Though considered perhaps BMW's finest straight-six engine, the S54 does have its flaws – the big end (or rod) bearings, head gasket and VANOS to name the big three. When being used on track, the strain on these components is increased and so overhauling and upgrading them is the best way to go. This is where we often step in...
Kelvin is the lucky owner of one of just fifty E36 M3 GT Imola Individuals, and as part of the restoration work he's doing, approached us with the task of refreshing the S50B32 engine. Though presenting no particular issues, Kelvin wisely wanted the engine to be given a clean bill of health. This included fitting new piston rings, big end...
Tom's S65 engine came to us after a serious failure - boost strikes again. Detonation had caused six of the eight pistons to break, resulting in damage to the block and much more. Tom's answer was simple enough - to take things from a relatively simple supercharged build on a standard engine, to a fully forged monster. The basis...
Steve has owned big power Nissan GTR and E92 M3 track cars in the past but wanting to move to something smaller, simpler and more fun, he chose an S54-swapped E36 M3 track car as his next steed. The M3 came already caged and fitted with numerous modifications to make it ready for the track. However, Steve had a few...
One of the best parts of the E46 M3 is its S54 engine. However, it has its shortfalls, and those shortfalls are exactly what we specialise in. One of them is the big end bearings. While servicing the car himself, Liam found that the sump plug thread had stripped, and so decided to pull the trigger and get the car...
Ben Lander's no stranger to the Hack Engineering premises. We've completed various tasks on his current E90 M3 and also his old E92 M3; both hardcore 'Ring tools. Ben's last visit to us was for a rear end overhaul on the E90, however that car's engine recently met an early demise at the 'Ring. The rod bearing...
We had Alex's E92 in at the tail end of last year for rod bearings and various other jobs - you can read about that here.This time Alex brought the car down for a little work on the rear end. First up were Millway Motorsport differential bushes. A great upgrade to eliminate unwanted drivetrain movement and slack. Being...
There are few more effective ways to add a load of horsepower to your E46 M3 than supercharging - and that's exactly what our customer Tim tasked us with doing recently. Tim's car arrived to us as a relatively standard machine, in terms of drivetrain. A 76k mile SMG car with a panel filter, exhaust system and remap. Having already...
We get to enjoy a great mixture of interesting cars at Hack Engineering, but the past week we've been joined by something both older than our usual, and with a little more background. Becky Evans (aka QueenB) is a well-known YouTuber, Red Bull Motorsports presenter and soon-to-be drifting competitor - and she also has great taste in cars. Her E21...
With an in-house engine machine shop and engine-building facilities, it's safe to say that we know a thing or two about building a solid BMW engine. Josh's E46 M3 engine bit the dust on track when a big end bearing spun, damaging the crankshaft - a well known risk when running an S54 with some mileage on it. Thankfully, the...
