Four or a Six?

[curly]

You've probably have been through this a million times before but what would make a better track/road car? Tuning a four (which one) or fitting a six (maybe a 328 e36 engine)?
I believe I read somewhere that a four would lose it on grunt out of corners but make it up on braking and round the corners.
I used to race 600cc bikes against the 1000cc guys and didn't lose out that much as long as they didn't hold me up in the corners. If they did I lost momentum and the speed but I like a challenge!!
All the best.

[Zayyan]

IMO a six with a decent capacity would more than make up for the loss of cornering ability.

The difference between the handling of a 4-pot and a 6-pot is incomparible to your bike example, the difference is far smaller.

[curly]

So if I fitted the 192hp 328 e36 engine I wouldn't notice a difference in the handling and also saving alot of bucks in the process? I guess it would cost tons to get a comparable amount of power out of a four and keep reliability?
Why is there a faction between people who loves the fours and hates sixes and vice versa!!!

[Zayyan]

E36 328i engine can give 220bhp with a small number of mods and I'm sure it would be cheaper and easier than fitting an E30 M3 engine for similar power.

Handing will be noticeably better with a 4-pot but I think the extra torque will make up for this.

I don't love or hate 4s or 6s - got 2 4-pots sitting in the garage at the moment.

[curly]

HMMMMM! 220bhp in a stripped out e30 sounds good. Do you think its an easy swap? What mods would get power up to that?
Had an e46 330ci last year and enjoyed the power and sound. Unfortunately a deer decided to modify it and left me with no ncb so it had to go.
Don't like the look of the e36 and had an e21 so a 318 e30 was bought and now the lifters are rattling so it may be time for a swap.

[Jhonno]

2.8 - with a 2.5 inlet gives good gains

they are aluminuin blocks so lighter than the m20 lump iirc, handling wont really be noticable different from a 4

[Jhonno]

there are loads of threads bout the swap about, just use the search for m50 or m52

[curly]

Sorry for seeming thick but what are the differences between m50 and m52? What models are these from? I know everyone talks about engine types but where do you find out?

[kam-325i]

Sorry for seeming thick but what are the differences between m50 and m52? What models are these from? I know everyone talks about engine types but where do you find out?

I think that the M50 is single VANOS, where as the M52 is Double VANOS.

[Jhonno]

m50 came as non vanos, and single vanos

m52 came as single vanos and double vanos

look here for a break down of engine codes..

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh ... adid=89822