tl:dr - This listing is for the entire turbo setup from my 450 BHP e30 that was totaled in a wreck in 2018. It includes the complete intake, exhaust, turbo, wiring, tuned ECU, and accessories. Everything you need to turbocharge an e30 with the exception of a handful of hardware.
This is an almost-ready-to-roll bolt-on kit for an m20 e30. It's not mass-produced, but it is skillfully done. No shortcuts were taken. I'm asking $2,500 for the entire "kit." There is a lot of ground to cover, and I'll do my best not to leave anything out.
Image gallery (I will be updating with more pictures soon... I'm sorting through 10 years of assorted build pictures)
These parts have been sitting for about 3 years and had nothing but a blowgun taken to them, so they're kinda grungy. Most of the hard parts will be getting cleaned up properly and new pictures uploaded as I have time.
I'll get this out of the way early... Yes, you can probably buy most of these parts for less. What you won't get buying the parts is the hundreds of hours invested in tuning, tweaking, fabricating, matching, more tweaking, finding something that didn't work the way you thought, and doing it over again. If you disagree with this statement, I welcome you to find another m20 turbo kit. I'm open to reasonable offers. As I said, this is an almost-ready-to-roll kit capable of a well-behaved 450 WHP with a couple of long weekends of wrenching. As such, I'm not yet interested in parting it out.
It took me several years to build this kit and work out the kinks. It was running great and I was getting ready to add boost control to the MS2 before the car was totaled in a crash. Before switching the housing and adding the external wastegate, I was running around 28 PSI (thanks, boost creep!) on a Frankenstein motor with the old internal HX35 wastegate, and it was easily making 450 at the crank. Never dyno'd, but that is a "best guess" by several experienced people who rode in it and have good "butt dynos". It's making considerably less with the 8PSI spring in the wastegate, but that's easily upgraded to get the 18 to 20 I was getting from the internal wastegate Or you can opt for an EBC solenoid like I was planning and let Megasquirt control the boost.
This kit with the right settings and water-methanol (planned after the boost control) could realistically push well over 500 to the wheels. Boost starts around 2500 RPM and comes in full around 3500.
This kit is basically a daily driver that can embarrass most Corvettes. You won't get any pops or pings or putters when driving normally. You won't get the attention of the police because of your obnoxious car noises. You will, however, take Camaros to Gapsville and leave Mustangs counting their "what happened's". But you can still casually go through a drive-through or cruise down the street without sounding like an ass. Highway fuel mileage was excellent, probably over 30mpg. I commuted about 80 miles round trip 5 days a week and only filled up once a week.
With a functioning IAC, you don't even have to touch the pedal to start in -30 (yes, I drove it in that weather, just not snow). It accelerates from a stop smoothly and shifts nicely (this will depend on your flywheel, though). Boost rolls in smoothly starting at about 2000 RPM with a full boost by 3000 RPM. You can take off normally from a traffic light and roll into boost and hit 2nd gear before the next lane knows what hit them.
Launching with the 2-step on even the 8 PSI can be, frankly, terrifying. I've done it a few times. You have to be ready to pedal as the clutch grabs it so you don't get wheel spin. If it does, you need to feather it out a bit or you will hook too hard and turn your half shafts into pretzel shafts. I would launch with the 2-step, feather out just as the clutch grabbed, then be ready to hit second.
Videos
I wish I was more vain sometimes and shot more videos, I'm a little disappointed going through my collection. I'm still digging through old phone backups, so I may find more.
These two are with the old internal wastegate that boost crept too badly to be practical. Couldn't go WOT because it would trigger the overboost cut in the MS2 almost instantly.
]https://youtu.be/3-D-xMZnDEg (my favorite of all time)
New wastegate setup w/quickspool housing @ about 8 PSI
https://youtu.be/FJa_5K2QIQw[
A poorly filmed video of the 2 step
Features:
Fully programmed MS2 ECU
Factory ECU mounting
Uses a slightly modified factory harness with a handful of added wires
Included:
--Tune Info--
The tune was spot on for the Frankenstein motor and config. I also had an OEM factory fuel pump. It will likely need some tweaking for your area. If you change any of the plumbing, add water-methanol, upgrade the fuel pump, etc... you will need to tune accordingly. I will provide all of my tune file iterations as well. As stated before, this probably cruised into the 30 mpg range due to lean running with plenty of spark advance in the tune.
Basics:
-- Things I wanted to do but never got around to --
-- Other considerations --
This is an almost-ready-to-roll bolt-on kit for an m20 e30. It's not mass-produced, but it is skillfully done. No shortcuts were taken. I'm asking $2,500 for the entire "kit." There is a lot of ground to cover, and I'll do my best not to leave anything out.
