M52, what options are there?

[MurphyE30]

following on from what i can get breaking the e36 spoert i was offered i have decided to get it.

what sort of options/upgrades are there for the M52?

i will be collecting the parts for the M52 conversion over the rest of the year and more than likely take the cabby off the road for winter to have the conversion done.

looking for any info on what parts are best to get and what options there are for power and what sort of power can be achived? from looking about online i can see they are 192.6 bhp standard

[Duke137]

M50 inlet is your best friend but they are circa £100 now as getting a little difficult to find.

You need to do a bit of reading up in this section mate as to what's what as its all in here. It's been my bible for the last year lol

Depending on what you want to do you can do it two ways IMO

1. Yourself
2. Use DanThe's plug and play parts = steering linkages, wiring looms, exhaust manifolds etc etc

craigeeb / magpie will no doubt be on hand to help you being the local 24v boys.

If you look in the sticky thread of this section by willnz you will see a good comprehensive list of options/parts depending which route you take.

Good luck

[MurphyE30]

Cheers Ferg

i wont be doing the conversion myself as im pretty useless with that end of things lol more thn likey i will sort something with Craig to do it, i will assist and learn hopefully

i will have a good look through this section to see what i can find and take notes.

as for which route to take i will probs just get the majority of plug and play bits off DanThe to make the job easier on Craigs behalf. but the manifold will be another custom jobie by Craig

[E30BeemerLad]

A good flowing exhaust system and the M50 inlet will see you with a safe 220+bhp all day long.

The exhaust manifold and wiring loom are the biggest headaches when doing this swap, defo worth upgrading to E36 rack.

Unless it was a complete replacement engine and you have paperwork to confirm, the odds are that if the original engine in the E36 had Nikasil dramas, all that gets replaced is the bottom end, so the original head is bolted to a new block & complete bottom end.

My lump has done about 145k now, but the bottom end has done about 75k, so the head has done all the miles. The seal in my vanos unit is poorly and the car is suffering with a lack of bottom end grunt as the vanos is not cutting in very well at all, it is also starving it at the top sometimes. So as you're on a slow build up to do this, it's maybe worth having the vanos seal replaced. Dan sells the seals for about £20 and either you can get Craig to replace them (there's a walk through guide) or get someone else to do them (Dan is a fair way from you).

If you want big power, then some US M3 cams from the S52 engine are a direct fit and with a remap can see them well over 250bhp. That's about as far as you can go before looking at forced induction. These cams can usually be found on ebay.com and are normally about £300-£350 for a second hand pair.

[MurphyE30]

thanks for the info Lee

i have started having a read through this section and currently jotting down items from the list in willnz sticky

exhaust wise i have a custom straight through stainless made by Craig

Craig mentioned about the engines being re called for those issues. the current owner has told me this was all done by bmw.

like the sound of the cams are they readily available?

once i have a full list together of everything that i need then i will start buying the parts needed

[E30BeemerLad]

The cams are usually available. Shipping costs from US are not too attractive, but the exchange rate makes the cams pretty affordable.

Dezzy came across a supplier somewhere in Europe where he got his from, I think the guy said he could get his hands on more so possibly worth contacting Dez nearer the time, he's mad busy at the mo so probably couldn't help much right now.

[MurphyE30]

sounds good, wont be for a while yet to be honest as i want to collect all the main conversion parts before i start thinking of starting it, the 2.7 does me fine untill then

i might drop Dezzy a pm closer to the time and see if he can help out on the cams.

seems like the m52 is a good way to go, a nice amount of power is achievable and they sound Awsome! how do you find your compared to the m20?

recieving quite a few pms about the 2.7 aswell so should be all good when coming to do the swap

[E30BeemerLad]

It's 5+ years since I've driven an M20 325, although I did go in a sport as a passenger a couple of months ago and it felt pedestrian compared to mine, I think it will feel a shed load better when my Vanos is sorted.

The M52 is the best "real world" swap as although it would be nice to have an S50 anchor in there, the price is too much. You'd have to throw a lot at a M20 to get the go of the M52. The M30 has it's charms with low end grunt, but the fuel costs are a bit naughty.

M52 even on stock cams just keeps giving the goods all the way to the redline and they love being thraped

[e30-EVN]

+1 lee..! The m50 inlet ect helps with the top end grunt, with that on there mine really loves to rev.

I had a go at someone in an e46 330ci and he went home dissapointed, very! My car absolutly battered his, I knew she would beat it but I was pleasantly supprised by how much