My personal build thread (Semi-restoration/turbo)
Hello all!
This is going to be my personal build thread, both where I ask questions/ post photos about the stuff I'm doing...
Anyway let's begin.
I traded a mostly bone stock 1994 325is (E36) to receive my E30. When I got it, it had rust, leaks and was in need of some TLC.
That being said it already had been played with a fair amount:
H&R race springs, billstine sport shocks, adjustable camber plates up front, reinforced rear shock mounts,, Ireland engineering spec e30 sway bars and reinforcements, solid UHMW bushings all around, Condor Speed shop subframe riser bushings, CA tuned stainless steel brake-lines,new front wheel bearings 3.73LSD, Spec stage 3 clutch, Spal Electric fan (OEM mechanical delete).
Now for the engine :
2.7 ETA block with a fresh 885 head built with Super tech valves/new valve guides, MLS headgasket and new OEM head bolts, New cooling system, new Gates Racing timing belt and some other new parts.
It had no interior, and no AC.
I set about fixing some obvious stuff such as the oil pan gasket puked a bunch of oil, and it had mostly water in the coolant system. I changed the oil pan gasket, cleaned the pump, flushed the cooling system and then deleted the leaky power steering with a delete kit from garagistic.
I also wanted to have a little more simple performance so i got a SSSquid chip and E36 17.5lb/hr @ 3.5 bar injectors. ( but on a e30 they're really 16.3's because of the 3 bar fuel system)
I then set about the rust. It had the typical rust in the bottom of the fender that somebody had neglected and made a makeshift patch for. (I know it's not pretty but it's functional)
Then I embarked on the three month journey of dealing with the rear valence and it's crash damage/rust.
The part number for the valence changed part-way through it's production run (as I learned from a friend named Victor at BMW of Stratham).
As soon as I learned about the change in part number I ran the other number I was provided with and found 3 brand new units in Nazareth p.a.
I immediately got one and began the process of drilling out the spot welds, then hammering a chisel in between the sheet metal of the car and that of the old rear valence.
Once freed I cleaned up the metal, fitted the new panel and welded it in place. I then seam sealed what I could, had a local body shop bondo and fill areas of the weld that were rough and painted it myself with a semi close Mercedes "Trunk grey" or "Galinite grey" as it was so called.
I then replaced the licence plate lights and seals.
Boom, lookin' cherry.
I did some minor stuff after that, I cleaned up the wiring harness and put some dash panels back in it, and cleaned up the center console/dash space, then mounted a press-fit gauge cluster
It was around this time I started to think about a turbo build more seriously. I received a old massive Garret turbo from a buddy I helped put an engine in his Mercedes turbo-diesel wagon. He said it lagged too much and I could have it as a way of payment.
Apparently the turbo is a much bigger cold side for flow and hot side for quick spool (I know that this isn't a perfect theory an that eventually with enough boost the hot side will become a restriction)
So I started to build the car with a more robust cooling system and started to fit an Ebay intercooler under the front valence. (OEM mechanical fan + the existing Spal electric fan went on the front of the radiator between the inter-cooler's back, then wired it backwards to suck not blow), then I drilled a hole in the thermostat housing and out threads on it and stuffed a Mercedes 212 switch on there, so that it would come on as a effort to cool the car under heavy load. (like when the turbo kicks up a ton of heat).
I toyed with the idea of trying to run a turbo mechanically for a while but after all the horror stories ,(even at low boost!), with stock engine management and bigger injectors I decided maybe a Megasquirt2 PNP is more the way to go. especially if I wanted to run it in the 5-15 psi of boost and shoot for 300ish whp.
Right now only the intercooler is on the car, but I plan on fitting the cold side piping to the car and driving it around like that with no turbo on it untill I can afford the rest of the stuff needed to reliably turbo the car (oil feed/return for turbo, 5psi wastegate, Megasquirt and a full exhaust system)
I'm most likely just going to keep the MAF and use the PNP's T- junction with the FPR as a way to accurately determine load/boost/AFR ect.
EDIT: just realized I can only submit 5 pics per post.. I'll have to find a way to show the other work I've done. but for now I've been writing this for over an hour and a half. I'll do it later :)
This is going to be my personal build thread, both where I ask questions/ post photos about the stuff I'm doing...
