S50 exhaust manifolds..

[tomson]

Spoke to Fritzbits today, going to go with one of their manifolds/systems, it isn't cheap, but they are quoting good power gains over stock with their system fitted to a S50.

Bear in mind a 20year old stock M42 makes 150bhp on their rollers

Did they get the cars mixed up with a 325i?

Na Dan, 325's were making 190bhp stock

[DanThe]

Bear in mind a 20year old stock M42 makes 150bhp on their rollers

Did they get the cars mixed up with a 325i?

Na Dan, 325's were making 190bhp stock

The air must be more dense in the south west

[SM AUTOS]

Hmmm, do I take it their power figures are a little on the genorous side then?

They did quote their manifold/system to yeild a 10% increase in power on a otherwise standard engine, which i thought was a little optamistic

Just to clear up any confusion as this thread seems to be going a little bit off topic I am talking about fitting a Fritzbits manifold/system to a s50 3.0 m3 engine which is going into my E30.

I currently have a M50 in my car, with 328i manifolds and a scorpion e30 m3 exhaust, but obviously this is all coming out to fit the m power lump.

[GermanGorilla]

Hi,

A SuperSprint 'stepped' manifold which is the
same design theory as used in F1, gains about
6-8 BHP on a BMW S54 engine, in the real world.

The best gain I have ever seen over the stock
S50 B32 Manifold was about 5 BHP, on a
manifold to manifold basis, so I guess
that the S50 B30 would be much the same.

Regards,

The Gorilla.

[penton08]

Hmmm, do I take it their power figures are a little on the genorous side then?

They did quote their manifold/system to yeild a 10% increase in power on a otherwise standard engine, which i thought was a little optamistic

Just to clear up any confusion as this thread seems to be going a little bit off topic I am talking about fitting a Fritzbits manifold/system to a s50 3.0 m3 engine which is going into my E30.

I currently have a M50 in my car, with 328i manifolds and a scorpion e30 m3 exhaust, but obviously this is all coming out to fit the m power lump.

a 10% power increase on a s50 is around 30 bhp!! im under the impression the fritz mainfold is designed more for the m50. in the manifold pictures they sent me the pipe lenghs where all unequal! not ideal for a s50. i spent my money at btb and dont regret it!!!

[UweM3]

sod it! I will leave the manifold alone and massage the bulk head to clear it. At least one benefit of keeping it LHD

[SM AUTOS]

mmmm, all very interesting, yes I know a 10% increase is 30bhp hence the little winky on my original post...surely if there was scope for such a great increase in power BMW would have capitalised on it in the first place....

All in all don't know what to do now, as i see it my options are as follows-

Rework the original S50 manifolds,which may mean losing power..

Go with a Fritz system (as i said I have seen their work and it is VERY impressive) but it does worry me if the manifold/system is designed with the M50 in mind as if i'm going to spend that sort of money it has to be right for the S50......

Go the tried and tested route and go for a BTB system at huge expence, but know it's going to do the job.

Keep the opinions coming guys, thanks for your input

[DanThe]

Dont be a girl Steve, abuse it yourself and spend the money on brakes/suspension trickery

Gas axe and grinder FTW

[dicko]

I have modded a s50 manifold to fit a e30 but was a right pain , "tweeking" the bulkhead was easy but found it a pain to clear subframe and anti role bar with the front branch .
I am going to make my own equal lenght six branch with my new tig welder over the next couple of months .
I am not that happy with the modded s50 results but havent had the car on a dyno yet

[tomson]

Out of interest, whats the damage on the fritz manifold?

[baptie0]

the anti roll bar just needs lowered about 5mm and the outer down pipe needs rotated to clear to o/s lollipop bush. like dicko says the bulk head is not a problem.
also a modified steering coupling is needed. this way all of the manifold pipe lengths stay the same. another option is to use an e36 anti roll bar and make new mounts. its a lot of money for an un equal frits bits manifold when you have bmw masterpiece at your disposal for about £200.

[baptie0]

Out of interest, whats the damage on the fritz manifold?

£750

[DanThe]

+ VAT & postage, just under £900 all in I believe

[tomson]

Well in my eyes the extra for the BTB will be the best money you will ever spend on the conversion... I've still got mine under my bed, I'm normal - honest !

[baptie0]

thats so expensive it makes me want to start getting some s50 manifolds and get the mig warmed up.

[DanThe]

I saw your garage full of rusty scrap in the photo gallery tom, there is no way you can proclaim to be 'normal'
Normal folk weigh it in!

[tomson]

Ok, you got me there dan

I will redeem myself by having my S50 car on the road this summer though, even if it bloody kills me!

[dicko]

baptie0 I found the rear branch didnt leave much room for the front branch clearing the subframe and atb , I had to reshape the Arb with a blow lamp ( dont know how that will affect its handling but hope its ok , did you move any of the primarys , I didnt just the collector a little and the secondary on both manifolds as you said to clear bush and subframe.

900 is a lot of cash , I am hoping to be able to do them for a lot less than that ,and equal lenght as well, I am just waiting for a price back from the company that are water jetting out the flanges for me .

[UweM3]

900 is a lot of cash , I am hoping to be able to do them for a lot less than that ,and equal lenght as well, I am just waiting for a price back from the company that are water jetting out the flanges for me .

how are you going to fabricate the transition of the head port to the pipe? the OEM part is cast stainless steel and quite neat.

[E30BeemerLad]

[tomson]

I had to reshape the Arb with a blow lamp

How do you find that now, surely it wont be good?

[baptie0]

baptie0 I found the rear branch didnt leave much room for the front branch clearing the subframe and atb , I had to reshape the Arb with a blow lamp ( dont know how that will affect its handling but hope its ok , did you move any of the primarys , I didnt just the collector a little and the secondary on both manifolds as you said to clear bush and subframe.

900 is a lot of cash , I am hoping to be able to do them for a lot less than that ,and equal lenght as well, I am just waiting for a price back from the company that are water jetting out the flanges for me .

none of the primary pipes were cut, lower anti roll bar, rotated outer down pipe to clear the lolipop bush and a modified steering coupling using two e30 lower couplings welded then sleeved with a steering column clamp pressed onto one end of the new coupling.

i dont fancy the chances of the anti roll bar working as it should if its been heated/bent.

where is the manifold fouling your subframe?

[dicko]

I will be getting the flanges made up the same as m50/m52 type three ports on one flange but jetted out to s50 port size and shape the transition from oval to round I am hoping to use stainless pipe and flare using a former .
dont know how the heating has effected the Arb as we are waiting on drop links ? it is only a temp solution and will be bined when proper manifold is fitted .

I had to cut and adjust front manifolds downpipe to clear sub frame but I had to keep it very close to the sub fram or I would hit the rear manifold down pipe .
the steering wasnt a problem as its a m3 .
the manifolds are 3.2 s50 .
I cant really see how i could of kept the front down pipe any higher with out hitting rear down pipe .

PS I have not started trying to build manifold yet so I will let you all know how it goes