S54 swap questions and concerns

[Jb325is]

Wow! Mine made 276/238 with a base euro tune and nothing else. I am planning on having Frank remote tune it soon. You made 340whp on stock headers?

[FredK]

I used the same green hex mounts as you did, jink. Engine mount arms are the same between OBD-I and II E36s.

To connect the engine to the heater core, I used two E39 heater core hoses with a part of it cut off. It is PN 64218367930.

On a Z3M, there's a unique driver's side mount arm that has an extra bolt hole so you can bolt the heater core pipe to it. I am not sure what the E46 driver's side mount arm/heater core pipe looks like, or how it is secured. I wouldn't be surprised if it had a similar style of attachment.

I use a 3.46 because it better suits the road course that I go to most often. I might have had to double downshift for a really slow turn, but instead I ride it out with a 3.46. I have noticed that most autocrosses I've gone to, I can avoid shifting to 3rd with a 3.23. I did run a 2.93 for a brief while, and I thought it was pretty good as a cruiser, but I wanted a little more high RPM fun at autocross.

I'm pretty sure I saw your dyno graphs, freshm3, on another forum. Pretty crazy you did it with a stock plenum. What is your "Section 1" setup? Where did you put the x-pipe? 340whp is insane power from just a tune. You must have a factory freak engine!

[jink0619]

I like where this thread is going. I run the E36 ZF 5 speed with a 2.93 LSD with my S54 swap.

As for the clutch, I run the dual mass flywheel with a SPEC clutch. Stock-like driveability.

EWS should be deleted from the DME when you flash. Randy Mueller did this for me but Frank Smith is closer to you in VA.

Since a lot of S54 guys are in this thread....what kind of power are you boys putting down now? I have the EPIC race tune and I just made 340 rwhp/277tq without a CSL airbox or headers. Just curious.

Good Luck OP. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks man, and wow! those are great numbers. I've decided to go with the s52 flywheel and Luk clutch kit. Now that I have most parts sorted out I'm mainly concerned about the brake booster, I have an e32 735i booster so I'm going to see if that would fit, trying to stay away from a brake delete.

My only diff option now is a 373lsd but gonna keep an eye out for something lower.

[jink0619]

I used the same green hex mounts as you did, jink. Engine mount arms are the same between OBD-I and II E36s.

To connect the engine to the heater core, I used two E39 heater core hoses with a part of it cut off. It is PN 64218367930.

On a Z3M, there's a unique driver's side mount arm that has an extra bolt hole so you can bolt the heater core pipe to it. I am not sure what the E46 driver's side mount arm/heater core pipe looks like, or how it is secured. I wouldn't be surprised if it had a similar style of attachment.

I use a 3.46 because it better suits the road course that I go to most often. I might have had to double downshift for a really slow turn, but instead I ride it out with a 3.46. I have noticed that most autocrosses I've gone to, I can avoid shifting to 3rd with a 3.23. I did run a 2.93 for a brief while, and I thought it was pretty good as a cruiser, but I wanted a little more high RPM fun at autocross.

I'm pretty sure I saw your dyno graphs, freshm3, on another forum. Pretty crazy you did it with a stock plenum. What is your "Section 1" setup? Where did you put the x-pipe? 340whp is insane power from just a tune. You must have a factory freak engine!

Thanks for the info :)

[jink0619]

I'm curious to know which headers u guys used? I plan on usingb the stock headers, have cats cut and weld on vbands. Plan b would be ebay jvts headers.

[jink0619]

Gave the sfiftyfour a bath today :)

[*freshm3]

To answer some previous questions..I run the stock U.S E46 M3 headers with chopped cats. Low end power is not to my liking currently because the merge is too close to the headers. Trial and Error right! I run the X pipe and have 2.5 piping all the way. I have (2) Magnaflow resonators to keep her quiet.

I have VAC UD pulleys and DINAN high-flow ITB with the stock airbox, BIMMERWORLD silicone boot and ECIS (KN63) filter. The car dyno tuned 330+ constantly and the final run and flashed tune is a 340rwp/277 tq. The car is set at a 7800rpm rev-limiter because im a waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles. Randy wanted me to go north 8200+ but ...I haven't replaced the rod bearings and Im not that loco. The car was still making power at 7600+.

