VANOS Rebuild

[dbgeek]

Who has refreshed their VANOS? Do I want the Beisan kit or are there other places to buy the stuff?

[Scany]

Who has refreshed their VANOS? Do I want the Beisan kit or are there other places to buy the stuff?

 

I do. Used the Beisan kit. Walk in the park really if you got their instructions and a Bentley.

 

It was hard to tell what difference it made as I also stripped the cars interior and added a cage in the same process. But there were a noticeable difference in 5th gear down the straight at SP. Maybe less weight, maybe better midrange power, maybe a combination..

 

After thinking about it, who needs VANOS anyway?, just leave it alone, it's not going to do you any good to refreshen it

[dbgeek]

After thinking about it, who needs VANOS anyway?, just leave it alone, it's not going to do you any good to refreshen it

Maybe next time I'll sweet talk another bearing into quitting on you

 

Did you do the VANOS work yourself? Did you buy the tool kit to lock the cam timing, spanner, etc?

[Scany]

After thinking about it, who needs VANOS anyway?, just leave it alone, it's not going to do you any good to refreshen it

Maybe next time I'll sweet talk another bearing into quitting on you

 

Did you do the VANOS work yourself? Did you buy the tool kit to lock the cam timing, spanner, etc?

 

I did it myself as I was putting in some straight valves in the head. I got the tools you need if you want to borrow them.

[dbgeek]

So do I buy the anti-rattle shim, too? it looks like a reliability mod item....

Thoughts?

[Scany]

So do I buy the anti-rattle shim, too? it looks like a reliability mod item....

Thoughts?

 

Have no idea what you are ref. to. What does it stop rattling? The chain? I thought the tensioner was suppose to do that job.

[Jon M.]

So do I buy the anti-rattle shim, too? it looks like a reliability mod item....

Thoughts?

 

Do I need to buy that when I buy my wiper blade oil??

[VaTechM3]

So do I buy the anti-rattle shim, too? it looks like a reliability mod item....

Thoughts?

 

Do I need to buy that when I buy my wiper blade oil??

 

And blinker fluid?

[dbgeek]

I completed the VANOS seal replacement this weekend. The car now idles smoothly - it used to sound 'cammed' or lopey. The teardown and reassembly took about 5 hours without removing the radiator or tank. If I were going to do it again, I could probably reduce that to 3.5 hours or less.

 

I can't exactly drive it around town to FEEL anything... but it idles better Thanks to Anders for the tools.

[whaden]

I completed the VANOS seal replacement this weekend. The car now idles smoothly - it used to sound 'cammed' or lopey. The teardown and reassembly took about 5 hours without removing the radiator or tank. If I were going to do it again, I could probably reduce that to 3.5 hours or less.

 

I can't exactly drive it around town to FEEL anything... but it idles better Thanks to Anders for the tools.

 

How much of that time was spent on the VANOS unit itself (as opposed to getting the unit off the engine)?

Mine's sitting on the floor and I'm about ready to reinstall it, but didn't know if it was worth the extra work (considering...the larger task at hand)

[sean]

I completed the VANOS seal replacement this weekend. The car now idles smoothly - it used to sound 'cammed' or lopey. The teardown and reassembly took about 5 hours without removing the radiator or tank. If I were going to do it again, I could probably reduce that to 3.5 hours or less.

 

I can't exactly drive it around town to FEEL anything... but it idles better Thanks to Anders for the tools.

 

How much of that time was spent on the VANOS unit itself (as opposed to getting the unit off the engine)?

Mine's sitting on the floor and I'm about ready to reinstall it, but didn't know if it was worth the extra work (considering...the larger task at hand)

 

 

i've done at least 5 rebuilds, there are very straightforward step by step directions on the website. you're looking at a half hour tops if the vanos unit is off the car already and you have all the required tools. i would strongly suggest doing the rebuild as one of the while your in there items or if your vanos is rattling its ass off. your looking at $60 for the seals and the rattle shim, the kit is worth every penny if you ask me.

 

http://beisansystems.com/index.html

[dbgeek]

How much of that time was spent on the VANOS unit itself (as opposed to getting the unit off the engine)?

Mine's sitting on the floor and I'm about ready to reinstall it, but didn't know if it was worth the extra work (considering...the larger task at hand)

 

5 bolts, x-acto knife, towels and some cleaner. Maybe 15 minutes?

My time was spent cleaning the valvecover gasket surfaces.

[Scany]

Glad to to hear you got 'er done Peter I thought the VANOS was better than rebuilding my calipers. But I did do it while I had the engine out.

 

I'm excited to see how fast your car is on the straights at VIR

[whaden]

 

My time was spent cleaning the valvecover gasket surfaces.

 

You speak the truth...for sure.

[Jon M.]

I'm excited to see how fast your car is on the straights at VIR

 

 

I'm not. Damned you for being a very nice person and lending out tools to help others gain horsepower.

[dbgeek]

My engine is in no way a 'fresh' build... it was sourced from a friend who had a rear-ended car. Now you're going to make me compression test it.

 

I still want to convert to a Euro coolant expansion tank - I hate working around the POS hanging off the radiator in front of the engine.

[Scany]

I'm excited to see how fast your car is on the straights at VIR

 

 

I'm not. Damned you for being a very nice person and lending out tools to help others gain horsepower.

