euro s50 vs s38

[liquidtension]

over here they are pretty cheap im guessing around $3k for engine and tranny and everything, s50b30 is $3k, s50b32 is $3500-$4k

in the US i read that the engine alone costs $7k



difference is that 88 m5 has the s38b36 (3535cc 315 hp @ 6900 rpm and 360 nm at 4750 rpm)

in 91 they bored and stroked it to 3.8L with tons of differences... it's 347hp (din) at 6900 rpm and 409 nm torque at 4750 rpm

guys i think ill go for the S50B32 .. seems like the more practical choice .. in the end im doing the swap so i dont have to rebuild the s14 .. and i want power and torque thats reliable and not temperamental and bitchy like the s14

the idea of the s38 sounds neat but i think the s50b32 will do the job better plus peak power is at 7400rpm so it is somewhat like the s14.. plus peak torque is 350nm at 3500rpm only .. whereas look at the s38b36 360nm at 4750rpm! ...

[static]

i have a suggestion, but it involves some engine work

take an alloy M52 2.8L block, rebuild the M52 head with racing parts (stiff springs, retainers, aggressive cams, valvejob, port-and-polish, etc)
use 330i internals and shave the pistons to needed compression (11.0 and up, if you can get high octane gas in your country) this will give around 2.9L of displacement.
With proper tuning, this will yield 300+rwhp and 7500+ redline, all quite reliably and at 260lb total weight (just like M20's weight)
This will essentially be a lighter US spec S50 (which was supposed to be much more reliable than the Euro counterpart)

^^ this is perhaps the second best option after S14 power/weight -wise (not counting LS1 of course)

alloy blocks like this are common in europe, so should be easy for you to get unlike it is for us.

Alex

[Jason89i]

i have a suggestion, but it involves some engine work

take an alloy M52 2.8L block, rebuild the M52 head with racing parts (stiff springs, retainers, aggressive cams, valvejob, port-and-polish, etc)
use 330i internals and shave the pistons to needed compression (11.0 and up, if you can get high octane gas in your country) this will give around 2.9L of displacement.
Alex

check with active autowerks. i think they developed a 2.9 for the aluminum. but there was some concern regarding thickness of cylinder linings. cheers, jason

[liquidtension]

nah man i want to keep the ///m logo under the hood.. someday ill have a crazy turbo'd e30 but the ///m3 has to be elegant neat etc. all OEM looks perfect and drives perfect

thanks for all the help fella's.. i hope i can give back to the forum in the future :)

[LINUS]

liquid -

might clear up the issue of which lebanon you are in : the country or in PA (from memory?), USA

that might change consensus view about euro parts availability.

[liquidtension]

Linus, lebanon the country.
HTH,
eric