NRW Valve Covers?

[Oscar_Call]

Originally Posted by M3SQRD

This is a NRW thread

Title says, but I think you can agree the thread has become a discussion about other options aswell

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by Oscar_Call

Title says, but I think you can agree the thread has become a discussion about other options aswell

I didn’t read thru all of the posts. All I know is BavAuto went out of business back in 2018. It appears ECS has brought the name back so they can sell cheap Chinese knockoffs. I’ve had my two e92 M3s since new so I still use high-quality oem and aftermarket parts.

[charliev68]

Are NRW covers made in China?

[Veracity]

Originally Posted by charliev68

Are NRW covers made in China?

No, made in the states

[M3SQRD]

Originally Posted by charliev68

Are NRW covers made in China?

No. NRW is in the US and their parts are manufactured in the US. If you’re referring to my post, it had nothing to do with NRW. Oscar_call had asked a generic question about VC quality and I said NRW are high-quality VCs; however, his question was asking about the quality of BavAuto VCs, not NRW.

[PandaM3]

Got my M3 back with NRW valve covers installed and the Carbahn vanos spring plates.

So far car runs smooth. No more burnt oil smell after driving hard. Engine bay is completely dry of any oil seeping.

Honestly I wasn’t thinking of swapping valve covers since I just had the gaskets changed 10,000 miles ago.

But after reading about the oem vanos covers failing over multiple threads the paranoia got to me and I decided to get my vanos covers replaced. Since the covers came off I looked into just replacing them and glad I did.

Will see how they hold up at a track day soon I hope.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by PandaM3

Just got delivered today. These are gonna look great once installed.

Gorgeous!

[BimmerRob08]

I have them and good fitment but caution to all, don’t use old aluminum bolts on any of the covers. The machined threads are a tight fit and I ended up snapping one off which was the post for the ignition coil cover. Literally as I was torquing it down by hand. Had to tap out all the holes to ensure proper fitting. I was a machinist and jet engine technician so I wasn’t using a gorilla grip. Just check all your fittings and machined holes, order new bolts.

[a5m]

Originally Posted by BimmerRob08

I have them and good figment but caution to all, don’t use old aluminum bolts on any of the covers. The machined threads are a tight fit and I ended up snapping one off which was the post for the ignition coil cover. Literally as I was torquing it down by hand. Had to tap out all the holes to ensure proper fitting. I was a machinist and jet engine technician so I wasn’t using a gorilla grip. Just check all your fittings and machined holes, order new bolts.

Good to know. So those using the NRW grommets to save buying new bolts, don't do that basically? Pretty awesome experience there that came in handy

[BimmerRob08]

Originally Posted by a5m

Good to know. So those using the NRW grommets to save buying new bolts, don't do that basically? Pretty awesome experience there that came in handy

So not the grommets and bolts necessarily, those fit just fine as they thread back onto the head. Definitely get new silicone grommets and at least new O-rings for the spark igniter baffles for sure if not opting for the NRW ones. The aluminum bolts I’m speaking about are the posts and the M6 hex that torque the vent baffles, CAM sensors and the two on each cover that is a post that holds the plastic cover. Those bolts are super brittle after heat cycles and time. I got a tap & die metric set and I believe the machined holes are M6x1.0 but make sure to check first. All I did was just run the same thread cutter into the holes and cleaned up the furries metal. Then checked the hex bolts. They don’t require much torque and the little I applied snapped two actually. The first one was the post that I mentioned and I when I had a machine back out and I actually had NRW send me a new valve cover after some debate when I proved to them that their machine holes were too tight. The second one was a hex bolt on the Camp sensor and luckily because I had cleaned out the machine holes that broken stud came out very easily. So then I opted to just get all new hex bolts from BMW so I would just check the fitment with all the bolts before you go and installing it. It’s not the first that that’s happened. I’ve actually had a shop in LA that did my Bearings explained to me that they did have many fitment issues with NRW aluminum covers. I mean, I have them and I’m satisfied with them. I just had to do a little bit of machining on my side to make sure I didn’t snap off more bolts. And by the way, if you’re not planning to do so already, this would be a good time to get new VANOS covers. I opted for the EVOLVE clip on metal ones. Good fitments and so far I’ve not heard of any of the evolved ones failing. Unless you have all the equipment to do the cam and the crank and set the timing and do the bolt on covers which will be the optimal ones to do.

[nah dude]

I'm curious why you used the old valve cover bolts for the oil separator/cam sensors when NRW supplies new bolts with the covers?

[BimmerRob08]

[QUOTE=nah dude;32162917]I'm curious why you used the old valve cover bolts for the oil separator/cam sensors when NRW supplies new bolts with the covers?

I don’t remember seeing new bolts with the covers and only bolts were the heat shield little black ones with the order at the time, I didn’t think at the time it was going to be an issue. The machining was very tight and normally when you are reinstalling parts, new or not, you don’t expect to run into that and when I did, the two bolts we’re getting tight and so by then to late lol!

[Johnny E92]

The NRW valve covers don’t come with anything other than the valve covers.

You have to purchase their gasket kit separately, which re uses mostly your existing bolts etc.

Screenshot from their website attached. When I did mine I got this with the ali spark plug tubes too.

Cheers

[nah dude]

My NRW valve covers came with bolts on all 4 cam sensors, 4 for each oil separator and 2 black studs for the coil covers on each side. As shown here:

[sillym3]

hi guys, I just had the nrw valve covers installed recently. they are working well, with no leaks so far, with just about 3000km travelled with it. just wondering if anyone saw the MLT machined valve covers? and how are they compared to the NRW ones. thanks!

[BadgerPride]

I had a set of NRW covers installed ~4 month ago (1000-ish miles). I bought it used from a forum member who originally purchased it as a group buy (so no warranty with that but some savings).

