aluminum m5x?

[BimmerScreamer]

I have heard of an all aluminum m5x motor but never seen one, what cars did they come in and what is their designation?

[reelizmpro]

m52tu i believe.

[JGood]

M52TUB25

While retaining most of the internal dimensions and components of the earlier M52, the M52TU (Technical Upgrade) featured an aluminum alloy block in all markets including North America. More importantly, it featured a revised head design with Double-VANOS (variable intake AND exhaust cam timing) for additional improvements in torque delivery, economy and emissions. It also featured a variable intake manifold and an upgraded Siemens engine control system.

Applications:

* 1997-2001 E46 323i/323Ci/323ti (M52T)
* 1998-2001 E39 523i (M52TU)
* 1998-2001 E36/7 Z3 (M52TU)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M52

[FredK]

1997 through 1998 Z3 2.8 had an alloy block, and was single VANOS, and only available in the US.

I guess the engines don't do well when they are significantly modified for power output.

[etxxz]

i wonder if you can slap a single vanos head on that block and not have to worry about dual vanos, software standalones etc.. might as well go euro or s54.

[lifeiskaos]

I guess the engines don't do well when they are significantly modified for power output.

orly?

i wonder if you can slap a single vanos head on that block and not have to worry about dual vanos, software standalones etc.. might as well go euro or s54.

No, you cannot. Oil and coolant passages don't line up.

[etxxz]

thought so. what a dumb question -.-

[hoveringuy]

I have heard of an all aluminum m5x motor but never seen one, what cars did they come in and what is their designation?

That would be M54.

i wonder if you can slap a single vanos head on that block and not have to worry about dual vanos, software standalones etc.. might as well go euro or s54.

Why would you not want to "worry" about dual VANOS? It's awesome! Just run OBD1 on it and control the dual VANOS yourself. I'm pretty sure it's been done somewhere already.

[Stu]

I guess the engines don't do well when they are significantly modified for power output.

I don't think this is an issue if the 84mm bore is retained. Many stroked, stock bore street motors have safely been built with the aluminum blocks with a fairly high level of performance...290-300hp.

A nice feature of the aluminum blocks is the cross-bolted main bearing caps, unlike any of the other single-VANOS motors. My fathers last E30 M3 used an 85.8 x 84 aluminum block with a wild M3 head (stock cams). We revved that motor to the moon (7700 regularly) with no problems, even on track.

Competition-only and big-bore aluminum blocks may see problems, but I don't think it's an issue on a stock-bore, street motor.

I havn't seen much of aluminum blocks lately, what are the issues that come up?

[lifeiskaos]

There is a guy on bimmerforums with a twinscrew supercharger on his 2.8 aluminum block with an m3 head making ~350rwhp with zero problems for quite a while.

[FredK]

Competition-only and big-bore aluminum blocks may see problems, but I don't think it's an issue on a stock-bore, street motor.

I havn't seen much of aluminum blocks lately, what are the issues that come up?

Blargh. I could have sworn it was a local DMod guy who had stroked his engine basically to the limits of DMod displacement, who had problems with block twist, but now I can't find the post on bimmerforums.

In any case, I don't think there's much room to bore the aluminum blocks. These blocks are rare as heck! I don't even think I see them sprout up for sale these days.

[Adrian_Visser]

does anybody remember what the weight saving are exactly by using the Aluminium block over the iron one? There was a thread on that around a long time ago but i can't remember off the top of my head

[AlpineSixAndSeven]

I have an aluminum M52 they're available in the 528i e39's too i got mine for $750 and it came with everything from the airbox to the Cat's.. it is going in my e30

I beleve the coolant passage issues were when they went to the M54...

[genocide98]

I have an aluminum M52 they're available in the 528i e39's too i got mine for $750 and it came with everything from the airbox to the Cat's.. it is going in my e30

I beleve the coolant passage issues were when they went to the M54...

They made several variations of the m52 in aluminum form, anywhere from the 2.3 to the 2.8? They put them in Z3 and 5 series, too. Late 90's, 98 or 99 and on ? I'd have to check.

You can't bore them out much because they're sleeved. Boring them out can lead to a lot of trouble further down the road.

If you want to, you can bore and re-sleeve, but it's not very cost effective for the extra displacement/power. Why spend thousands going from 2.8 to 3.0? You'd get more gains out of head work like + valves and cams.

IIRC, ALMOST all M/S 50/52 heads are the same casting, so you should be able to mix and match just about any within that particular line. The only difference between the heads themselves is single/dual vanos, cams/trays/lifters.

My ideal motor would be a stroked aluminum block with a worked head (+ size valves) and sunbelt sport cams (which rev to 7500? without valvetrain mods) but most people seem to want anywhere from 2x-5x the price for an aluminum block...

[Stu]

does anybody remember what the weight saving are exactly by using the Aluminium block over the iron one? There was a thread on that around a long time ago but i can't remember off the top of my head

I don't know what particular M50-based iron block it was compared to, but a bare aluminum block was 52 pounds lighter when we tested it. Price was over $2K back in 1998, not sure if that included pistons or not.

Fred, I did some searching on the BF track forum and found the issues you speak of. Perhaps 89.6 stroke doesn't do well in the aluminum block in a competition environment; I wonder if crank/rod angles are a factor. Then again these blocks are so rare that it'd be difficult to find consistent info on the topic of block twist...could have been caused by other issues.