E30/M20 rebuild/turbo project has begun!

[BMWManiac]

Background: I purchased this E30 back in Dec 2010, sight unseen except from pictures. I am the second owner and the car was in great shape. I had the seats reupholstered last year, and the panels are getting done as we speak. The car has over 250K miles and has ZERO rust!

This has been my daily driver since and last November, the motor died on me! So, the project has finally started! The plan is for the car to be resprayed same color, and for the motor to be completely refreshed, with a little addition of o-ring for the block and a turbo kit from Derek at DMS! I'm not going for any serious power, just 8 - 14 psi to give this E30 a little more power....

So, for the next couple of weeks, the motor will get completely stripped, refreshed, the car will be prepared for paint, and everything reinstalled with the turbo kit, ready to go by the end of the summer!

And lastly, looks like the Z4M coupe and turbo E36 M3 will have to spend the time outside the garage....attached is a quick teaser pic!

http://s1297.photobucket.com/user/Hoova0797/slideshow/1991%20BMW%20325i%20Turbo%20project

[BMWManiac]

Some more initial pics....started cleaning the engine bay tonight....once it dries, I'll go back in with some simple green and a tooth brush to get all the other crud out. Engine will be torn apart tomorrow, car should be ready to paint in about two weeks....hopefully the turbo kit gets here in that time and I'll be boosting a new to me E30 in about a month or two! More pics to follow!

[BMWManiac]

Last night, we tore down the block and found out why my car broke down back in November....

Apparently, the oil pump seized, causing the rod bearings to disintegrate...we found bits and pieces of the rod bearings, everywhere!

So now, we are deciding how to proceed....source a bottom end (desire was to keep it stock!), new crank, forged rods/pistons, etc....

Good news is I have the front mostly apart, ready for paint! I'm not deterred...this will get done still in the next month or two!

[ak-]

Sweet. Besides rebuild and an o-ring, any other goodies going in there?
I'm sure you'll be doing ARP head studs at the minimum.

What size turbo and manifold type?

[BMWManiac]

The plan was to keep the bottom end stock to keep costs down. I'm not looking for a lot of power...I have the M3 for that. I just want 250 - 350 rwhp/rwtq to give the E30 a little more go.

At this point, I need a new crank, new rods....I may go forged internals just because I want this engine to be bullet proof....

I have a head from Myster-E, and ARP head studs ready to go....

Turbo is a GT3582 (.63/.70) and I'm using an OBX adapter for the stock exhaust manifolds - DMS turbo kit. Once I get the kit, I'll take pics of all the parts

[travish325]

You could get away with using a smaller turbo and still hit those power goals pretty easily, with a lot less lag too. Gt3076 or even a 3071 would suffice.

[BMWManiac]

Understood...this is part of a kit, ready to drop in, just have to fine tune the megasquirt....GT35r with a 3.46 LSD should still be pretty quick...and who says I wont turn up the boost later...I say that now, but who am I kidding!

[BMWManiac]

Not a lot to update:

Received another bottom end and tore it down last night....looks like I'll be sourcing another crank....I now have two trashed cranks!

On a positive note, car goes to paint next week, and I've received the tracking numbers for my turbo parts from Derek....the plan to have everything done as soon as possible before I depart for Afghanistan

[BMWManiac]

Another update:

-Car has most of the trim removed and will go to paint tomorrow
-Another crank has been sourced/purchased and the rest of the engine build parts, etc will be ordered soon
-DMS turbo kit parts have arrived!

[BMWManiac]

Update:

This week I continued to prep the car for paint. The interior seating has been ripped out to transport the bumpers, and I made a slight modification to the DMS kit (sorry Derek!) I wanted to keep the stock location for the oil cooler, so I moved the intercooler higher, to be behind the grills. I also cut a notch in the bumper support and welded in a box for the evaporator lines! I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out, and it should cut some length off of the pipes to the intercooler and from the intercooler to the throttle body. Car goes into paint tomorrow and should take about 3 weeks....enough time for me to get all the other parts cleaned and the engine assembled. Once the car gets back from paint, should just be a matter of days til she gets fired up! Pics attached, enjoy!

[BMWManiac]

Some pics of the brackets....yes, the one is pretty ugly, but will be hidden and gets the job done. The other brackets were provided with the DMS kit, but slightly modified....

[blueapplesoda]

:up:

[BMWManiac]

Car is off to paint finally! Hopefully, in the time the car is completed from paint and back to the house, the motor will be finished and ready to be installed with the turbo...then, only thing left is to get the piping installed and MS tuned!

[BMWManiac]

Latest update, block is cleaned and painted.....crank, pistons, rods going to get cleaned up a bit. I'll order the bearings on Tuesday, hopefully to have motor assembled by the end of the week. Car got painted this weekend, hope to have it back in time to drop the motor in this weekend.....all that should be left is a little tuning...pics attached!

[Vivek]

Wow you're moving quite fast. Good job! Just out of curiosity, how does your e36 compare to your z4m?