m54b30 Intake cam into m52b28

[Arborguy 7]

I'm seeing a lot of contradicting information regarding this "upgrade" for an M52.

What is everyone's experience with camshafts in their m52's? This swap involves using the intake cam from a m54b30 on the intake side and a non vanos m50b25 cam on the exhaust side of the single vanos M52.

While there are some fantastic aftermarket options, they all seem very expensive (including used M3 cams). Any input or personal appreciated would be appreciated. I also see that this has been touched on before but don't believe there has been any feedback from someone who has done the swap.

 

Thanks.

[Mr Vapour 76]

Yes this would be good to know . I will be watching 

[Mr Vapour 76]

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1758443-m54b30-cams-into-m52-head

Have a look at this. 

My understanding of it is it gets tricky with vanos and non vanos cams and timing tools 

About post 10 he has a combo worked out that will work. 

[Mad_Max 231]

I too am following this..... given the expense of aftermarket cams as previously mentioned, I'm actually looking at getting my cams reground instead to try and avoid all these issues.

Will be interesting to know what other people's input is.

[*Glenn* 854]

Grinding the cams will create a lot more expense because the head will have to come off to rest the valve heights 

[polley 916]

5 hours ago, *Glenn* said:

Grinding the cams will create a lot more expense because the head will have to come off to rest the valve heights 

what

[Arborguy 7]

Don't forget that this is for both sides.  This includes running a m50b25(non vanos) intake cam on the exhaust side of the m52. 

 

This means that both cams will be 240° with 9.7mm lift. 

 

I also have a local engineer who's been machining up things for me for a long time and does work very cheap so there won't be much cost with modifying the m54 cam. 

 

On a side note, has anyone had experience with having cams ground?

[zero 1162]

How much hp increase is expected from the m54b30 intake and m50b25 exhaust cams?

I would think it wouldn't be much more than 10hp?

[Arborguy 7]

Going back to cam grinding.

I haven't contacted anyone for a quote but is there any reason why a ground cam would be inferior to a purpose made cam with the same duration and lift specs? I would imaging the rest of the valvetrain would work with an aftermarket cam without making adjustments.

 

[*Glenn* 854]

Exactly what I was implying as well Ron. I've been caught before with rebuilt cams. One was a very costly exercise. The hydraulic buckets on the BMW's have small working tolerances . Back circles must be perfect or the hydraulic element will just pump up and the valve won't seat correctly in the closed position with a loss of compression

[*Glenn* 854]

I looked at ways to get around this when I was preparing to do a very special engine build, however I couldn't find a manufacturer that built buckets for puks in the same diameter as the BMW lifters... then I became a grand father and couldn't be f**ked any more. Most performance built engines use more positive valve systems that don't rely on hydraulics... just look at the Ducati desmo system. My interests have changed over the last few years.... anyone want to talk about solar  

Edited July 29, 2016 by *Glenn*

[*Glenn* 854]

I'm just doing the white snail variety that can do 100kph up the Bombays and pulls over for dickheads that want to do 140kph and then sit in front of you for 20 kilometers at 90kph

[polley 916]

1 hour ago, *Glenn* said:

I looked at ways to get around this when I was preparing to do a very special engine build, however I couldn't find a manufacturer that built buckets for puks in the same diameter as the BMW lifters... then I became a grand father and couldn't be f**ked any more. Most performance built engines use more positive valve systems that don't rely on hydraulics... just look at the Ducati desmo system. My interests have changed over the last few years.... anyone want to talk about solar  

I believe steve murch had sourced some shims for the hydraulic lifters to take up the extra slack.

 

Solar... Just installed a 500w system on a boat. Also have built a dual axis solar tracker ( keeps panels parallel to sun), currently showing around 30% gains and usable power comes on a lot earlier in the morning and stays longer in the afternoon.