01-01_08-40-56 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

and what i pulled from the oil pump strainer!!
2020-01-01_08-41-35 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Silver piece on the left is 1" square, think it was a good move dropping the sump LOL Oil pump chain kit on the way now too.

Edited by scrw. on Monday 6th January 14:41

[GaryF]

Thanks for posting the pics and sharing your project. You obviously know what you are doing there

[scrw.]

Head dropped off this morning, should be back with me friday, so just waiting on oil pump drive chain, a pipe for the air con and the intercooler now, have a free day saturday so hope to get most of it completed by then.

[scrw.]

Was a bit too black, so got these mirror shells :-)

2020-01-06_07-14-28 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

[scrw.]

Head skimmed and pressure checked okay, new stem seals in there too. Will get the head back on tonight hopefully.

2020-01-10_01-38-34 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

2020-01-10_01-38-08 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

[scrw.]

from here on in, its going together not apart

2020-01-10_03-46-05 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

[scrw.]

same thickness HG on

2020-01-10_03-46-20 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

And head seated ready for bolting down

2020-01-10_03-46-39 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

[scrw.]

Scoff break time The head is bolted down, cams are back in and timed up, oil pump and drive chain next, then the timing chain. Happy sticking the engine back together, just worried I am going to miss a sensor wire somewhere inaccessable once I am at the test run stage.

[scrw.]

Done for today, oil pump and chain fitted, timing kit fittedand engine timed up, new crank seal fitted and pulleys/drive belt back on, engine mount fitted, and cam cover and plugs fitted (paranoid about dropping something into the engine LOL) Sump to fit tomorrow and intake and exhaust to do.

2020-01-10_10-37-02 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

IMG_20200110_205548 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

IMG_20200110_205508 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

2020-01-10_10-41-55 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

IMG_20200110_222350 by Old_Chad, on Flickr

Edited by scrw. on Saturday 11th January 08:36

[CoolHands]

Looks good. What sort of money did the head skim and check cost? And are you using just genuine bmw parts?
And finally is the oil pump chain a known issue as I hadn’t heard about that (I have an r56 Cooper s)

[CoolHands]

I would change the plastic water pipe that runs across the back of the engine even if you don’t change the thermostat housing now, as when the thermostat eventually goes you normally need to change the pipe and it’s a lot easier while you have the inlet chamber already off.

[scrw.]

CoolHands said:

Looks good. What sort of money did the head skim and check cost? And are you using just genuine bmw parts?
And finally is the oil pump chain a known issue as I hadn’t heard about that (I have an r56 Cooper s)

Not genuine parts, and I did the oil pump chain as a bit of metal from the top of the chain guide/tensioner was stuck against the chain, it marked it slightly, thought best to swap it while it was in bits. Skim and pressure test was £60, plus £50 to install the valve seals, found a proper old school engineering place in wrexham which I will use again if required, turned the job around in 4 days.

Edited by scrw. on Saturday 11th January 08:37

[scrw.]

CoolHands said:

I would change the plastic water pipe that runs across the back of the engine even if you don’t change the thermostat housing now, as when the thermostat eventually goes you normally need to change the pipe and it’s a lot easier while you have the inlet chamber already off.

Inspected it, seems in vgc, feeling brave and re using it.

[pangster79]

great thread and awesome progress!!!

[scrw.]

Well intake and exhaust/turbo all fitted, filled it up with oil to prime up the engine before anything else goes back on, thendiscovered you have to take the intake manifold off to disconnect the injectors, arse. Anyway, I can now remove a mini intake manifold in a coiuple of minutes

Now the bad news, oil isn't pumping round, certainly not any oil getting to the filter. Plugs are out, injectors disconnected, turned the engine over for a minute or so but the filter is still dry. I can see that the oil pump chain is tuning with the crank, so looks like I will have to drop the oil and sump and see whats going on. The oil pump pulley is on a shaped shaft so I really doubt it has worked loose and is spinning on the shaft. At a loss.