BMW M52B28 Engine Inspection [E36 328i Motor] M52 24v Engine Swap Prep For the E30 Build | 044

BMW M52B28 Engine Inspection [E36 328i Motor] M52 24v Engine Swap Prep For the E30 Build | 044 In this video, I delve into the BMW M52 engine I've had sat on a stand for a long time ready for my E30 24v swap. This particular M52B28 motor is from a 90s BMW 3 series, in particular the revered E36 328i sport. The objective for the day was to inspect the engine from top to bottom and determine whether it was in need of a rebuild or not. #ad Here's what we used in this video (affiliate links). As an eBay Partner Network affiliate and Amazon Associate, we earn commissions from qualifying purchases: Here's a much better borescope than I used, from Teslong: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inspection-T... Thanks for supporting the channel! I start off by considering which E34 sump I want to use. When fitted into an E30, the M52 24v engine needs to be switched to front sump rather than rear sump so it's compatible with the E30's front subframe. The issue however, is on a lowered E30 the E34 sumps are famous for hitting speed humps. So i picked up a modified shallower sump locally and I'm debating whether to use it. Following this I remove the welded up E34 sump that's already fitted and start inspecting the bottom end of the engine. The first thing to note is that the engine has quite a lot of varnish within it, which is potentially a sign it hasn't had as many oil changes as I'd have liked it to. The oil pump looks to be in good condition, and I noted that the oil pump sprocket nut is original and not a lock-wired one. Which is a good and bad thing. The rods have slight play on the crank journals, but in reality probably no more than the expected amount. They do rotate after all. I didn't take any of the caps off the big ends to inspect the bearings. M52s are not known to chew through bearings like a wear part, unlike the S54. There are no witness marks on any of the fasteners which implies to me that this engine has never been apart and is in factory condition. I personally think this is a positive as it hasn't been bodged or blown up before. Switching over to inspect the top end, I removed the coils and the valve cover to reveal the camshafts, which both appear to be in excellent condition with absolutely no scoring or pitting, or even any sign of wear. The timing chain and its guides look in excellent condition too. Regarding the VANOS unit, it's very difficult to say whether there's anything wrong with it or not without running the engine. Even stripping it down and giving it a visual inspection doesn't always yield the answers with these so I'm going to leave it alone for now. I then cracked out the cheap borescope to look into the intake and exhaust valves, which all look nice and consistent with no obvious signs of a problem. There was however some general dust and trash sat in some of them from storage. I attempted to blow some of this out with compressed air. Following this, I whipped out the spark plugs and inspected them. They were OE spec Bosh Super Plus spark plugs and although a bit grubby, in reasonable condition. I checked their condition against a few sparkplug charts and determined they are all in the normal range, which implies the engine was running well prior to being pulled from an E36. With the plugs removed, I could use the borescope to peer down into the cylinders and look at the tops of the pistons. All of them looked excellent aside from debris from storage. Unfortunately, I did find a little bit of valve cover gasket in cylinder 6, but it's just plastic so probably not going to cause a big problem. With the cheap borescope, I was unable to see the cylinder walls which would have been great to inspect. However, with the tops of the pistons looking so good, I'm feeling confident that this engine is healthy and there's no reason why it wouldn't just run. From here, I decided to take off the thermostat housing and thermostat, along with the water pump, to peer into the coolant channels. The water pump came out fairly easily the proper way. It's far easier when the engine is off the car. It appeared to be an OEM BMW water pump, which is good, but I will replace it with one that has a metal impeller down the line. Unfortunately, the crank position sensor did not survive the strip down. For more helpful how-to guides and restorations: https://www.spannerrash.com/ #m52b28 #m52 #bmwe30 #e30build #e30