For years people have been referencing the engine weights on
and
Most of the engine weights on the 2 pages above are gotten from the weight BMW lists for the part "Short Engine" which can be seen on
For example, this is the page for the US E36 M50 engine:
Although the image for the "Short Engine" part shows the entire engine with both the block and head, these weights are commonly criticized and thought to be way too low and inaccurate for the entire assembled engine as it would be in the car.
I believe using the bmwfans.info is accurate, just not for the entire assembled engine. It obviously doesn't include manifolds and other parts attached to the engine.
But I do believe it includes at least the block and head as the picture shows. I think this because you can add up the weight of the block and head for the engine listed and see that it's much less than the "short engine".
For example:
M20 Short Engine - 257 lb
M20 Engine block with piston - 116 lb
M20 Cylinder head - 26 lb
116 + 26 = 142
So you can see their weight for the "Short Engine" is much more than just the block and head.
If you wanted, you could add up all the engine parts weights listed on that page and see how close it comes to the short engine weight. You could essentially figure out what the short engine includes from this or what the engine weighs with certain parts included. But I know it must be at least the block and head.
Also, on the unix nerd site, he lists most of the engines at the same weight as the bimmerforums FAQ, however, he lists some engines at very different weights than are reported by the short engine weight and the bimmerforums FAQ. I consider his website unreliable for engine weights since he is not consistent with using BMW's "Short Engine" weight or weights from official documentation or press releases.
Also note that the bimmerforums FAQ doesn't list exactly the same weight as the short engine weights on bmwfans.info for all the engines, although for the most part they do.
For example, they list the M50 at 299 lbs which is the same as the bmwfans short engine weight but they list the M30 at 315 lbs which is inconsistent with the bmwfans short engine weight which lists the M30 at the same weight as the m50, ~299 lbs.
Now for some more real realistic engine weights...
This website:
lists BMW engines and their specifications including official weights reported by BMW in technical information documents or press releases. I have confirmed some of the weights and cross referenced them with BMW's reported weight for the ones I could find; and all of the ones I could find the weights for matched up. Going off that, I think it's safe to assume the are consistent with BMW's reported weight. These weights are much more than the "Short Engine" OEM parts weights and I think they are the best source to compare the engine weights since they are consistent with BMW's official documented weights. And these weights are much closer to what people on these forums have weighed fully dressed engines at.
They list almost every BMW engine with specs, however, they don't have weights for that many of them, and there are no weights for engines such as the US iron block M52/S52, but weights for the euro aluminum version.
Here are weights I gathered from that website unless otherwise noted:
Iron block M50B20 and M50B25
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
non-VANOS _ 194 _______ 427.7
VANOS _____ 198 _______ 436.5
The US S50 should be the same as the VANOS M50 and the S52 should be very close to this weight as well.
Aluminum block M52B20 and M52B25
engine _______ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
VANOS _______ 166 _______ 366
Double VANOS _ 177 _______ 390.2
Aluminum block M52B28
engine _______ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
VANOS _______ 170 _______ 374.8
Double VANOS _ 180 _______ 396.8
engine _ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
M54 ___ 170 _______ 375
engine _ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
M60 ___ 210 _______ 463
M62
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
non-VANOS _ 219 _______ 482.8
VANOS _____ 221 _______ 487.2
Weights reported by BMW found elsewhere:
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S85 ________ 240 _______ 529
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S65 ________ 202 _______ 445
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S54 ________ 217 _______ 478
(States the the S65 is 15kg/33lbs more than the S54)
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
N52 ________ 161 ______ 354.9
N54 ________ 195 ______ 430
I will add on to this list if I find anything else or if anyone else does.
Unfortunately I can't find anything for the older engines such as M10, M20, M30, and M42 that are reported by BMW documents or press releases like the ones above.
and
Most of the engine weights on the 2 pages above are gotten from the weight BMW lists for the part "Short Engine" which can be seen on
For example, this is the page for the US E36 M50 engine:
Although the image for the "Short Engine" part shows the entire engine with both the block and head, these weights are commonly criticized and thought to be way too low and inaccurate for the entire assembled engine as it would be in the car.
I believe using the bmwfans.info is accurate, just not for the entire assembled engine. It obviously doesn't include manifolds and other parts attached to the engine.
But I do believe it includes at least the block and head as the picture shows. I think this because you can add up the weight of the block and head for the engine listed and see that it's much less than the "short engine".
For example:
M20 Short Engine - 257 lb
M20 Engine block with piston - 116 lb
M20 Cylinder head - 26 lb
116 + 26 = 142
So you can see their weight for the "Short Engine" is much more than just the block and head.
If you wanted, you could add up all the engine parts weights listed on that page and see how close it comes to the short engine weight. You could essentially figure out what the short engine includes from this or what the engine weighs with certain parts included. But I know it must be at least the block and head.
Also, on the unix nerd site, he lists most of the engines at the same weight as the bimmerforums FAQ, however, he lists some engines at very different weights than are reported by the short engine weight and the bimmerforums FAQ. I consider his website unreliable for engine weights since he is not consistent with using BMW's "Short Engine" weight or weights from official documentation or press releases.
Also note that the bimmerforums FAQ doesn't list exactly the same weight as the short engine weights on bmwfans.info for all the engines, although for the most part they do.
For example, they list the M50 at 299 lbs which is the same as the bmwfans short engine weight but they list the M30 at 315 lbs which is inconsistent with the bmwfans short engine weight which lists the M30 at the same weight as the m50, ~299 lbs.
Now for some more real realistic engine weights...
This website:
lists BMW engines and their specifications including official weights reported by BMW in technical information documents or press releases. I have confirmed some of the weights and cross referenced them with BMW's reported weight for the ones I could find; and all of the ones I could find the weights for matched up. Going off that, I think it's safe to assume the are consistent with BMW's reported weight. These weights are much more than the "Short Engine" OEM parts weights and I think they are the best source to compare the engine weights since they are consistent with BMW's official documented weights. And these weights are much closer to what people on these forums have weighed fully dressed engines at.
They list almost every BMW engine with specs, however, they don't have weights for that many of them, and there are no weights for engines such as the US iron block M52/S52, but weights for the euro aluminum version.
Here are weights I gathered from that website unless otherwise noted:
Iron block M50B20 and M50B25
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
non-VANOS _ 194 _______ 427.7
VANOS _____ 198 _______ 436.5
The US S50 should be the same as the VANOS M50 and the S52 should be very close to this weight as well.
Aluminum block M52B20 and M52B25
engine _______ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
VANOS _______ 166 _______ 366
Double VANOS _ 177 _______ 390.2
Aluminum block M52B28
engine _______ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
VANOS _______ 170 _______ 374.8
Double VANOS _ 180 _______ 396.8
engine _ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
M54 ___ 170 _______ 375
engine _ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
M60 ___ 210 _______ 463
M62
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
non-VANOS _ 219 _______ 482.8
VANOS _____ 221 _______ 487.2
Weights reported by BMW found elsewhere:
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S85 ________ 240 _______ 529
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S65 ________ 202 _______ 445
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
S54 ________ 217 _______ 478
(States the the S65 is 15kg/33lbs more than the S54)
engine _____ weight(kg) _ weight(lbs)
N52 ________ 161 ______ 354.9
N54 ________ 195 ______ 430
I will add on to this list if I find anything else or if anyone else does.
Unfortunately I can't find anything for the older engines such as M10, M20, M30, and M42 that are reported by BMW documents or press releases like the ones above.
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