Spec X5 Overland Build

[Henn28]

With the block ready to go, I decided to build it up in my shop, then move it over to the garage I belong to, where it will live until I find a suitable car to graft it into. My solution to a workbench that I could also roll it out amd load into to my X5 eventually is as follows…cheap but effective:


First up is the small oil valve in the back of the block. I can’t find mention of it in TIS anywhere, so I torqued it like an oil drain plug 18 ish ftlbs.



Then it’s getting down to the business of installing bearing shells and after taking a look at my collection of crank shells, I realize I have too many cap shells, and no crankcase side (grooved) shells. Clearly I screwed up the part numbers when I ordered them, but this gives me an opportunity to take stock of the crazy color coded bearing system BMW uses and what I need. That’s when the wheels fell off my bus. Up until this point I thought I had this all sorted out , thanks to some great help from forum members, but after looking at TIS, my notes and pics from disassembly, and RealOEM, and the old bearing shells that I kept, I’m quite confused.


The shells come in three sizes (.25mm increments) to account for cranks that have been machined and each of those three sizes has three color options (yellow, green and white). Since I measured my crank I know it has virtually zero wear so I’ll need OE sized shells (70mm). TIS says the block gets 5 yellow shells of the appropriate size (70mm for me) so that’s easy, and the caps get shells of the appropriate size (70mm) and color. The color is denoted by a dot on the crank, next to the journal it corresponds to. In my case:
journal 1 = Yellow
journal 2 = green
journal 3 = green
journal 4 = yellow
journal 5 = TBD (no legible color dot here so my plan was to use a yellow shell since I mic’d the crank and all journals were 70mm (OE) spec. I also planned to plastiguage this journal, per TIS just to be sure I shouldn’t use a different color)

So I think I’ve got it suitcased and go to find in TIS and write down shell part numbers (there are 24 separate part numbers for top and bottom shells to account for sizes and colors) and decide just as a backup I’ll see if the old cap shells I left in caps have numbers on them. In fact they do, when is when I lost all SA.

The number stamped in the back of the shell includes all three possible color combos…


In the case above (bearing 5 cap) the number has the last three digits for yellow, green and white stamped into it. In this case “…908, 909, 910). I thought maybe there is a little tic mark next to the actual color of the shell, but I don’t see one. So obviously the size matters, but does any of this color crap matter?


So I ordered the five yellow block side shells (the ones with the oil grooves) in the OE (70mm) size that I somehow screwed up months ago in my original order, but I expect all three color part numbers will be stamped on the back. These shouldn’t matter as much though since TIS says to use all yellow shells in the block. I guess I’ll use the cap shells I have on hand and revert back to using plastiguage to check the clearance. Happily I saved the original bolts.

perhaps when the M62 first came out the colors denoted a very, very small difference in shell size to accommodate slight crank differences. However bmw found that as they transitioned to very lightweight oils for fuel economy, it simply didn’t matter any more so they did away with the color scheme in practice (but not in TIS or part numbers! ).

who knows. Since I hung on to the original crank bearing bolts I may plastiguage them all, just to be sure I’m in spec.

So I’m at a standstill until my 5 shells for the block side come in.

[g300d]

Originally Posted by Henn28

I'm sure it would run on the 4.4 DME load, but I'm planning on using a the 4.6 DME (or a DME updated to 4.6 software) as a place to start. The added 50 or 60hp that the M62TUB46 delivers seems come from the cams primarily. .2 L displacement can't be responsible for too much at all. The 4.6 DME load will have the specific tables for these cams.

I'd like to find a place that can run it on a test stand to break it in and make sure it doesn't come apart in some way due to shoddy workmanship. And since I'm leaning towards building my first track car around it, they could ideally develop a tune for it. I'm guessing it will make 310 to 320 HP-ish with the 4.6 cams in it, but that is just a guess. Partee Racing in Virginia specializes in the S62 and has a test stand set up for that motor, which should use the same bell housing as the M62 (I think). They do S62 tuning so I suspect the M62 wouldn't be a stretch for them.

It's tough to say when and why all the carbon came from, nor how much it was affecting the compression on each cylinder, or if my M62 build up was unusual at 155k when it came out of the X5. After the heads were replaced under warranty at 20k miles,, the motor never burnt much oil at all until very late in its tenure in my E53 when I also think it began loosing compression on 4, 6 and 8. These 3 cylinders were sitting at 160ish PSI, while the other 5 were at or above 175ish. The carbon was pretty uniformly deposited across all 8 though - heavy on the tops and ring groves. The heads and valves however, looked pretty good.

As far as the rods go, I think they are sintered which makes a strong rod and is good for mass production, but my machine shop said that cracking the caps off is done just to save money and mass produce them. The videos on line of rod caps being cracked off are pretty cool to watch.

Very interesting!

It would be cool to see how much the 4.4 with 4.6 cams and DME puts out. A 4.4is badge on the side wouldnt be out of place I think.

Sorry to hear of the bearing parts holdup, hope they come in fast.

