Most parts were in reasonable condition, showing some signs of wear but nothing excessive. But, having gone through the pain of taking the frame off the engine once I just replaced all the internal wear parts.
Most parts in reasonable condition... bar the shock absorber on the gerbox input shaft. It looked OK when covered in a fine dark oil film; after cleaning up it initially still looked good, and a bit shinier. The I noticed the fractures on the outer body, and in the tabbed reatining washer:
The fractured washer relieves some of the tension on a really stiff spring inside the body, which provides the tension for a cam type shock aobserber on the shaft. I did have a lot of free lash in the gearbox, think this where it came from.
BMW have apparently redesigned this part, which can only be bought as a complete shaft assembly. I had one on order for a while, but was told that none were available, and I would have to wait for 6-8 weeks. That wait was not to actually get the part, that was how long BMW estimated it would be before they could give an idea of when one would be available.
I bought 3 second hand ones until I found one that was not fractured in a similar, or worse way. This was the worst, supplied by a well known online BMW parts dealer, who I hoped would have known better. The entire base of the outer body has fractured off and disappeared somewhere inside the gearbox letting the internals loose:
I sent that back for a full refund
The piston on the right was the worst of the pair, the scratches on the skirt are from being thrown into the scrap bucket. shiney new Wossner piston on the left. Different crown height and valve pocket size but same compression ratio.