m54?

[hoveringuy]

Megasquirt it! Steve is working on that as well, has a blog for it, it's incredibly helpful.

I've been mostly very impressed with the new Megasquirt 3. I'm certainly learning alot and for the most part it's running GREAT, in many ways better than the 413 ECU. In particular, the 413 tried to keep the mixture stoich up to a certain load and then all of a sudden it jumped to WOT fuel. Megasquirt has nice transitions and the acceleration enrichment is much better.

Megasquirt also works seemlessly with the variable VANOS. As long as I change the cam positions consistently Megasquirt only sees it as a change in VE.

Only tough spot is getting it to start as consistently as stock but I'm working on that...

Read all about it here http://m54megasquirt3.blogspot.com/

Yes, I know what everyone's thinking... this would work great on an S54...

[Elysian]

Haha well regardlessly, hoveringuy if I get this engine I'm gonna be following your thread and probably PMing you. A lot ;)

Megasquirt it! Steve is working on that as well, has a blog for it, it's incredibly helpful.

[Leo_328i]

had a look and spoke to my old man about it, and yes it is a N52, I had no idea there was any difference - i thought the 1 series just got an M54....

the N52B30 in his car is rated at 262hp @ 6650rpm from the factory so 225whp @ 7300rpm sounds about right with cams and a tune.

What are the limits of the N52 in terms of revs? are there any weak points and how do they vary from an M54?

These engines are COMPLETELY different to the M54 and unfortunately get ignored a lot in the tuning scene because they live in the shadow of the N54 motors.

They have a completely unique casting for the block and completely different cylinder head to the M54. They use roller finger followers instead of a direct actuation of lifters by the cam in an M50/52/54 motor along with differently sized/ported inlet/exhaust ports. If you look at the cams they are also very rounded compared to the older series engines most likely to reduce running friction.

Not much is known abut them in terms of potential/weak points as no one bothers to find out as its so easy to just buy a 135i/335i over a 128i/328i/330i in the USA. The 130i never went to the USA either.

[wakdog]

Lots of what you said doesn't sound right.
Could it be some variant of the N52 rather than M54?
I bet it's an N52.

had a look and spoke to my old man about it, and yes it is a N52, I had no idea there was any difference - i thought the 1 series just got an M54....

the N52B30 in his car is rated at 262hp @ 6650rpm from the factory so 225whp @ 7300rpm sounds about right with cams and a tune.

What are the limits of the N52 in terms of revs? are there any weak points and how do they vary from an M54?

[Leo_328i]

I know a bunch of club racers in JP (sunbelt Race cams, solid lifters) rev to 7500+ all the time since the bottom end does not have the harmonic problems the S52 does. Local GTS2 guys do as well with M50/2 engines that are totally stock, obviously running custom tunes.

I don't have hard quantitative data though to back that up, just what I've heard on the internet (from well respected racers) and in local circles. Point being: the M52 just doesn't have harmonic problems so the bottom end can spin way higher than the stock valvetrain lifters can handle and than the head can flow.

Thanks for that.

[Bimmerman325i]

I know a bunch of club racers in JP (sunbelt Race cams, solid lifters) rev to 7500+ all the time since the bottom end does not have the harmonic problems the S52 does. Local GTS2 guys do as well with M50/2 engines that are totally stock, obviously running custom tunes.

I don't have hard quantitative data though to back that up, just what I've heard on the internet (from well respected racers) and in local circles. Point being: the M52 just doesn't have harmonic problems so the bottom end can spin way higher than the stock valvetrain lifters can handle and than the head can flow.

[Leo_328i]

Compared to an M54, yes, an S50/2 US is. Compared to a Euro or S54, hell no.

My point is that US S5x motors can happily rev 700-1100 rpm higher, which yields more power than an m54 that eats itself above stock rev limit.

You can spin an M52 to 7600rpm all day long, and an S50 US to 7400/7500. Try that in an M54 and it will just die.

7600RPM all day long in an M52 with stock internals? I'm not saying that I don't believe you but do you have any proof of this?

Would be awesome to verify this.

[Leo_328i]

the 1's use the N series engines. Completely different then the M series

Correct.

[MattM]

the 1's use the N series engines. Completely different then the M series

[VinniE30]

Is there any difference between the m54 in a 330ci and a 130i? My dad has been running a caged 130i for about 3-4 years with a set of cams and a tune, he just got it dyno'd @ 225whp at 7300rpm, and he has been running it 2+ times a month on the track for like the last 4 years with no issues...

Lots of what you said doesn't sound right.
Could it be some variant of the N52 rather than M54?
I bet it's an N52.

[London]

Haha well regardlessly, hoveringuy if I get this engine I'm gonna be following your thread and probably PMing you. A lot ;)

[hoveringuy]

Is there any difference between the m54 in a 330ci and a 130i? .... he just got it dyno'd @ 225whp at 7300rpm,...

225whp at 7300rpm? That's at least 1000rpm beyond the peak power of an M54. The head chokes after 6k so it sounds different.. but I like it!

[wakdog]

Is there any difference between the m54 in a 330ci and a 130i? My dad has been running a caged 130i for about 3-4 years with a set of cams and a tune, he just got it dyno'd @ 225whp at 7300rpm, and he has been running it 2+ times a month on the track for like the last 4 years with no issues...

[bloodshot-e30]

just dont leave 4.10s in when u swap... MPGs SUCKKKKKKKKKKK lol

[Elysian]

Haha well I appreciate all the info. Yeah this is definitely for a DD car. Just want it to be fun and quick. I like the mpg benefits, I know my friends 330ci got decent gas mileage when he wasn't driving like a cock but yeah hah. I guess we'll see what happens. His car got rearended pretty bad the other day so he's trying to decide if he wants to rebuild it (though we've heard e46 rear subframes are sketchy and easily damaged) or just part it.

My E46's rear subframe mounts tore out pretty bad, worst I've ever seen. That's why I pulled the engine and why it's going into my E24. The fuel economy was decent for me. I had a 3.15 rear diff so it wasn't as amazing as it could have been but I got around 28mpg on the highway and somewhere low 20s city. I got about 23-25mpg average, even when driving like a cock.