M3 guys: Know anything of the TMS 2.5 kit?

[der affe]

i know nothing really about s-14's, but have built quite a few motors, and i was wondering....if the comp. is way too high couldn't you shave a little (thousandths ) off the crown or machine the valve pocket a little deeper to lower the compression to a more streetable ratio??? are the crowns too thin to do so? i doesn't take much machining to drop it a little so you can run pump gas and or a more aggressive cams. you would need to re-balance the pistons after the machine work to be spot on, but i would have the whole assembly at least checked before the motor was put together. "kits" usually don't come with a very good balance job anyways.

just an idea ;)

if the crowns are too thin you could always take a little out of the chamber in the head to lower the comp too. P&P the head, match the cc's of the chambers, unshroud the valves, match port the manifolds (all porting and matching to the stock gasket's ID on both the intake and exhaust is almost perfect for just about any street set up, leave the crazy redesigning of the chambers and ports to the race teams). with the 2.5, some REASONABLE cams, and the head work you should end up with a powerful and streetable set up and a solid motor. just add the top end stuff from there as he wants to get more power

[Court M3]

Probably going to go either TMS or VAC when the time comes for a rebuild on my ///M. Both have solid reputations, but then again my car only has 86k miles.

[SchnellerVert]

I don't know how you guys have such outrageously low mileage on M's. If you review the S14 mileage thread, most of these cars are barely driven 2k a year? Yet ever time you turn around there is a gtg in the NYC/NJ area with all the cars followed by a cruise.

I know yours Court resided in the States while you were in Sardina.

[TwoJ's]

I am also curious to know what would lead a shop to think a "kinked" timing chain was causing problems? What were the symptoms?

The shop he takes car to is questionable to me sometimes. His motor seized. Before it did though, it had the "death rattle". About 3 or 4 months earlier I suggested to him that he have the timing chain tensioner replaced and that might help the noise it was making. He took it to this shop, and they refused to replace the tensioner with anything except a stock s14 one.

Then the rattle got worse. One day he was driving slowly, shifting from first to second and it just died. Had it towed to his garage, we pulled plugs and got a 36mm socket and the motor wouldn't turn over. Took it there and at first they said it was a kink in the timing chain and they would replace the chain, tensioner and cam gears and it would be fine. A few days later he got a call from them telling that he needed a rebuild.

The thing had 145k miles and it sounded like it was going to die. I think that this thing has seen a lot of abuse over it's lifetime.

[SchnellerVert]

Find another shop, Do any members from SIG or S14.net use this shop?

[TwoJ's]

I don't know. It's called Rolf's and I think it's in Lakewood. I've told him repeatedly that if he must pay a shop to do his work, he should take it to a place called Strictly BMW in Bellevue. He takes it there because it's convenient. He doesn't want to have to have his parents pick up the car if it's far away while he's at school.

In the end, it's his wallet and his problems i guess.

[SchnellerVert]

Then he gets what he pays for, Being a Lazy Ass.

[uofom3]

Take it to Strictly - being lazy with an s14 is a good way to spend a LOT of money.

[europeanplates]

Let the guy learn the hard way. Sound like as a friend you have been more then helpful; even posting here.

TY

[cramer]

Nothing against Strictly, but Rolfs knows BMWs so it's not a like the car is being taken to a general repair place that is use to GM products. Another reasonably close shop is Auburn Foreign Car, JR Nagy knows his S14s ;)

[SchnellerVert]

The tensioner issue was mentioned that they refused to install the S50 unit. Any idea why? Afraid of chain stretch?

[gobuffs]

1. cams in an S14 is one of the biggest bang for the buck mods you can do.
2. AN is not just plug and play, it requires lots of tuning (dyno and road) to get it right. If you friend doesn't wrench at all, I would HIGHLY suggest to keep the AFM or go to a Split Second MAF.
3. I don't think the TMS 2.5 uses the Evo AFM or the "D Mod" chip. The "D Mod" chip WILL cause the car to ping and destroy the motor in short time. If I were building a street 2.5 I would go with the stock E3 pistons which are very very cheap for people buying E3 blocks and selling the pistons that come with them. Anything over a CR of 11:1 you are playing with FIRE.
4. What is his budget? The TMS kit along is around $2500. The labor and machine shop work will be around $2-3k. That is a basic bottom end 2.5 and will get you probably 20hp. The real power gains are in the head. For anything more than 200 RWHP you need to invest at least $10k.

[WillisE30]

Nothing against Strictly, but Rolfs knows BMWs so it's not a like the car is being taken to a general repair place that is use to GM products. Another reasonably close shop is Auburn Foreign Car, JR Nagy knows his S14s ;)

Cramer is right, Rolf's has been in business in Lakewood for ~30 years. I work for the organization's Fife store and take issue with the way you're(Original Poster) characterizing us. We've been dealing with S14s and S38s since the 80s, by no means are we some backyard hacks.

The third hand information you're putting out here is bordering on attacking a business I work for and I definitely do not appreciate that.

[FredK]

The tensioner issue was mentioned that they refused to install the S50 unit. Any idea why?

On S14.net there's a post about the S50 tensioner putting more tension on the chain, thus quieting a worn timing system down. However, due to the additional tension, rails that are already worn have the potential to fail sooner.

http://www.s14.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=43876#post43876

[madjurgen]

Probably going to go either TMS or VAC when the time comes for a rebuild on my ///M. Both have solid reputations, but then again my car only has 86k miles.

Ha, both of those shops have questionable reputations when it comes to S14s.