M52 aluminium blocks

[pazi88]

So both Aluminum blocks have the later TU style crank?

Sorry I may have misread your message. These blocks I have, had the old crank with crack sensor at the front of the engine. If you look closely, there is place for the rear crank sensor in casting of those blocks. But in -96 block that hasn't even been drilled and in -97 it's drilled through but has blocking plate. I mean that most of the aluminium m52 blocks have the same style crank as in old m50 iron blocks. But not all. At least in EU the some -98 blocks only have the TU style crank with trigger wheel at the back of the crank. Is the crank sensor in which end of the engine in US versions? I have no idea about that. But that seems to determine which kind of crank the engine has.

[Bimmer_man]

im just curious what the weight difference is.

[pazi88]

im just curious what the weight difference is.

BMW fans shows litle bit over 20kg difference between cast iron and aluminium block.

[megatron]

I measured ~50lbs (~23kg) on a bathroom scale between bare US aluminum M52 block and bare US S52 block.

Here's a pic of the crank from a US aluminum M52 I assembled where you can see the location of the toothed wheel.

[Wanganstyle]

In the US the only m52 aluminum blocks came in 97-98 Z3 2.8's.

M52TU is an aluminum block and came in:

e39 528i
e46 328i

its very cheap/common/lightweight and makes the same power as a Iron block M52b28 when setup with identical everything; No real difference in labor between starting from m52b28 or m52TUb28 when doing a 24v swap really.

as far as weight difference? the nose of the car lifted 20mm with change to aluminum engine from iron block (s52)

[digger]

20mm? that seems a little excessive height difference. the bare block in cast iron would be what 50kg tops. if youre lucky you get a 25kg saving from block going to alloy. spring rate at front is easily 200lb/inch for pair of stock crappy springs so you should be looking at 0.25" as a ball park back of the envelope calc. if you pulled the whole engine out i could see a bit over an inch rise. this is just numbers i pulled from my head but something seems off

[Wanganstyle]

20mm? that seems a little excessive height difference. the bare block in cast iron would be what 50kg tops. if youre lucky you get a 25kg saving from block going to alloy. spring rate at front is easily 200lb/inch for pair of stock crappy springs so you should be looking at 0.25". if you pulled the whole engine out i could see a bit over an inch rise. this is just numbers i pulled from my head but something seems off

Eyeball guesstimate; I can stack 50lbs of weight on top the engine now and measure how low it drops?


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[E30 Wagen]

Are all the aluminum m52 blocks found in 97-98 Z3s iron sleeved?

[digger]

Eyeball guesstimate; I can stack 50lbs of weight on top the engine now and measure how low it drops?


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yeah, my bet is it wont move anywhere near 20mm