M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[Hornung418]

I will honestly say that the easiest way to run the dual-VANOS motors at this point is to leave the stock harness alone and just run Megasquirt 3 in place of the factory EWS ECU.

You'll still need to do the oil pan, external fuel pressure regulator and adapt a mechanical throttle body but not mess with converting and splicing the harness. Leave the Hall crank sensor on... Megasqirt loves it!

I initially was running Megasquirt 3 last month but was still letting my standalone VANOS controller handle the cams, but I even switched DISA and the intake cam over to Megasquirt control last week and have been very impressed.

It's been a learning curve for me, but being able to auto-tune while you drive is the shiznit.

I've got a blog about it at http://m54megasquirt3.blogspot.com
Yes! Megasquirt is doing variable cam phasing!

Here's what I like about the Megasquirt compared to the 413:

-overrun fuel cut is gradual and much less anoying than the jerky on-off of the 413.
-don't need idle at 900 rpms because 413 would always stall with light flywheel. I can actually idle at 800 and not stall!
-run leaner at low loads and gradually transition to WOT fuel. No more jump from stoich to WOT fuel.
-tuning is extremely easy.

Thank you so much for the reply. I will say this: I'm 21...I know the M52TU like the back of my hand LOL...I don't know the e30 platform from Adam. Learning about the e30 is something that is starting to intrigue me. But it will be very hard. I commend you for paving the way for this swap. Again, well done!

their issue was the nut coming loose, not the shaft itself shearing off.

Okay so having been involved with the M54 for almost a year and non-stop reading accounts of failure and the possible solutions, it's been determined that the main cause of OPN shearing and back out, was Harmonic Imbalance. The only real solution for the B30 is the ATI Super Damper mentioned a few pages back. That group buy was such a headache :( But I will mention that this has only been reported in the B30, thus my decision to keep the M52TUB28 as it can handle 7k all day with out fear of Pump Failure and ultimately Engine Destruction.

Steve - I didn't know the 413's fuel cut was that harsh. the Motronic 1.3 cut was really smooth, it's always been what I've tried to emulate. It was a progressive "windowed" fuel cut. The standard MS3 fuel cut is on/off. I've emulated the Motronic 1.3 fuel cut by using the VE map (very low KPA cells above 2000rpm set to 0, plus the std fuel cut so the injectors are 100% off). It's buttery smooth, especially compared to my wife's subaru, which is awful. Some people hated it so much they actually clocked the TPS so it wouldn't trigger so early.

Maybe it was just my tune, but if I had the throttle closed going down a hill or decelerating there was a 2 second delay before all fuel was cut and the car jerked. If I touched the gas it would do it again.

It was annoying.

Gosh, I could only imagine. So this has been remedied, correct?

Still taking it all in, I read this a while ago...maybe 6 months ago...but just read the whole thing again yesterday and the day before.

[hoveringuy]

Steve - I didn't know the 413's fuel cut was that harsh.

Maybe it was just my tune, but if I had the throttle closed going down a hill or decelerating there was a 2 second delay before all fuel was cut and the car jerked. If I touched the gas it would do it again.

It was annoying.

[nando]

their issue was the nut coming loose, not the shaft itself shearing off.

Steve - I didn't know the 413's fuel cut was that harsh. the Motronic 1.3 cut was really smooth, it's always been what I've tried to emulate. It was a progressive "windowed" fuel cut. The standard MS3 fuel cut is on/off. I've emulated the Motronic 1.3 fuel cut by using the VE map (very low KPA cells above 2000rpm set to 0, plus the std fuel cut so the injectors are 100% off). It's buttery smooth, especially compared to my wife's subaru, which is awful. Some people hated it so much they actually clocked the TPS so it wouldn't trigger so early.

[VinniE30]

^^^ Nice gains!

That brings up another issue with the M54:

Where the S50 is happy revving to 7,000 all day, the M54 is notorious for sheering oil pump shafts if revved a lot over 6500.

The S50 can be tracked and flogged for years on end without problems. The M54 will leave you crying if you try that.

The serious people get oil pump upgrades and better harmonic balancers.

I thought the S50 and all M5x variants had this same issue with the oil pump..

[hoveringuy]

I will honestly say that the easiest way to run the dual-VANOS motors at this point is to leave the stock harness alone and just run Megasquirt 3 in place of the factory EWS ECU.

You'll still need to do the oil pan, external fuel pressure regulator and adapt a mechanical throttle body but not mess with converting and splicing the harness. Leave the Hall crank sensor on... Megasqirt loves it!

I initially was running Megasquirt 3 last month but was still letting my standalone VANOS controller handle the cams, but I even switched DISA and the intake cam over to Megasquirt control last week and have been very impressed.

It's been a learning curve for me, but being able to auto-tune while you drive is the shiznit.

I've got a blog about it at http://m54megasquirt3.blogspot.com
Yes! Megasquirt is doing variable cam phasing!

