S38 vs S54

[BMW335i]

Hi people,

I'm still looking for an engine and have been brainwashed by some guys praising the S54. My heart goes to the S38 engine but now I'm in doubt.

I like how the S38 engine looks and sounds, never driven an S54 though.
Plus I believe the S38 is less maintenance needy as the S54.

I want my E30 to keep the oldskool look and believe the S54 will ruin this.
How does BMW's 10 years extra of engineering experience hold up against the S38?

Let me hear your stories, opinions.

[CorvallisBMW]

I haven't owned an e30 with either engine, buy I've driven both engines.

The S38 is old-school technology, and will be more expensive to maintain because of both it's age and the cost of parts. It's also very "peaky", and really has to be revved in order to get power out of it; nothing much happens until 4000rpm.

The S54 will be less expensive to maintain due to age and parts, and will have a lot more support in both OE and the aftermarket. It also pulls much harder across the rev range due to the dual VANOS technology, and obviously makes a good chunk more HP (in the US, 333hp vs 258hp). Also fuel economy will be better, if you care about such nonsense in your 25-year-old hotrod :p

I totally get your idea of old-school BMW-ness though (see build thread in my sig) so I understand your leaning towards S38.

[e30m3s54turbo]

I would agree with ^^^Corvallis BMW^^^

I have both e30's with s38 and s54. I would say s54.

[BMW335i]

I haven't owned an e30 with either engine, buy I've driven both engines.

The S38 is old-school technology, and will be more expensive to maintain because of both it's age and the cost of parts. It's also very "peaky", and really has to be revved in order to get power out of it; nothing much happens until 4000rpm.

The S54 will be less expensive to maintain due to age and parts, and will have a lot more support in both OE and the aftermarket. It also pulls much harder across the rev range due to the dual VANOS technology, and obviously makes a good chunk more HP (in the US, 333hp vs 258hp). Also fuel economy will be better, if you care about such nonsense in your 25-year-old hotrod :p

I totally get your idea of old-school BMW-ness though (see build thread in my sig) so I understand your leaning towards S38.

Sorry, I lost you at 333hp vs 258hp.
Does the S38 really deliver 258hp in the USA?

I'm from Europe though, and have the chance of picking me a S38B38.
Believe that engine puts about 340hp and 410nm torque (vs S54's 343hp and 365nm torque).

Have seen some videos on youtube and both S38 and S54 pull about the same.

[BMW335i]

I would agree with ^^^Corvallis BMW^^^

I have both e30's with s38 and s54. I would say s54.

Cool! God bless your E30s.
Which swap was easier to do?

I heard the subframe needs to belowered about an inch to fit the boat anchor S38.

[kronus]

euro S38s are awesome. it's going to be hard to fit either one, but the euro S38 power is very nice.

apparently the B38 is fragile, though, so consider that. S54s have other issues, but there is a ton of them around still, so that's nice. are the legalities of either swap a problem? I'm not sure what the laws in the Netherlands are about engine swaps, but it may be a factor.

[digger]

Can't rely go wrong with either though if you go s38 I'd only choose the b38 otherwise the s54 is well ahead of the other variants in performance terms