 

It gives me a good excuse to know it's his car that's faster

[dbgeek]

I'm excited to see how fast your car is on the straights at VIR

 

I'm not. Damned you for being a very nice person and lending out tools to help others gain horsepower.

 

It gives me a good excuse to know it's his car that's faster

 

ooo... we'll have to pick an event to swap cars. You can bump your head on my cage, and I'll have to stand on your seat to see out.

[whaden]

Thank you all for talking me into the VANOS rebuild.

I ordered the kits on Monday and they came Wednesday.

The unit was already off the engine, but was being reassembled tomorrow, so I needed to finish today (this job competed with a coil pack replacement in the Audi, which is now also done)

The repair was pretty straightforward. The torx screw took me the longest...well because I skipped the part that said it was reverse thread...D'oh.

 

I don't know if other series are this cooperative with sharing information with competitors, but I know I appreciated it.

 

I have all the VANOS tools, which includes the cog tool and cam blocks if anyone needs them in the future.

[dbgeek]

Gents,

 

Be aware that if you install the VANOS gear one tooth off, it goes in easy... and you lose top end powah. The good part is that you get FAT TORQUE in the bottom and mid range.

 

I pulled the valve cover and confirmed that I'm off a tooth. Thanks goes to James Clay for identifying this for me.

 

Sooooo... with the BW chip and corrected vanos, it should be a FUN Hfest.

[whaden]

Good to know. Thanks. Is there an easy way to verify the correct tooth? I know there are arrows on the exhaust side that should point up...

[Scany]

Gents,

 

Be aware that if you install the VANOS gear one tooth off, it goes in easy... and you lose top end powah. The good part is that you get FAT TORQUE in the bottom and mid range.

 

I pulled the valve cover and confirmed that I'm off a tooth. Thanks goes to James Clay for identifying this for me.

 

Sooooo... with the BW chip and corrected vanos, it should be a FUN Hfest.

 

After you installed on the wrong tooth, did you turn the engine over atleast two turns and made sure the cams locked in with the locking tool? 'Cause I think I got one tooth off when I redid my valves, but when I checked it after turning the engine over (which the Bentley tells you to do) I was too far off to mount the cam lock tool. Just wondering if you got it mounted one tooth off and didn't check, or if you did check and it showed ok.

[dbgeek]

I was following instructions on the Beisan website.

 

I did NOT turn it 2 revs and check. I most certainly will this time, though...

[dbgeek]

I spent a couple hours this evening understanding what went wrong. When I put it back together, I was following instructions explicitly, so I went through it again with an eye on anything that might have caught me unaware. I'm 99% sure I found the 'missing step', and the error would seem to happen 50% of the time.

 

When preparing to engage the splines, with the secondary sprockets fully clockwise, the Bentley says to "Hand turn exhaust sprocket counterclockwise only enough to mesh gear cup splines with camshaft gear." This would indicate that clocking the gear cup to be unnecessary. This is untrue.

 

The internal splines of the gear cup mesh first, then the external splines. It would seem that only every other tooth engagement of the internal splines produces meshed external splines without rotation of the exhaust sprocket. If you are 'off' on your internal spline, then the exhaust sprocket must be rotated before the external splines engage. When properly aligned, you still have to rotate the exhaust sprocket to draw the vanos in.

 

To find this, I marked an external tooth and used a flashlight to see whether it engaged or not, clocked it one way by 1 internal tooth, and tried again. I think I can do the vanos in my sleep now.

 

Anders, this means that the '1 tooth off' is referring to the internal splines, not overall timing chain teeth or external splines (which are actually '1/2 tooth off').

[Scany]

I spent a couple hours this evening understanding what went wrong. When I put it back together, I was following instructions explicitly, so I went through it again with an eye on anything that might have caught me unaware. I'm 99% sure I found the 'missing step', and the error would seem to happen 50% of the time.

 

When preparing to engage the splines, with the secondary sprockets fully clockwise, the Bentley says to "Hand turn exhaust sprocket counterclockwise only enough to mesh gear cup splines with camshaft gear." This would indicate that clocking the gear cup to be unnecessary. This is untrue.

 

The internal splines of the gear cup mesh first, then the external splines. It would seem that only every other tooth engagement of the internal splines produces meshed external splines without rotation of the exhaust sprocket. If you are 'off' on your internal spline, then the exhaust sprocket must be rotated before the external splines engage. When properly aligned, you still have to rotate the exhaust sprocket to draw the vanos in.

 

To find this, I marked an external tooth and used a flashlight to see whether it engaged or not, clocked it one way by 1 internal tooth, and tried again. I think I can do the vanos in my sleep now.

 

Anders, this means that the '1 tooth off' is referring to the internal splines, not overall timing chain teeth or external splines (which are actually '1/2 tooth off').

 

I'm too slow to understand what you are saying but what corrected me after I was off on timing, was to turn the VANOS wheel back a tad so that it caught the first tooth. The first time it was probably just enough to skip the first and get the second, therefore not good (and in accordance with the Bentley). Maybe I'm saying the same as you, but mine showed up on timing, and it sounds like you are saying it wouldn't. When I seriously blow my head to pieces I'll have a model to play with