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In Reply to: 85 E28 M5 motor time posted by Alex on March 14, 2001 at 16:09:57:
Gustave Stroes has an excellent E30 M3 website that details his full E30 M3 2.5L conversion, including some blue-printing techniques. You can buy all the special tools necessary from any tool supplier, and you can farm out the block and head work--no problem!
You'll want new forged pistons, rings, lightweight wrist pins, bearings, seals, some new valves, some new guides, and new timing gear (chain, tensioners, sprockets, etc). You can get the rods reconditioned or get new Pauter, Crower, or Carillo forged rods--costs more than reconditioned, but they're lighter, stronger, and really cool. You can also try a Schrick intake cam to increase upper RPM power. A mild cam should not affect mid-range torque too much. Two aftermarket cams will leave you with poor low-end but really scream once you hit 3000. The parts bill will run $1500-5000, depending on what kind of deals you can get and how many modifications you do. Suppliers include:
Top End Performance -- Pistons by JE, rings, seals, block work, head work.
bimmerworld -- OE replacement parts and aftermarket upgrades
Turner Motorsport -- Aftermarket upgrades, OE parts, head work.
Korman Autoworks -- Aftermarket upgrades, OE parts, head work, engine rebuilds, dyno tuning. Expensive, good reputation, expensive. They are familiar with M1s and earlier Euro M88 engines, and they are expensive.
Dinan also does stroker kits for the M88/S38. They're very expensive, but they have a great reputation. There are 3 US E28 M5s that I know of with 460-475HP Dinan Turbo engines. These are NLA, so you'll have to settle for a 350HP stroker. The Dinan 3.9L uses a custom forged alloy steel crank, and I think their other strokers and other companies use welded cranks. I'd stay away from that just out of principle, but they're probably 100% OK for street/school applications. Just not full-on racing. You'll spend anywhere from $8000-$15,000 getting the engine rebuilt entirely somewhere else.
Metric Mechanic does great engine work. Ed Teller (www.bmws.freeservers.com) has a MM 3.7L M30 stroker in his 535is. They also appear to have a good price on a complete M88/S38 engine.
Don Fields in NJ does head work on M engines. He doesn't have a website (I don't think). I can find his number if you're interested. Don did the head work on Jim Butterworth's and Gustave Stroes' 2.5L S14 engines.
Check out Gustave's site. He details the hardest procedures when rebuilding any engine, but there are hundreds of guys out there with only high-school educations (or less) building 600+HP NASCAR and Trans-Am engines. It's all in the care you take. If you're doing it yourself, send the head off for rebuilding and send the block to a local race shop with the new pistons to get bored. Make sure they know what kind of alloy the pistons are and how high the rev limiter will be set. It determines the piston to wall clearance. Top End Performance does block work if you want someone familiar with BMW engines.
Buy good torque wrenches, a micrometer (good for measuring shim thickness & journal diameter), and a dial gauge, and you can go to town! If you're never going to touch them again, sell them when you're done. Get books on building high-performance engines. The specs are different, but the concepts are all the same. See if you can find books that are specifically for modern high-revving engines, not the old American iron.
I rebuilt a 535 engine and did a valve job back when I was 18. Easy stuff, did it with my dad's tools. The M88/S38 is a little more complicated and expensive if you screw up, but it's not so hard that you can't do it. If you rebuild the engine from your car, then all the numbers will match, and it will enhance its value. The block is stamped with the last 7 numbers in the VIN, right near the starter. Collectors and connoisseurs look for that kind of thing.
Good Luck!
James
james_535@yahoo.com
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