Under Valve Cover @ 255k Miles

[sean96gsr]

Figured you guys would get a kick out of these. I finally killed my worn out original VANOS at the last CCA track day @ Lime Rock. The noise was ridiculous and the cooling system is of an unknown vintage, so I dropped the car off at my buddy's shop for a "Dr. Vanos" kit and a full cooling system PM including the hard pipes under the manifold. They texted me these photos after removing the valve cover and VANOS, and commented that if someone had told that them the motor had 50k they'd believe it. Very little varnish, indiscernible wear on any of the moving assemblies, and the timing chain guides are in fantastic shape:





As far as oil changes, this car has always had fresh BMW 5w30 every 7-8k miles, and just switched to Redline 15w50 for its first season of track driving.

I've done a ton of work to the suspension and whatnot, so all the car needs now is some rust remediation and I'll consider it done.

[Vas]

Are you the original owner?

[sean96gsr]

No, I bought it from the original owner who had it serviced at my buddy's shop from ~2009 onward. My first ZHP that I bought in 2006 is owned by another forum member, still kicking around at over 200k miles as well.

[ZacharyMikel]

That's excellent. This is how my ZHP looked when I did the VANOS, only it had about 100k less.

Your username reminds me, OP, of my 1995 Integra GSR I had in high school. It had 240k on the clock when I had it serviced at a local Honda shop. They told me that the cams had the factory black coating on them like they had just been installed!

Crazy how a motor can last when it's treated properly.

[Sreten]

Fantastic engine M54.

[BMWM3186]

Do those hard pipes under the manifold usually cause problems, and how bad are they to replace?

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[Dave1027]

Sweet. What oil has it been running?

[webster]

Sweet. What oil has it been running?

lol he said this at the bottom of the op

"this car has always had fresh BMW 5w30 every 7-8k miles, and just switched to Redline 15w50 for its first season of track driving."

[kayger12]

This is so awesome. I like knowing my car will have a chance to outlive me.

[AZBP2]

Wow! Amazing engine.


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