M10 Oil Pump

[Sunnyledge]

In preparation for trying to restart the motor in my 1984 318i, which hasn’t been run in 8+ years, I pull the lower oil pan to clean out the sludge, etc. I was surprised to find a Febi branded oil pump as I don’t remember it ever being replaced (although there has been an extra oil pump sprocket in the trunk for decades). I am the only owner of the car. So my question is does anyone know who was the BMW OEM of M10 oil pumps at the time. Before I bother to take the pump apart, are the internals, i.e. springs, plunger, etc. the same/interchangeable?

[TobyB]

BMW was the original manufacturer for oil pumps when the M10 was in 2002s and 320's. I have only taken a few E30 M10s apart, and don't recall ever seeing
any brand beyond BMW on the oil pump- but I wasn't looking carefully.

As far as I've ever seen, FEBI was aftermarket, never OE. But the E30 M10 was never a priority for BMW, so if there was ever going to be a last- minute solution tossed in, that car would have gotten it...

t

[ForcedFirebird]

Febi/Bilstein is the OE mfgr for many BMW parts, and when the cars come new F/B has to cast/label the parts "BMW". When you purchase a replacement part, the "BMW" will not be cast/punched/etc into it. For example, the "iS" and "eS" models came with inverted Bilstein front strut inserts - my first e30 with very low miles and 1 owner, still had the originals. When pulling them out and knocking the yellow tubes off (that had the roundel stamped into it, no Bilstein identifiers), they were the same exact construction as a Bilstein insert.

When purchasing a new e36 variable TPS, they have the "BMW" engraving milled off when purchasing from a vendor outside the dealer- m54 oil separators is another that comes to mind.


ore than likely the pump was replaced at some time, but as Toby said, the m10 was a base engine, they may not have even gone through the trouble of paying Febi to cast "BMW" or a roundel into them.

[Sunnyledge]

I believe it is after market. Fortunately the internals appear ok with no significant wear. So I cleaned everything and put it back together with a little assembly lube and will reinstall. Thanks.

[TobyB]

Febi/Bilstein

I've been pondering this one, John.

So, when I was breaking M10 rocker arms racing, I was using Febi because they were $15, not $45. I was finding
a lot of voids, so I went to the BMW dealership, ordered up 8 rockers- and found that the castings were the same,
including the voids, some that were grossly visible when I picked them up from the dealer.
(I have since fixed my valve spring problem, but that's a different story)

But the rockers that BMW was selling as replacement were quite different in casting from what they'd put into the M10
when it was new, in the early '70's. And BMW 'mobile tradition' was infamous for sourcing some pretty crappy parts and putting a sticker on them.

Febi and Bilstein weren't connected- until Theissen (?) bought Bilstein, what, maybe 15 years back? Then, more recently,
the 'Febi/Bilstein' label started going onto things- and recently, I've seen some real junk from them, with Made in China stickers. (E46 windshield pump, thermostat, etc)
And also, some well- made German parts. (E46 guibo, water pump pulley) It's a total crap shoot.

Who knows? But while I fully agree that Bilstein was OE sometimes, I don't THINK that Febi was, traditionally. I'll keep an eye
on stuff- pathetically, I've saved OE oil pumps from 2002 M10's and other junk like that, so as I dig through it, I'll see what I find.
(the Febi aftermarket pumps are pretty easy to spot, as the drive sprocket changed)

t
historian, today, I guess.

[ForcedFirebird]

Love these kind of conversations!

According to the Febi website:

To sharpen the brand profile, the product focus was placed on spare parts for German and European vehicle models in the mid-1990s.

https://www.febi.com/en/brand/history/

Very interesting....

Also:

Since 2012, the product brand febi has been part of the bilstein group that also anchors other renowned brands under its strong umbrella.

Funny thing is, I was already several years into the e30 scene when this happened. Swear to remember purchasing Febi/Bilstein guibos much earlier than 2012, as I opened my smaller indy shop in '07. ***shrugs***

I do know the F/B is generally better quality than most of the other stuff, aside from Lemforder. I rmemeber the first time I dealt with Uro parts, ugh.

[ForcedFirebird]

I've been pondering this one, John.

So, when I was breaking M10 rocker arms racing, I was using Febi because they were $15, not $45. I was finding
a lot of voids, so I went to the BMW dealership, ordered up 8 rockers- and found that the castings were the same,
including the voids, some that were grossly visible when I picked them up from the dealer.
(I have since fixed my valve spring problem, but that's a different story)

But the rockers that BMW was selling as replacement were quite different in casting from what they'd put into the M10
when it was new, in the early '70's. And BMW 'mobile tradition' was infamous for sourcing some pretty crappy parts and putting a sticker on them.

Febi and Bilstein weren't connected- until Theissen (?) bought Bilstein, what, maybe 15 years back? Then, more recently,
the 'Febi/Bilstein' label started going onto things- and recently, I've seen some real junk from them, with Made in China stickers. (E46 windshield pump, thermostat, etc)
And also, some well- made German parts. (E46 guibo, water pump pulley) It's a total crap shoot.

Who knows? But while I fully agree that Bilstein was OE sometimes, I don't THINK that Febi was, traditionally. I'll keep an eye
on stuff- pathetically, I've saved OE oil pumps from 2002 M10's and other junk like that, so as I dig through it, I'll see what I find.
(the Febi aftermarket pumps are pretty easy to spot, as the drive sprocket changed)

t
historian, today, I guess.

Febi/Bilstein is the OE mfgr for many BMW parts, and when the cars come new F/B has to cast/label the parts "BMW". When you purchase a replacement part, the "BMW" will not be cast/punched/etc into it. For example, the "iS" and "eS" models came with inverted Bilstein front strut inserts - my first e30 with very low miles and 1 owner, still had the originals. When pulling them out and knocking the yellow tubes off (that had the roundel stamped into it, no Bilstein identifiers), they were the same exact construction as a Bilstein insert.

When purchasing a new e36 variable TPS, they have the "BMW" engraving milled off when purchasing from a vendor outside the dealer- m54 oil separators is another that comes to mind.


ore than likely the pump was replaced at some time, but as Toby said, the m10 was a base engine, they may not have even gone through the trouble of paying Febi to cast "BMW" or a roundel into them.

So, based on these two posts, and just happen to be going through 5+ gallons of old rocker arms today. Over the last few years, I have been tossing the used old rockers in a bucket which is now overflowing with several core heads worth to go in said bucket (must be 100+ of them, there's 5 heads still assembled here). I went through them, stole all the eccentrics and separated them in HD, OEM, Febi and came across something interesting.

As I said, when purchasing OEM BMW parts that were outsourced at the factory from a non dealer vendor, the roundel is milled off. This brings me to these pics:





As you can see, the two top rockers are definitely OEM BMW. You can tell the castings by the line extending up from the rocker boss on the OE rockers, as well as the BMW part no. The Febi rocker have their own part number.

What happens when you turn them over???



Bottom right, you can see the roundel was milled off, but that's 100% a Febi rocker and instead of having "Febi" cast into it, there was obviously a roundel. My guess is back in the day if you were to purchase a replacement rocker from anywhere other than the dealer, they would have the roundel milled, but now they just cast their logo instead.

[TobyB]

Yeah, that's what I found for M10 rockers, too, at one point.
THEN it seemed, there were 2 castings- identical in all the little details, including
voids, incompletely ground pads and all, EXCEPT
there was one casting that had a roundel,
and the other had FEBI.

Sadly, when I lost garage space in 2012, I tossed the 5- gallon bucket full of rockers,
not realizing at the time how easy it is to refinish the pads.
And rebush, if you really have to.

t