VANOS timing without special tool?

[Sapote]

I had asked the question before but haven't gotten a satisfied answer yet. My understand the VANOS timing tool (bmw 11 6 150 or equivalent) helps to set the spline shafts and cam sprockets at the correct TDC position. If somehow we are able to achieve this timing position -- by trail error -- w/o using the tool, then it's ok too.

1) how to check the cam timing
From reading the Benley manual, correct timing position is when
a- the VANOS is under compressed air pressure through the banjo fitting
b- rotate the crank two or more turns
c- both intake and exhaust cam shaft should have their ends perfectly square to the top of the of the cylinder head.

This seems easy to do, only if I know what (a) really does. I think compressed air to simulate engine oil pressure to push exhaust VANOS spline shaft out at full advance timing position, and push Intake spline IN at minimum or full retard timing position. So, without the special banjo fitting fixture and compressed air, can we set the Ex spline at full advance and In spline at full retard position? If we can do this, then the VANOS timing tool is not necessary.

From the info that I have read on the web about the VANOS, the EX piston is under high spring force pushing it out (full advance position), and of course it can be pushed out by hand from the front hole after removing the big Allen cap and internal LH thread Torx bolt. Am I right?

For the Intake piston to be at full retard position (full forward), just push it in by hand from the back (facing the cam). Am I right?

With the pistons correctly positioned inside the VANOS, and if there is a concern that the EX spline shaft can push the piston forward during hand cranking the engine, we can use a small spacer between the piston and the big HEx cap cover to lock the piston solid at full advance. At this position, I think the VANOS can act as the special VANOS timing tool for setting the cam timing. Am I right?

Sapote

[Tom D]

the spring pressure is not that great. remember it's only working against 30 - 60 psi of oil pressure.

i have not had the opportunity to hold and study the vanos jig, but from my research of it the dual vanos can not be installed without one. the single vanos and the non vanos twin cam can be done, but not the dual.

post a 'want to rent' tread in all the M54 sections of B.F. someone will come to your aid.

[WHITEXi]

I don't understand? I've had my vanos unit out and put it back in with no special tool. To my understanding only the S54 ( E46 M3, Z4M etc ) uses the need of the vanos timing tool.

[Tom D]

I don't understand? I've had my vanos unit out and put it back in with no special tool. To my understanding only the S54 uses the need of the vanos timing tool.

it's not the vanos piston/hydraulics itself that needs to be timed, it's the cams/spline drive/vanos as well as the timing chains that need to be jigged. when you removed the vanos pistons you did not undo the cam timing.

[WHITEXi]

Oh ok that makes sense lol, that sounds like a headache.

[Sapote]

the spring pressure is not that great. remember it's only working against 30 - 60 psi of oil pressure.

i have not had the opportunity to hold and study the vanos jig, but from my research of it the dual vanos can not be installed without one. the single vanos and the non vanos twin cam can be done, but not the dual.

post a 'want to rent' tread in all the M54 sections of B.F. someone will come to your aid.

If the concern is the spring pressure is not that great, then we can use a small spacer between the piston and the big HEx cap cover to lock the piston solid at full advance.

I'm determine to do this without the tool, unless somebody could help to point out specifically why this method does not work. Again, if compressed air is the only thing needed to check the timing, then if the EX piston and Intake piston are at full advance and full retard, respectively, then this should work.

Sapote

[Tom D]

great. be sure and keep us informed of your conclusions. i have often wondered about this, have done both the non-vanos twin cam and the single vanos without the timing tools.

[Sapote]

For the VANOS system, the short spline shaft has two opposing helical spline cuts on inside and outside. I’m curious why BMW did not use one straight spline and the other with twice the helical angle slope spline, and this should be easier cheaper to make.

Sapote

[Sapote]

Tools:

Two small common vise blocks for clamping the cam square ends; not too long since the EX side does not have much room by the left wall, and not too short since this loose accuracy.

To make a solid primary chain tensioner, pull the spring loaded piston and spring off the unit, and insert an appropriate length cigar into the cylinder and replace the piston, then you have it – a special solid tensioner!! I don’t smoke so I used a right size socket for the cigar spacer.

Torx external sockets and internal drive bits.

Rotate the crank pulley to TDC – my California clean car still have the red TDC line on the pulley clear, so it’s very easy to set. No need to have the TDC locking pin on the fly wheel.

