As many of you guys read, we had a blast building up our E30 project car. In case you missed it before, here's a link to the buildup thread.
We finished that stage of the build around March, and ran it successfully at a number of BMW Club and Audi Club events this year in SoCal.
Around September, we added some Schrick cams to the otherwise bone stock 2.3L S14.

Power bump was noticeably at the upper 5k RPM band, but we were already scheming for the next big mod, a 2.5L conversion.
Well, last October however at Fontana with the BMW CCA, one of our radiator mounts broke and slammed the radiator into the cooling fan.

We caught the problem too late, and by the time we had coasted to a safe place on the track, the damage was done. Detonation from overheating.


We had a complete spare motor as a backup, so our time frame got pushed way up as a result of the blown motor.
We started with the same block, had it magnafluxed, and sonic tested, then had it bored out to accomodate our 95mm pistons.

New block came back from the machinist looking great. They even threw on a nice paint job to finish the look.
First set of pistons we obtained unfortunately didn't quite work out. These were supposed to be an 11.5:1 CR, but calculations after installing them had it upwards of more like 15:1 CR which was completely unacceptable.
These pistons look great however!

Another setback, the head studs we obtained weren't even close!

Gotta love people who sell crap online!
We got the new pistons from Wiseco and got them in. Fortunately they are the correct ones.
New EVO crank extended the stroke from 84mm to 87mm. We retained the factory rods.
New crank has a neat blue hue to it for some reason.

New EVO oil pump, chain and sprocket

Our head was sent out to the machinist as well for some work.
List includes new +1.5mm intake valves, stock exhaust valves, EVO springs, stock retainers and keepers, new valve stems, and some port work. He performed a valve job, and cleaned up the head as well.



With the new EVO gasket

Compared to the stock ports

That's all the photos for now. Stay tuned for more as we wrap the engine build up!
We finished that stage of the build around March, and ran it successfully at a number of BMW Club and Audi Club events this year in SoCal.
Around September, we added some Schrick cams to the otherwise bone stock 2.3L S14.

Power bump was noticeably at the upper 5k RPM band, but we were already scheming for the next big mod, a 2.5L conversion.
Well, last October however at Fontana with the BMW CCA, one of our radiator mounts broke and slammed the radiator into the cooling fan.

We caught the problem too late, and by the time we had coasted to a safe place on the track, the damage was done. Detonation from overheating.


We had a complete spare motor as a backup, so our time frame got pushed way up as a result of the blown motor.
We started with the same block, had it magnafluxed, and sonic tested, then had it bored out to accomodate our 95mm pistons.

New block came back from the machinist looking great. They even threw on a nice paint job to finish the look.
First set of pistons we obtained unfortunately didn't quite work out. These were supposed to be an 11.5:1 CR, but calculations after installing them had it upwards of more like 15:1 CR which was completely unacceptable.
These pistons look great however!

Another setback, the head studs we obtained weren't even close!

Gotta love people who sell crap online!
We got the new pistons from Wiseco and got them in. Fortunately they are the correct ones.
New EVO crank extended the stroke from 84mm to 87mm. We retained the factory rods.
New crank has a neat blue hue to it for some reason.

New EVO oil pump, chain and sprocket

Our head was sent out to the machinist as well for some work.
List includes new +1.5mm intake valves, stock exhaust valves, EVO springs, stock retainers and keepers, new valve stems, and some port work. He performed a valve job, and cleaned up the head as well.



With the new EVO gasket

Compared to the stock ports

That's all the photos for now. Stay tuned for more as we wrap the engine build up!
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