Whats the best intake manifold to use for power gains on the M52 engine, used in the 328i ?

Updated: 09 Dec 2024

I heard about people using the intake manifold of the old M50 or the Alpina intake manifold.
Any other suggestions ?
Have you had experiences with either of those parts ?
All answers are appreciated !

Comments

i have heard that the intake from a m52b25(e36 325i) has no restriction wich the 328 intake has, wich improves power, maybe not much but its something atleast

Thanks man, i’ll check it out !

The M50 intake has bigger diameters. You’ll gain hp but loose a little bit torque.
I think the dbilas intakes could be really nice, too.

Okay, I’ll look it up, thanks !

I did some research on this and you gain a little on the top end but only when you’re near red line, the down side is you loose torque on the low end. Look at something aftermarket and get an ecu tune.

Thanks man

M52B25 and B28 very distinctly lose power above ~5.500rpm. (B25 more than B28)
With the intake of the M50, you have your peak at about 5900 like the 325i, and the engine proceeds to rev A LOT smoother until the limiter kicks in.
Yes, you lose some torque in lower rpms, but for me it wasn’t really noticeable because below 3k rpm you dont have that much power anyways.
The pro’s with this mod highly outweigh the con’s, considering that 323i got measured with ~200hp and 328i with ~220+-10 with JUST this mod. (For 200-300€ for an already modded m50 intake manifold, at least in Germany)
After the Last 2 years m50 and now m52b25, the characteristic above 5500 really bugged me.

PS: Aftermarket intake manifolds do exactly the same.

Get an obd1 intake manifold and a tune for it to get the most out of this mod

Thank you sir !

This ^^^ Also, the cams from the S52 can easily be swapped into the M52 for easy power gains. With M50 Manifold, S52 Cams, a decent chip (Bavauto has good ones) and a tune, you could probably expect around 20 hp gain w/o losing low-end torque yet allowing for higher rev line.