Anyway let's begin.
I traded a mostly bone stock 1994 325is (E36) to receive my E30. When I got it, it had rust, leaks and was in need of some TLC.
That being said it already had been played with a fair amount:
H&R race springs, billstine sport shocks, adjustable camber plates up front, reinforced rear shock mounts,, Ireland engineering spec e30 sway bars and reinforcements, solid UHMW bushings all around, Condor Speed shop subframe riser bushings, CA tuned stainless steel brake-lines,new front wheel bearings 3.73LSD, Spec stage 3 clutch, Spal Electric fan (OEM mechanical delete).
Now for the engine :
2.7 ETA block with a fresh 885 head built with Super tech valves/new valve guides, MLS headgasket and new OEM head bolts, New cooling system, new Gates Racing timing belt and some other new parts.
It had no interior, and no AC.
I set about fixing some obvious stuff such as the oil pan gasket puked a bunch of oil, and it had mostly water in the coolant system. I changed the oil pan gasket, cleaned the pump, flushed the cooling system and then deleted the leaky power steering with a delete kit from garagistic.
I also wanted to have a little more simple performance so i got a SSSquid chip and E36 17.5lb/hr @ 3.5 bar injectors. ( but on a e30 they're really 16.3's because of the 3 bar fuel system)
I then set about the rust. It had the typical rust in the bottom of the fender that somebody had neglected and made a makeshift patch for. (I know it's not pretty but it's functional)
Then I embarked on the three month journey of dealing with the rear valence and it's crash damage/rust.
The part number for the valence changed part-way through it's production run (as I learned from a friend named Victor at BMW of Stratham).
As soon as I learned about the change in part number I ran the other number I was provided with and found 3 brand new units in Nazareth p.a.
I immediately got one and began the process of drilling out the spot welds, then hammering a chisel in between the sheet metal of the car and that of the old rear valence.
Once freed I cleaned up the metal, fitted the new panel and welded it in place. I then seam sealed what I could, had a local body shop bondo and fill areas of the weld that were rough and painted it myself with a semi close Mercedes "Trunk grey" or "Galinite grey" as it was so called.
I then replaced the licence plate lights and seals.
Boom, lookin' cherry.
I did some minor stuff after that, I cleaned up the wiring harness and put some dash panels back in it, and cleaned up the center console/dash space, then mounted a press-fit gauge cluster
It was around this time I started to think about a turbo build more seriously. I received a old massive Garret turbo from a buddy I helped put an engine in his Mercedes turbo-diesel wagon. He said it lagged too much and I could have it as a way of payment.
Apparently the turbo is a much bigger cold side for flow and hot side for quick spool (I know that this isn't a perfect theory an that eventually with enough boost the hot side will become a restriction)
So I started to build the car with a more robust cooling system and started to fit an Ebay intercooler under the front valence. (OEM mechanical fan + the existing Spal electric fan went on the front of the radiator between the inter-cooler's back, then wired it backwards to suck not blow), then I drilled a hole in the thermostat housing and out threads on it and stuffed a Mercedes 212 switch on there, so that it would come on as a effort to cool the car under heavy load. (like when the turbo kicks up a ton of heat).
I toyed with the idea of trying to run a turbo mechanically for a while but after all the horror stories ,(even at low boost!), with stock engine management and bigger injectors I decided maybe a Megasquirt2 PNP is more the way to go. especially if I wanted to run it in the 5-15 psi of boost and shoot for 300ish whp.
Right now only the intercooler is on the car, but I plan on fitting the cold side piping to the car and driving it around like that with no turbo on it untill I can afford the rest of the stuff needed to reliably turbo the car (oil feed/return for turbo, 5psi wastegate, Megasquirt and a full exhaust system)
I'm most likely just going to keep the MAF and use the PNP's T- junction with the FPR as a way to accurately determine load/boost/AFR ect.
EDIT: just realized I can only submit 5 pics per post.. I'll have to find a way to show the other work I've done. but for now I've been writing this for over an hour and a half. I'll do it later :)
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