M54. Let the foolishness begin.

[hoveringuy]

m50 vs m52 and m54 tooth wheel

I found some info on the differences, first here's a description of the different sensors:

There is, however a great difference between the timing wheel that is on the BMW M50 motor and the one that is on the M52. If you look closely, you'll notice there is no crank position sensor on the wheel that is located at the front of the m52 engine. OH NO! What has BMW done?!

BMW decided to switch to a hall sensor, instead of a VR sensor as used on all pre-OBD2 cars. A hall sensor is like an active magnetic sensor that has a +12v feed, a ground, and a return signal wire. Your Siemens ECU that is standard equipment in your 328/528 is providing the Hall sensor with +12v and ground. The sensor is located in the side of the engine block and is aimed at a crank wheel that is, well, on the crank. The crank wheel is still a 60-2 wheel, its just within the block as to shield the sensor from dirty and the elements.

Now, here's the Megasquirt settings for the different trigger wheels:

BMW M50 vanos (aka M50TU):

Wheel Decoder Settings:
Trigger A: 46
Trigger A return pos: 54
Trigger B: 6
Trigger B return pos: 14
Trigger C: 26
Trigger C return pos: 34

BMW M52:

Wheel Decoder Settings:
Trigger A: 46
Trigger A return pos: 54
Trigger B: 6
Trigger B return pos: 14
Trigger C: 26
Trigger C return pos: 34

They are the same! Does this mean a VR sensor will work in the rear of an M52 for OBD1?? Hmmm....

[Rogan]

nice! subscribed :)

[hoveringuy]

Throttle body

I got my Turner Motorsport adapter plate in the mail the other day and I thought it would make it easy to mount the throttle body to the M54 intake, but it didnt' work. I should have read the description closer and seen that it was for an M54b25 intake, which has a different layout.

Oh well.

I fabricated my own adapter plate out of HDPE plastic which ended up working really well. HDPE is the same stuff cutting board is made out of. My wife is still looking for ours...

The throttle body is tilted enough to clear the linkage from the coolant tube at the bottom and the ICV at the top, but is still perfectly positioned for the stock intake boot and for the throttle cable.

I still haven't decided on the injection system. I'm leaning towards OBD1 with a red label 413 and Turner S50 chip I have laying around. However, I looked at the front of the motor closely today and realized it doesn't have the mounting point for a front pickup like the M52 does. Doh!

What is the issue with the rear wheel and sender? Is the tooth offset different or is it a VR vs Hall sensor thing? If I can't figure this out it may force me to go Megasuirt or prosititute myself for a Motec.

[hoveringuy]

Oil vapor return

There's a lot of things on the M54 that I see as needlessly complicated for the sake of emissions. Here's something that's gotten an overhaul that I like.

The oil vapor management in the M50 just ported the vapors into intake manifold where it is supposed to get sucked up and burned. A lot of it does, but I think a good portion of the vapors end up condensing in the intake back to oil where it gums up your ICV and such.

In the M54 the oil vapors first go through this little cyclone spinner as they get sucked into the intake manifold. The device separates the liquid out and drains it back into the crankcase. The vapor travels through a small manifold where it is ported almost direcly to each of the intake valves.

This means that the e34 dipstick tube needs to have the oil return connection from the M54 dipstick tube grafted on to it. Otherwise the tube fits nicely. You can see the tube that connects there dangling down.

Another item done...

[hoveringuy]

They put one on Ebay to gauge the market. I got it for $160.

[SpecM]

wow... $500... that's just too much...

so if you paid less, and you don't mind telling... que costa?

[hoveringuy]

Yep, they're expensive but I was told the aluminum ALONE costs them around $50 and their price is very close to their final production cost with all the machining involved.

I wouldn't have paid that much, either, and I paid much, much less.

Look at what the cost of billet anything costs from VAC and you'll see that this really isn't out of line.

In the end, I will have an awesome cooling system and a nice piece of bling on the front of my shiny aluminum engine.

I will have the VANOS back on today with new Beisan seals and will start getting serious about finalizing my FI strategy.


***UPDATE***
Zionsville now has a much cheaper version!

[matt]

I think that might be why they're sitting on the shelf.

[mattdk318i]

ummm, wow

[bostonbmw]

that thing is almost $500 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I am not sure that's worth it? $65 goes into $500 a lot of times!

http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/store/shop.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=6134&Product_Code=M54ALUTHERM

[SpecM]

cool, that housing is awsome looking!

how much did it set you back?

[hoveringuy]

Map Controlled Thermostat

I've been gone all week but had something nice waiting when I got home. Pictured is the stock Map Controlled Thermostat and a really nice Zionsville billet thermostat that I will be replacing it with.

The stock thermostat is incorporated into the housing and can't be replaced or changed. It is also wired for the heater element that is ECU controlled. The heater helps to melt the wax inside the thermostat and fools it into opening for more coolant flow, which the ECU commands for certain conditions.

The Zionsville solution is a serious piece of nice machining. It's art, really. Milled out of a solid chunk of aluminum. They produced a bunch of these as a solution to the famous M54 overheating problem. Thing is, these things are selling about as fast as Miami condos these days so they are rotting on the shelves. Seems like the new BMW owners don't take much interest in their cars until they actually overheat.

They looked at all other possible solutions, including using M50 thermostat housings and such but this is the only way to do it.

I could have kept the stock thermostat and run a hot engine but now I have a nice 88degree thermostat.

Also, notice the quick-connect hose fitting. Will my coolant hoses be half E46 and half E30 with a coupling in the middle? I don't know yet.

[windnsea00]

Oh... and just to be sure... an m54b30 rotating assm (crank, rods, pistions) will work in an m50/52, yes?

The crank is from the S52 AFAIK.

[SpecM]

Oh... and just to be sure... an m54b30 rotating assm (crank, rods, pistions) will work in an m50/52, yes?

[Mot]

BMW motors make the power BMW wants them to make.

Then I come along and give you the rest of the power back. :twisted:

This is another company's performance chip vs our custom tune that actually gets 100% of the performance out of the motor. Both motors are 100% stock M50TU.

+1 I love my TRM tune, worlds better then my AA chip.

So who want's to buy my AA chip ;)