Bmw straight six M50

  Today we talk about one of the most used BMW engine for drifting (In the pic below you can see a beetle with M50B25)

  The BMW M50 is a straight-6 DOHC piston engine which replaced the BMW M20 and was produced from 1990 to 1996.(M50Bxx -> xx means the size)

Compared with its M20 predecessor, the M50 features twin camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder. The   M50 uses an iron block with an alloy head.

In September 1992, the M50 was upgraded to the M50TU ("technical update"), which added variable valve timing (called VANOS by BMW)

  Also If you wonder what engine uses the M3 E36 ,here is the answer: S50

The S50 is higher performance version of the M50 which was used in the M3. Like the M50, it has an iron block and aluminum head with four valves per cylinder.

Upgrades over the M50 include:

Individual throttle plates for each cylinder

Continuously variable "Vanos" valve timing.

Lightweight pistons

Graphite-coated conrods

Larger inlet valves

Redesigned equal length exhaust manifolds