Let's talk M52TU upgrades

Originally Posted by dco5000

Facing the need to get a new head from my cracked m52tu. Any more confirm / deny on ability to use a m54 head as a direct bolt-in?

Thanks all!

Yes, they are interchangeable.

It would be much easier and profitable if you just took weight out of your car. My car is 3180 to 3220 with me in it (6'3 200lbs) 1/8th to 1/4 of a tank. If you get any gains at all. I'd assume it's less than 2whp. Unless this is a hobby it's a waste of time imo. GL though be sure to post the graphs

^ nay sayers ...

It's a simple concept. You don't spend money on things you don't know that will work. UNTIL you've already spent money on all the things that will work. I'm not gonna try to get 1hp outta my car at any expense. When I can take out a 50lb tire and get a better hp/wt ratio.

its a gain across the range, it breaths better, great for future mods too.
and most importantly, it aint your money.

Originally Posted by snikwad

its a gain across the range, it breaths better, great for future mods too.
and most importantly, it aint your money.

It's nothing till the graphs show up Most importantly, I'm trying to save people money. For those future mods that work

well the guy needs a new head anyway, so why the hell not. hmm

Originally Posted by JD_RFTR

I know, it`s been 2 years since nobody wrote, but, If you`ll enter this thread again, please sen me also the TB drawings in AutoCAD

Hi, ive just seen on a thread that you asked for a cad drawing for a tb plate adaptor for m52tu to m54b30. do you have this cad drawing you could send me?

Dan

Originally Posted by danielturneredge1

Hi, ive just seen on a thread that you asked for a cad drawing for a tb plate adaptor for m52tu to m54b30. do you have this cad drawing you could send me?

Dan

do some searching, there is a dude that makes them and sells them now.

I offer an adaptor plate for this purpose for $39.99 USD plus shipping. From my experience, you can't even make one yourself at this price. Let me know if your interested.

I have a M54B25 manifold, not a B30, so th estd pattern will be different for the throttle body adaptor that you are selling.

Someone has just emailed me a CAD drawing for a M54 manifold, so Im going to get that redesigned for my amnifold, then get it made for FREE :-)

Perfect, If you can get that done for free, then by all means. As far as I know, the bolt pattern is the same.

Hi,

This weekend I fitted my M54B25 manifold to my M52tu 328ci. Attempted to do it on my own on Saturday (big mistake)! I managed to take the manifold off at the end of the day dropping various nuts and bolts in the engine bay, what a difficult mod this is. Next day a friend helped me fit the bits from the old manifold to the new one. Again an all day job, what a nightmare to do. ICV wouldn't fit in the bung on the new man, I nearly short circuited the starter motor with the positive clamp after trying to get it back on! Could only alter the throttle cable so much, so throttle will only open 3/4 open. There is still to much slack, so have left it for now until I can have another weekend to fiddle with it.*

Once everything was back together, one turn with the key and fuel spurts out of one of the injectors! Another 1 hour fixing this. Try again... cars starts but sounds like a washing machine with engine light on, and wont idle properly so after 2 minutes I cut the engine off.

I start it back up and everything magicaly works fine, which is odd (still engine light on though), I take it for a test run and after its warmed up its feels so much smoother. It seems to pull a hell of a lot more from 1500 RPM, but top end seems to be the same as before, which I think is down to the throttle body not being able to open fully, it does idle so sweet now though. engine light did go off after 15 mins.

Left it day and started to drive to work and engine light came back on and engine sounded rough again! 10 minutes later it was fine again.

How long does it take for the ECU to recalibrate itself to the new manifold??? Is the engine just throwing a wobbler because I've ripped it to bits then put it back together again???

By the way if anyone wants a TB adaptor plate for the M54B25 to M52tu engine. I have a spare one I can sell you.

are you certain you recovered all bolts that fell in.

The CEL is for your Throttle Position Sensor. You need to have a buddy floor the gas pedal and then get your hand down on the adjustment and turn it until it's recovered all of it's slack. Give it 200 miles of city driving to adapt.

I recovered all bolts bar one manifold nut which i dont think is too much of an issue. i did get a mate to adjust the throttle adjuster whilst i was in the car but i'd run out of adjust on the bolt so couldnt take anymore slack up. on full throttle the tb is not opening fully still. my car has done 135k miles and the accelerator pedal has always been stiff so maybe the cable just streched too far over the years to be adjusted. i think thats why i cant really notice any top end gain.

Any updates on this, Daniel?

Sorry for the late reply. everything has settled down after a couple of weeks or even a month. But the top end is really noticable now. one guy wrote on here he forgot to shift because of the new torque curve and its true. it keeps pulling after 6krpm. in hene sight a b30 prob would have been better but would have cost me another 100 quid to do the diy. i havent readjusted the throttle cable again though. i think ill live with that.

Sorry for the late reply. everything has settled down after a couple of weeks or even a month. But the top end is really noticable now. one guy wrote on here he forgot to shift because of the new torque curve and its true. it keeps pulling after 6krpm. in hene sight a b30 prob would have been better but would have cost me another 100 quid to do the diy. i havent readjusted the throttle cable again though. i think ill live with that.