M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS

DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: BlueBMW on April 16, 2010, 08:20:11 PM

Title: Timing components
Post by: BlueBMW on April 16, 2010, 08:20:11 PM

Today I was at work and my co-worker pushed in his new project 95 318ti that he had just picked up.  (bad motor)  I got curious and grabbed our foreman's digital boroscope tool.  I stuck it down his oil fill to inspect his cam sprockets to see what condition they were in.  They looked brand new!  Nice and flat on the top not worn looking at all... so then I pulled my car in to check (since I had never really checked)  The PO had put a chain tensioner in not too long ago, and I havent heard any sort of chain rattle or anything like that.  I stuck the scope down my oil fill and found the sprockets... nice sharp teeth... guess I should refresh the timing components!  

So, the question is... where is the best place to source new timing parts (chain, sprockets, guides etc)  I can get employee price at the dealer, but even with a discount dealer prices are still pretty high.  Any other reputable sources for this stuff?

Title: Timing components
Post by: blalor on April 16, 2010, 09:18:14 PM

I just bought a truckload of stuff from rmeuropean.com. Their prices seemed on par with BavAuto and getbmwparts.com and the website's pretty top-notch. Most part numbers I found on realoem are searchable on rmeuropean, so it's a copy-n-paste affair.

Man, that boroscope sounds like a nice tool!

Title: Timing components
Post by: BlueBMW on April 16, 2010, 09:47:34 PM

That's why only the foreman has one!  Its crazy cool!   It can snap photos and record video to an SD card.   I know he spent a small fortune on it.  Its saved our bacon a few times though.  And there are a lot of times that BMW wants picture verification for certain warranty issues.  The tip has two cameras, on on the side and the other on the tip, plus a little light.  One day we used it in combination with a flexible grabber tool to fish a torque converter bolt out of a transmission housing.  Felt like we were doing surgery.

Here's the tool... $800 lol

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=diagnostics&item_ID=87396&group_ID=21604&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Title: Employee discount?
Post by: mmkale on April 19, 2010, 06:56:11 PM

That's gotta be the best. I just finished mine and have at least $750 in parts.

Title: Timing components
Post by: BlueBMW on April 19, 2010, 10:05:33 PM

I checked my costs for dealer parts.  For all the guides, chain, bolts and sprockets I'm looking at about $550.  The only thing I didn't include in that was gaskets, I forgot to price them.

Title: Timing components
Post by: xwill112x on April 20, 2010, 01:06:40 AM

blunt on r3v can get all the stuff the cheapest.