Slonik Vanos Hub Covers replacement

Move Over wrote

My three shipments from Russia have been moving. One left before the drama, 2 left right after. Will try to keep these coming for you guys as best I can. I have pretty close contact with Mikhail and keep this thread updated on supply.

We've supplied about 50 sets of these, between Facebook and M3P over the last 3 months.

Sent you a pm for a set.

Trinh_7 wrote

Move Over wrote

My three shipments from Russia have been moving. One left before the drama, 2 left right after. Will try to keep these coming for you guys as best I can. I have pretty close contact with Mikhail and keep this thread updated on supply.

We've supplied about 50 sets of these, between Facebook and M3P over the last 3 months.

Sent you a pm for a set.

Currently no stock, the 20 I had went quickly, I should be getting more in by weeks end. Will update here

Sorry for my ignorance but why are these covers required in the first place?

GerryT wrote

Sorry for my ignorance but why are these covers required in the first place?

If you haven't been following, the original plastic ones become brittle and crack. Then they are susceptible to falling off and causing catastrophic damage to your engine by clogging the oil pick-up tube.

Got mine installed yesterday. Good news is that the stock plastic VANOS caps were in good condition. Bad news is that they all cracked when removed. The plastic was very brittle and didn't take much force to break them.

Mech used a rubber mallet to tap tap the Slon caps tight and we turned the engine to make sure all the clips were securely fastened.

I'm just going to state the obvious here. Anybody who is considering these should probably try to get them ASAP before they get hard blocked trying to get them.

Move Over tried sending PM but seems your inbox is full… if you get more in I’d happily take a set off your hands. Thanks.

CTMike wrote

Move Over tried sending PM but seems your inbox is full… if you get more in I'd happily take a set off your hands. Thanks.

Sorry just saw that, got about 20 PM's about these today. I'll clear it up. Try again in 5-10 mins.

I do not have any currently however, I am waiting for a shipment.

Sorry if this has been answered before but what are the torque specs for the timing chain cover? 8nm?

Accel Junky wrote

I did not realize how expensive these were. I thought maybe with the Russian currency down against the USD right now there would be a savings but I guess they do business only in USD anyways.

Accel Junky wrote

I did not realize how expensive these were. I thought maybe with the Russian currency down against the USD right now there would be a savings but I guess they do business only in USD anyways.

Yeah, I too was pondering possible discounts on parts made in Russia while a democratic country was invaded by a dictator who's also making the lives of his own people horrible. While the fallout of economic sanctions and the possibility of global war looms, I want to know if I can finally get a niche product for my luxury performance car for a discount.

Got my Set from Move Over, i appreciate you handling that so quickly.

Now... to find time to install these /facepalm

Redd wrote

Got mine installed yesterday. Good news is that the stock plastic VANOS caps were in good condition. Bad news is that they all cracked when removed. The plastic was very brittle and didn't take much force to break them.

Mech used a rubber mallet to tap tap the Slon caps tight and we turned the engine to make sure all the clips were securely fastened.

Good stuff Eric!

In case some are curious as to the status of items shipping out of Russia at the moment, yesterday I received an item (ordered pre-invasion but shipped post) through DHL. It was routed through Bahrain first and then to Germany, to be shipped over here. So carriers are making adjustments to get things shipped out.

GORDON.M3 wrote

If you haven't been following, the original plastic ones become brittle and crack. Then they are susceptible to falling off and causing catastrophic damage to your engine by clogging the oil pick-up tube.

I read the thread. My question is what is the function of the cover. Could it just be removed and not replaced?

GerryT wrote

I read the thread. My question is what is the function of the cover. Could it just be removed and not replaced?

Sure you read the thread?... Cover are to keep vanos spring in place i.e. pretty crucial.

Helmsman wrote

Sure you read the thread?... Cover are to keep vanos spring in place i.e. pretty crucial.

Helmsman, while I find most of your posts helpful, this was not one of them. If I missed the answer to my question in the 18 pages of this thread I apologize and would appreciate if you could provide a link that explains how the brittle plastic clip-on covers are intended to control the motion of the metal vanos spring if that's their purpose. The design of the available alternatives appears to be just to not self destruct. Thanks, Gerry.

GerryT wrote

Helmsman wrote

Sure you read the thread?... Cover are to keep vanos spring in place i.e. pretty crucial.

Helmsman, while I find most of your posts helpful, this was not one of them. If I missed the answer to my question in the 18 pages of this thread I apologize and would appreciate if you could provide a link that explains how the brittle plastic clip-on covers are intended to control the motion of the metal vanos spring if that's their purpose. The design of the available alternatives appears to be just to not self destruct. Thanks, Gerry.

Easy there. Ask silly questions, you get silly answers.

If the part was not needed, then replacement parts would not be made. People would just rip off the cracked plastic and move on. Furthermore, BMW would not have spent the money on a useless part in the first place.

✌️

There are two other threads on the subject of these vanos covers and Deansbimmer went over their function. Whether we believe their efficacy in preventing that spring from moving or not, that's the intent behind them.

Experience of a friend of mine - he had just bought his E93 M3 last year. Engine was supposedly rebuilt less than 12 mths before he bought it. Started getting VANOS errors few weeks after he got the car. Mech opened up the valve covers and VANOS caps were broken on one bank and completely missing on the other. On the missing bank, one of the springs had started to walk out, causing VANOS errors. Had to replace with used VANOS gear & spring assembly from Prussian Motors (eBay) at $250 per gear ($1k for 4). Slon alu caps are cheaper and will last longer. That's why I ordered the Slon caps.

GerryT wrote

Helmsman, while I find most of your posts helpful, this was not one of them. If I missed the answer to my question in the 18 pages of this thread I apologize and would appreciate if you could provide a link that explains how the brittle plastic clip-on covers are intended to control the motion of the metal vanos spring if that's their purpose. The design of the available alternatives appears to be just to not self destruct. Thanks, Gerry.

Here's another couple of useful threads:

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1846010

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1694165

Got mine installed, surprisingly all the vanos covers were still somewhat soft and only broke when bent literally in half, and some of them didn't!

Melbourn3 wrote

Got mine installed, surprisingly all the vanos covers were still somewhat soft and only broke when bent literally in half, and some of them didn't!

What's your mileage and what engine oil do you use?