Bid for the chance to own a No Reserve: BMW S38 Engine Project at auction with Bring a Trailer, the home of the best vintage and classic cars online. Lot #203,985.
In looking at S38/B36 Dyno results it's pretty obvious that the HP and Torque party doesn't begin until around 4-5K RPM. Even the highly modified setups that go to 7K RPM peak out at the very high end. Having never driven a Coupe with any S38 I don't know how they roll. Another concern is that the HP vs Torque is upside down for this engine. I guess that means that you are emphasizing HP over Torque which is historically odd for BMW street engines. Can someone with an S38 in a Coupe pitch in and tell us what the seat of the pants driving experience is vs an M30/B3X of some kind. It's hard to not be biased, especially if you've taken the plunge, but describing how the S38 variant performs could enlighten someone considering a swap.
Regards, Jon
I have such a puzzle set in my shelf, too - but S38B36. I did not know that such part collections are offered on BaT...
It is always a large surprise (maybe risk) to buy a disassembled engine, isn't it? I am curious how much it will be the highest bid!?
Jon, my guess is that you are right about what the S38 might be like, i would think its very similar to the S14 in the e30 m3 compared to the m10 in the 2002 tii - they want to run above 4500 rpm. the twin cams do wonderful things to let you keep winding up. i had a schrick 316 cam in the last m10 i had and it made all of its power up in the revs but because it was a single cam, it had no torque down low and a terrible idle. the s14 has a little bit more low torque and idles so much better than my tweaked m10. that being said, its one thing to have 240 / 250 hp in a coupe ... its another to have 300 to 350hp +/- unless the car has been prepared to handle the power.
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