cost of s52/50 swap into a 325is?

[bdm23]

I have always loved e30's and am thinking about buying a 1990 325is, but I would want more power. About how much would the total cost be for an s52/50 swap, if I had a shop do it (parts and labor)?

Im sorry if this has already been answered, but I searched and couldn't really find a price.

Thanks for any help.

[hugh jass]

I have always loved e30's and am thinking about buying a 1990 325is, but I would want more power. About how much would the total cost be for an s52/50 swap, if I had a shop do it (parts and labor)?

Im sorry if this has already been answered, but I searched and couldn't really find a price.

Thanks for any help.

figure 40 to 50 hours of labor at $70 to $100/hour plus $4000-5000 in parts.

[grib]

figure 40 to 50 hours of labor at $70 to $100/hour plus $4000-5000 in parts.

Agreed. Even if you use the Getrag 260 with your DOHC engine, I don't see how to get an S engine in for less than $5,000.

On a side note - browsing through here it seems like quite a few guys who've had shops do their swaps end up with problems here and there. Remember that the shop is doing it for money so they are going to try to bang it out in as few hours as possible.

[Wiseguy]

If the shop knows what they are doing there's no way it's going to take 40 hours to do this swap.

It takes us about 30 to do one, all inclusive and that includes either making a harness adaptor or modifying the existing harness, doing the booster, and all the other odds and ends. We charge $82.50 per hour, it's usually a $2,500 job labor-wise plus parts. This also includes having AC hoses made.

Parts? The big thing is that if you are doing ANY swap is to be thorough, you have the engine out of the car, on an S52 you have the intake off, etc...

Here's how we do it... Every single gasket that we can reasonably replace is replaced.

Every single cooling hose is replaced.
Intake seals, vacuum hoses, Valve cover gasket, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, rear main, various o-rings and seals, etc. All replaced
New Radiator
New injector o-rings
Install a Spal fan.
Flush brakes with ATE Super Blue
Change thermostat, thermostat housing (Aluminum), water pump, etc.
Spark Plugs
Oil Change
Tack Weld or loctite and torque oil pump nut
Sometimes we have to modify the windage tray on the E34 oil pan.

The usual stuff.

On top of that, the car usually needs new PS hoses because, well, it's a BMW. Those are super easy to change while we're at it.

You need to find a shop that's done this job before and who is familiar with what's required to do it successfully.

Ask for references and any work performed should be guaranteed, in writing.

So figure.....

S52 Long Block: $3,000ish
M50 Intake manifold: $150ish
Harness: $150ish
Trans: $600ish
Driveshaft from E30 M3: $250ish
Clutch and flywheel: $675 for a Stage 1 lightweight setup.
DME: $200
Software and Adaptors from Turner (So it looks pretty :) $400ish
24# Injectors $300ish
3.5 HFM $250ish
Other assorted parts... $800ish

I forgot some stuff as I am tired but you get the idea.

It's not a cheap job, but when done right, as we all know, this is a seriously fast car :)

I also don't understand 2 things....

1) Why people use S50s over S52s. The S52 is a much nicer engine and they don't cost much more than S50s.

2) Why so few of these cars have AC... it's just a matter of having a couple of AC hoses made, that's not that expensive. Your 3.5HFM probably cost more. I can totally understand it for a track car of course, but sheesh... for a daily driver it's nice to have. The weight savings means squat on a street driven car.

[FredK]

Thanks for joining, Wiseguy!

Anyway, some people use the S50 over the S52 because you don't have to source the OBD-I stuff separately. It usually ends up being a few hundred cheaper. It's hard to find a lower mileage S50 though. If I do a swap again I'll definitely be using an S52.

If you pay a shop to do the swap, and it costs around $9275 total (just adding labor plus your parts list), the OBD-I swap doesn't cost that overall. But for swappers, it might dissuade them from doing it because of the increased cost, and also because they are leery of doing a temp sensor install, and installing other OBD-I stuff.

Yes, it should take around 30 hours for a shop to do it. Jason89i added up the time and said it took him around 27 to do a swap.