While building up my new (to me) S52 supercharged engine for my E36, I had to decide what to do with the exhaust coming out of the head. Throwing a wrinkle in the plans is that I need to keep my stock catalytic converter pipe in place to pass my local county emissions (I was …
Continue reading Turner Motorsport (TMS) Equal Length Shorty Headers for my BMW E36
There's been a lot of parts, time and effort to get the S52 swap to this point but the final stage has finally come! In this post, I'm going to take you through the final steps of putting the S52 in place, plumbing in a Grassroots Performance oil cooler setup and installing a Spal puller …
Continue reading BMW E36 S52 Engine Swap – Completed with Oil Cooler and Spal Fan Installation
My S52 engine has around 130,000 miles on it and I honestly don't know how it's been treated over its life. Has it always received regular oil changes? Has it been abused at high rpm over extended durations? Has it been rev'd to a high rpm before the oil has even had a chance to …
Continue reading BMW E36 – M50 / S50 / M52 / S52 Connecting Rod Bearing Replacement & Upgrade
As part of the preparations for the S52 swap into my E36, I have to make sure the cylinder head for my S52 motor is well built and ready for boost. When I saw my S52 running in the E30 that is was pulled from, I could see a little smoke coming through the valve …
Continue reading BMW E36 – M50 / S50 / M52 / S52 High Performance Head Rebuild & Upgrade
One of the biggest known issues with BMW E36 chassis cars is the fragility of certain critical cooling system components. The main OEM components that have known weaknesses (even in non-racing applications) are the plastic thermostat housing, radiator with plastic end tanks, plastic clutch driven cooling fan and water pump with plastic impeller. Notice a …
Continue reading BMW E36 – Stewart Warner Water Pump vs OEM Style Welded Steel Impeller
One of the most notorious shortcomings of the BMW M50 family of engines (which includes the S52) is the oil pump. The oil pump is basically the heart of the engine and is responsible for supplying oil throughout the entire engine (from main bearings to valve lifters) to keep the engine operating as it should. …
Continue reading BMW E36 S52 Engine Swap –Upgraded PRD Oil Pump and Chain Tensioner
I just came across a deal to good to pass up and I'm now planning to swap in the 3.2 liter S52 motor (157k miles) from a 1997 BMW M3 in place of my current M50 (2.5 liter) motor! The compression numbers tested very well for this S52 with less than a 10 psi variance …
Continue reading BMW E36 S52 Engine Swap – Long Block Strip and Planning
Brent Ford Racing 