Here's a question - M52 3.0 or S50/S54

Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:20 pm

I am currently running a 2.8 M52 with Dbilas cams and M50 manifold....and love it....but as always, more power is beckoning.

What are the thoughts between building a 3.0 M52 or S50/54 swap?

I would guess the S50/54 swap would be around £4-6K? depending how you did it? And you're still running a non-rebuilt engine with an iron block. But you would have another ~60hp over the 3.0 M52.

Would love to hear everyone's thoughts!

Cheers,
Gus

Tue Mar 08, 2016 11:52 pm

if you can afford to and have skills to do a s54 or s50b32 do it. its a whole new league (fresh vs fresh) and its not just about peak power the M engines have way more area under the curve.

you can still make very good power from an M52B30 based engine with proven techniques to bring it upto s50b30 levels and with alloy block there is a handling advantage.

how much more power do you want?

Wed Mar 09, 2016 1:29 pm

An S50 or S54 is going to cost around 3000 more

Wed Mar 09, 2016 10:22 pm

reggid wrote:how much more power do you want?

That is the big big question....the E30 already is a little messy in the wet with ~220/230 hp, so I imagine another ~100hp wouldn't help things.

Freshly built M52B30 that's £3K cheaper might seem to be the way to go...if it's putting out 280 then the S54 would only be another 60ish (+ torque, but I would imagine a most of the extra would be tough to use anyway).

There's just something about 8K redlines....

Thu Mar 10, 2016 12:44 am

JungleGus wrote:
reggid wrote:how much more power do you want?
That is the big big question....the E30 already is a little messy in the wet with ~220/230 hp, so I imagine another ~100hp wouldn't help things.

Freshly built M52B30 that's £3K cheaper might seem to be the way to go...if it's putting out 280 then the S54 would only be another 60ish (+ torque, but I would imagine a most of the extra would be tough to use anyway).

There's just something about 8K redlines....

and to be honest you should be able to best 280 if youre looking to do that with a few extra bits.

Thu Mar 10, 2016 3:45 am

What sort of things are we talking about? I have M52 Manifold and Dbilas Cams - are we talking exhaust manifold/BBTB or more internal work? Have you got any links to build threads, haven't seen many NA M52 builds. And I don't spend that much time online...

Thu Mar 10, 2016 4:10 am

Need to check out U.S. Forums. Lightly Fettled head, and RHD style intake like Iains m20 but the m50 version. That is the recipe to get most out of the cams. You can do the throttles after everything is done depending how happy you are