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Naturally Aspirated M54B30 Engine Build

773K views 722 replies 98 participants last post by  Blu302 
#1 ·
Bimmerworld (www.bimmerworld.com) is providing technical support throughout the entire car rebuild. For the engine specifically, I'll be sourcing additional "race" components, fuel system components, and engine management electronics through them. Bimmerworld is fielding 3 cars in the 2007 Speed World Challenge Touring Car championship. Information on the team can be found on their website: www.bimmerworldracing.com

VAC Motorsports (www.vacmotorsports.com) will be sourced for all the engine internals and the oil system.

Metric Mechanic (www.metricmechanic.com) initially built the cylinder head as a high performance street head. It's now undergoing flowbench testing and additional porting to develope more airflow. More on this later.

Machine work on the block will be handled locally. I will be doing all of the assembly work myself.



The engine is out of my 330Ci, and it's getting torn down to the block for the complete rebuild.



Is there something wrong with the engine? Nope. I just want more power without compromised reliability. When I approached numerous engine builders with my goals for the M54B30, they all said it couldn't be done without going into the bottom end. So heeding their advice, I'm going to use the best parts available to create a bulletproof bottom end.

The entire build process will be documented in detail on My330i.com in the "General Forum" (www.my330.com) Updates and pictures will be added here as the project progresses.
 
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#3 ·
120k

There was NOTHING wrong with it when I took it out of the car. I was tempted to try using it for the next step of my project, but decided to do it right and build the engine.

FYI, the last time the car was seriously driven was in September when I ran a 12.8 second 1/4mile with it. Since then the car has been in storage, or taken out for grocery runs. LOL
 
#8 ·
The crankshaft is based off of the S52, but is a different stroke.

wow, just got done reading your other thread, why not cut out the spare tire well?
I already have.

Maybe so he can fit a huge bottle of nitrous :eeps:
Actually, I have 4 nitrous bottles, but nitrous isn't the topic here. The removal of the tire well did have something directly to do with the engine though...

:D
 
#9 ·
I thought the stroke was both 89.6mm on the m54b30 and the s52b32? The only difference being the bore of 84mm on the m54 and 86.xx on the s52?

I remember a while back I wanted to swap an s52/m54b30 crank into my 328 to get the same 3.0 displacement.
 
#17 ·
I'm assuming the reason you'd need a larger bore is to reduce the amount of power needed to move the crank? Someone explained this to me before... is this right?
The bore I listed was what would be needed with the 94mm crank to equal the 3.3l displacement you guessed at. You could run the engine with the stock bore no problem.

You're drawing is correct, but it's hard to quantify with our engine. The best way to prove the theory is to have 2 engines with different deck heights to try the same crank with different rod lengths. Longer rod lengths reduce the rod angle seen by the piston. That said, I've got to believe that BMW is doing something right with the design of the M54, as they garnered "Engine of the year" 5 years in a row with the S54. I'm sticking with the stock bottom end design and upgrading the components used.
 
#18 ·
Since you are looking at the bottom end, look at the oil pump. The oil pump shaft on the 330 will break off. This is because the original design is terrible. There are two options that work. Get an upgraded oil pump from TC Kline or get the BMW Motorsport parts. I suggest the TC Kline pump as it's the most cost effective. I tried an alternate oil pump shaft that had a woodruff key and it worked for a while. After about 6 races I checked it and found out that the key was about to shear off. Luckily, TC just came out with his new shaft and it was the answer. After that, I ran 2 yrs with the same pump and never had a problem. I now have two 330 engines with the BMW Motorsport parts and they work but are a bit overkill for a low revving 330.

The only other things I can think of are overheating and rod bolts. Pretty much, this is a function of someone driving the car when you start to lose coolant or they over rev the engine (by missing a downshift). With the stock bottom end, if you zing it to about 10500rpm, it usually shoots out a couple of rods. As for overheating, even if you use studs, it'll still blow the head gasket and pull the threads out of the block. I've fixed enough of thees motors out of driver error and have seen 90% of the ways to destroy these motors.
 
#41 ·
So a few questions...

1) I tried to get onto your website (my330), but it looks like its down...is that just a glitch or is it really down?

2) How much power are you looking to achieve (ballpark)...are we talking m3 numbers (333+) or what?

3) Do you have an expectation on the redline yet? 8000? 10000?

I've got loads more, but will post them later...
 
#42 ·
That's not my website, it's Marvelphx's. I've been getting a few people lately telling me that the site is down, but every time I check it's up. Try this:

http://www.my330i.com/forums/

I'm looking to get around 280 hp on pump fuel, which isn't very far from where I was with the stock head and bottom end. On race fuel, I'm aiming for S54 type #s.

I'll have the redline set at 8000 RPM, although I'm not likely to make power all the way up there with the cams that I have. This is NOT recommended for a stock bottom end. Anything above 8k and I'll have to get a new dash...which for those that know Stack equipment isn't cheap. If I do decide to change the dash again, I'll probably go with a Motec ADL.
 
#44 ·
Those are pretty good questions actually.

With the oil pump nut, there IS a bit of a problem torquing it to "spec". You see it's a reverse thread, and torque wrenches are NOT supposed to be used that way. If you want to properly torque this nut, you need a reverse thread torque wrench...which as far as I know is a specialty item that will cost you big bucks. Not worth it for one nut in my opinion. Most people that take and interest in "fixing" this issue usually weld the nut on or safety wire it. From people that I have talked to about a "torque" spec, everyone seems to go by feel on this, then weld/safetywire the nut.

There is a pressure sensor mounted to the top of the oil distribution block right behind the oil filter. Bimmerworld has a little extension block that attaches to this point and provides ports for stock sensor and a secondary sensor that you could use with a guage. I've got one of these blocks at the shop...but I don't have any pictures of it....
 
#47 ·
Thought I'd post some pictures of product I've recieved for the engine over the past few months.

Innovate LM-1 and LC-1 wideband O2 logging setup to be mounted before the cats:





The LC-1 will monitor the second bank of 3 cylinders and be logged by the LM-1. More sensors are being used, but for now I thought I'd show what I'd recommend to tune AFR on an M54 properly.
 
#48 ·
The VAC Motorsports Oil pump upgrade kit:





It replaces the factory threaded shaft and nut setup with a beefier solid steel shaft and high grade bolt.

Speaking of oil, this is the VAC Motorsports oil pan baffle kit. It's designed to keep oil trapped close to the pickup under high G loads:







 
#49 ·
This is more of a "race" peice than anything else:



For those unfamiliar with what it is, it replaces the entire oil filter and distribution assembly on the stock engine and allows you to mount your own external filter assembly, oil cooler, and multiple oil sensors. More pictures:









More of the "race" oil system kit from VAC Motorsports:



The cooler is nearly the same size as the radiator on most compact cars these days. The red cylinder next to the oil cooler is a Peterson inline oil filter assembly.

A cool picture of the oil cooler:

 
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