[Sophisticated Redneck]

Wow great write-up and I am Jealous of your lift! I am doing the exact same thing on my 50i but the ceiling is to low for a lift in the garage so doing it the painful way...I decided to pull the heads too as the pistons were pretty bad I am going to JB4 it after I am done.

I noticed you blocked off the intake ports to the CCV system. I have about 50K on my catch-can setup and I originally tried this too however at Idle there was not enough airflow at the turbo inlets to provide sufficient vacuum for the crank case, even with new valve guide seals you may notice an uptick in oil consumption. If this happens, will have to reconnect the intake lines and you might want to add bronze microfliters to you CCV setup. These catch everything , even water vapor is condensed and caught. Ironically, the cheapy 20 dollar units on Amazon have these build in already. And if you want to go all out, add adjustable vacuum valves and tune it to -8psi at Idle, it makes a big difference in off-idle throttle response and torque and will act as a two way valve to block pressure during boost.

Also if your really want to reduce the underhood temps, you have to get some airflow in there it is a tomb as you know. Take off the seal on your rear partition and trim the water deflection seal on the that covers that but up against the windshield by half an inch. With these two mods you will vastly improve airflow across the top of the engine. I still think BMW purposely designed it this way as to keep people coming back for repairs. Nearly all issues with the N63 and S63 are directly related to the lack of airflow and cooling in the engine compartment. I have driven through insane Arizona Monsoon storms without and issue this way and very little water will leak past. Plus you get to hear cool turbo noises easier =)