[Edris335i]

So i'm looking to rebuild my engine and wondering if the parts that I want to get are good or if i should look at different paths
- Molnar Connecting Rods
- JE Pistons and Rings
- VAC high performance coated main and rod bearings
- Maybe ARP 2000 studs?

Am I missing anything else that I should look into upgrading or should I look at different connecting rods, bearings, etc..? Any help is appreciated as I'm not the most knowledgeable when it comes to the engine components themselves.

[MooreBoost]

You may not find much help with built engines around here given their rarity.

These guys may be worth a call:

https://www.ghassanautomotive.com/

[Bimmer_Engineer]

I’m pretty sure there was a thread on here a few months back attesting to some pretty shady sh!t related to ghassan...I’m sure you can find it if you use the search...

[IllSic_Design]

Yeah stay the hell away from Ghassan, too many horror stories even from reputable N54 companies that have dealt with them

[Emilime75]

Originally Posted by Bimmer_Engineer

I’m pretty sure there was a thread on here a few months back attesting to some pretty shady sh!t related to ghassan...I’m sure you can find it if you use the search...

I remember that thread. Apparently, that dude/shop is bad news.

[nissubaru]

I chose not to go with Ghassan for similar reasons, heard bad things about the guy. At one point I got on the N54 facebook page to ask about him and there were a handful of supporters. I don't trust the dipshits on there though.

[Edris335i]

Yeah I was actually gonna go with Ghassan until i read his better business bureau reviews and decided to stay far away. Especially with him wanting the money to be wired instead of paypal or some other credible way.

[Edris335i]

Update : The shop that was going to do the rebuild decided not to tackle the job on anymore so stuck back between a rock and a hard place. Car has been down for longer than a month now so thinking of swapping a used engine in and just turning my boost down a little bit now.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by IllSic_Design

Yeah stay the hell away from Ghassan, too many horror stories even from reputable N54 companies that have dealt with them

He had been scamming for years. I worked on his screw up engines in two separate occasions and know another shop in my area that went to the same. He does a lot of business on Facebook where you can delete negative posts.

[tisdrew]

Edris, if you're set on a built engine and have the coin, there are a few engine builders available but not many. ABR houston, VAC, Rebello, Ali Barakt on FB, b_mase_monkey on IG but you're always taking a bit of a gamble with engine builders so finding someone who's got a built engine running and using his guy is the way to go.

A junkyard engine is going to run you around $2500 and is the route most people go because it's significantly cheaper than a built engine.

[Edris335i]

Originally Posted by tisdrew

Edris, if you're set on a built engine and have the coin, there are a few engine builders available but not many. ABR houston, VAC, Rebello, Ali Barakt on FB, b_mase_monkey on IG but you're always taking a bit of a gamble with engine builders so finding someone who's got a built engine running and using his guy is the way to go.

A junkyard engine is going to run you around $2500 and is the route most people go because it's significantly cheaper than a built engine.

I have no problem with a junkyard engine, I'm just afraid of it going out on me again. I was probably pushing too much boost on it and will likely tone it down a bit so that I can comfortably daily the car still. I'm also leaving for college in a couple months so I'm not sure if I want to cough up $7k for the rebuild right now. Besides a leak down test, anything else I should do to prep the junkyard engine?

[Edris335i]

Originally Posted by feuer

He had been scamming for years. I worked on his screw up engines in two separate occasions and know another shop in my area that went to the same. He does a lot of business on Facebook where you can delete negative posts.

I was recommended to Ghassan from a friend who is going through him but I couldn't pull the trigger on sending a wire considering there is no way to get the money back once it is sent. My friend was saying that Ghassan is reputable on facebook but his better business bureau reviews say otherwise and I definitely trust those more than facebook posts.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by Edris335i

I was recommended to Ghassan from a friend who is going through him but I couldn't pull the trigger on sending a wire considering there is no way to get the money back once it is sent. My friend was saying that Ghassan is reputable on facebook but his better business bureau reviews say otherwise and I definitely trust those more than facebook posts.