Assuming the head is already bolted to the block, with the cam shafts installed with the #1 cam lobe on both shafts pointing to each other. If not then you need to learn how to do this without damaging the valves. Rotate the cam square ends such that their edges are right angle to the top of the head. You can use a square to check this, and then clamp the square ends down with the vises resting FLAT on the head. This is cam TDC position.

Timing the VANOS:
Have the EX primary sprocket with chain mount on the cam end with the bolts hand tight so it won’t drop. Make sure the little triangle sign on the sprocket line up with the head top surface – the triangle should be around 8 o’clock at this point. At this point the special Cigar chain tensioner should be screwed in hand tight to lock the chain, and double check the sprocket triangle position. Bolt down the three studs to spec on the EX cam.

Assuming the secondary sprockets and chain were tied together with string during removal, and so their relative position to each other is not changed. If not, it’s not the end of the world, but just needs more trial error to set them in the correct position so the mounting holes are sort of centered to the studs or thread. On the EX 2nd sprocket, line up the double spline to the same on the cam’s spline, then insert the spline cup in -- which will force the sprocket to rotate CCW – until the mounting slots of the sprocket center to the corresponding thread holes (or studs I forgot). On the IN sprocket, line up the double spline and insert the spline cup in (this rotates the IN sprocket CCW) until there is about 2mm of cup’s spline visible. The Bentley said 1mm, but I think 2mm protruded out is better. You want more rather than less so later the VANOS piston can apply positive force on the cups during bolting it down.

On the VANOS unit, make sure to push the IN piston completely in – the piston can be moved fairly easy. For the EX piston, make sure it’s all the way out and can’t be pushed in. The built in spring does not guarantee this during bolting it down, so get an appropriate length socket and use it as a spacer between the piston and the big cover HEX nut (?). Lightly tight down the hex nut, which lock the piston solid in the advance position. There you have it: the inexpensive VANOS timing depth gauge.

With the rest of the hardware install and hand tight to the cam ends, with the cam position sensing wheel’s little triangles line up to the head top surface. Install the steel gasket and bolt down the VANOS unit evenly snug. You have timed the VANOS!!! With the 10mm wrench, reach in and tighten down as many nuts and bolts as you can to hold the pieces together at this important position. Remove the VANOS and finish up all the fasteners to spec. Install the VANOS and drive (without the valve cover of course just for fun for once!!!).

I did once and it worked the first time without having to try again.

I don’t know why the Bentley Manual doesn’t show this way.

Sapote

P.S. A very bad mistake that I made, and will not repeat again: During the process I used a small short 12 inch steel ruler for quickly check the cam timing position by using the ruler edge checking the parallel of the two square ends of the cam, then just place the ruler along the top of the cam bearing caps -- just a nice clean convenience place for keeping the ruler clean for repeated use. Big mistake!!! The thin small and overzealous ruler slided down hiding along the little nice gap between the cam's bearing housing when I didn't pay much attention to it. I closed the valve cover and bolt it down with the steel ruler inside, waiting to creep forward to its new neighbor intake sprocket and chain, for a nice welcome intro. For some reason -- the big Man was watching me --the next day I had a feeling that I need to double check those 10mm nuts on the timing sprocket, and so I open the valve cover again, rechecked the final torque on the nuts, rotated the crank to TDC and checked the cam timing square ends one more time. I was looking for the nice steel ruler. Where were you??

It's scary to think about how the intake sprocket and the chain are going to eat up the nice high quality stainless steel when I decelerate the car....

[Tom D]

excellent! there aren't many engineers here, nice to see somebody think outside the box.

oh yeah, do you know how to install smoked corners and will M3 wheels fit my 3xxici?

[Sapote]

excellent! there aren't many engineers here, nice to see somebody think outside the box.

oh yeah, do you know how to install smoked corners and will M3 wheels fit my 3xxici?

Thank you, I'm the kind of people that want to understand things before working on it.

As about your question, I have no clue what are they.

Btw, after working and get familiar with this 52TU engine in this case, I say it's an excelent designed engine. I'm seriously thinking about getting a good used complete engine + 6 speed tranny (do they have 6 or 5 speed) and engine computer system for my vintage '74 CSi Coup'e.

Sapote

[Sapote]

Update with a little horror story.

