Catchy title huh? :buttrock :laugh

Anyways... so I'm thinking of picking up a 328is. A 1997 to be exact. What motor "code" do I have? M54?

Anyways... it has about 74,000KM (that's about 45981 miles for my American buddies). Just wondering if I have to do much to the engine before I swap on a supercharger?! I'm really interested in making this 2.8l I6 motor forced induction.

Anyways, information is what I'm looking for, hopefully someone can help out this Ex-Volkswagen owner.

Cheers!

your engine would be a M52B28
good for 190 hp and 215 tq IIRC

enjoy the car!

Originally posted by Tetatdo
your engine would be a M52B28
good for 190 hp and 215 tq IIRC

enjoy the car!

Thanks Tetatdo. I don't officially have it yet, hopefully in the next few days. The buyer for my car is just confirming everything with his bank.

Anyways... forgive my newbie BMW knowledge, but the M52 is the engine code and the B28 is what exactly? Or maybe M52B28 is the whole code... AWW!!! I'm confused now. :astromile :emo

So 190HP and 215TQ IIRC means what? At the wheels? This is before any supercharger I'm guessing. :chix :az:

M52 is the engine series, B28 denotes displacement.

M is the standard BMW code, S is the ///M division code.

So, an S50B30 means a ///M engine, 50 series, 3.0 liter displacement.

S52B32 means ///M engine, 52 series, 3.2 liter

There's a couple other things you might see in BMW engine codes, for instance M52tuB28, where the "tu" stands for technical upgrade..that engine was used on the E46 and very late model Z3's.

You can also see something like S50B30us, where the "us" denotes a United States market engine. The US market '95 M3 had this engine, and it needed the "us" since it was a very different engine compared to the Euro M3 engine of the same displacement.

Horsepower was 190 at the CRANK for the M52, and torque at 198 crank, by the way.

Wheel horsepower and torque both are going to be somewhere around 160 if the car is healthy and stock.

Get the compression tested, if it checks out ok, you should have no problems with a 6 to 8 PSI supercharger kit, especially with your low miles.

Active Autowerkes and Dinan both make good kits for the 328, both will put you in the 250-270 crank horsepower range, about 210-220 at the wheels. That makes you a bit more powerful than a stock M3, but the M3 is geared better, so it'd be a close match.

Great information -- really appreciated. Thanks Croak.

Anymore information you or anyone else can provide for me?? Information regarding anything really. Motor. Interior. Electrical. Transmission. Whatever. :)

Originally posted by Croak
Active Autowerkes and Dinan both make good kits for the 328, both will put you in the 250-270 crank horsepower range, about 210-220 at the wheels. That makes you a bit more powerful than a stock M3, but the M3 is geared better, so it'd be a close match.

Interesting. From my observations in the past, stock 328IS's have kept up with stock M3's just fine. Anyone else ever notice this? Or did the M3's in these scenarios just have bad drivers? :dunno

Goodluck with your 328! :)

Huh?:confused: Are you saying you know of a stock 328 that can keep up with a stock m3? That doesnt sound right, 50hp & better gearing should make a big difference in acceleration.

Originally posted by mikeinsanmarcos
Huh?:confused: Are you saying you know of a stock 328 that can keep up with a stock m3? That doesnt sound right, 50hp & better gearing should make a big difference in acceleration.

Yes sir! :eek: Maybe the difference was the experience in the launch.

Weird, I have raced 330's on the hwy and they couldnt keep up with me. I didnt destroy them but pulled away steadily. I cant imagine how bad it would be for a 328. Guess that just proves that drivers have more influence than I thought.

Originally posted by mikeinsanmarcos
Weird, I have raced 330's on the hwy and they couldnt keep up with me. I didnt destroy them but pulled away steadily. I cant imagine how bad it would be for a 328. Guess that just proves that drivers have more influence than I thought.

I'm just wondering if maybe the BMW #'s for torque/hp from the factory were underrated.

Nope, there's plenty of dyno data on the 2.8 engine, confirming BMW's numbers. 50 hp less power at the wheels, give or take. Same curb weight. 2.93 vs 3.15 or 3.23 gearing.

So the 328 models have a 2.93 final gear ratio -- what if you swapped it out for the 3.15 or 3.23? Reduction or increase in power?

Lower the final gear ratio the faster top speed, lower acceleration? Or vice-versa?

You've got it right, the lower the ratio is the higher the top speed (theoretical) and the lower the acceleration. 3.15 lsd swaps are pretty popular along with 3.38's on 328's.

The 97 328's have a rear open diff? Or is there some form of electronic differential locking device? EDL perhaps?