[turtleman]

Originally Posted by vtl

Did turtleman's car on the weekend. E90 335i steptronic.

Average buildup, wasn't too hard to clean the valves. Had a few issues with reassembly, some of the braided vacuum lines were really worn out. Its a real weak point of these engines and should really be proactively replaced.

Thanks vtl for doing the walnut blasting. After the carbon clean i have noticed the car idles slightly better during startups.

[vtl]

Did Scotty89's car last weekend, forgot to take before pics. Buildup wasn't too bad given the kms. Went pretty smoothly, always helps when theres another set of hands helping out!

[Baker335]

Cheers to vtl, had my car walnut blasted today! Car idles rock steady and revs cleanly. Smooth as butter!! Must be what it was like new ����

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Baker335

Cheers to vtl, had my car walnut blasted today! Car idles rock steady and revs cleanly. Smooth as butter!! Must be what it was like new ����

Glad to hear it! Went pretty smoothly, had it all done in 2.5 hours, my quickest yet. Time varies from car to car, its usually fastest when dealing with a stock car as they will never have fitment issues with after market parts

Map sensor oring was basically welded to the charge pipe. Lucky I keep a few map sensor orings spare!

[vtl]

Did hyper.1's car on the same day:

[MSportBMW]

Well done vtl! Thank you for sharing your experience and before/after pictures !

[PG]

well done VTL, your running a clinic! I wonder if this will make the shops decrease their prices at all (although understandably they have much higher running costs and salaries to pay) as mainly enthusiasts get blasting done anyway

keep up the good work!

[DR-JEKL]

Love this thread, the before and after pics are awesome! Also kudos to Vince I swear he's the only guy to get decent before pics of the valves all caked up with carbon, as most pics are really blurry due to poor lighting/incorrect camera settings!

Keep up the good work dude!!

[vtl]

Thanks guys!

Yeah not surprised about the pics Shane, the darkness of the carbon combined with the shininess of the milled face of the head throws off the camera. Have to use a smartphone with the flash, even then its a bit difficult.

I doubt the local shops will drop their prices, its can be a pretty time consuming job. You have the amount of time for the job but you also have to consider the time taken to prep the tools and cleanup.

A lot of times you'll be left with hard bits of carbon that you have to scrape. A lot of times this will be on the valves and behind the stem, making it almost impossible to dislodge. If you just soak the valves in carby cleaner and let them sit for a few minutes you can just walnut blast it again and the valves will come out really really clean. You don't even need to scrape the hard bits. I only do this for cylinder 6 (impossible to do any scraping) as it would not be time efficient to soak every port for 5 minutes. Just a handy technique to achieve the best results.

[vtl]

Did dannydunny 's car today. Had around 110k and the buildup was pretty gummy and hard to get off on some cylinders.

[T1M]

Great before and afters. Did a 20 minute run on the freeway at 3500rpm to heat the valves and burn off the residue as per the vw white paper their engineers wrote about DI injected engines and valve deposits. They'll never come up clean like a walnut blasting though those shots are mint.

[donR]

Yep what great work. As usual we really need a VTL up here in Sydney

[dude04]

hi vtl,
what do you recommend is changed (other than intake gaskets) when doing this job?
you mention the vacuum lines, do you just replace those with generic stuff from autobarn?
also, the map sensor o-ring?
anything else?
thanks

[vtl]

Originally Posted by dude04

hi vtl,
what do you recommend is changed (other than intake gaskets) when doing this job?
you mention the vacuum lines, do you just replace those with generic stuff from autobarn?
also, the map sensor o-ring?
anything else?
thanks

This is what I replace:

Intake gaskets x6
Throttle body gasket
Charge pipe gasket
Charge pipe map sensor oring if damaged (I buy high quality Viton 10 x 2mm orings from a seal supplier)
If on stock charge pipe I also replace the diverter valve seals if they are leaking (24x3.5mm oring)
Braided vacuum line 3.5mm ID if damaged
Smooth silicone vacuum line 3.5mm ID if damaged

Orings are sized as inside diameter x cross sectional width.

Vacuum lines you can't buy from autobarn/supercheap/repco they won't have the correct size. People put 4mm vacuum line on these cars as a substitute. But I have found they don't fit as snugly on the nipples and they don't clip into the cable tidy clips as nicely as the stock ones. 3.5mm is the only stuff I would put on my car.

You can buy the braided vacuum line from JustKampers (in Sydney).
You can buy silicone vacuum line from FCPEuro (couldn't find a local source for it)

[dude04]

Originally Posted by vtl

This is what I replace:

Intake gaskets x6
Throttle body gasket
Charge pipe gasket
Charge pipe map sensor oring if damaged (I buy high quality Viton 10 x 2mm orings from a seal supplier)
If on stock charge pipe I also replace the diverter valve seals if they are leaking (24x3.5mm oring)
Braided vacuum line 3.5mm ID if damaged
Smooth silicone vacuum line 3.5mm ID if damaged

Orings are sized as inside diameter x cross sectional width.

Vacuum lines you can't buy from autobarn/supercheap/repco they won't have the correct size. People put 4mm vacuum line on these cars as a substitute. But I have found they don't fit as snugly on the nipples and they don't clip into the cable tidy clips as nicely as the stock ones. 3.5mm is the only stuff I would put on my car.

You can buy the braided vacuum line from JustKampers (in Sydney).
You can buy silicone vacuum line from FCPEuro (couldn't find a local source for it)

thanks very much - that's very thorough

[vtl]

Did Armadyllo 's car last Saturday.

Car had 68650kms on the clock, black 2008 E90 335i FBO. The valves cleanedu p really well, with none of the hard chunks. I have been presoaking the valves in carby cleaner with good success, seems to yield a nicer result.

[Socket]

Nice result Vince
Ill have to come by and get mine done after easter

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Socket

Nice result Vince
Ill have to come by and get mine done after easter

Thanks mate, no worries looking forward to it

[Armadyllo]

Great Job VTL, thanks again for doing those extras / car is going really hard !!

Dyll

[Fuji]

Hey mate, awesome job! Simonnn and I are thinking of getting this done in the near future through you. Could you please PM some further deets on the job?

Thanks!

[skua]

Interesting project you have!! I don't think this has been done on my 335 ever, I'll have to get into contact with you to get it done

[comp]

Soaking the valves is a better service than what you'd get at most places that are doing this. Mines got 95xxx and I want to get it done, but i'm pedantic and one someone who cares as much as you do! Please move to Sydney.