Hi everyone, I want to start a turbo project with my 1999 e46 328 with m52tub28 motor, I want something safe as a street daily car.
I have some parts in my garage: Holset hx40 turbo, Megasquirt 3x, bov, frontal mount intercooler... so I have some questions and I will be really thankfull if you can advice me about any topic that I have to take in mind.
- I'm thinking in 300 - 350 whp. it is a safe value?
- Approximately what pressure of my turbo do I need to achieve these results?
- Stock injectors will work?
- It is needed a cometic head gasket and ARP studs to reduce compression ratio in this project?
- Will the stock clutch work fine?
- In my country, 92 octane is the best gas I can get, will there be any problem?
- What else, should I have in mind?
Thank you very much.
Greetings from Colombia.
Off the research I’ve been doing:
1. The rule of thumb in the community is that the M52tub28 (328i/ci engine) can handle up to 400HP before you have Kaboom! But there have been a few people who’ve gone quite a bit higher (608hp with e-85 and I think 20-22 psi) https://youtu.be/xnx073PVQrQ
2. Another general rule of thumb when turbocharging a non turbo car is it should handle up 10 psi “safely” and also that should be enough to push you to 350hp at least 300hp.
3. You will defintly need some bigger injectors for this, remember you are almost doubling your Horsepower at 350, your car will need new injectors and a fuel pump.
4. You don’t need to replace the head gasket or the studs at least there are a few people that have not had problems at under 400 but EVERYONE just recommends to do it anyway. But aftermarket studs have to be fire the aluminum block not the iron one. If you are in the U.S. you will have an aluminum block and the studs are different. One more thing about the studs they like to strip the head when using forced induction. So if you do decide to upgrade your studs look into doing “serts” for the studs to help prevent stripping the block.
5. Your stock clutch will work but not for long, it is very much recommended to just upgrade it especially sense your transmission is the same (ZF s5-39) in all the E46 vehicles and will be easy to find upgrades for it.
6. E92 would be fine. Just remember when you get it tuned to make sure it is tuned to e92.
7. the CXracing turbo kit or even just buying the CXracing turbo manifold, down pipes and intercooler kit, because welding piping to fit in those tight spaces is just straight up not worth it. Plus they have great reviews with everyone who’s bought them and it’s the most affordable and popular kit for the m52tub28. It will be much easier to get info for it about tuning witch is the best thing you could ask for.
8. Lastly look for a guy called @hobbit382 in this forum. He did the build I referenced above (608hp) he has a lot of info in his posts.
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I really appreciate your help, it's really useful for me. The first step of my project is to implement programmable fuel injection (Megasquirt 3 x) with naturally aspirated engine and then to assemble the turbocharger kit.
it shows that you know enough about these engines and I would like to ask you one last question.
Do you know what is the best AFR target at WOT in turbo and NA engine?
Thanks again.
Hey, I own a e38 728i with M52TUB28 engine. I want to turbo it but havent seen many m52tu engines turbo.. So, did it workout for you?? And if it did, how much did yoy spend?
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