Workshop Journal: KED #001 Dyno Prep and Details

A project nearing mechanical completion is KED #001. To get the back story, check out the links found here. We'll bring full details on the recent improvements to this section soon. With dyno time booked and imminent, a base map from Calibrated Performance has been flashed onto KED #001's MSS54HP 'CSL-clone' ECU, the Deatschwerks 440cc injectors have been fitted and the...

Workshop Journal: Ben’s E92 M3

A recent visitor to our workshop was Ben's E92 M3. A well-known car featured on various YouTube channels and often seen at the Nurburging, it came to us for a host of jobs that needed doing in preparation for this year's 'Ring season. First on the list was the big end bearings. With extremely regular oil changes and oil samples showing...

E30 M3

Workshop Journal: The Ultimate Weekend Warrior – E30 M3

Undoubtedly one of the most iconic BMWs of all time is the E30 M3. Originally designed by BMW's M Division solely with the DTM championship in mind, showroom versions were a homologation special and shared a lot of the mechanicals with their racecar counterparts. These days, the E30 M3 has two 'qualities' that get people really talking - the value, and...

M3 CS Vanos Overhaul

Workshop Journal: M3 CS Vanos Overhaul

S54 Vanos overhauls are bread and butter work here at Hack Engineering, and we recently had the pleasure of carrying one out on Nathan's lovely M3 CS. During recent work elsewhere it was spotted that the CS had broken an exhaust camshaft hub tab - these parts drive the S54's Vanos oil pump disc, as seen below. This is a common...

M3 Tourings

Workshop Journal: M3 Touring Monday

If there's one thing we love at Hack Engineering it's an M3 Touring. Halloween 2016 for us was a day spent with 'Danger Bryan''s E36 M3 Evo Touring, named Winston. Having started life as a Fern Green 328i Auto Touring, it now boasts the full complement of M3 Evo running gear, interior, suspension and more. As well as being essentially a...

Sam's E46 M3 Vanos repair

Workshop Journal: Sam’s E46 M3 Vanos Repair (Performance BMW Magazine)

Earlier in the year we had the privilege of carrying out a Vanos overhaul on Sam Ratcliffe's E46 M3, as featured as our home page image. Sam's car was displaying fault codes consistent with a solenoid coil pack failure, but having had that repaired previously himself, he was confident that it was an internal Vanos fault. He checked under the...

StevieM3 Step 19

Workshop Journal: StevieM3’s E46 M3 Vanos Rebuild

We had the pleasure of having StevieM3's (from Total M Cars and M3Cutters) lovely Mineralsilber E46 M3 in for a full Vanos overhaul last week. Very late (March '06) built car, quite low mileage and well looked after. It has a Scorpion backbox but is otherwise standard drivetrain-wise, for now. Steve opted for the full works - a full Vanos rebuild...