The quality is decent. I did notice one of the holes for the beauty cover bolts was drilled to a wrong size (should be an M6 but actually was drilled as M4, ), but easy enough to get the right bolt to bolt down the ground wire. On the other cover, one of the hole location for the oil cover was off by ~2mm so I can only use 3 out of the 4 bolts. These two imperfections occurred on different covers... but again this might have been an early production run.

No oil leaks, and I check everyday (habit from working on M62TU)

[endur0]

I bought NRW a few months ago and just installed them. Everything fit perfectly, nothing misaligned, no incorrect bolt threading. So far, no leaks, but will report back if I find any.

I replaced all rubber, including cam position sensor and oil separator seals (reused sensors and separators, just cleaned em up), got new OEM spark plug tubes, and the NRW grommets for the cover bolts.

Did the vanos covers and plugs while I was in there.

Originally Posted by nick3753

Does anyone know how much more they weigh compared to the OEM magnesium?

i put mine on a scale. they weigh about 55% more (1.49 kg)

in kg, without hardware or rubber, except for the pre-installed stainless oil baffles:
OEM Mg: 1.36 bank1, 1.30 bank2
NRW Al: 2.10 bank1, 2.05 bank2

Didn't see it mentioned in this thread, but the OEM Al 6nm bolts are one use only because, TTY.

Originally Posted by nah dude

My NRW valve covers came with bolts on all 4 cam sensors, 4 for each oil separator and 2 black studs for the coil covers on each side. As shown here:

Same for me. I opted to use my own bolts anyway as I wanted my oil separator bolts to have more threads in them & don't use the beauty covers.

S65 ITB pr0n:

[akkando]

Had a shop install the NRW valve covers and vanos caps.

[smokinjoe64]

Originally Posted by akkando

Had a shop install the NRW valve covers and vanos caps.

Lookin' good under hood...gonna do the plenum "V8 ///M' placard?

Better yet no more 'unsightly' valve cover leaks, peeling.
Great choice...my NRW covers, ~10K mls ago...perfect so-far.

[akkando]

Originally Posted by smokinjoe64

Lookin' good under hood...gonna do the plenum "V8 ///M' placard?

Better yet no more 'unsightly' valve cover leaks, peeling.
My NRW covers, ~10K mls ago...all perfect so-far.

Yeah I’ll get the m v8 on the plenum eventually

[BenFenner]

Originally Posted by endur0

Didn't see it mentioned in this thread, but the OEM Al 6nm bolts are one use only because, TTY.

This couldn't be more wrong. That factory hardware is galvanized steel (not aluminum), is not torque-to-yield, and is not one-time-use (only the rubber isolating grommets are). An honest mistake to make based on the common info out there though...

See here:
BMW S65 valve cover options (mostly inclusive).

A note about hardware re-use:
The reason BMW calls for new bolts each time is not because they are aluminum (they are galvanized steel) and not because they are torque-to-yield. It is because the the BMW part numbers (24× BMW part number 11127841217 and 2× BMW part number 11127841218) for the valve cover hardware actually includes the rubber grommets for the bolts and thus supplying new bolts is the only way to get new OEM rubber grommets. There is no other way to get these rubber grommets from BMW. And of course BMW wants you to replace the rubber grommets each time you replace the valve cover gasket due to age (which is a very good idea) so they insist on new bolts each gasket replacement merely to provide new grommets.
So you certainly can re-use the factory bolts many times, you're just going to want to get new grommets if yours are as old as the valve cover gasket. Aftermarket grommet solutions now exist for this exact reason (NRW-Design for example has silicone grommets and are very highly recommended over the stock rubber).

Note that the VTT valve covers come with and require their own hardware (steel or titanium). Other covers may have optional hardware that (for better or worse) forgo the rubber grommets. There is now a stainless steel option (with grommets) from FCP Euro as well that replaces all main hardware except the grounding studs if you're so inclined.

Torque specs:

• Inside-out sequence - main hardware
  Just like any long, skinny mating surface, the torque order/sequence is from the center hardware spreading outward, with the corners last. There are many valid ways to accomplish this, but for those who don't want to think, here is one perfectly valid order that I put together.
• 6 Nm - main hardware
  The main hardware (galvanized steel bolts with M6 threads, 10mm hex head, captured depth-limiting sleeve/collar (also galvanized steel), and integrated rubber grommet) torque spec is a dry 6 Nm. (Listed as "AZ Decoupling adapter screw to cylinder head cover" in the linked source). Make note one of these bolts on each cover is actually a stud with upper nut used as an ignition coil ground.
• 4 Nm + 45° turn - oil separator and cam angle sensor hardware
  The oil separator and cam angle sensor hardware (aluminum bolts with M6 threads and T30 torx head) torque spec is a dry 4 Nm + 45° turn.
• 10 Nm - upper timing chain cover hardware
  The upper timing chain cover hardware (aluminum bolts with M6 threads and 10mm hex head) toque spec is a dry 10 Nm.
• 10 Nm - coil cover pins
  The coil cover pin (aluminum stand-off pylon pins with M6 threads and 13mm central hex provision) torque spec is a dry 10 Nm (but I prefer 8 Nm). Make note the rear-most pin on each cover also acts as an ignition coil ground.
• 6 Nm - ignition coil ground nuts
  The other ignition coil wiring harness ground hardware (galvanized steel 10mm nut with M6 threads and integrated washer) torque spec is not listed, but common sense says it should be no more than 6 Nm, and less wouldn't be better either.

[BenFenner]

I won't be posting about my NRW valve cover install for a while (I have a huge backlog of photos/posts to upload/write first) but here is a teaser: