e36 328i m50 manifold conversion

[11jot]

hi..

i am keen for an m50 manifold on the car.. e36 328i

i like to do things by the book so spoke to my current insurers admiral..

the response -

'they will cover the manifold and the induction kit for an extra 70quid, they wont touch it if throttle body has been changed or it has been "chipped" we dont cover it if it has to go on the rolling road'

im keen to do the conversion, but is it worth it if i cant put a new throttle body on it?
will it make any difference just m50 and induction kit?
whats the score with remapping for the m50? can anyone shed any light on this for me?? can i just get it 'set up' right without a full 'chip'..

sorry im a newbie to bm ownership but really fancy this mod.. rather than rewrite anything please put me in the right direction..

THANKS!!!!!

[rb5230]

i wouldnt bother, they are pretty nippy as standard i doubt the manifold and filter will make a difference that you would actually notice except from the sound, just get an m3.

[TheEnd]

The manifold will make a difference, the insurer has no idea what is going on (explaining it will only be wasting your breath)

They are taking this as sticking an K&N filter on.

[m444ttb]

Rightly or wrongly it's one of those mods an insurance assessor is very unlikely to notice. I bet most dealer mechanics aren't familiar enough with e36's now to notice either. Your judgement on whether to tell them.

As for it being worthwhile then IMO yes it is IF you want to thrash the car. The shift in the torque curve isn't that much of a big deal. I went on to give mine a 3L M3 diff and lightweight flywheel

[4rephill]

For the best results you really need the big bore throttle body as well.

To get the conversion working at it's best it's probably advisable to get the ECU remapped as well.
As the 328i is an OBDII system, you can't re-chip it, it has to have a remap. One advantage of this is that it can be very difficult for someone inspecting the car to detect a remap (but not impossible of they're determined and know what they're looking for).

The upside of the conversion is that the car is more responsive and revs more cleanly at the mid to higher end of the rev range.
The downside is that you lose a bit of low end torque but some people don't really notice it that much.

Also be aware that if your engines got mega miles on it and is basically tired out, you may not notice as much improvement as you might expect.


You need to seek out Alpina527 for the best advice on this subject, He could give BMW themselves a run for their money when it comes to the induction side of the M52 engine.

[Ti22]

I did this conversion for a customer recently.

He reports the car is noticably quicker. For those that don't know, the M52 2.8 was restricted by the inlet manifold, fitting one from an M50 2.5 (which was rated at the same power) liberates 15-20hp. The runners are around double the cross section!

A remap on top can see cars with around 220hp.

It's all BM parts, and there is no power gain froma K&N so undectectable to the insurers.

A Simota/ dave F would give a gain, but it's not factory looking!

The major restriction is the manifold, the throttle body is not much of a gain. I'd leave it (maybe do it afterwards if you're going for ultimate power - but then if you're doing that, put an S50 in)

James

Edited by Ti22 on Friday 22 October 17:16

[sniff diesel]

They only gain from 5000rpm onwards, below that and they loose power and torque:



I personally wouldn't bother on a car running the standard diff ratio, as you will spend too much of your time under 5krpm.