335i came to our shop with supposedly rebuild engine. Customer had shipped the car to them. I was chasing misfire and low boost and discovered:leaking OFH, leaking VCG, leaking OPG, dirty valves like on 100k engine. I informed our customer that they were scammed. Used engine was swapped in and they charged for rebuild. Then 335i came to our shop, also with engine swap instead of rebuild, but here was more: AT transmission cooler was blocked off because the engine swapped in was from MT car (they didn't even bother to replace aluminum return coolant line so the AT will have coolant), the AT was from another car, was showing different VIN, was also slipping. DME was also from a different car. Literally all the light on the instrument cluster were lit. Radio, navigation...nothing worked. None of the plastics under the car and the V-brace was present. Engine cover, engine cowl and cabin air filter was missing too. Then another shop that I collaborate with received an engine n55 on pallet for x6 for a customer. They inspected the engine, it was used, not rebuild, it had issues. They contact Ghassan and shipped engine back to him. Upon receiving the engine back he claimed it isnt the engine he originally send them. So these people are out of the money and with out an engine. Ghassan is a complete scam. Stay away. Aslo, businesses pay for BBB. So that could be manipulated too.

[Edris335i]

Originally Posted by feuer

335i came to our shop with supposedly rebuild engine. Customer had shipped the car to them. I was chasing misfire and low boost and discovered:leaking OFH, leaking VCG, leaking OPG, dirty valves like on 100k engine. I informed our customer that they were scammed. Used engine was swapped in and they charged for rebuild. Then 335i came to our shop, also with engine swap instead of rebuild, but here was more: AT transmission cooler was blocked off because the engine swapped in was from MT car (they didn't even bother to replace aluminum return coolant line so the AT will have coolant), the AT was from another car, was showing different VIN, was also slipping. DME was also from a different car. Literally all the light on the instrument cluster were lit. Radio, navigation...nothing worked. None of the plastics under the car and the V-brace was present. Engine cover, engine cowl and cabin air filter was missing too. Then another shop that I collaborate with received an engine n55 on pallet for x6 for a customer. They inspected the engine, it was used, not rebuild, it had issues. They contact Ghassan and shipped engine back to him. Upon receiving the engine back he claimed it isnt the engine he originally send them. So these people are out of the money and with out an engine. Ghassan is a complete scam. Stay away. Aslo, businesses pay for BBB. So that could be manipulated too.

Didn't know that business pay the BBB but every complaint that I read on there was so horrendous that I didn't even want to continue dealing with him. It's crazy how people still say he's reputable because of facebook when he literally "enters" people into a built engine giveaway for giving him good reviews. Utterly mind boggling to me. He usually never refunds the core deposit because he says there's always something wrong with the engine that he receives from the customer. Sad that people still wire him the money. Also the shadiest part about it, Id be more than happy to cough up the extra couple hundred bucks and cover the fees through Paypal if it guarantees my protection instead of blindly sending money through a wire.

[feuer]

Originally Posted by Edris335i

Didn't know that business pay the BBB but every complaint that I read on there was so horrendous that I didn't even want to continue dealing with him. It's crazy how people still say he's reputable because of facebook when he literally "enters" people into a built engine giveaway for giving him good reviews. Utterly mind boggling to me. He usually never refunds the core deposit because he says there's always something wrong with the engine that he receives from the customer. Sad that people still wire him the money. Also the shadiest part about it, Id be more than happy to cough up the extra couple hundred bucks and cover the fees through Paypal if it guarantees my protection instead of blindly sending money through a wire.

Yes, businesses pay different fee for BBB accreditation dependingon the business size and you have leverage on what stays posted and what is removed. Every business owner knows this. If you check BBB on Ghassan now you won't find the same reviews you are talking about. Yeah, the " give away" is ridiculous! He collects more money from the people taking part in the raffle then the cost of the engine. I can do it too, if I have low moral values that is.....

[Edris335i]

Originally Posted by feuer

Yes, businesses pay different fee for BBB accreditation dependingon the business size and you have leverage on what stays posted and what is removed. Every business owner knows this. If you check BBB on Ghassan now you won't find the same reviews you are talking about. Yeah, the " give away" is ridiculous! He collects more money from the people taking part in the raffle then the cost of the engine. I can do it too, if I have low moral values that is.....

Yeah I can't believe that he can even do that. Jake spence advertised for Ghassan on his youtube yesterday too so Ghassan keeps gaining popularity and continues doing his schemes. Hopefully something changes and Ghassan actually puts out quality work. My friend wired the money over to him last week so I'm waiting to hear what happens with that and will update the thread as I hear from him. He wouldn't listen to me when I told him what I was reading and trusted his facebook reputation..

