A turbo set up for $250?

[bam2002]

Yes we could of been down on power since out engine was on its last leg.

We have lightened the car quite a bit. Ie no sunroof, inner doors cut out. 30% of the wiring removed. I am sure there is a bit more.
I do have glass molds for the hood and decklid. So we could make some really thin body panels. But Time is always an issue.

We had mechanical issues at Road Atlanta. IE alternator stopped working. I had a spare but that cost us an hour, to get towed in etc.

Yes drivers skill is a factor. 2 of us had never raced on a track with elevation changes. Being from FL we always had been on flat tracks. But we have been racing against 60% of those cars for 2 years now and 1/2 of them have gotten quite a bit faster. So we may just want to keep up with the Jones...
Out next race is at Daytona. We will have a fresh rebuild and run the 14 hour race with no Turbo to break it in. Then for Sebring I want to turbo the car. Its our home track and we can always use more power.

So im going to build an intake and have a spare ETA engine car to use to fit the parts. Then move it over to the track car.
So photos may be boring at 1st on the test mule.. they turbo race isnt untill Sept 22nd. So we have some time to get it all built.

[dinanm3atl]

What kind of lap times were you turning at RA?

[bam2002]

Im with dinnanm3atl, no way a $250 turbo setup is going to last 7-12 hours of hard lapping. Honestly, running only 6lbs is not going to return on investment of time to build/fab anyway, you need more speed through the corners, not the straights.

We were good in the corners. The car handles great. But I need about 30 more HP. We were getting walked in the straights after spending the last 4 turns getting past the newer V6 or V8 cars.

[bam2002]

What kind of lap times were you turning at RA?

3:54 if I recall. I had one driver that has been an instructor at that track at a 3:52 or a 3:50??. We started around 4:02 for the first 10 min to learn the track.

[dinanm3atl]

I went in to check just so I had a better idea. Your teams best time was a 1.52.9 and Ronald's was a 1.47.8(Sunday) so you are 5 seconds off but when you really look at the results you turned 60 less lap than them. It sounds like your failed distributor was more of the root cause of the finishing result. Making it down the straight the fastest will not win an endurance race. The team that finished 10th ran over a second slower than you and still finished in the Top 10.

88 Iron Lemon is the best example of this. They are slower than you but finished 23rd and then 2nd on Sunday. They were only 3 seconds off the top step on the podium. It seems like reliability is more of a concern than raw speed. Sure turning some 1.40s at Road Atlanta would make you overall faster but if you have a failure and sit in the pits/paddock you are not going to do well.

I would work on driver skill and reliability before you install a turbo. There is obviously 5 seconds or more in your car and a podium finish. E30s with M20s win and finish well in these races. That is why people hate them. However in order to win you have to finish. Just keep that in mind. A junkyard turbo system is going to open up a whole new can of worms. Simple and reliable is the most important aspect of Chump IMO.

[bam2002]

The Iron Lemon car won on day 2 because they only did Pit stops during yellow flags.
So it was strategy not speed. I agree that there are many things that come into play. And you need to finish the race to win.
I would just like to be faster and eliminate one of the many factors.


We are using stock brakes with ducts, Carbontech endurance pads with ATE rotors? The ones with the atomic pattern cut in them.
Tires are Star Spec just like every one else..
Suspension is stock swaybars, all new stock parts. IE bushings. We did adjust spring rates a bit.
Last thing to do is replace the steering rack. It will be done with the lower subframe before the next race. Its been bent for the last 3 races.

[ForcedFirebird]

Lot's of advice in this thread! Answered your PM about the chip burning.

Don't bother with an ebay chip, RRFPR, head bolts, MLS gasket, O-Ring etc etc.

Whoever linked the blogspot, my ugly mug is in some of those pics lol.

Here's a cheap, reliable, and power-making setup - the wide-body e30 is still running the 524td mani and making 357whp@15psi on a Holset HX35, but used an upgraded Volvo turbo for 3yrs prior. It ran at 12psi with no issues, and until there was boost-creep from a WG being too small the stock 150xxx+ mile m20 held just fine. The head gasket nor the metric blues liked 21psi. The blues lifted and popped the gasket as well as breaking a rocker.

