Well, the time has come to put my Dinan Turbo kit up for sale. I know that I will regret it down the line, but I just don't see myself putting it to use anytime soon.
A Bit of History: Between the years of 1988 and 1991, Dinan of California made custom one-off Turbo Kits for the BMW E30 3-series car. 20 of them were installed on 325i's, 6 on M3's (obviously a different kit for the M3), and supposedly all of these cars were sold brand new from a BMW dealer in Morgan Hill, CA to the tune of $40K. Dinan rated the kit at 290bhp and 300ft-lbs on 11psi. I personally don't know of any others, and the previous owner told me that Dinan only new of 3 left in existence. This was 7 years ago.
My Kit's Backstory: The original car was a '91 Alpine white 325i 4dr, purchased from the dealer with the kit installed. If my memory serves, the original owner had passed, and the second owner purchased the car from his mother with a blown head gasket. Being a mechanic, he rebuilt the motor and sent out the turbo to be rebuilt as well. After that point, the car was sold to a friend of his. Unfortunately after a few years, the car ended up being involved in an accident and was put up for sale in ~2008, somewhere under 30K miles after the rebuild. This is when I bought it, shipped it from the west coast to the east coast, and had the entire motor/drivetrain installed in my e30. I have since put another ~30K on the setup. In the accident, the SMIC was damaged. It was located behind the driver headlight, and in order to make it fit Dinan had relocated the ABS unit and had run custom brake lines. Instead of going through the trouble of doing the same, and still run an inferior SMIC setup, I opted to install a custom water-to-air intercooler system. The full turbo kit parts list follows below. Here is a pic of the original car:
Parts List: (Everything pictured below is included)
Some Extras:
Price: Sold
Pictures:
You'll will find pictures here:
A Bit of History: Between the years of 1988 and 1991, Dinan of California made custom one-off Turbo Kits for the BMW E30 3-series car. 20 of them were installed on 325i's, 6 on M3's (obviously a different kit for the M3), and supposedly all of these cars were sold brand new from a BMW dealer in Morgan Hill, CA to the tune of $40K. Dinan rated the kit at 290bhp and 300ft-lbs on 11psi. I personally don't know of any others, and the previous owner told me that Dinan only new of 3 left in existence. This was 7 years ago.
My Kit's Backstory: The original car was a '91 Alpine white 325i 4dr, purchased from the dealer with the kit installed. If my memory serves, the original owner had passed, and the second owner purchased the car from his mother with a blown head gasket. Being a mechanic, he rebuilt the motor and sent out the turbo to be rebuilt as well. After that point, the car was sold to a friend of his. Unfortunately after a few years, the car ended up being involved in an accident and was put up for sale in ~2008, somewhere under 30K miles after the rebuild. This is when I bought it, shipped it from the west coast to the east coast, and had the entire motor/drivetrain installed in my e30. I have since put another ~30K on the setup. In the accident, the SMIC was damaged. It was located behind the driver headlight, and in order to make it fit Dinan had relocated the ABS unit and had run custom brake lines. Instead of going through the trouble of doing the same, and still run an inferior SMIC setup, I opted to install a custom water-to-air intercooler system. The full turbo kit parts list follows below. Here is a pic of the original car:
Parts List: (Everything pictured below is included)
- Turbo Exhaust Manifold - Dinan
- IHI Turbocharger - Dinan
- Intake Pipe - Dinan
- Downpipe - Dinan
- Bosch Diverter Valve - Dinan (replaced under my ownership w/ same brand/PN)
- Tial 38mm Wastegate
**The original Garrett wastegate failed during my ownership (I can provide PN and info).
This part was NLA, so it was replaced with the Tial which was a bolt on. - 2 Wastgate Pipes - Dinan and aftermarket
**The 38mm Tial WG was bigger than the original Dinan unit. I bought a bigger SS pipe,
for improved flow but never installed it. - SS oil/vacuum lines - Dinan
- 25lb. Injectors - Dinan
**Cleaned and flow tested at VACmotorsports. 20 miles on them since. - Bosch Spark plugs - NEW and same brand/PN as original Dinan plugs
- Dinan Gauge Pod w/ original oil temp and boost gauges - Dinan
- Dinan Badge
- Dinan Carpets - *not sure if they are original.
- Dinan Turbotronics 4 & 5 Engine Management w/ original car harness
**These are included for novelty. The car ran rich during my ownership, and near the
end they started to malfunction. I am including a standalone engine management
that is plug and play and much better tech. - Megasquirt Standalone ECU - WhodWho from R3V and e30tech
- LC1 and AFR gauge
- Intercooler
- IC piping, silicone couplers, T-Bolt clamps
- Heat Exchanger and Hoses - mounts behind driver brake duct, can add a second one on the passenger side
- Bosch Water Pump
Some Extras:
- GM IAT Sensor - Should you choose to run it instead of the stock AMF
- Custom Econometer Boost Gauge
**Unfortunately, my dumbass sent in a faulty RPM gauge to have this installed. As a
result, the rpm gauge does not read correctly. You'll have to swap the boost gauge
portion to a good rpm gauge, so not totally the end of the world.
Price: Sold
Pictures:
You'll will find pictures here:
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