S50 vs S52 Please help !

[MGYVER]

Ok, I've been agonizing over this for weeks now !
I originally had lined up a great deal on a 1999 S52 engine for which I subsequently bought a S50 intake manifold, TB, wiring harness, and ECU to do the OBDII to OBDI conversion.

The deal fell through and now I have another line on either a 1995 S50 with all accessories or another 1999 S52 with all accessories. Both engines have roughly the same mileage ~90K and both come with ECU, harness, and accessories. The S50 is only $400 cheaper.

The more I read about the OBDII to OBDI conversion, the more confused I get as to exactly how difficult and troublesome it actually is. It sounds like I'm going to be hunting for a ton of extra small parts if I go with the S52 engine.

Should I just get the complete S50 engine, resell the extra parts and be done with it, or get the S52 and continue with the OBD conversion.

I guess the issue is that I just can't get a handle of how much $$ and how much extra hassle it's going to be - no matter how many different places I read.

Can somebody who has a lot of practical experience tell me the bottom line.... please ! :?

[Ryan Stewart]

Well your answer is subjective. Yes you are going to need more with the S52 but you will have more power. The S50 is simpler but you will be making a little less power. Both are fairly quick in an E30, you will be happy with either result.

[asubimmer]

Hey how much is the s50, i might want it.

[Jason89i]

check this link out. the s52 will need the following parts off an obd1 car.....intake man w/ brackets, injectors/rail, t-body, hfm, wiring harness, ecu, s52 headers (modified), crank timing gear (some s52's still have the gear w/o the sensor), rubber plumbing tube under intake manifold w/ custom inlet (you can buy them for 30bux).


the s52 uses a dual temp sender (engine signal and guage signal) while the obd1 cars use 2 single senders. you can splice the obd1 wires to work with the dual sender......on e36 cars.

Addis brought up a good point about the dual temp sender on the s52. i dont think the dual sender will work on the e30's. water temp voltage is different between e36 and e30 cars. (hence changing the e36 temp sender to the e30 sender on most typical m50 swaps.) you may need to drill and tap a place for the e30 water guage sender.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24585

cheers, jason

[MGYVER]

Well I made the decision - Went with the S52.

I will have many more questions to follow I'm sure...

Thanks for the input !

[asubimmer]

how much was the s50?

[MGYVER]

$3500 with all accessories, harness, ecu, and 5-Speed transmission

[rjd2]

$3500 with all accessories, harness, ecu, and 5-Speed transmission

I want this motor setup. How many miles are on it?

[e30evolution]

he said about 90k

[E30 CONVERSION]

i'm wanting to do a S52 swap but on a budget and need to know what all i need so i can get a better veiw on the cost. Please Help!!!

[gobuffs]

For $4500 you could have my 30k mile Euro 3.2. The only things you need are the flywheel and clutch kit. Unless I sell off the oil pan and pump to a friend then you'd have to source those, but then you could sell off the dual sump setup.

[LivingLegend06]

i'm wanting to do a S52 swap but on a budget and need to know what all i need so i can get a better veiw on the cost. Please Help!!!

Nice first post bumping a 5+ year old thread by asking an unrelated question. At least your in the right subforum.

The answer to your question can be found in the stickies at the top of this subforum. Read them.