Plenty of places for the S38B35 to leak - none of which are the exhaust manifolds.

1) Your mechanic is wrong. There is a timing cover. the Crank snout protrudes through it, the crank nut/hub/pulley attack to it. You neeed to remove those items to pull the timing cover. This is the fabled 325ft/lb "crank nut", which holds on the "crank hub" that you've replaced with the frank fahey crank hub (you did put in the frank fahey crank hub, right ? (otherwise you're asking to buy a new motor any second))

2) The S38B35 has a 2 part "head". Theres the gasket between the head and the block, and the block and the timing cover. Then there also the "Cam box" which sits on the head. Then the valve cover goes on the cam box. Not sure if theres a gasket between cambox and head.

3) The chain tensioner on the S38B35 is not like the M30 - its hydrailic and oil loaded. Mine failed a few months ago and it was a _severe_ oil leak. had to have it replaced, that fixed the majority of the leaking

4) I get an oil leak right now thats minor from the front right side - it drips onto the AC compressor. My mech says he thinks theres a chunk missing from the corner of the head gasket where the head gasket meets the timing case cover..its in that little 3-way "union" that the oil seems to be leaking. btw, all of this is essentially impossible to see visually no matter where you get under the car and no matter how many dentists mirrors you use :)

I've had a minor oil leak for months. It's irritating, but livable. Eventually I plan to repair it by trying to gook up the exterior of the engine a bit. The mech recommened a new head gasket - be advised that the service procedure for head gasket replacement on E28 m5 apparently calls for pulling the motor from the car. You do the math. If my engine ever comes out of the car for anything, its not going back in without a bunch of work, so pulling it to fix a minor oil leak is never going to happen :)

Thanks for the advice - Should I use loctite or similar on the studs, or a sealant of some kind? I have had an oil leak from the front right of the engine, which I haven't been able to trace, might it have been from the missing studs in the front?

Todd:

If the threads in the head are fine, it is easy. New studs and new 9mm copper nuts (one-use). Get a 9mm swivel to put them on.

If the threads in the head are stripped helicoil. It is going to be tedious to get in there, but you could probably do it, but you'd have to remove the headers (not that big a deal, really, but lengthy depending of what else you have to get out of there). The helicoil will be stronger than the original.

I just did the removal and replacement with my E34 M5.

Neil Deshpande
http://www.neilwerke.com

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My car suddenly started breaking windows for miles around today - found that the all 4 studs on the rearmost cylinder are GONE, hence the exhaust manifold pipe is floating in space, and also noticed two were missing from the front cylinder as well. Holy sh*t. Please tell me I don't have to pull the engine or the head... It looks like they just fell out, not snapped off. Any info/advice much appreciated!