N52 Swap Discussion

[wazzu70]

Thanks for sharing the printed pieces. Its always cool to see!

If you can make a subframe out of billet (or sheet/tube) for a reasonable cost that fits an unmodified sump you will be a hero.

[Nowayman]

It’s just a creality cr10s. I print them in four pieces and assemble. The attic to my garage is just bursting with printed subframe prototypes haha. There’s at least 15 of them up there. As far as the CABs I have them on my other e30 and my z3 and they really aren’t too bad. Could easily run the regular lollipops and cut the header back further before doing the v-bands and make room, I expected to have to do this either way, but they ended up fitting with these.

Also had a couple 4140 g260/zf flywheels made, they use the n52 starter, e30 clutch.


I had also printed and mounted about 8 of these before I was happy 😂. There are no teeth on the one up there, my manufacturer can do just about anything, they mostly do work for the oil and gas industry, but they don’t cut teeth. I’m picking them up from the gear place later this week.

[nando]

That's pretty cool. Wow, 3D printed subframe? Even as a prototype, that's an accomplishment to print something that large. I'm going to guess here you're using a machine at work or something, lol. Even a really nice home printer won't go that big! I've worked a bit on an adapter for the S54 throttles, but I'll have to make it in several pieces, and I also have to print it at a 45 degree angle on my bed to make the biggest assembly possible.

Header fitment looks fine but the deal breaker for me are those THR clone brackets. I wouldn't want to run those on a street car. but it probably wouldn't take much modification to make them work with the stock brackets, so definitely helpful to see how they fit!

[Nowayman]

It’s definitely not cheap, but I do have a relationship with my manufacturer so my costs are quite a bit less than they would be otherwise. It does use the rear sump pan, and the z4 arms. The rack does move forward, but with a trick from my Nissan days, I’m able to deal with some of the negative of moving the rack, though it doesn’t move forward all the much compared to some of the modded subframes I’ve seen

[Caperix]

Very nice, does it use a rear sump pan? Billet could get pricy for a subframe but it looks really nice from the photos you showed

[Nowayman]

Something I’ve been working on over the past couple of years. I’ll share more about all of it soon 🤭

That there is one of many 3D printed prototypes. Have the first billet version being manufactured now.

[Caperix]

What subframe are you running?

[Nowayman]

Few (poor) pics of the header fitment 😂

[Nowayman]

That was my initial plan but I decided to take a risk and see if an off the shelf n52 header would fit. 👍

[nando]

The funny thing is I think the franken N52-S54 headers probably cost less and perform better. But you do have to weld them yourself.

[MWC]

You can go on alibaba and buy the roundelwerk/AA/etc. headers directly from the Chinese suppliers. My first set arrived in about a week and I have a second set on the way right now. Shipping is expensive but all in I paid $380 each.

[Nowayman]

I have the roundelwerk headers on mine and they fit like a glove.
Running offset treehouse style control arm bushings to clear the flanges. They’re close but they fit. My flanges are being removed for v-band clamps when I get to the exhaust bits, so there will be even more room.

[nando]

Those look nice, but they're probably useless for an E30 swap. the E90 is a land barge in comparison (I know, I own one), there's like 2-3" extra space in the engine bay to fit these things.

I'd love to be wrong, but probably they won't fit. Has anyone tried any of the cheap ebay headers for size? those are probably not useable anyway, but if you can get a set cheap enough maybe you could have a prayer at fitting some better ones..

[Bored]

You gents see this?

https://www.condorspeedshop.com/products/stainless-steel-n52-headers-e90-e92-e82?_pos=1&_sid=f3ba7ead0&_ss=r&redirect_mongo_id=6139b5e3d47976001eb059d2&utm_source=Springbot&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=6139b5e3d47976001eb059d3

[hoveringuy]

Got any plans for more power?

MILVs seem pretty proven. I'd also like to see someone try a set of N55 exhaust cam rockers for more lift but I don't think anyone's officially tried that yet.

Quite possibly. It's sad how quickly you get used to 270+ whp. The problem is that power isn't what's presently keeping me from being faster, I need to add Wilwood BBK in the rear and tweak the handling first. Probaby after next season. I want Mk60 ABS, too...