Racing Blog
Project and Technical Write ups for BMW and Porsche.
Which Rod Bearings to Use for the BMW S65 and S85: WPC, BE, or ACL?
Over the years there has been a lot of discussion on what might be causing premature bearing failure on the S85 engine in the E60 M5 and the S65 engine in the E90/92 M3. Very early on people did some measuring on bearings and found that the rod bearing clearance on stock motors was a…
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996 997 Carrera Track Day Setup
The stock 997 and 996 Carrera’s are great track cars straight out of the box. Unfortunately one of the first things someone will notice as they begin to take these to track days is some pretty heavy outside front tire wear. This happens due to a lack of negative camber in the front. The stock…
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Choosing a Shop Management System for Lang Racing Development
Almost all our blog entries are technical articles. Articles specific to BMW and or Porsche repair, maintenance, or performance builds. It’s rare we talk about the business of running an independent shop. We wanted to shoot a quick update on our new Shop Management System – Shopmonkey.io. Many of our regular clients have noticed the…
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How to fix E65 E66 BMW 7 Series Parking Brake Actuator Failure – Plastic Gears vs Metal Gears
Upon inspection we discovered that the original gears in the actuator are plastic. Over time the plastic becomes brittle and cracks causing the unit to fail. As a result the actuator was unable to turn the gear and release the parking brake. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the modernization of systems that may…
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Porsche GT1 Engine M96.70 and M97.70 Coolant Pipe Pinning Service (996 997 Turbo GT2 GT3)
In 1998 Porsche made the switch in its engine architecture to water cooling. The GT1 engine found its way into the 996 Turbo, GT3, and GT2 as well as the 997 models. The engines varied slightly but they all carried a similar design feature. The addition of water cooling was done using several externally mounted…
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N62 Valve Stem Seal Replacement on 540, 545, 740, 645, 650, 745, 750, X5 4.4 and X5 4.8
The N62 engine was used in most BMW powered V8 cars produced from 2001 all the way through 2010. While it was a very successful engine, it was known for having some expensive maintenance issues and now that these cars are all out of warranty the costs fall on the owners to take care of.…
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N54 Turbo Replacement on BMW 335i, 135i, 535i, X6, and Z4
The N54 has was used in a wide range of BMW’s starting in 2006 with the 335i. In 2007 it was used in the 135i and 535i. Later in 2008 it was introduced in the X6 xDrive35i and again in 2009 on the Z4 sDrive35i. While the engine is well known for making good reliable power from…
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E46 M3 SMG to Manual Conversion
The E46 M3 had a couple major issues, one of the lesser ones is the SMG gearbox. The hydraulic pump often fails resulting in a costly repair. If this happens to a car you own it often make sense to convert the car to a manual rather than fix the SMG unit. Manual E46 M3’s…
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LN Engineering IMS Bearing Retrofit Installation Services for Porsche 996 and 997
The intermediate shaft has been used on all Porsche engines since 1965. The intermediate shaft drives the camshafts indirectly off of the crankshaft. This allows the speed of the chains to be reduced and thereby extend chain life. This Porsche design has been common to all aircooled six-cylinder Mezger engine until 1998. The IMS is…
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