Good Sleeper...or Bad Imposter

[downeaster1]

hey, my so called "friend" just got an E36 about an hour ago and its sitting in my driveway till he can find room for it at his place (btw my yard looks like a BMW dealership now with my 92 E36, my old M3 sedan and his 318i, red white and blue all lined up on the front lawn hahaa) he said that it has the S50 engine like my 325i that he got from a 95 M3 coupe so i looked under the bonnet and there it was...what im guessing though is that the dealership just slapped on an S50 Valve cover to his M50 engine. is there any way of telling if it is a true S50 other than a M50 with a fancy valve cover?

Cheers!
Fred

[skiboard06]

s50 has the same valve cover as an m50. You mean the black cover with M POWER written on it? Does it run? drive it

[bfowler]

the VIN is the best way, but i dont remember the specific part of it that tells you.

is there an M on the instrument cluster?

[Nataliator]

dyno it. or run it next to your actual m50 to see if he shreds you or not

[downeaster1]

well the problem is that the car is clearly a 318i and he admits to that (cuz of the badge and what not) but he said that there was an engine swap and that it has the black thing with MPower written on it...this is kinda a bad "sketch" but it looks like this: (cuz i cant post pics yet)

===(0)==========\
==BMW MPower=== |
===============/

ps my 1992 325i has the S50 engine swap. and i got the papers and empty bank account to prove it (cuz im in HS) lol

cheers!
fred

[jsolares]

The difference should be apparent driving it. sounds like he's been had.

[mookish]

Count the cylinders :dunno

[bmxludwig]

DRIVE IT..... while he is somewhere else of course. While you are at it, ya might as well test to see if it has m3 suspension and other various m3 parts that require hard driving..... :lol

[downeaster1]

oh what is the cover actually called? ive been referring to it as the valve cover...

[mattr328i]

if there is a VIN on the engine somewhere (idk if there is) take that and go to carfax.com and put in the vin and it will tell you what kind of car/engine/year/etc...for free from the homepage.

[ssyko813]

Grab a part # off of the intake or something that is different then the 2.5, like the ecu or the intake manifold and run it.

[BMDub325is]

Count the cylinders :dunno

S50 or M50 he had to have an engine swap. 318's have 4 cyls. Driving it would be the easiest way to see if it is M50 or S50.

[downeaster1]

oh wow...i completly forgot that the 318 was a 4cyl -1 on my behalf...i drove it for like 2min about 3hrs ago and it deffinatly feels like a M50. but i didnt think that the S50 cover would fit on an M50:help

[KyleAwesome]

oh wow...i completly forgot that the 318 was a 4cyl -1 on my behalf...i drove it for like 2min about 3hrs ago and it deffinatly feels like a M50. but i didnt think that the S50 cover would fit on an M50:help


Isnt the oil cap in different areas?

[e36bmdub]

no the obd1 s50 engines had it on the same side as the m50

[e36bmdub]

oh and here is a pic of the bmw m power engine cover i put on my 325is just to clear things up..haha
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/weezy_wee/2356416_28_full.jpg
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/weezy_wee/2356416_19_full.jpg

[Doug001]

Are there any other physical differences (besides VIN) like casting?

[jbol]

your friend didnt think of looking into this before he bought it? or did he not care...

[zink]

Count the cylinders :dunno

+1.:lol :lol ..and they're fighting how to prove or disapprove:lol :lol

[mookish]

+1.:lol :lol ..and they're fighting how to prove or disapprove:lol :lolThat what I was saying, one simple pop of the hood and a quick glance should tell all. A 318 is 4 cylinders, everything else has six. How simple?

[cooljess76]

Count the cylinders :dunno


+1.:lol :lol ..and they're fighting how to prove or disapprove:lol :lol


That what I was saying, one simple pop of the hood and a quick glance should tell all. A 318 is 4 cylinders, everything else has six. How simple?
It's a 318 with a I6 engine swap!!! They already know it's a six cyl. They're trying to find out if it's an s50 or an m50 with a s50 sparkplug cover. It was clearly stated and not that difficult to understand.

[bmw318is1994]

:werd:

M42:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j217/haberman_05/M42.jpg

M50:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j217/haberman_05/M50.jpg

S50:

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j217/haberman_05/S50.jpg

So yes the oil cap is in a different spot. Sorry for the blurry pics...its all i could find. Hope this helps

[Nataliator]

^^ that s50 engine photo u have is from a euro, not a us spec isnt it? didnt the us spec s50 share the same intake manifold as the m50?
edit here is a us s50
http://www.theeurodepot.com/reds50.jpg

[downeaster1]

ya both the engine in my M3 and the 325 have the oil cap in the same place but i didnt know if there was another visible difference besides the oil cover and the M Power writing...

[zeit00]

Wow there is a LOT of misinformation, and misunderstanding in this post.

An S50 and an M50 look indentical to each other. The only differences being the things that mount to it. In fact without a valve cover the S52 and S50 look the same. The real way to find out is to look at the VIN on the back of the block. You can see the VIN in the picture below.. That is an S52 block and head, with an S50 valve cover.

http://www.martin-performance.com/cars/1992%20325is/new/engine/DSCN3234.JPG

[The Boston GRUN]

:needpics
hey, my so called "friend" just got an E36 about an hour ago and its sitting in my driveway till he can find room for it at his place (btw my yard looks like a BMW dealership now with my 92 E36, my old M3 sedan and his 318i, red white and blue all lined up on the front lawn hahaa) he said that it has the S50 engine like my 325i that he got from a 95 M3 coupe so i looked under the bonnet and there it was...what im guessing though is that the dealership just slapped on an S50 Valve cover to his M50 engine. is there any way of telling if it is a true S50 other than a M50 with a fancy valve cover?

Cheers!
Fred

[e36bmdub]

ugh thats the flywheel i want...haa


Wow there is a LOT of misinformation, and misunderstanding in this post.



http://www.martin-performance.com/cars/1992%20325is/new/engine/DSCN3234.JPG