S54 making the jump

[kristov]

Good luck with your project, I am seriously considering the same swap into my M. I already have SM4 sitting here in a box ready to go. Just trying to do more research prior to committing. Although I feel confident in going with the S54.

I would just like to know if it would be possible to utilize the factory cluster in the e30 just for temp, speed, rpm and temp. I would like to keep it a street car.

Yes, you can use the factory cluster for those things. The SM4 outputs the correct signal for rpm too. As for temp you have to fit the E30 sensor somewhere in the coolant circuit.

I run the S54 in my E30 with SM4 and so far it looks good. It will be adjusted and dynoed on tuesday. I have eliminated VANOS as you will only loose 10% or so in mid-range. Top-end power will be the same. The drive by wire solution has also been eliminated.

The engine sits very well in the E30 engine bay and looks smaller than the S50 or S38. You can clearly see it is a much more compact design.

But be awared - this conversion cost a fucking lot of money and time if you do it the right way

[golde30]

the guy i bought my 5lug from offa s14.net is building an s54 track-rat e30 m3 on the DL. hes gonna run SMG also... given, hes an electrical/mechanical engineer...

[hoveringuy]

Yeah, and my last name is Majewski. I should be able to do it, damnit!

[e30polak]

Which one? Link, please.

I second Matt on the M54. Cheaper, lighter, still has tons of power. They're doing it in Poland, why can't we??

Damn right, Polaks FTW!!! :pimp:

Fuck all the brainless Polak jokes, we just one-upped America!!! :nice:

LOL...S54 is a great motor, but a waste of money for an e30. Do an m50 NV turbo, or an obd1 s52 and supercharge it. Have fun with the s54, it wont be as easy as you think. :roll:

[Lag]

Good luck with your project, I am seriously considering the same swap into my M. I already have SM4 sitting here in a box ready to go. Just trying to do more research prior to committing. Although I feel confident in going with the S54.

I would just like to know if it would be possible to utilize the factory cluster in the e30 just for temp, speed, rpm and temp. I would like to keep it a street car.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

why dont you call them and ask... they build some of the best bmw racecars in the country including nes with aem powerd s54. it is my understanding that it can do dual vanos out of the box and it is tunable.
it can do whatever you ask them to make it do.

s54 swaps pose no technical challenge not done before on this forum... unless you want the oem dme.

I'm not really interetsted in their system for me to call them. My friend will be doing an S54 turbo swap very soon. I will be controlling it with one of the ECU's I specialize in namely VEMS.

From what you just wrote, you really don't know either if they have a cam phasing program. I know that AEM can PWM control the solenoids for dual VANOS, that's not really a big deal since a lot of stand alones have PWM outputs and mappable tables.

The problem is actually MAPPING for cam phasing. It's a huge thing to do. Not only do u just have to map the cams, you have to remap the ENTIRE engines VE and timing, since you're actually changing the way the motor breaths (hence the VE).

In either case, when we do my firends project, we'll be locking the cams with the VAC kit.

[madjurgen]

Posted today:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showpost.php?p=13724018&postcount=265

[FredK]

yeah, I think Bimmerworld has a solution where you only need to wire in ignition, fuel pump, alternator, and a few other items and it also runs on stock EMS.

[1fastcosmo]

Nobody besides MITE46 has done an S54 in an E30 with stock EMS, as far as I know.

With this swap, knowledge can bring the price down. The more you farm out the more it will cost. Using stock EMS and a 5 speed transmission you had better budget around $10-12K minimum.

terry sayther did this and it runs on stock engine management(from the s54)its a e30 touring with e30 m3 fenders.SWEET CAR.

[E30Kaiser]

Bimmerworld has at least one if not more e30/e36 racecars with S54s running with stock engine management with I believe dual vanos enabled.

I heard this too from people who work there, some guy in Germany found out how to get the S54 ECU to work in an E30 and passed it along.

[madjurgen]

Bimmerworld has at least one if not more e30/e36 racecars with S54s running with stock engine management with I believe dual vanos enabled.

[BeirBrennerE30]

why dont you call them and ask... they build some of the best bmw racecars in the country including nes with aem powerd s54. it is my understanding that it can do dual vanos out of the box and it is tunable.
it can do whatever you ask them to make it do.

s54 swaps pose no technical challenge not done before on this forum... unless you want the oem dme.

I've seen you say this a few times before in other threads about the S54....

anyways, after some digging I've found this on Evosport's site:

Evosport/AEM EMS (Advanced), Hardwired - BMW S54 OBD2 (01+) - $3,595

They make no PnP system for the S54, it's a race only system. Meaning they didn't make it PnP because they can't. The original chassis electronics wouldn't work with just an AEM EMS in the car. So they only offer an ECU for swaps basically.

On top of this, what makes you thing that everything works right out of the box? As far as I can tell they only give you a base map to make the car idle. Which pretty much means to me, there is no mapped cam phasing included, and if there were, how good is it? Is it really proper like an OE ECU is? There are wayyy too many variables here.

I think a lot of people are underestimating how much info, time and equipment you need to setup infinitely variable cams.

[NOTORIOUS VR]

there is already an ems out there that is all set up to run the s54 with dual vanos and everything... plug and play as you can get.

I've seen you say this a few times before in other threads about the S54....

anyways, after some digging I've found this on Evosport's site:

Evosport/AEM EMS (Advanced), Hardwired - BMW S54 OBD2 (01+) - $3,595

They make no PnP system for the S54, it's a race only system. Meaning they didn't make it PnP because they can't. The original chassis electronics wouldn't work with just an AEM EMS in the car. So they only offer an ECU for swaps basically.

On top of this, what makes you thing that everything works right out of the box? As far as I can tell they only give you a base map to make the car idle. Which pretty much means to me, there is no mapped cam phasing included, and if there were, how good is it? Is it really proper like an OE ECU is? There are wayyy too many variables here.

I think a lot of people are underestimating how much info, time and equipment you need to setup infinitely variable cams.

[hoveringuy]

there is already an ems out there that is all set up to run the s54 with dual vanos and everything... plug and play as you can get.

Which one? Link, please.

I second Matt on the M54. Cheaper, lighter, still has tons of power. They're doing it in Poland, why can't we??

[BeirBrennerE30]

there is already an ems out there that is all set up to run the s54 with dual vanos and everything... plug and play as you can get.