Image gallery (I will be updating with more pictures soon... I'm sorting through 10 years of assorted build pictures)
These parts have been sitting for about 3 years and had nothing but a blowgun taken to them, so they're kinda grungy. Most of the hard parts will be getting cleaned up properly and new pictures uploaded as I have time.
I'll get this out of the way early... Yes, you can probably buy most of these parts for less. What you won't get buying the parts is the hundreds of hours invested in tuning, tweaking, fabricating, matching, more tweaking, finding something that didn't work the way you thought, and doing it over again. If you disagree with this statement, I welcome you to find another m20 turbo kit. I'm open to reasonable offers. As I said, this is an almost-ready-to-roll kit capable of a well-behaved 450 WHP with a couple of long weekends of wrenching. As such, I'm not yet interested in parting it out.
It took me several years to build this kit and work out the kinks. It was running great and I was getting ready to add boost control to the MS2 before the car was totaled in a crash. Before switching the housing and adding the external wastegate, I was running around 28 PSI (thanks, boost creep!) on a Frankenstein motor with the old internal HX35 wastegate, and it was easily making 450 at the crank. Never dyno'd, but that is a "best guess" by several experienced people who rode in it and have good "butt dynos". It's making considerably less with the 8PSI spring in the wastegate, but that's easily upgraded to get the 18 to 20 I was getting from the internal wastegate Or you can opt for an EBC solenoid like I was planning and let Megasquirt control the boost.
This kit with the right settings and water-methanol (planned after the boost control) could realistically push well over 500 to the wheels. Boost starts around 2500 RPM and comes in full around 3500.
This kit is basically a daily driver that can embarrass most Corvettes. You won't get any pops or pings or putters when driving normally. You won't get the attention of the police because of your obnoxious car noises. You will, however, take Camaros to Gapsville and leave Mustangs counting their "what happened's". But you can still casually go through a drive-through or cruise down the street without sounding like an ass. Highway fuel mileage was excellent, probably over 30mpg. I commuted about 80 miles round trip 5 days a week and only filled up once a week.
With a functioning IAC, you don't even have to touch the pedal to start in -30 (yes, I drove it in that weather, just not snow). It accelerates from a stop smoothly and shifts nicely (this will depend on your flywheel, though). Boost rolls in smoothly starting at about 2000 RPM with a full boost by 3000 RPM. You can take off normally from a traffic light and roll into boost and hit 2nd gear before the next lane knows what hit them.
Launching with the 2-step on even the 8 PSI can be, frankly, terrifying. I've done it a few times. You have to be ready to pedal as the clutch grabs it so you don't get wheel spin. If it does, you need to feather it out a bit or you will hook too hard and turn your half shafts into pretzel shafts. I would launch with the 2-step, feather out just as the clutch grabbed, then be ready to hit second.
Videos
I wish I was more vain sometimes and shot more videos, I'm a little disappointed going through my collection. I'm still digging through old phone backups, so I may find more.
These two are with the old internal wastegate that boost crept too badly to be practical. Couldn't go WOT because it would trigger the overboost cut in the MS2 almost instantly.
]https://youtu.be/3-D-xMZnDEg (my favorite of all time)
New wastegate setup w/quickspool housing @ about 8 PSI
https://youtu.be/FJa_5K2QIQw[
A poorly filmed video of the 2 step
Features:
Fully programmed MS2 ECU
Factory ECU mounting
Uses a slightly modified factory harness with a handful of added wires
Included:
- T3 Header
- 3-2-1 design works with factory exhaust gaskets
- Custom downpipe and complete exhaust
- All fabricated from scratch for the e30
- Full 3" single piece front to back
- DynoMax 17296 UltraFlo muffler
- Custom fabricated exhaust tip
- Uses factory exhaust hangers plus a couple of bolts on the back of the transmission with custom brackets.
- Downpipe includes a mounting bung for wideband (also included, see below)
- Holset HX35 w/ bullseye quick spool housing
- I believe it's a .82 AR, but not entirely sure.
- Custom fabricated wastegate flange on housing
- Tial 38mm wastegate with custom screamer pipe
- Mounts to custom HX35 housing fit under unmodified e30 hood with no heat shielding required
- Includes 8psi spring (intended for boost control, can be swapped, see "things you will probably need" below for more details)
- Oil pan with welded AN turbo drain fitting
- Custom-made braided oil lines for turbo
- Feed line hydraulically crimped at Earls of Indy
- Standard compression AN fitting drain line
- Both have heat sleeves
- Custom TIG welded aluminum charge pipe
- Includes fittings for idle air controller and intake air temp as well as a flange for the blowoff valve
- Blitz blowoff valve
- Custom oil filter relocation kit
- Started off as a generic kit from Jegs, but the AN adapters kept leaking or didn't fit right so we welded them all in place.
