Budget N54 Walnut Blast Service How to in 6 minutes

In this video I show you how to walnut blast the intake valves on a BMW N54 engine. This service should be done every 60,000-80,000 km. My car was experience a misfire under boost often at lower rpm's. I had already changed plugs and coils but neither fixed the issue. My car has 177,000 km's and I knew the last intake valve cleaning was done around 80k km's so I knew it was time to complete this service. One thing to note about after completing the job, the car needs to adjust it's adaptation valves so take the car for a drive around 90 km/h (50mph) at a steady load and very consistent throttle input so the car can learn it's new air flow characteristics. After steady state driving as described by misfire went away and feels way better new, it idles much smoother too.
Here is the link to the 3D print file I used for the vacuum adapter:
www.thingiverse.com/thing:468...
Here's a link to the harbour freight abrasive blaster you can get in the USA:
www.harborfreight.com/portabl...
You will need about 20-25lbs of crushed walnut shells to complete the job.
www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-...
For all my gaskets I recommend ordering from FCP Euro due to their life time warranty.
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[@THRIFTGARAGE]

Great job and cost effective setup. Thanks for the 3d file :)

[@osmevi]

Great job friend, congrats!

[@Browneye57]

Found this looking for options on my Cadillac 3.6L intakes. Found a vac adapter on ebay, and the media blaster at HF. Looks like I'm good to go on this project. I just changed out plugs and injector coils and it runs really well - the intake manifold has to come off to get to the right bank, this is against the firewall on a FWD XTS. So some carbon build up on the intakes seen, this will be the next project. 👍

[@WhiteCheddar.]

Not sure the cost of that but the autool walnut blaster was great for about 300. It's the blaster and vacuum in one with filter and media a few adapters but I had to buy a special one for vw like 10 bucks. Hook up your compressor and away you go. Highly recommend.

[@flatmotion1]

Dude, sick job for an at home setup, well done

[@Calvinm]

Thanks man! It worked out well 🔧👍

[@flatmotion1]

@@Calvinm feels any different?

[@hardestmanalive6988]

@@flatmotion1 💯🔥kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmK5m3WjbqahsNk🔥🔥

[@Calvinm]

@@flatmotion1 feels smoother on idle!

[@akeuc5770]

👍 good job dave

[@Calvinm]

Thanks! 👍

[@onenikkione]

Fast and to the point - excellent. maybe just add what tools you used for "manual scraping/scrubbing".

[@Calvinm]

Ya good point. I used a pick set to scrape and prod. A long thin screw driver would do the same thing

[@austinbuhler8429]

Awesome informative video, thanks! How much walnut shell did you end up using?

[@Calvinm]

I ended up using about 20lbs. I bought a 50lbs bag and had more than half left 👍

[@worldmaster13]

What size of tube did you use to attach to your sandblaster and where might I find such a thing

[@EZ-D-FIANT]

What intake have you used, its about the cleanest prettiest Ive seen especially with the shielding between the filter housing, where can I find that stuff please 😊 Just to be clear, have you changed the intake manifold too or are those filters sitting above the stock intake?

[@EZ-D-FIANT]

Got it AFE magnum force stage 2 stuff yea, so it is a stock inlet manifold then?

[@Calvinm]

Yep it’s an afe intake filter. And stock intake manifold. Just looks different under those filters.

[@EZ-D-FIANT]

@@Calvinm yea looks way cleaner then the 2 uneven cone filters I usually see, definitely going this route myself cheers buddy you done well on your build she's nice......👍👌👍

[@andreagate542]

Great video! How much do you charge? I believe you were in Toronto Canada if I’m not mistaken? thxs

[@Calvinm]

I’m actually in Vancouver… and I don’t really run a shop to fix other’s vehicles. But thanks for the compliment 😄 Best of luck with your BMW

[@andreagate542]

@@Calvinm ahh I see… funny, but I’m driving home as we speak because I just bought a 135 that was for sale on Vancouver island and I am driving it home to Toronto… replacing my old 135i that met in an accident 🥲

[@Calvinm]

That’s a long drive! Hope it went smoothly for you 👍

[@MalindoWe]

Feel like a fool for ordering the entire kit from FCP which cost about ~500 CAD with shipping to Canada because I'm not sure how well the duct tape setup for the extender tip would work😔

[@1Sturdy5_]

Did you block off the hole that’s above the intake port ? Supposedly someone said that the walnuts will go inside the valve cover through that hole

[@Calvinm]

I did not block that hole off. It wouldn’t hurt to put a piece of tape over it. It wouldn’t be good to get walnuts in there but also the valve cover’s pcv system has a one way valve in it (I think) that would prevent walnuts from entering the crankcase if they even got that far. I think with the vacuum on you aren’t going to have any walnuts fly astray though.

[@luiscarlosmontanosaenz7717]

hey hi i want to do this on my engine for the first time. I know it is important to leave the valves closed but how do I do that before disarming, could you please tell me how I do that.

[@EZ-D-FIANT]

He tells you around 4.10, basically look down the cylinder Intake and rotate the engine clockwise untill you can see the valves are shut, do that cylinder then move on to the next, check, rotate untill closed and repeat!

[@EZ-D-FIANT]

Also, disarming?

[@JoeFPSGamer]

where is the before and after shot? 🤔

[@Calvinm]

I forgot to include a before shot in the edit but you can imagine after ~90k km’s the valves were caked thick with carbon gunk. The after shot is @7:19 👍

[@BassFraud]

How many gallons does your air compressor have ?

[@Calvinm]

It is a 20 gallon air compressor. I’ve done it before with a 10 gallon though.

[@BassFraud]

@@Calvinm Oh no way! And it worked just fine with a 10 gallon ? I might just buy a 10 gallon in harbor freight

[@davidBarrel]

Hi, for a 4 cylinder, do you think the 3.6 kg walnut box would be enough? I have to import the thing and weight is an $ issue

[@Calvinm]

3.6kg would be cutting it very close. I did a four cylinder golf GTI and used about 6kg.

[@davidBarrel]

@@Calvinm thank you. I'll purchase the 7.2kg box then. One more thing> I've read that you can recover the used shellnuts? is it true or you just waste it as you use it?

[@mathewhoffer4541]

@@Calvinm you do realize that is the whole point of the vacuum cleaner all you need to do is clean the vacuum prior to doing the service and then you can reclaim what is in the vacuum and store it in a container for next time. I have glass beads and sand and aluminum oxide for my commercial sandblaster where I have been using the same media for over 30 years .. But I clean everything of dirt and oil before it goes into the cabinet and strain foreign debri from the media.

[@Calvinm]

@@mathewhoffer4541 I know that could be done but that's more work than I'm interested in. Plus the walnuts come out attached to the grime/oil. The walnuts are cheap and pleantiful in my part of the world so throwing them away is of no worry to me.

[@flatearthrealm7846]

Are u in the Toronto area if so r u interested in a 2017 cruze to do

[@RobertGeux]

The video is almost 10 minutes, so I don’t really understand the 6 minutes in the title? But for the rest, kudos.

[@Calvinm]

Understandable. Basically I’m just putting it back together after six minutes of work in the middle. Thanks for the comment, hope the video helped you.

[@righteous_entertainment8539]

Like how he agrees with bmw owners not being able to afford the car lol why buy it

[@Calvinm]

Because it’s a fun car 😂