BMW’ s M52 engine is notoriously smooth, thanks in part to its double VANOS system movement changes the timing between the camshaft itself and the timing chain sprocket.
The result of this for the M50B25 vs M50TÜB25 was peak torque arriving 500rpm earlier, and a few more Nm more of it too. No drastic improvement on paper, but a first hint of the difference VANOS could make. The hydraulic splined shaft concept was also used for the E36 M3’ s S50B30 engine, which was developed to include variable exhaust camshaft timing for the E36 M3 Evo, thus making it Double-VANOS. The
Evo’ s VANOS was also continuously variable, rather than simply switching between two timing positions. This allowed intricate timing control via the ECU. This allowed even larger improvements to the powerband and drivability. BMW’ s non-Motorsport straightsixes also evolved, with the M52TÜ and then the M54 engines in the E46 3 Series, E38 7 Series and E39 5 Series gaining Double- VANOS via the hydraulic splined shaft method. M-Power’ s final swansong for this type of VANOS was the S54 straight-six in the E46 M3 and S85 V10 from the E60 M5.
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