- Fits a standard m20 oil filter
- Modified late throttle body
- Welded fitting for IAC
- True throttle position sensor (from an e36) with adapter plate
- Bosch EV-14 fuel injectors
- If memory serves, they're 720cc
- Modified fuel injector rail
- Reversed flow to clear turbo kit, puts the pressure regulator in the front
- Modified fuel injector harness
- Uses factory harness plug and updated injector plugs for Bosch injectors
- Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR-4 coil packs and PTU
- Weird choice, right? Well, but they make a hot spark reliably. They come with their own ignition control module that's easily addressable by MegaSquirt. They're also really easy to get replacements.
- Programmed with a wasted spark in the MS2
- Whole module bolts into the mock battery tray using the bolt bung that is already there for the 4-cylinder battery tray.
- PTU is mounted to an aluminum panel to act as a heat sink.
- MegaSquirt MS2 ECU and Modified factory wiring harness
- Gutted the original ECU, desoldered the connector, and used the base to mount the MS2 and connector. Then wired the DB25 connector from the ECU to the factory positions for those sensors.
- Repurposed connectors and relays not used with the conversion for things like sending IAT signal to the MS2 and powering on the VR-4 PTU.
- I'm working on schematics for all these changes and will provide them with the setup.
- See tune info below for more information
- Modified harness included
- AEM wideband
- Includes O2 sensor and all wiring
- MS2 is set up to read the signal accurately from the gauge and perform small fuel trim adjustments accordingly.
- Autometer 20 PSI boost gauge
- Includes an amber LED to match the OEM dash lighting relatively closely
- Cobra bend
- Clears the radiator and gives clearance to use an appropriately sized air filter
--Tune Info--
The tune was spot on for the Frankenstein motor and config. I also had an OEM factory fuel pump. It will likely need some tweaking for your area. If you change any of the plumbing, add water-methanol, upgrade the fuel pump, etc... you will need to tune accordingly. I will provide all of my tune file iterations as well. As stated before, this probably cruised into the 30 mpg range due to lean running with plenty of spark advance in the tune.
Basics:
- Redline: 7000 RPM
- Two Step: 3500 RPM
- Spark cut (BANG BANG!)
- Wired to factory clutch switch
- Spark mode: 60-2 trigger wheel, wasted spark
- Overboost cut at 20psi
- There will be minor hardware missing. Just the nature of these things.
- Definitely need new copper exhaust nuts/washers
- Charge pipe gasket (aluminum v-band assembly gasket)
- Vacuum line of your choice (I went with reinforced silicone)
- If you want more than the 8psi of boost as the kit is currently configured, you will need one of 2 things:
- - A Tial spring kit for the boost you want. This is the easiest, "bolt-on" solution for this kit.
- <OR>
- - An EBC Solenoid kit (which is what I had planned). This will require some additional wiring, tuning, and programming with the MS2. None of it particularly challenging, and it will give you more control over the system.
- - A Tial spring kit for the boost you want. This is the easiest, "bolt-on" solution for this kit.
-- Things I wanted to do but never got around to --
- Clean up welds on the exhaust tip and have it powder-coated
- Have header ceramic coated
- Add Water-Methanol
- Add boost control to MS2 with per/gear and other features
-- Other considerations --
- A stock clutch will not likely hold up. I recommend a good aftermarket clutch. I was running a Spec stage 4 with a South Bend Kevlar disk. Running over 8psi will vaporize a stock clutch, and an automatic stands no chance at even 8psi
- The revs you hear in the videos are thanks to a custom machined single mass flywheel that I had down to about 9.5 lbs. If I had it to do over again, I would have been a little less aggressive. It spun up nice and freed up tons of torque, but was a little tricky to get rolling smoothly with a 3.54 rear end
- I had a Frankenstein motor (b27 bottom end with b25 top end). This configuration has lower compression which you will need if you want to run a lot of boost.
- I used a FACTORY head gasket with Metric Blue head bolts. This gave me a mechanical "fuse" that would theoretically fail if there was a catastrophic malfunction (overboost, detonation, etc) instead of blowing the motor apart. I highly recommend this as opposed to MLS gaskets.
- The 7k rev limit is based on factory internals using upgraded rod and crank bolts.
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