[Tom D]

……...As about your question, I have no clue what are they.

sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet. you, i and only a half dozen more on the this site know or even cares to know more then changing the turn indicators out for clears. everybody else just regurgitates information and just as often as not, they get it wrong.

anyway, good job. did you happen to take pictures. what's this horror story?

[Tom D]

the M52 only had a 5 sp. the post 3/03 build date M54 330i came with a 6 sp. the 5 series came with it starting in 03/02 for the 525 and 01/02 for the 530.

[Sapote]

sarcasm doesn't translate well on the internet. you, i and only a half dozen more on the this site know or even cares to know more then changing the turn indicators out for clears. everybody else just regurgitates information and just as often as not, they get it wrong.

anyway, good job. did you happen to take pictures. what's this horror story?

I did take a few photos, just have not upload to the pc yet. As about the story, read my P.S. on the long post of VANOS setting; almost ruined the whole engine, and the fun.

Sapote

[Tom D]

lucky. talk about a 'oh shit' moment.

to lock the cams into position i use an adjustable wrench, one on each cam block crossing the handles. i then clamp the handles together with a small c-clamp or vise grips. works like a charm.

[White Knuckles2]

Okay, the ruler deal has some scary bits to it but so does the procedure. I'm not ready to dive into that baby without a little more info.

1) What does the dual-cam, alignment tool cost approx.?

2) If one should have it, is there a benefit to project ease or success?

I hate inventing work-arounds for a must have tool. This sounds like a well documented alternative.

The written process is well detailed but some of us dumb-bunnies really like to reference additional Pics that include call-out points. Maybe the next brave soul in will take some shots? Nice work Sapote.

[Tom D]

1) What does the dual-cam, alignment tool cost approx.?

2) If one should have it, is there a benefit to project ease or success?

http://www.kochtools.com/index.php?p=product&id=136

even some of the write ups i've read from people with the tool, had problems.

[Sapote]

Okay, the ruler deal has some scary bits to it but so does the procedure. I'm not ready to dive into that baby without a little more info.

No need to be scared, since after the process, with all the nuts and bolts tighten up to spec, one always and should recheck the TDC timing. If Crank and cams are all in agreement, then your engine can not get damage; the worst it could get is a minor timing off, which the code should tell you. But in my case, it's absolutely right on, not even 1mm off allowed by the book.

I will try to post some pics, but very much they are just the same as in the Bentley book, except the cam locking blocks and the real VANOS instead of special cam lock and $300 vanos depth gauge.

Sapote

[Sapote]

lucky. talk about a 'oh shit' moment.

to lock the cams into position i use an adjustable wrench, one on each cam block crossing the handles. i then clamp the handles together with a small c-clamp or vise grips. works like a charm.

Great idea. I didn't think about this. Can the wrench hold the cam w/o any play?

[Tom D]

…….Can the wrench hold the cam w/o any play?

as long as the wrenches are adjusted tight and the clamp holding them doesn't slip, you have the advantage of leverage on your side and they aren't going anywhere.

[Sapote]

I had posted photos on my long post Cylinder #3 has water... for those interested.

Take care and have fun.

Sapote

[waehrik]

Yeah, I went ahead and just bought all of the special tools instead of trying to work out a way to do it myself. Well, I tried, but unlike Sapote was not successful after attempting it twice and finding an Intake Cam Sensor CEL each time. I was just a couple degrees off on the timing.
I don't have a use for them anymore now that my rebuild is done, but have the dummy tensioner, cam locking blocks, flywheel pin, VANOS alignment jig, and secondary chain aligner.

[White Knuckles2]

Okay, now I'm spooked AGAIN! TomD and waehrik claim hit and miss success with the stupid space shuttle tool... great. So, the Bentley needs to come out, I'll reread Beison's procedure and try to suck it up. Man I hate the chance of screwing up timing with so many fiddly bits. This can't be that hard with so many dumb-bunnies pulling it off. Would the Dr. Vanos kit get me out of this spooky territory?

Oh, and I now see Sapote is, we'll say, a slightly advanced mech. I'm going back to that hydro thread to see how she went. Wish you lived in my neighborhood, I'd be stacking up iced Coronas as you poked around under my valve cover.

[Tom D]

white knuckle, are you looking to change the vanos seals? that procedure does not require you to un-time the cams and is a easy job. even the dumb-bunnies can pull it off. if you are pulling the cylinder head then that's a different story and will lead you to here.