Anyways, back to the budget turbo build.

524td manifold, if you are lucky you can find them at the yards for about $10
Volvo turbo - look for one that has the BOV separate from the turbo compressor housing. A lot of Volvo guys upgraded and is a much better turbo than the stocker. I pulled on a couple months ago at the local yard, $70.

Use the I/C from that same Volvo. It's large and will easily support 250-300whp or about 15psi before the plastic end tanks begin to separate from the aluminum. Also have used these in a couple builds, got them for $27ea at the same yard.

Charge piping and down pipe, take from the same Volvo and re-configure to the e30. Yard charges me $12 if I connect all of it together with the couplers. I always try to find 2 cars worth and snake them all together.

Use an m30 AFM and mount it in front of the turbo. Local yard sells them for $50, but you can probably find them cheaper on the forums.

That put's you at $169 if you pay the same as the local yards here, seeing you are just across the state, it shouldn't be much different.

As far as tuning and fueling we have had success using 30lb/hr injectors up to 12psi on a small turbo. Look for cross-references to find injectors this size or larger. Ford Mustangs and Lightnings etc generally have good sized injectors. Basically look for any OEM turbo/supercharged cars. The local yard is expensive for injectors, but even at $6/ea, you are still talking $36 which puts your budget at $205.

You will want a wideband, but in most budget racing, you only have to count parts that are in the car for check-in. This means you just take the WB out after locking in a solid/safe tune. Go to Moates.net and purchase a blank chip ($5), chip burner ($50) and an Ostrich 2.0 Emulator ($175). The chip is the only thing that should HAVE to be claimed on your budget, so this puts you at $210 for what stays in the car and $225 out of pocket to be able to tune yourself.

[dinanm3atl]

The Iron Lemon car won on day 2 because they only did Pit stops during yellow flags.
So it was strategy not speed. I agree that there are many things that come into play. And you need to finish the race to win.
I would just like to be faster and eliminate one of the many factors.


We are using stock brakes with ducts, Carbontech endurance pads with ATE rotors? The ones with the atomic pattern cut in them.
Tires are Star Spec just like every one else..
Suspension is stock swaybars, all new stock parts. IE bushings. We did adjust spring rates a bit.
Last thing to do is replace the steering rack. It will be done with the lower subframe before the next race. Its been bent for the last 3 races.

Just saying you admit it in your first line there. Better strategy and not breaking down got them a 2nd place finish. I would just reconsider more power when you are 5-6 seconds off the other E30s running your same engine. The way you are trying to gain the time is setting up for future failures. A turbo system while not overly complex still adds more parts to the equation. It also is going to add significantly to the overall complexity of the car.

My team is still a noob and have not physically raced but we are trying to steer clear of any type of performance anything until the car finishes a full race. No 24V swap. No Turbos. No performance stuff. All stock. All rebuild. See how it does. I would work on those 5-6 seconds of time and pit stop strategy and it would seem you would be right up there.

[akorcovelos]

FWIW I cut 6 seconds off my lap times my first season with nothing but seat time, zero changes to the car. Very few drivers are out driving the potential of the car.

When you do start pushing the limits of the car, just finding a better tire can cut times. You said your running star specs, are you running full tread or are they shaved?

[bam2002]

Just saying you admit it in your first line there. Better strategy and not breaking down got them a 2nd place finish. I would just reconsider more power when you are 5-6 seconds off the other E30s running your same engine. The way you are trying to gain the time is setting up for future failures. A turbo system while not overly complex still adds more parts to the equation. It also is going to add significantly to the overall complexity of the car.

My team is still a noob and have not physically raced but we are trying to steer clear of any type of performance anything until the car finishes a full race. No 24V swap. No Turbos. No performance stuff. All stock. All rebuild. See how it does. I would work on those 5-6 seconds of time and pit stop strategy and it would seem you would be right up there.

