Zephyr's Lachs M52B30 Stroker Build **ITBs**

[Metallated]

Replaced a couple parts on the transmission,



And finally got the engine in the car!!
Very happy it's finally coming together, just need to bolt everything together, goal is to have it up and running in a couple weeks.

[Metallated]

Got the engine bolted up but with the head on and the iron block l6 my shitty engine stand bent...



Ended up moving it onto a cart made by Adam.Nonnis which worked great to wheel the engine out to the car:

[Metallated]

Slow progress on assembling the engine but progress nonetheless...

On another note I'm not all that happy with the color of the engine bay, should I paint it black? Opinions?

Also secured the oil pump nut, super easy actually...

[Northern]

That picture is perfect. I'm interested because I recently milled 1.25mm off some M52 pistons for a low CR bottom end, and I was worried about the remaining thickness at the edge. It certainly doesn't look like I should worry.

[Metallated]

Sub'd.

I've been working on a similar build; M52B28 alu block with M54 pistons, M52 rods, M54B30 crank and S52 cams.

Using new Mahle rings on the M54 pistons.

...

Also, I know this flies in the face of a budget build, but I would strongly recommend to get the rotating assembly balanced. Depending on your intended use for the car/ motor, it would be cheap insurance against the documented issues of harmonic vibrations resulting from the long stroke of the B30 crank.

Anyway, enjoying the pics so far! Good luck with the build!

Thanks for the advice and best of luck with your build!

I'm using the entire rotating assembly in the same order so I am hoping it will already be balanced enough, but if I were using different pistons and rods I would certainly get it balanced.

I'm kind of late to the ballgame here, but did you happen to take any measurements of the ringland thicknesses between M52 and M54 pistons? Also the thickness between the crown and first land?

From the picture it looks like the M52 is thicker, or it might just be how far the ring is poking out on one vs the other.

09/01/2002 there was a change to 11237513862 for all M54 engines.

I only measured the oil control ring gap, but not the ring lands. I do believe the m52 ones are thicker, and I know all of the rings are the same aside from the oil control rings. The m52 rings fit and the assembly rotates well :)

Here are a couple photos that makes them easy to compare, the crown to first land certainly looks longer on the m52.

M52:



M54:



Don't worry, I cleaned up all the m54 pistons nicely before putting them back in..

[Northern]

I'm kind of late to the ballgame here, but did you happen to take any measurements of the ringland thicknesses between M52 and M54 pistons? Also the thickness between the crown and first land?

From the picture it looks like the M52 is thicker, or it might just be how far the ring is poking out on one vs the other.



^ and yeah, all M52's in NA run the rear mounted hall sensor for CPS. MS41.0 engines in european and other markets ran the front mount sensor.

Early NA M52's came with the same M52 trigger wheel/damper you have. Late in production they dropped the trigger wheel like the M54 balancer.

This late balancer (11231438995) xref's to all M52 and M54 variants including the M54b30, so I want to assume they weren't crank specific.

09/01/2002 there was a change to 11237513862 for all M54 engines.

[NufnSus]

Sub'd.

I've been working on a similar build; M52B28 alu block with M54 pistons, M52 rods, M54B30 crank and S52 cams.

Using new Mahle rings on the M54 pistons.

One unforeseen hiccup I encountered so far was the placement of the CKP; on the M52, readings are taken from the large trigger wheel on the front, while the M54 reads from a smaller trigger wheel fixed to the rear of the crank. If you use the vibration damper for the M54 (which is tuned to a different frequency than the M52), you are left with no choice but to use the M54 trigger wheel (unless you buy a stupidly expensive ATI damper).
Since Aus-delivered cars are essentially Euro spec, I'm not sure if the same differences apply to US engines, but I made a thread over on another forum to discuss the use of dampers and subsequently trigger wheels on these stroker builds - might be of interest to you;

http://www.bmwforums.com.au/showthread.php/46422-Vibration-Damper-options-for-M52-M54-stroker

Edit: not relevant to you - looking back on your pictures, it seems that your M52 crank already had the trigger wheel located on the rear, supporting the assumption that this change occurred earlier (from release?) in M52 US engines than it did in the Euro versions, since the latter seemed to have only been updated with the introduction of the M52TU.

Also, I know this flies in the face of a budget build, but I would strongly recommend to get the rotating assembly balanced. Depending on your intended use for the car/ motor, it would be cheap insurance against the documented issues of harmonic vibrations resulting from the long stroke of the B30 crank.

Anyway, enjoying the pics so far! Good luck with the build!

[Metallated]

Por15'd the engine bay to prevent rust.

[Metallated]

Trimmed the intake cam:







It makes a great pinky ring ;D

I'm also selling my red valve cover to fund the build, so let me know if any of you are interested:

[Metallated]

So I went ahead and measured the piston rings and piston ring gaps on the pistons. And they're all compatible between M52 and M54!

The benefit with the older rings, although they increase drag, is that they wear less, and don't leak oil when they do. I believe the new design is why high mileage E46's are notorious for burning oil.



M54 pistons with both types of rings:



First piston is in!



M54 compared to M52 pistons at top dead center:



And the rest are installed



All the opinion and insight on the piston rings has been great, I'm much more confident about the m52 rings, even though they are used.

Next up is trimming the M54 intake cam vanos gear and POR15'ing the engine bay

[Metallated]

https://www.cliosport.net/threads/e3...717773/page-13

Pretty good information.

Thanks for the link!

[cali_e30]

https://www.cliosport.net/threads/e36-track-day-hack-m52-m54-3-0l-engine-build.717773/page-13

Pretty good information.

[Metallated]

Yes, I do believe you are correct, however they are coated and supposedly caused much of the oil consumption issues many of the high mileage m54s saw. Again, I have never personally used them, this is just what I have been told by a few engine builders.

Those Grant rings I linked are quite affordable and are supposedly of good quality.

Sorry to derail your thread OP, carry on with the good stuff!

I agree with you about the oil consumptoon, this is what I've heard as well. I think it has to do with the newer oil ring design that produces less drag by using a carbon ring coating which wears easily, but is also less beefy, this is why I'm gonna try and use the m52 oil rings.

[Metallated]

Awesome! I'll have to swing by sometime to see the progress. We're now '88 lachs bro's :)

Congrats, I take it you must have sold the 318iS?

Thanks! Yeah definitely, come check it out sometime.
And yeah haha I guess so, yours is cleaner though :)

I sold the 318 for more than I bought it for, but I was pretty hard on the car - I also did a lot of work to it though so I think I came out even.

[TFJR]

Awesome! I'll have to swing by sometime to see the progress. We're now '88 lachs bro's :)

Congrats, I take it you must have sold the 318iS?