Nikasil
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 866
Likes: 0
From: Madison Wisconsin
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 13,760
Likes: 75
From: Haymarket VA
It is a nickle silicon surface several thousandth's thick that was used on cylinder bores instead of an iron liner. Also used was a chrome alloy. The TZ's I used to build and ride used chrome bores on an aluminum casting. The purpose was to allow more direct heat transfer to the jacket. It worked well but scored easily and once scored you threw the whole set of cylinders away. Nickle silicon was tried as a resurfacing process but without a lot of success.
Last edited by WKMCD; Oct 10, 2007 at 07:07 AM.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 227
Likes: 0
From: Garden Grove CA
my 92 740i had the nikasil engine. Fortunatly it did not have a single problem in the 15K miles I had it (2003-2004). The high sulphur content gas caused big issues with these engines and BMW had to replace a lot of them.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 773
Likes: 44
From: San Francisco Bay area CA
Beemer Trivia
The sulfur content in pump gas was causing the deterioration of the BMW V8's in various vehicles (5 and 7 series) due to the Nikasil material. My '95 540 was within the affected years. BMW for a period of time would replace the engine, which made use of Alusil instead. The symptom would be excessive 'blow-by' in the cylinders, which required a leak down test to diagnose properly.
/Beemer Trivia
The sulfur content in pump gas was causing the deterioration of the BMW V8's in various vehicles (5 and 7 series) due to the Nikasil material. My '95 540 was within the affected years. BMW for a period of time would replace the engine, which made use of Alusil instead. The symptom would be excessive 'blow-by' in the cylinders, which required a leak down test to diagnose properly.
/Beemer Trivia