Your fuel tank is going to be your limiting factor, if you are running a 2.5l engine you wont be able to go the 2 hours.
When chump first started we always finished in the top 10 and had a 2nd and 3rd place finish. With a slower team. Well one of the drivers was slower, but she is no longer driving.. The rest of us are all still on the team and I would hope we have improved.

I do agree the race is won or lost in the Pits. But I would like to have the ability to make up time if needed. We shall see how it all plays out. Thats the great things about crap can racing. if I dont like the turbo it can come off for the next race and I have only spent $200..

Thanks Firebird for the data. I will be out shopping at the local U pulls this weekend.

[dinanm3atl]

Yah we are not trying to win. We just want to finish. VIR 24 we plan on running 1 hour stints anyways. We want to finish our first attempt at a 24 hour race. After that we'll consider a fuel cell and getting us up to a full time/stint.

[bam2002]

FWIW I cut 6 seconds off my lap times my first season with nothing but seat time, zero changes to the car. Very few drivers are out driving the potential of the car.

When you do start pushing the limits of the car, just finding a better tire can cut times. You said your running star specs, are you running full tread or are they shaved?

Good points. No tires are not shaved, since races are 7 to 10 hours we need all the tread to make it through a race.
The time changing tires would be more than the lap times we gain with shaved tires.

Also these are new tracks . So yes we get faster as we learn them, but Id sayt that is true for 70% of the cars out there. Ie they are also out for the 1st time. I know some people learn faster than others. But again more power makes it easier to get back time in the straights. Plus when there are 70 cars out on the track it difficult to pass packs of 4 cars in the turns. So the straights are the best palce to do so if you have the power.

[chip]

Good points. No tires are not shaved, since races are 7 to 10 hours we need all the tread to make it through a race.
The time changing tires would be more than the lap times we gain with shaved tires.

Also these are new tracks . So yes we get faster as we learn them, but Id sayt that is true for 70% of the cars out there. Ie they are also out for the 1st time. I know some people learn faster than others. But again more power makes it easier to get back time in the straights. Plus when there are 70 cars out on the track it difficult to pass packs of 4 cars in the turns. So the straights are the best palce to do so if you have the power.

Ronald's racers are running falken 615's- I'm not familiar with the SS, but the 615 have plenty of hours on them and do lose anything during the race. We have 30+ hours on one set and they are going to the 14 VIR race. Learn to drive! Learn to corner better and pass on exit if not in the turn! The straight away speed isn't that much of a advantage if you are faster in the turns! Think about different rear ends.

We're going to try for 2 hour stints at VIR- we think we'll be close, and I know that some of our drivers will make it, but we're figuring this out that races are won (and lost) in the pits.

[dinanm3atl]

Ronald's racers are running falken 615's- I'm not familiar with the SS, but the 615 have plenty of hours on them and do lose anything during the race. We have 30+ hours on one set and they are going to the 14 VIR race. Learn to drive! Learn to corner better and pass on exit if not in the turn! The straight away speed isn't that much of a advantage if you are faster in the turns! Think about different rear ends.

We're going to try for 2 hour stints at VIR- we think we'll be close, and I know that some of our drivers will make it, but we're figuring this out that races are won (and lost) in the pits.

Even in F1 this is true.

[bam2002]

Ronald's racers are running falken 615's- I'm not familiar with the SS, but the 615 have plenty of hours on them and do lose anything during the race. We have 30+ hours on one set and they are going to the 14 VIR race. Learn to drive! Learn to corner better and pass on exit if not in the turn! The straight away speed isn't that much of a advantage if you are faster in the turns! Think about different rear ends.

We're going to try for 2 hour stints at VIR- we think we'll be close, and I know that some of our drivers will make it, but we're figuring this out that races are won (and lost) in the pits.

30 hours.. We get about 15 to 21 on a set of the Star Specs. then they are pretty worn. They still can be used for Auto X, but I dont think they would make it in another 7 hour race..
I run one 7 hour race then put the other set on for the 2nd day. We then take them off the rims and flip them left to right. And run them another race. Then that is about it..
But with 15s there are not allot of choices for tires. We Ran Nittos? but they were really bad in the rain.