Recipe for near 4 digit horsepower numbers from an m50 or so?

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Which M50 would you recommend for that? I would imagine Vanos tuning is a bitch?

Every high hp turbo m50 i see is non vanos

[lambo]

slightly off topic, but what is everyone's opinion on ARP hardware? kind of seems over the top for most FI builds, since many junkyard blocks are out there pushing big numbers.

Cheap elimination of one area of failure.

[Exodus_2pt0]

Talk to my buddy vlad? Im sure he'll let you know how to get 1000hp out of your audi his 900whp one is up for sale for 16k

Not yet, but I need to pick his brain.

The aforementioned turbo M30 powered 318 owned by Otis (Good & Tight) is an all out drag car, but on the street lacks traction and makes... 550whp? or so. A lot less than you're talking about. He babies the thing on the street because it's just an insane car (ran 10.08 @134mph in the 1/4mi). I can't imagine driving an E30 with more power than that. The suspension geometry which toes out and cambers in when it squats, the lack of space for giant supercar-tier wheels and tires, it just seems like it would have no traction at all.

I say do it! :up: :popcorn:

You can easily make 700hp reliably from an M50 block with S52 or M52 crank, forged internals a must. Stock tranny will not last long, stock axles will snap like kit kats, drive shaft will twist like a twizzler..ect.... More than enough to scare the crap out of anyone.

I've seen most M50/S52 in the 800-900hp+ build not last long, either lifting heads, blown gaskets and rods.

This is making me think maybe I'll be better off just continuing with the S4 route and being happy with whatever I can get out of it. Single 6262 on E85 should put me where I want to be, and I won't need to go crazy to make it work.

It does seem to be that short of going the LSx route, attaining anything past 700 crank is going to be sketchy no matter what route I go. I need to just get over my want for different shit and just stick with a car. Maybe a VR swap isn't such a bad Idea. I've always wanted to do a long term project.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

http://youtu.be/CgN-SSh2Cx8

Thing is stupid fast. Video says 770 but could of swore he said he was closer to 900

[Northern]

Send boris some messages, I'm sure with all the crazy shit on his drag car he's got to be making well over 1k hp. He's running custom 1/2" ARP's to hold the head on with all the boost/NOS, but if you don't have a death wish, 11mm S54 ARP's seem to be the way to go (they fit inside the stock dowels/bolt holes through the head) if you're going to be pushing the limit enough to overpower the 10mm M5x ARP's

[varg]

You can also ditch the audi and all of the related audi headaches and build something faster and way more unassuming but still AWD, like Nisse did.

[mr2peak]

E30IX has at least as many headaches, probably more at that power level

[varg]

E30IX has at least as many headaches, probably more at that power level

Nah, because you have to rebuild the entire drivetrain to take that in the first place, all of the failure-prone stock parts are gone :grin:

Much easier to work on too.

I wish Nisse would chime in and tell us more about his build and how often it breaks. The thing is ridiculously fast.

[Kershaw]

After owning IXs for the last 6 years, they are too much trouble. If I were to get another e30, it would be rwd. Rwd is just so much more fun.

Also, awd grip really is very good. So good you'll break stuff. I popped my front diff last summer on a hard launch. Wasn't fun. Stock power. A few weeks ago my AWD stopped having a limited slip center diff. Now it's shit mode awd. Another thing to fix.

IXs are too much bullshit. They're not the simplicity the rest of the e30 is.

[stonea]

E30IX has at least as many headaches, probably more at that power level

Nisse used the 525ix drivetrain from the e34 so all of the serious weakness problems have been addressed, but it definitely wasn't plug and play.

[Northern]

But E34 IX is Euro only, and very low production. Many parts are even more expensive than the already expensive 325ix parts. Not a great option for most of us, IMO.

[E30_Narek]

There's a guy on Instagram (Jonasgranath I think it's spelled) that has an E30 M3 with an M50 swap. There's a video of his car on low boost and it's pushing like 700 whp. Maybe you could ask him about it?

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Nisse used the 525ix drivetrain from the e34 so all of the serious weakness problems have been addressed, but it definitely wasn't plug and play.

Yea and since the 525ix is euro only if you find a drive train here your looking at around 3k for it.