[GhassanAutomotive]

It's a shame that you spread such lies about us feuer, specially after you scammed us! I know we've had issues when we deal with your car over two years ago but we made it right. Not you though, you literally scammed us. You told us the engine skipped timing and wouldn't provide any evidence or cooperate. We offered to warranty the engine and you asked us to buy you an eBay used engine and everything will be well and you'd send us our engine back... well, you kept the used engine and our supposedly "out of time engine". X6 engine being returned? Please enlighten me about this as we've never had any issue with an X6 engine. Also Edris, we don't ask people to give us inaccurate reviews, we literally ask them to mention any positive interactions they've had with us or give us constructive criticism. We ship 30-40 engines a month and there would criminal charges if we were a "scam" lastly, our work speaks for it self, hence why we hold the record for the n54 platform. Haters will always exists, we will try our best to correct our imagine.

[cvc 22349a]

[fazman]

Originally Posted by GhassanAutomotive

It's a shame that you spread such lies about us feuer, specially after you scammed us! I know we've had issues when we deal with your car over two years ago but we made it right. Not you though, you literally scammed us. You told us the engine skipped timing and wouldn't provide any evidence or cooperate. We offered to warranty the engine and you asked us to buy you an eBay used engine and everything will be well and you'd send us our engine back... well, you kept the used engine and our supposedly "out of time engine". X6 engine being returned? Please enlighten me about this as we've never had any issue with an X6 engine. Also Edris, we don't ask people to give us inaccurate reviews, we literally ask them to mention any positive interactions they've had with us or give us constructive criticism. We ship 30-40 engines a month and there would criminal charges if we were a "scam" lastly, our work speaks for it self, hence why we hold the record for the n54 platform. Haters will always exists, we will try our best to correct our imagine.

Would you have any customers on these forums that would/could step up to vouch for a positive engine experience with you? I’m in the market for a rebuild is why I am asking. 30 engines x 12 months is at least 360 recent customers, of which at least 1 person who is known on these forums could speak to the experience. I agree, haters will hate... but someone has to be able to say something good.

[GhassanAutomotive]

Originally Posted by fazman

Would you have any customers on these forums that would/could step up to vouch for a positive engine experience with you? I’m in the market for a rebuild is why I am asking. 30 engines x 12 months is at least 360 recent customers, of which at least 1 person who is known on these forums could speak to the experience. I agree, haters will hate... but someone has to be able to say something good.

Originally Posted by fazman

Would you have any customers on these forums that would/could step up to vouch for a positive engine experience with you? I'm in the market for a rebuild is why I am asking. 30 engines x 12 months is at least 360 recent customers, of which at least 1 person who is known on these forums could speak to the experience. I agree, haters will hate... but someone has to be able to say something good.

I'm not sure which of my customers are on this forum as I'm not active here. However, let me know which engine you're needing and I'll give you as many references you'd need for the same platform you're needing. Also you can check out our Facebook/instagram to see the work we do.

[JuniorB]

The n54 is no special engine, I’ve takin mine apart, crank included. It’s a hard nut to swallow if something goes wrong if your buying something that needs to be shipped. In a case like this were the job isn’t local, I’d pass. If there is a slightest issue, your shipping your car, is that really worth someone’s time and expense? I know race engines are built and bought all over the world, but these guys do there own work. This isn’t one of those engines, even with forged upgrades, it’s still a stock engine. A good reputable shop can do the work. Definitely look local for your needs, if something was to happen, you can be there to confirm the work.

[GhassanAutomotive]

Originally Posted by JuniorB

The n54 is no special engine, I've takin mine apart, crank included. It's a hard nut to swallow if something goes wrong if your buying something that needs to be shipped. In a case like this were the job isn't local, I'd pass. If there is a slightest issue, your shipping your car, is that really worth someone's time and expense? I know race engines are built and bought all over the world, but these guys do there own work. This isn't one of those engines, even with forged upgrades, it's still a stock engine. A good reputable shop can do the work. Definitely look local for your needs, if something was to happen, you can be there to confirm the work.

Originally Posted by JuniorB

The n54 is no special engine, I've takin mine apart, crank included. It's a hard nut to swallow if something goes wrong if your buying something that needs to be shipped. In a case like this were the job isn't local, I'd pass. If there is a slightest issue, your shipping your car, is that really worth someone's time and expense? I know race engines are built and bought all over the world, but these guys do there own work. This isn't one of those engines, even with forged upgrades, it's still a stock engine. A good reputable shop can do the work. Definitely look local for your needs, if something was to happen, you can be there to confirm the work.

Shoot me a text at 405-780-1105 and I will send you as many references you'd need as well as answer any questions you may come up with.