Here's what I like about the Megasquirt compared to the 413:

-overrun fuel cut is gradual and much less anoying than the jerky on-off of the 413.
-don't need idle at 900 rpms because 413 would always stall with light flywheel. I can actually idle at 800 and not stall!
-run leaner at low loads and gradually transition to WOT fuel. No more jump from stoich to WOT fuel.
-tuning is extremely easy.

[Hornung418]

Both the m50 and m52 intake manifolds can physically bolt-on to the m54, as well as the headers for either motor.

Just bumping this up.

Polak, just to clarify, in no way will the M50 or M52 Intake Mani's bolt up to the M52TU/M54 Head. Only M54 Intakes can mount to M52TUs. I've done it to my 2000 328i.

So Steve, is this the cleanest way to run Double VANOS in an e30? I've got my hands on an overheated 528i M52TUB28 similar in fashion to your M54B30. I plan to build it hot and swap it into my e46 328i (No downtime as it's my DD), but if the right roller comes up, I'd rather enjoy a DOHC swap in an e30 or older BMW.

Congrats on the sleeper and cheers!

[hoveringuy]

The solution is an ATI super-damper.

See

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=758308

and

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=765627

There seems to be a long history of tracked M54s that sheer the oil pump shaft from prolonged revs over 6000.

[Blackangusinc]

^^^ Nice gains!

That brings up another issue with the M54:

Where the S50 is happy revving to 7,000 all day, the M54 is notorious for sheering oil pump shafts if revved a lot over 6500.

The S50 can be tracked and flogged for years on end without problems. The M54 will leave you crying if you try that.

The serious people get oil pump upgrades and better harmonic balancers.

In what ways can M52TU/M54 harmonic balancers be improved?

[hoveringuy]

^^^ Nice gains!

That brings up another issue with the M54:

Where the S50 is happy revving to 7,000 all day, the M54 is notorious for sheering oil pump shafts if revved a lot over 6500.

The S50 can be tracked and flogged for years on end without problems. The M54 will leave you crying if you try that.

The serious people get oil pump upgrades and better harmonic balancers.

[robrez]

After the last several dynos the motor just seems tapped-out and won't gain more with tuning. So, until I find an S54 I have cams on order.

Stock M54 cams are intake 240/9.7 exhaust 244/9.0
ZHP cams are 248/10.0 248/10.0

They are supposed to be good for 10hp/8tq. With my mods I'm hoping for closer to 15.

Only $299 for the whole kit at ECS tuning.

Sorry if I'm just cluttering this thread, but here's a dyno of the m54 3.0 in my Z3 coupe with a cam profile of 272 on the intake and 268 on the exhaust for comparison. Also has ebay headers and a Dinan throttle body.

[e30polak]

Here's what my actual emission looked like with OBD2 cats:

............. HC (ppm).. .....CO(%).. CO+CO2(%)........ O2(%)
limit............ 150........... 1................ 6................ n/a
cruise...........54......... .08 ............14.88............. .25

limit............. 220......... 1.2............... 6................ n/a
idle.............. 64 ........ .01 ...... .... 13.81 ........... 1.58


A suprising amount of the m50 stuff bolts to the M54. I'm using S50B32 exhaust manifolds.

Don't know about S52 cams, but I doubt they would fit as the head is not interchangeable at all.

You can put the crank sensor on the head but it won't do much good...

This.

Just because the manifolds bolt on, doesn't mean the heads are the same. The only single Vanos, all aluminum motor is the m52 in the '97 and '98 2.8L z3. Good luck finding one without actually buying a z3 and swapping the motor out.

[SoEm0]

so a head from a S50/2 can't make its way to the block?

[hoveringuy]

wow;

so then I can just buy a M54b30 and bolt on S52 cams and towers and headers and intake and have cheap plentiful ALU motor. damm
cps sensor bolts on as well, is there a place for the crank position sensor to also go on m54 head? im guessing yes? or no port there for it-

Here's what my actual emission looked like with OBD2 cats:

............. HC (ppm).. .....CO(%).. CO+CO2(%)........ O2(%)
limit............ 150........... 1................ 6................ n/a
cruise...........54......... .08 ............14.88............. .25

limit............. 220......... 1.2............... 6................ n/a
idle.............. 64 ........ .01 ...... .... 13.81 ........... 1.58


A suprising amount of the m50 stuff bolts to the M54. I'm using S50B32 exhaust manifolds.

Don't know about S52 cams, but I doubt they would fit as the head is not interchangeable at all.

You can put the crank sensor on the head but it won't do much good...

[Wanganstyle]

Both the m50 and m52 intake manifolds can physically bolt-on to the m54, as well as the headers for either motor.

wow;

so then I can just buy a M54b30 and bolt on S52 cams and towers and headers and intake and have cheap plentiful ALU motor. damm
cps sensor bolts on as well, is there a place for the crank position sensor to also go on m54 head? im guessing yes? or no port there for it-

[SoEm0]

LOL I fully agree with you Spec. My friend and I had this discussion the other day. I was plotting on his M54b30 and the topic came up.