[Henn28]

My bearing shells arrived before the holiday and the crank is finally in.
I followed TIS, and also watched a great N62 build video on YouTube. Slightly different motors, but an almost identical bottom end build. TIS is a godsend, but it does have some pretty big holes at some points.

Given that I have the OE “colors” for each crank journal except for 5, and I had the crank mic’d by the shop that polished and cleaned it I am very sure of the shells to use for 1 through 4. I thought about plastiguaging bearing 5, per TIS, but since that journal mic’d at OE specs too, I decide the “base” yellow shell would work on that cap and if for some reason the motor spun a bearing, I will know where to look first! I also put a micrometer on the OE bearing 5 shell and a new yellow one and they read identical to my eye.

So after consulting my notes I installed the correct color shell in each cap, and a yellow one in cap 5. Recall that the block gets 5 yellow shells, per TIS. The block shells have an oil groove and the cap shells are smooth. Install is easy with the retaining groove and tab in the shells.


Next up, each cap was installed with a cost of assembly lube on both sides and the oil groves/notches on the same side of the motor (block and cap). I verified this alignment too with some photos I took during disassembly. The adjustable threaded spacers must be backed down to where they touch the cap, before assembly. The pic below shows its OE position in the motor at disassembly:




Bearing 5 has 4 thrust washers that keep the axial play within limits, two in the block and two on the cap. The block washers can get fed into the groves after the crank is in (with a bit of lube) and the cap washers are held in place by tabs that fit into groves in the caps. Critically, the washer halves have lubrication grooves in their faces that must face the crank, not the cap or block. You can make out the silver locating tabs on on ether side of the block 5 cap below:

Once all the caps were in I installed new OE BMW main bearing bolts. The caps needed a bit of finagling fore and aft to get the bolts to screw in smoothly.

Torquing is a several step process….20 NM of joining torque on each; then back bearing 5 bolts off until loose and tap on both ends of the crank with a rubber mallet to help set the axial position and thrust washers; then re- torque 5 to 20 NM. Finally the (M11) bolts get another 100 degrees of tightening each. My guess is it ends up being a couple hundred ft/lbs:



Finally the threaded sleeves in the caps get tightened against the block to 20 NM with a hex head, and finally the collar screws go in over them and are joined at 20 NM and then get another 45 degrees.


Real OEM says there are 10 of these screws, two per cap. It’s actually only 7 since caps 1 and 2 actually get 3 threaded screws with spacers and threaded studs on the end of them, between these two caps, to mount the oil pump too. Torque is the same as the screws. I still need to out these in.


The crank is tight, but turns smoothly - so I’ve got that going for me at least. Next up is to install a new oil pump and temporarily put the upper oil pan cover on to protect the whole thing. Then I’ve got to buy a motor stand to make getting the pistons in easier.

[g300d]

Getting closer!

[Henn28]

I lost one of two threaded spacers that take the place of collar screws on crank caps one and two, and which the oil pump mounts to. 3 weeks from Germany later and I was able to install the new oil pump today. It’s a new OE RWD M62 pump, which really means that the pickup is much shorter siince the RWD oil pan isn’t nearly as deep as the AWD x5 4.4 pan.

Note that I used blue thread locker on all the fasteners.

Collar screw/spacer went in…torque to yield per TIS:

Then the pickup tubes from the x5 pump (they are identical), with new o-rings:

Pump goes on next and the nuts on caps 1 and 2 are torqued down:

The chain and sproket for on next and are toqued to 45 NM. This is a bit awkward since there is no where to put a wrench on the pump shaft to hold it while the nut is torqued. I ended up using a heavily padded pry bar on a crank counterweight, which seemed to work ok.

The chain is adjusted to 1 cm of play, plus/minus 2mm by using am 8mm Allen wrench on the threaded insert inside the remaining mounting point (on the right side of cap 1). This is a bit tricky as there is very little room to get any leverage from a normal Allen wrench, so I was eventually able to work a hex socket in and get a long extension on it. I needed to take out perhaps 5mm of slack and it took maybe a 90 deg of turn on the spacer.

Once the tension was set, a bolt holds this final corner of the oil pump down.

Finally the sprocket cover goes on with 3 nuts at 10NM and a little thread locker.


I’m not sure why the x5 pump doesn’t have the chain/spocket cover but the RWD M62 pump does.

I need to the the motor on a stand now so I can install the pistons so I’ll mount the oil pans temporarily and move the whole thing down to the Garage I belong to before it gets too heavy to move easily. I can also temp mount the OSV oil return hard-line that carries the separated oil back down to the pan. It needs to be shortened so I can use this X5 (exterior OSV) setup rather than the 540, etc. setup where the OSV is under the timing cover. The X5 hardline ends in a banjo bolt at the back of the pan, but my current thinking is to cut the hardline shorter and see if I can get an AN fitting welded to the line and to the pan at an appropriate spot on the RWD pan I got off of EBay.

Since I’m pretty sure I want to build a track car with this motor, a dry sump solution would be best and make for an easier install no matter what car I build. Unfortunately they are simply too expensive, so I am going to do some research on how I might add some baffles around the pickup tube, in the lower sump to keep the sloshing down. I think the e36 and 46 guys have a similar solution.

