camshafts seem to be unobtanium these days... surprising how many are out of stock with no ETA, found one that's ready to ship in.... August... I have one in a cart from Autohaus AZ, $593 after shipping (annoys me to pay shipping, so used to no one else charging shipping when spending this much) OR Allmag has three used ones, each for $179. One looks really bad but the other two look good. But there are only three photos each. After all I've been through... am I an idiot if I try to save $400 at this point? I think I probably would be. May as well spend the big bucks on the real thing. On the other hand this engine could give up in six months... edit: bought the new one, original BMW/Mini part. Can't stand the thought of this not working and wondering if it's because I put in a used camshaft with its own issues. back to waiting again...
You know the only question I have is…. You did the head. Don’t you think you could replace the cam and rocker? I have faith in you. Hell I think you could do an engine swap.
oh yeah I'm absolutely replacing the cam and the rocker, no concern there. As you point out, I've already had all of that out and back in with no problem, I just didn't what I was looking at to catch the fact that they weren't in good shape and were probably the actual cause of the misfire to begin with. My hand-wringing yesterday was around saving money on used versus new camshaft since they're so hard to find in stock. Ended up buying the brand new one. Replacing the engine is the one that feels far beyond me, at least with the amount of time it would dominate in my already-minimal free time. One day, one day...
Hope none of you R53 fans ever need a camshaft... I have just placed my FOURTH order for a new camshaft. First attempt, vendor couldn't find the part in their warehouse even though their system said they had it, order canceled and refunded. Second attempt, vendor canceled the order a day after confirming it, refunded. Third attempt, vendor bumped the shipping date back by three weeks a few days after confirming the order. I called them this morning, they said it goes like this: I placed the order with them, they placed an order with a Mini dealer. The dealer got back to them and said they have to order it from Mini USA. Then Mini USA said there are none in stock in the US and they have to order it from BMW in Germany. That changed the lead time to 3 to 5 weeks as of today, but the guy said realistically that will change to be more like 6 to 8 weeks. I'm not optimistic about the global supply chain getting back to normal that soon anyway, so I think I can kiss that one goodbye too. I just ordered a used one from Allmag. They have three. I wish they shared more photos, but I picked the best of the three based on the few photos they have of each one. At least the thing is in stock and will actually get sent to me soon.
You could write quite a story about your trials and tribulations.....oh wait, you have. The good thing about ALLMAG is that they give you a satisfaction guarantee along with a warranty. If’n the cam shows up and you do not like its condition you’ll be able to send it back. When your were looking for cams were you only looking for OEM or did look for some aftermarket street cams ?? The good news is that ALLMAG ships quickly and from what I purchased the parts showed up as advertised.
yeah I feel good about Allmag. I think it will be fine. I really did try to find aftermarket, but it looks like (from what I can find at least) there was only one OEM supplier, AE, and they may not be operating anymore. No one has any ETA on their backordered stock. So my failed orders were all BMW original parts. Detroit Tuned sells a performance cam from RMW, but it would require a tune. I spoke to Mike up there and even he was like "I would understand if you don't want to put any more stress on this engine after all this." He was reading my mind. I don't think this sucker needs more performance. Just using all four cylinders would be nice thankyouverymuch.
Two Dragons ago I talked to the guy that owns Allmag, He is a great guy and a mini enthusiast. You defiantly did the right thing and saved some coin.
used camshaft from Allmag arrived today and wow did I make the right decision. Thing looks brand new. I look forward to pulling the current cam and comparing them closely. Once I identify the worn spot on my original cam I'll post a comparison photo here. But so far, full marks to Allmag for what appears to be very high quality part for an extremely good price.
I’m so close. Swapped the camshaft and rocker today. Original cam was toast. Extremely worn low spot on cylinder 2 intake lobe and same beginning to get bad on 3 and 4. car starts and idles smooth. No misfire codes! Should be done but... I think I messed up the timing in this process. I have p0341 for a camshaft sensor error. Highly doubt the sensor is bad, seems that error will show when the timing is off. Pretty sure I know how I messed up. I tried to guess at the spot the new cam would align to the sprocket but was off just a little. I thought it was okay to turn the crank to line it up since it was close. But that is probably wrong. I know the crank shouldn’t turn until it’s all aligned properly. So I’ll get into it all over again and re do the timing. I wish I was better at this stuff but I guess I’m learning a lot at every fumbling step I’ve taken.
You get better bu doing we have all been there. Be careful, you get the timing off too much you will bend a valve. So close!
I’m brand new here, but very experienced with cars, wrenching, fabricating and modifying. All I can say is I am impressed! Fingers are crossed for you and your son. I just bought a r50 with 250k miles that runs and drives great but I know I’ll be doing what you are soon.
hey I'm equally impressed if you just read through this massive thread and all its twists and turns!! Yeah I'm more than mildly worried about how off the timing is. I think it is one tooth off, maybe possibly as much as two. Although I'm actually having a hard time visualizing how I messed it up. I left the chain on the cam sprocket, it never slipped while I did the cam work. I put in the cam and rockers and tightened them down. Then I went to pop the sprocket back on the new cam, with chain still attached and in place, but I'd placed the camshaft just barely off rotation to match up the little peg with the slot on the sprocket. So I rotated the crank while suspending the cam sprocket and chain, to rotate with the crank, until I had aligned the sprocket with the cam. Shouldn't that actually be in time? The crank didn't move independently of the cam sprocket or chain. I had removed the chain tensioner to do this - is it possible it hasn't sprung open again and would that cause a problem with the camshaft position sensor's reading (to cause the error code)? I pushed in the plunger before re-installing the tensioner, but I don't have a tool that made me think I could safely do the lever-ing thing to press the chain into the tensioner to release it. But I didn't do that back in February either when I put in the new timing chain and associated parts. The tensioner should open on its own, right? We drove the car for about one mile last night - a half mile away from home to realize there was definitely a problem with a loss of power and the half mile back to park it. Never got out of third gear so speeds were low. Should be fine. Hilariously, right before we took the car out to test it, I moved our van out of the way to get the Mini out of the garage, and managed to slam my thumb in the door of our van - big huge heavy door on a Kia Sedona! So I'm kind of one-handed for today at the very least, and probably not picking up a wrench to sort out the timing for a few days. I swear everything in this thread makes me sound like the most scattered absent-minded fool to ever look at a car, much less to try and fix one!
I just remembered that I didn't reset the ECU with the test menu procedure and all that like I did last time I had everything apart. Seems a long shot that the problem is caused by not resetting, but I may as well do that process first to rule it out.
One or two teeth of you may be ok. It doesn’t matter how slow you drove it, if the valve hits the pistons because the timing is off it’s bent. When ever I am messing with a timing chain/ belt I am Uber careful. I check and triple check. Then I turn it through by hand and make sure it feels right and after two revolutions I make sure everything lines up. After this I check to make sure all the slack is out of the chain and recheck my marks and turn it through agin. Considering you have never done this kind of work you are doing well. As far as slamming your thumb in the door ( your new name will be Grace) all I can say is SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!
Thanks for the welcome I’ll start a thread at some point. As far as your thumb slammed, if the nail starts to swell, take a tiny drill bit and drill a hole through your nail slowly by hand or take a hot needle/pin and poke a hole through the nail to relieve the pressure. hopefully you get the car sorted