Planning S52/OBD2.... why's it $7k???

[She loved E]

I got to go to classic car week in Monterey with some friends last month (Merc guys).... big mistake. Now I want to blow the dust off my E30 and make it a monster! :borg:

So I grabbed Neil's S52/OBD1 spreadsheet and tweaked it with the latest intel... OBD2 instead of OBD1, relocate stock brake booster, a few little things because I have an M42, etc. My priorities are: getting something I can do in my garage (minimal welding or custom fabrication), a clean install when I'm done (love the m50manifold.com kit) and finally ofc power gain.

Updated the XLS and BAM, $7k:



This is way more than I expected. Like I could just buy an E36 M3 and beat on it instead.

Is something in the speadsheet overkill or unnecessary? Honestly I figured Neil's $6k pricetag was a worst-case scenario in terms of expense... I still don't totally understand how I blew that up. Yeah the m50 manifold is almost $500 but nixing that only gets me halfway back to where I started.

Seriously for that kind of coin I can buy a semi-decent E36 M3 or 540i 6MT. But I sure don't need two fun cars so in that case the E30 would have to go.

Would appreciate others insight on this.... what would you do in the same situation?

[digger]

shit adds up when you do it properly...thats why people rarely work out the true costs since you are better off not knowing ;)

[FARZAD]

I agree with that 100%.. It don't stop, it keeps adding up…

[She loved E]

hahah I should have known you guys would try to talk me into it.

Removed Vanos rebuild & we're @ $69XX!

[13bpower]

Pay to play.

[acolella76]

You either spend the money up front or you spend more money down the road fixing shit. Or, in true r3v fashion, you suck at life and don't fix your shit. But you're better than that, right?

You could buy an M52 and toss in S52 cams. Won't be quite as powerful as an S52 but will be just as fun, and will save you about $1000-1500. Just throwing that out there :)

[Jib05]

Wow that's quite the list you have there. Is it really that expenny for a s52 in the states? Thought it would have been a little cheaper. I guess is depends on who you know as well! Bought my m50, stroker set and top to bottom rebuild for close to the price of that s52. But nzd.

[Gooch]

I was fortunate enough to get a full (wrecked) donor E36 M3 and after parting out everything I didn't need I probably ended up still spending half that.

[justin_l_]

Yea, it gets expensive when you build it properly. Nothing better than having a reliable turn key fun car.

[She loved E]

M52 is an interesting idea. I'll do some more digging but is M52 obd2 > S50 obd1 in terms of power output? If that saves a grand at the expense of 20-30 hp I'd consider it.

[Kevinl]

Since when is it $500 dollars to swap to a m50 manifold

[SmokeE30]

It's as expensive or cheap as you make it, sourcing stuff over time can keep costs down but if you want all new oem stuff it's gonna cost you, hence most people try to use as much used stuff as possible from preferably as few sources as possible ie. a wrecked donor car

[Neil1138]

Thanks for the shout out! Badass to see that my Excel spreadsheet is being used.

All in all, the swap cost me roughly the price you stated. Could you do it for less? Of course! But as mentioned, there's always a trade off. I didn't want to have to worry about replacing things down the line so I pretty much replaced everything with new, OEM parts right off the bat.

As Alex said, you either pay up front, or eventually pay for it down the line. Could you get away with not replacing half of those items and still be ok? Definitely, but that is up to you and whether you believe in preventative maintenance. I wasn't going to put in a used clutch, a DMF that was heat fatigued, used sensors, cracked hoses, worn bushings, or leaky gaskets. But some people do, and that difference may save you a lot of money.

As they say, you gotta pay to play.

[ian e30 318is]

shit adds up when you do it properly...thats why people rarely work out the true costs since you are better off not knowing ;)

+1...mine ended up about 1.5-2x my original budget since I wanted to build it "properly".

[She loved E]

AKevinl - An m50 mani kit is $450 from m50manifolds.com. It reconverts the mani so that the FPR is on the fuel rail instead of remote, plus includes all new gaskets. I've since found that you can pick up a manifold for under $160 (which is what they charge to add it), so I'm reworking the list to save a few bucks there.

I'm also working on massaging the list by updating to current pricing (many OE parts are now cheaper :D ) to see if I can get it back to 6k.

Neil thanks for checking in! Honestly I don't think I'd even know where to start without your list.... love all the small parts you included as those are the things that take forever on RealOEM to find (and usually when neck-deep in the project). PM incoming.