OBD1 M52 318i

[Three3sheaven]

Seemed like the 318i brake master cylinder is no longer available everywhere, so if anyone was frantically searching forums like I was to see if a 325i master cylinder fits a 318i .... yes it fits and worked just fine, for me at least.

Installed MC and bled the brakes, most hated job in the world, as I always make a mess and everything gets covered in brake fluid. signed up for an autocross event too

[2mAn]

OBD1 M52 318i

There's these bottles with a funny cap that fit on the nipples and you bleed the fluid right into the bottle, no mess.

Glad to see you're all done now

[Three3sheaven]

Well, bad news. The teardown begins. Cooling system was acting up, long story short I have a bad head/head gasket. Pressurized the cooling system with the spark plugs out and got a few tablespoons of water in cylinder 5. Deciding where to go from here - I would get the head resurfaced and cleaned so I'm deciding if I should just buy a head from autoheadperformace instead. Might go s52 cams while I'm at it if I can find some

[Three3sheaven]

Finally got all the work done. Removed the head and it was not cracked but coolant was leaking by the head gasket. Got it resurfaced and a new head gasket.

Installed s52 cams while I was at it and just fired it up last night with no issues! Its a PITA of a job, but it should be worth it once I get new chip for the cams. Pics later hopefully

[Javier h]

Cams

I though about doing it but the more I read, it appears to rob horses at the lower end. I dont want the car to start moving after 3500 rpm. I rather have it sooner.

Let me know how the drives go.

[wworm]

just buzzed through this. Do you still have those treehouse CABs? gonna need a set to run oem headers for CA smog regs. Ive heard great things about running s52 cams in a b28

[Three3sheaven]

I though about doing it but the more I read, it appears to rob horses at the lower end. I dont want the car to start moving after 3500 rpm. I rather have it sooner.

Let me know how the drives go.

I've heard similar, but I've also heard that with the right tune the loss of any torque on the low end can be unnoticeable. Either way I'm happy I did the S52 cams otherwise after the long hours of work to replace the head gasket at least I have an upgrade to show for it. Motivation I guess. Ill let you know how it compares to the M52 cams.

[Three3sheaven]

just buzzed through this. Do you still have those treehouse CABs? gonna need a set to run oem headers for CA smog regs. Ive heard great things about running s52 cams in a b28

Yes I do, want to buy them? PM me if so

[Codym42]

Nice swap! I'm buying s52 cams for mine soon as well. Looking forward to hearing your review of them.

[Javier h]

Thanks man

You hear things like "you have to wait 200 miles for them to break in" or you need to do a tune, larger injectors etc. but I would love to hear a good no nonsense honest review with just the cams and a tune being the sole difference.

I've heard similar, but I've also heard that with the right tune the loss of any torque on the low end can be unnoticeable. Either way I'm happy I did the S52 cams otherwise after the long hours of work to replace the head gasket at least I have an upgrade to show for it. Motivation I guess. Ill let you know how it compares to the M52 cams.

[wworm]

I though about doing it but the more I read, it appears to rob horses at the lower end. I dont want the car to start moving after 3500 rpm. I rather have it sooner.

Let me know how the drives go.

You can also run an m54b30 intake cam if you trim the vanos gear down 5mm and it seems to be a bit of an upgrade. Probably significantly less than s52 cams but I doubt itd have even close to as much of an effect on the midrange if any. I have yet to see any hard evidence with power figures though.

[Three3sheaven]

Well here is my honest review of the s52 cams (with TRM tune for them).
Can you feel the difference? Yes. Is it a crazy difference? Not particularly.

I would still do them if I had to do it over again, especially since I had the head/cams out anyways. They really aren't too hard to change anyways, so If you can get them for a decent price, why not.

On another note, I searched a lot for the following piece of information, so ill share it in case someone else comes across a similar issue:

I marked my timing chain to the primary exhaust sprocket, and the 2 vanos sprockets to their respective chain when disassembling. I then installed the s52 cams and if I were to have assembled the car using my marks, the car would not be running.. For me, the s52 cams changed the angle of the sprocket and I needed to jump a tooth or 2 on the secondary exhaust sprocket in order to get the vanos holes to line up in the slots and have full vanos travel. If you've looked into the job, hopefully that makes sense. Assembling it with the marks I made not lining up was hard to accept, but I had no codes and it runs great after it is all done.

[Javier h]

Thank you

Have you ever driven an M3 E36 S52?

Did you lose power at the lower end with the cam or basically, it drives the same in terms of the band width just a bit more kick?

I didnt rebuild my M52, just installed a headgasket and did the timing guides while I was in there.

For me, and this is just me, if I wanted more power, I would get into an M3 E36 s52. Like most, I have driven an M3 and while the power isn't crazy, it definitely feels peppier and "effortless". People add M50 manifolds etc...and perhaps the gains are there but I rather keep the whole thing simple as it came from the factory.

Glad everything worked out for you. Did you every consider rebuilding the engine? Always wondered whether that would produce more power.

[Three3sheaven]

I have driven an e36 m3, though it was years ago so its hard to compare. I would love to "race" one. I may get flamed but I think I would win in gears 1-3 for sure, but 4-5 the m3 would likely take me, especially since I still have a 4.10 LSD. The e30 weighs quite a bit less. Id say your statement regarding the s52 cams is correct "it drives the same in terms of the band width just a bit more kick"

From dyno results I have seen with my setup (m52, m50 manifold, s52 cams, 21.5lb injectors, lightweight flywheel, tune, etc.) they seem to be around that 210-220whp I think

I never really considered a full rebuild, I haven't had a chance to drive the thing with all the small issues and leaks coming up. When I sent my head off it had a valve job and all that so I'm sure the head seals better now, but I didn't touch the bottom end.

[Three3sheaven]

Well I figured I would update. Just as I am getting everything to where I want it and fix all the small issues after motor swap, I think I may have to sell unfortunately... I just had a baby on Christmas day and daycare costs about as much as my mortgage so it would be nice to use the sale money to pay off some student loans.

Honest opinions on price.. is 8000-9000 too high?
Looking to sell locally on craigslist and on here if I really need to. To review: 1991 318i 160k miles on body 130ish on M52 motor. M3 Transmission. New reconditioned head with s52 cams. LTW flywheel, TRM tune, new upgraded clutch, exhaust, new sensors when motor installed, coil overs, lots of new suspension components, etc.. I would get more in depth on for sale ad