OT: I run the 2.93 so I can run with my friends GTR and neighbor's 997 TT. Plain and simple.
I walked a stg 2 AA E46 M3 vert at the toys for tots event last sunday like a puppy dog. It was marvelous to see the guys face wearing a Santa hat. He couldn't even smell me. I've pulled on faster cars but this kill was the most recent. The 997TT starts to catch up at 130 but I gave him a beating. N/A power! All day everyday!

OP good luck! E30 S54 is fun fun fun x 100 with the right tune.

[FredK]

Wow man, those are some great numbers with fairly normal performance parts! I think the torque hole down low can be addressed with moving the merge further back for sure. I ran a 2.93 for a while and thought it was OK, but with a 3.46, it's really fun. I bet you could gain even more with nice headers like the Supersprints or Epic headers.

Now I want to get a Epic tune lol.

[jink0619]

To answer some previous questions..I run the stock U.S E46 M3 headers with chopped cats. Low end power is not to my liking currently because the merge is too close to the headers. Trial and Error right! I run the X pipe and have 2.5 piping all the way. I have (2) Magnaflow resonators to keep her quiet.

I have VAC UD pulleys and DINAN high-flow ITB with the stock airbox, BIMMERWORLD silicone boot and ECIS (KN63) filter. The car dyno tuned 330+ constantly and the final run and flashed tune is a 340rwp/277 tq. The car is set at a 7800rpm rev-limiter because im a waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles. Randy wanted me to go north 8200+ but ...I haven't replaced the rod bearings and Im not that loco. The car was still making power at 7600+.

OT: I run the 2.93 so I can run with my friends GTR and neighbor's 997 TT. Plain and simple.
I walked a stg 2 AA E46 M3 vert at the toys for tots event last sunday like a puppy dog. It was marvelous to see the guys face wearing a Santa hat. He couldn't even smell me. I've pulled on faster cars but this kill was the most recent. The 997TT starts to catch up at 130 but I gave him a beating. N/A power! All day everyday!

OP good luck! E30 S54 is fun fun fun x 100 with the right tune.

Wow, that's amazing powa! I had an s52 swapped car so can imagine how exciting this experience would be like, hoping for first drive to be somewhat comparable to my first piece of ass, just blast.....! feeling good about me. Anyways back to reality haha, waiting on parts to come in, clutch kit, waterpump, T-stat, oil pan gasket, bolts and drive belt from BMW, picking up flywheel from machine shop tomr. So I planned on replacing the rod bearings although the motor has had it done twice under recall, but BMW doesn't sell the bearing kit anymore, said they can sell me the original caps that were recalled...whaaaaaa!?! Umm no thanks lol, so just gonna leave it alone.

Question: ditching the stock headers option after hearing about ur low end problems with them, so will be going with ebay headers and my question is what do u do with all 4 o2 sensors? are they all used or what? Btw...nice kill!

[Jb325is]

I would replace the rod bearings for sure, it's crazy not to if you already have the oil pan off. There are superceded part numbers for the old ones. I can try to dig up the part numbers on the ones I got.

The post-cat o2 sensors will be disabled. One word of advice, don't switch the pre-cat o2's! The harness can be misleading, my #2 plug was labeled #1. There is a detailed chart on m3forums showing the shape of the plug and which header it corresponds with, look at that before you put the motor in.

[nando]

Yeah i turn off the rear O2s. As far as the computer cares, they never existed.

[jink0619]

I would replace the rod bearings for sure, it's crazy not to if you already have the oil pan off. There are superceded part numbers for the old ones. I can try to dig up the part numbers on the ones I got.

The post-cat o2 sensors will be disabled. One word of advice, don't switch the pre-cat o2's! The harness can be misleading, my #2 plug was labeled #1. There is a detailed chart on m3forums showing the shape of the plug and which header it corresponds with, look at that before you put the motor in.

I made sure to label the O2s after reading ur swap thread, actually I made sure to label everything haha. Thanks for the info

[jink0619]

Got some goodies today, a step closer towards the finish line.

[The Dark Side of Will]

ditching the stock headers option after hearing about ur low end problems with them

There aren't problems with the stock headers... it's just that the X-pipe/Merge pipe is not in the correct location. This is something that's made for the swap, so it's a swap issue, not a stock headers issue.

[G FORCE]

Sub'd. If my S14 ever craps out I'm going S54.