[g300d]

I may have missed it, I thought this was going into an E53. What chassis are you looking to drop this in to?

[Henn28]

Originally Posted by g300d

I may have missed it, I thought this was going into an E53. What chassis are you looking to drop this in to?

It came out of my E53 and I’m leaning towards putting it into a track car. The easy(ier) button would be an e34 since they came with the M60.

Need to get it rebuilt first.

I swapped the 4.6 into my x5.

[Henn28]

Pistons went in this past week, with only a couple unforced errors (that I know about). Like most things BMW, the first one took some time and the last few went in quickly. The first problem I created was installing the oil pump before the pistons which makes it hard to get the caps at rod bolts for 1 amd 5 on. Not impossible though, just a tight squeeze for hands and tools.

Additionally, I ended up with an extra Blue rod bearing shell at the end of the job, and as much as I wanted to believe that getbmwparts.com had thrown in an extra, years of observing my own work told me this was wishful thinking. Fortunately a rod (number 6 in my case) with only half a bearing in it has significant up and down play. Aside from being less expensive than BMW bolts, ARP rod bolts are not torque to yield so I was able to fix my mistake without having to order new bolts.

Ready to be moved from my small workshop across town to the Garage I belong to:


Oil pans off and ready for pistons and rods:


I brushed motor oil liberally on the pistons, the ring compressor and the bores. Then I checked the ring gap positions and rejiggered them as needed to look like a Mercedes logo, installed one red and one blue shell per rod (RealOEM, not TIS, tell you red shells go in the caps and blue in the rods:


The installation technique thst ended up working the best for me was to center the given cylinder crank journal under the cylinder and slide the piston in, making sure to not scuff the walls as they scratch very easily, or ding the journal. Then I placed the ring compression tool in place and tightened it slightly so that I could pushed the piston back up from below and it wouldn’t fall back down. Then I fully tighted the tool around the piston. The tool must be absolutely flush on the deck and I found tapping it with a rubber mallet gently helped. Finger pressure at this point should pop the piston into the bore. Lots of oil on everything, the tool flush on the deck and holding it down with pressure as you push the piston in really seems to help. The slightest gap between the tool and the bore would allow a ring to expand ever so slightly and stop the process.

I installed and torqued each in turn. One and five were a pain because of the pump, but doable by turning the crank around until the bolt heads are (barely) accessible:


After the pistons, the oil squirters get installed to 10NM, per TIS. Since I was reusing all but one (I dinged one when I broke the block down) I blew thru each to make sure they were not clogged.




I finished the job by reattaching the oil pans, both for protection and so I could bolt the engine stand to those holes again and pull the sawhorse from under the hub (thanks JimLev), and spinning the rotating assembly with a big breaker bar on the old crank bolt. It spun freely and quietly, so hopefully I got it all right.


I'm still waiting on my heads so I expect more delay before I can get back to this project.

My x5 needs a new blower motor, an outer axle boot on the front right, a caliper rebuild on the same side, and new lower control arms as the boots are shredded on those ball joints. Frankly I just need to stick the car in the driveway or the Garage for a week or two and get it all done, but I’m dreading pulling the dash for the blower motor as I’m expecting lots of broken 25 yr old plastic.

[Henn28]

I’m in the middle of a light refresh on the X5, mostly because pre-facelift headlights are on a big sale at getbmwparts. Still not cheap, but almost $350 off is really good, especially when considering how hazy mine are now, how foggy the left one gets after it rains, and how poor a job I would do trying to clean and re seal them myself. I also took EODguys advice and picked up some KC LEDs to replace the small incandescent KCs I’ve got on the front.

The headlights, right front plastic tray they sit in, and long rubber rain seal for the right side (left side seal was replaced an year ago) are coming from the mother ship in Germany, so several weeks away. The KC lights arrived along with the pre-fab brackets I bought that are for a Ford Raptor. I plan on modifying the brackets to either bolt onto, or weld onto my front oil cooler bracket.

New lights with the brackets on so I could see how best to approach the modifications. They are super beefy (metal and powder coated), and large enough to fill the space in front without looking silly.


They are 6” diameter lights instead of 4, should be much brighter and can have a slight radius set across all three to help spread the beam pattern out laterally. Plus 3 should look pretty nice up front. The 4” incandescent KCs were too small and not bright enough. I had hoped to use the same wiring but the plugs are different and I’ll need to wire in a relay as they draw too much power for the switch. I seem to recall I added a hot wire to the passenger floor 12v power socket in an attempt to get my Kenwood dimmer working, but that ended up having to come from the light switch. I think that wire is still behind the dash so I can use it for the relay.

Current situation:


I’ll cut out what I need for the brackets in cardboard and take them to a local metal shop to fab. Welding them on would be easiest but the ECS bracket I repurposed to mount this stuff is nicely powder coated and I’d rather not deal with rust later. Rejiggering the brackets so they bolt on somehow may be the best answer, if possible.

[g300d]

Nice!

New lights will make it look a lot younger.

So wait, is that a Lancia Stratos on the side of your garage?