How does the BMW M3 produce 100 more hp than the BMW 330 ZHP?

[Blurr]

I did some searching on a few of the forums but the forums are big and either I missed the threads on this or I didn't search correctly.

The question is, How the E46 M3 produce 100 more crank HP than the ZHP?

I know that the engine is a 3.2L over the 3.0L of the ZHP but that's as far as my knowledge goes. I suspect that the heads probably flow a great deal more and the cams probably have longer durations, but what else and are those thing enough to make the entire 100hp difference?

I'm sure this has been covered somewhere before so if there is a link that explains it, I'd be happy with that.

As a side note, I'm not actually interested in the difference between the suspension or any other non engine related difference, just the difference that would affect total engine output at the crank.

[gr330zhp]

Individual throttle bodies make a difference. The S54 is really a race car motor put in a street car. It is superbly designed, the power range, redline etc etc, and BMW has squeezed a lot out of it. Thats why other than F/I it's hard to squeeze much more power out of it

[mimalmo]

Rev limit plays a part too as do the internals.

[MisterMotorist]

More air/fuel in, higher RPM, ITB = mo powa

[Blurr]

Individual throttle bodies make a difference. The S54 is really a race car motor put in a street car. It is superbly designed, the power range, redline etc etc, and BMW has squeezed a lot out of it. Thats why other than F/I it's hard to squeeze much more power out of it

I did a bit of reading recently about those items. How many individual throttle bodies does the M3 have?

As far as the RPM's, isn't it only a 500 rpm difference to redline?

I could see how there could be a huge difference in how the ECU is tuned but are the only things that are going to help produce an extra 100 hp at the crank?

As far as the internals are concerned, is the compression ratio higher on the M3? I think we have 10.2:1, but I'm fairly ignorant of the technical specifics of our cars since I'm new to them; I can't image the M3 haven't more than maybe 11.5ish.

I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the exact methods that BMW used to get an extra 100hp between the models.

[ZHP-FTW]

I did a bit of reading recently about those items. How many individual throttle bodies does the M3 have?

As far as the RPM's, isn't it only a 500 rpm difference to redline?

I could see how there could be a huge difference in how the ECU is tuned but are the only things that are going to help produce an extra 100 hp at the crank?

As far as the internals are concerned, is the compression ratio higher on the M3? I think we have 10.2:1, but I'm fairly ignorant of the technical specifics of our cars since I'm new to them; I can't image the M3 haven't more than maybe 11.5ish.

I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the exact methods that BMW used to get an extra 100hp between the models.

It has 6 ITB, one for each cylinder. It has a 8,000 rpm redline so that's 1,500 more than the ZHP stock. Better tuned Ecu, higher compression, different vanos profiles I think, and a few other things I can't think of right now. All this adds up to 100hp more.

And on a side note, in regards to the rpm difference... I think if you could extend the rpms indefinitely, you could theoretically have infinite HP.
That's why those F1 cars can get 900hp at 18,000 rpms out of a 2.0-2.5L engine.

[az3579]

I think if you could extend the rpms indefinitely, you could theoretically have infinite HP.
That's why those F1 cars can get 900hp at 18,000 rpms out of a 2.0-2.5L engine.

Not necessarily. Regular car engines have a powerband; power drops off (sometimes significantly) after this powerband. I think you would actually have almost no power after a certain rev range on these engines, so if that S54 revved to 10k rpm, you probably wouldn't be accelerating any faster than a Honda Civic DX, if that.

[mikeyb74]

The S54B32 block was made from grey cast iron rather than aluminum to achieve greater rigidity from the same dimensions. It is a 3.2 L (3246 cc) engine; bore is 87 mm (3.4 in) and stroke is 91 mm (3.6 in). It has reinforced forged steel connecting rods, graphite coated cast aluminum pistons and a forged steel crankshaft.

[Hornung418]

Regarding power band: Hotter cams require a higher rev range to achieve power in the top end. Once the torque peak is reached, the horsepower will keep the motor at speed while still generating power when you need it. Typically every degree increase in camshafts will shift the peak operating band about 500 rpm, if I'm not mistaken.

[Acyd]

I was actually looking into getting an M3 before i settled on the ZHP. The M3 was just to expensive to maintain. Im really happy with my ZHP, no regrets.

I would love me some 333Hp tho. <3 that M3 engine.