Our First featured build comes from Edward Graff — One of our first customers to run our s54 ITB adapter kit and has since built one of the craziest street S52's out there.
The car in question is called “Big Blue” and it started life as a BMW E36 M3 that Edward bought eight years ago as a rolling shell. The initial plan was to build a good street car that was also capable of autocross and track days.
As happens with many of us (we can’t help ourselves 😅), the car’s development morphed and it became a much more serious build as Edward and his friends learned more about what was possible with the inline-six m50/52 platform. “In the past, these engines were only good stock or with boost, but the reality is they can have amazing performance and reliability N/A without a lot of modifications," he explains.
The head got our port job, 298/290-duration Cat cams, Ferrea valves, Supertech valve springs, alien engineering solid lifters, S54 stepped headers with our exhuast adapter plates, and S54 ITBs were fitted. The package runs on a Haltech Nexus R3 VCU with an AEM dash to keep an eye on vitals.
The engine achieved 365hp at the wheels using a standard bottom end, all while spinning to a stratospheric 9,000rpm redline!
Still not content, Edward and a us continued working on ways to push the engine’s performance to the next level. At the time of writing, a new bottom end is being built with a 3.4-litre BC stroker crank, custom rods and high-compression Wiseco pistons. The goal is get as close to 400 HP and still retain as many rpms as possible!
The goal for the project is to perfect the engine package and turn the E36 into a GT3-style street/track vehicle, while also pushing the engine package further than anyone else has achieved so far with an N/A application.
https://youtu.be/Q5TmduGsf3o?si=1BF9NlfKLdGCASLc