Which would you pick? N52 (silver engine cover) or N52k (black engine cover)

[jamie_z4]

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time
Rob

is it Rob? I was always of the assumption that 06-07 cars were silver then late 07-09 cars were black

If we’re talking the plastic clip on cover, I’ve seen posts on here from all years with both colours?
I think there was a survey once
Rob

ahh okay yes , random!

[Smartbear]

I think later cars had the valve cover itself made from black plastic with an improved ccv system integral within it, as opposed to the magnesium valve cover on the earlier n52’s. I’m talking just about the plastic cover which clips over the top
Rob

[R60BBA]

So just to clarify - Z4 Coupe only comes with N52? I’m just wondering why some couples have a silver engine cover and some have a black cover? I assumed the later year coupes came with n52 and the initial launch coupes came with m54.

Apologies for my ignorance if I’m wrong

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time
Rob

Silver engine covers are for 06-07 cars, black engine covers came in from 57 onwards.

[Zeld4]

So just to clarify - Z4 Coupe only comes with N52? I’m just wondering why some couples have a silver engine cover and some have a black cover? I assumed the later year coupes came with n52 and the initial launch coupes came with m54.

Apologies for my ignorance if I’m wrong

Yes that is correct, the 3.0si coupe only has the N52 engine. Black and silver engine covers are irrelevant.
So you have a very easy choice to make. TheN52 is a stunning engine so go for it.

[shuey]

So just to clarify - Z4 Coupe only comes with N52? I’m just wondering why some couples have a silver engine cover and some have a black cover? I assumed the later year coupes came with n52 and the initial launch coupes came with m54.

Apologies for my ignorance if I’m wrong

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time
Rob

Thanks for the clarification, that makes it a lot easier, n52 here I come!

[Smartbear]

So just to clarify - Z4 Coupe only comes with N52? I’m just wondering why some couples have a silver engine cover and some have a black cover? I assumed the later year coupes came with n52 and the initial launch coupes came with m54.

Apologies for my ignorance if I’m wrong

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time
Rob

Silver engine covers are for 06-07 cars, black engine covers came in from 57 onwards.

I think we’re talking about different things? I’m referring to the plastic cover that’s sits on top, they were black or silver randomly apparently
Are you talking about the actual valve cover which sits underneath?
Rob

[Mr Tidy]

OP's problem sorted then - N52!

I think it suits the Z4 better than an M54 with the way it revs, but accept that things generally seem to cost more to fix when they go wrong (like water pump & thermostat for example).

FWIW my current Coupe was built in August 2006 and has the silver top, my previous one was built in October 2006 and had the black cover, as well as the 3mm input jack for the stereo in the bottom of the dash. Luckily someone has retro-fitted one in the glovebox on my current car!

[Marlon]

While we are on about plastic covers, mine is an April 2008 and has a black engine cover.

[Pastry]

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time

They’ve all got 6cylinders though haven’t they Rob?..... unlike a lot of more modern Z4s
[/quote]

[R60BBA]

I’m going to the BMW museum in Munich in 2 weeks and so I’ll enquire on the N52 black vs silver plastic cover debate

[Silverzedtom]

I haven’t driven a car with an M54 engine, but it takes a lot more power if wanting to charge. I’d love to put a supercharger on mine instead of buying a new car, but I do worry about the more delicate engine... not that I’ve had any issues with mine so far.

[ph001]

“I’m going to the BMW museum in Munich in 2 weeks and so I’ll enquire on the N52 black vs silver plastic cover debate “

...they have different ecu’s thats for sure. The black cover indicates an integral ccv which is supposedly better than the external one on the silver top. But if they do go wrong I suppose it’s less serviceable. Whether it includes the updated head design to stop bleeding oil pressure out of the valve lifters is a bit unknown. Wikipedia says that mod wasn’t done as standard until Dec 2008.

[Smartbear]

“I’m going to the BMW museum in Munich in 2 weeks and so I’ll enquire on the N52 black vs silver plastic cover debate “

...they have different ecu’s thats for sure. The black cover indicates an integral ccv which is supposedly better than the external one on the silver top. But if they do go wrong I suppose it’s less serviceable. Whether it includes the updated head design to stop bleeding oil pressure out of the valve lifters is a bit unknown. Wikipedia says that mod wasn’t done as standard until Dec 2008.

Are you thinking of the valve cover itself? When that changed to a black plastic version I’m aware of the internal ccv but I think the thread is referring to the clip on plastic cover which sits above it.
I don’t think the black one of those signified anything?
Rob

[mr wilks]

So just to clarify - Z4 Coupe only comes with N52? I’m just wondering why some couples have a silver engine cover and some have a black cover? I assumed the later year coupes came with n52 and the initial launch coupes came with m54.

Apologies for my ignorance if I’m wrong

Nope, all coupes came with the n52 engine unless you’re looking at the 3.2l M version. None came with the m54.
The black/silver plastic engine cover means nothing, I think it’s what they had in the spares store at the time
Rob

Silver engine covers are for 06-07 cars, black engine covers came in from 57 onwards.

My first Si 86 was a 56plate with black engine cover

[ph001]

Ok, I think we need some clarification here. We have two different covers. The first one covers the coil packs and spark plugs so we will call that the coil pack cover. The second (underneath) covers the camshafts so we will call the the cam cover.

This is the black coil pack cover on the N52 engine from Nov 2006 (note this is the engine build date so typically ends up on 57 plate cars onwards, but if the engine was put into the car build very quickly it's possible you could see the black cover on 56 and 07 plate cars):

N52 black_coil pack cover.jpg (95.08 KiB) Viewed 7009 times

What we are not sure about is what you find under that cover but I strongly suspect that all black coil pack covers have black plastic cam covers underneath because you can see the fixing points on the coil pack covers are different. This has the improved integrated CCV system built into the cover:

N52 black_cam cover.jpg (55.31 KiB) Viewed 7009 times

The presence of the black cam cover also means a revised ECU (MSV80) instead of the older MSV70 fitted to the silver covered cars. It's a faster tri-core ECU but the map is probably identical. I'm not sure if this also indicates the revised cylinder head design to minimise 'ticky' hydraulic valve lifter noise because Wikipedia says that was implemented Dec 2008 which basically excludes all E85/86 cars.



This is the silver coil pack cover:

N52 silver_coil pack cover.jpg (111.59 KiB) Viewed 7009 times

..and underneath we have the magnesium cam cover which does not have the CCV built in:

N52 silver_cam cover.jpg (197.03 KiB) Viewed 7009 times