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M56 Valve Cover Refresh, Paint, and Swap on M54

4K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  Pro325ie46 
#1 ·
This is one of my first real posts after picking up my 2002 330i this fall. This is my first BMW, and is my first project car since a 2003 Dodge SRT4 that I had thru college. I'm super excited to start a new project, and the e46 has been a dream car of mine since 2006.

I'm in the middle of doing an M56 valve cover swap onto my M54 engine. After picking up a swap setup here on the forums, and doing some deep cleaning of the caked on grime underneath, I decided to have some fun and do something unique.

I stripped the M56 valve cover, deep cleaned everything, and was even able to remove the CCV cap with only slightly cracking one tab! LOL. I have already done some sneaky glue work to fix it. I'm currently waiting on a new diaphragm from Russia (ebay).

I sanded it down, primer, a few coats of a low gloss black, and tried to do my best impression of the badass E30 valve covers that say BMW M Sport on them. Blue Purple Red M stripes cover the bottom right corner, opposite the oil fill. I'm going to cover the hole thing in a no gloss clear coat to keep it tidy.

I know it won't be seen much under the hood, but neither will the built motor =] Let me know what you think! I was excited just because I haven't seen anyone do anything unique with the M56 valve cover setups.
 

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#3 ·
Membrane from Vanos-BMW.com came today (from their ebay store). Estimated delivery was January 31st... it came today. I'll be posting a positive review on their ebay store and anywhere else I can!

I'll post some pics of the install, and how I fixed the tab on the CCV cover. I was dreading "servicing" the M56 valve cover; it's been painless so far. That doesn't mean the car won't explode, but I'll post updates either way!
 

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