Actually drove it a bunch today. Engine never skipped a beat. My gearing is a bit too tall, though. I think I’ll be swapping in a 3.73.

Unlike the ABS pump, which sprang a leak. Good thing I was already rebuilding one to go in the car.

As a side note, based on how the car sounds with the twin exhaust, I think I need to look at redoing the E36... It’s very civilized at cruise, but super aggressive when you get on it.

Cool! Need some vids.

A little preview rev courtesy of clyde:

https://youtu.be/VWHBe4ujc-w

Well, not half a dozen, but I did get a good enough deal on a spare S54 located nearby that I picked it up. Kobi very much rolled her eyes at this one.

Ha ha ha

Yeah.... S54 prices have spiked big time in the last six months. I was lucky to find the one I did.

Small update. I determined that the engine timing was a few degrees off. It ran great up top, but didn’t have much for low end. Timing S54s can be really frustrating - the instructions that, say, Beisan gives are kind of flawed, and the BMW instructions require a some very expensive tools that I won’t buy.

Luckily, the “correct” answer is to eyeball a timing offset when you set the cam sprockets. Do it right, and the engine will be in time after you rotate it. Problem solved - VANOS works correctly.

Now, it’ll out drag a 2WD Model 3 on an on-ramp. :) Good enough for my purposes.

Unfortunately, my AC compressor gave up the magic smoke. I think all the revs burned up the clutch. Sigh.