Bmw e36 m50 block turbocharging

[Drifter17a]

All,


I own a 328i with m52 engine

I have seen some posts on the internet people achieving 350whp plus on m50 turbo on budget build

My understanding is m52 is aluminum and m50 is cast iron


I think most scrap yards know what m50 is used for hence their price is £600+ for an engine where as m52 with aluminium block cost half that price

Is that a reasonable price to pay?

I have seen one asking for £700 including delivery which was taken from a car that had done 150k

Re turbo, would you do turbocharging on m50 vanos or non vanos?

[The Wookie]

Worth noting that there is an iron version of the M52 block that was fitted in countries with poor quality fuel. My South African Defender has one, and I believe all of the US E36's were fitted with them too.

[Drifter17a]

Do you mean the nikasel or nickle layer on the piston bore?

Not sure of the right name

[The Wookie]

No as in the whole block casting is iron instead of aluminium

[Sammo123]

£600!!! I recently sold a bare M50B25 engine for £200 and had it advertised for about 18 months. It was a struggle to get that much for it. Don't bother looking in scrap yards. Keep an eye on eBay and the various E36 Facebook groups. These engines come up for sale for much less than £600!

[Drifter17a]

well in 2 month, cheapest i saw was £400 but wanted to be collected

further there is not a single 325 in auto trader( there was one at £700)
nothing on ebay either

so unless you are a dealer or scrap yard to pick them up, chances are you won't find them that cheap on ebay or gumtree