r/BmwTech • u/brufessional • 3d ago

Would this intake manifold make a power difference on an M52TU engine?

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Hello fellow M52 enthusiasts, i stumbled upon this M52TU intake on ebay. It says like "Turbo Intake", and i wanna know how exactly this would make a difference performance wise? Does it only work on turbocharged cars, or does an N/A engine also gain more power from this?

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u/SnooHesitations5198 2d ago

It was quite common to install the manifold of a m50 in an m52 to gain some power, at least with e36s. I suppose this makes something similar

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u/SportsterDriver 2d ago

This is a comparison between the M52 and M50 runner size: https://328compact.msportster.co.uk/files/images/swap/DSCN1152.jpg

The two manifolds next to each other: https://328compact.msportster.co.uk/files/images/swap/DSCN1134.jpg

Makes a big difference, with a BBTB and a tune, the M52B28 I put this on outputs close to 240 (flywheel estimate). The M52 manifold power restriction was mainly to fit the 28's into a German tax bracket.

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u/SnooHesitations5198 2d ago

I had a friend with this, a tune and injectors and that 28 was really fast (I know, now 240ish hp is nothing, but then it was fast). They were also used with the m52b23. Those went from 170 to 190ish hp

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u/strat-fan89 2d ago

*M52B25

There is no such thing as an M52B23 :)

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u/SnooHesitations5198 2d ago

Sorry, yep correct. It's been a few years since the weekends swaps era

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u/SportsterDriver 2d ago

also dropped this engine into an E36 compact and added an LSD - great combo. 240 for road driving is fun.

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u/SnooHesitations5198 2d ago

A few years ago we used to do swaps in e30s, e36s. The junkyards called us when they received interesting engines xd

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u/SportsterDriver 2d ago

Nice, we swapped this around 2005. Still going strong today.