Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

Engine all done. Head studs re-torqued to 70 ft-lbs, plug wires sorted, fuel pressure set to 50 psi, oil, fuel and water topped up.



She runs! We dialed in a few turns on the throttle body butterfly set screw and it idles beautifully at 1000 RPM. No white smoke on throttle lift, so the ring issue is solved.

Bled the cooling system and idle temperature settled down to 180F. We took it for a few victory laps of the block. No oil, fuel or water leaks. Throttle response is good. She's got a "good enough" fuel map for now, so we didn't get into it. It's tuned a bit rich just to be safe.



We noticed some "blue fuzz" around the cam gear from the blue kevlar timing belt, so that's got to be addressed. I never liked that damn aftermarket belt. It was bar tight going on, hard up against the tensioner. We're switching back to a stock belt. Not screwing with timing on an interference engine like this.

Victory!

[Old525i]

After retorquing, check the valve lash gap.

[dvallis]

Yeah, I was wondering the same. ARP says 3 equal steps ending in 70ft/lbs. https://cdn2.arp-bolts.com/instructions/201-4305.pdf

Thanks for the reminder. We'll definitely retorque to 70.

[dvallis]

Is there a rebuild kit for the Throttle Housing Assembly? Were there any seals to replace around the throttle shafts?

Just the throttle body to manifold gasket

[Digitalwave]

Yeah, I was wondering the same. ARP says 3 equal steps ending in 70ft/lbs. https://cdn2.arp-bolts.com/instructions/201-4305.pdf

Even on my NA M20, my ARP's definitely loosened a bit after a few heat cycles. It's worth re-checking the torque a couple of times after running the motor.

[whodwho]

...
Head torqued down. 22 ft-lbs for each nut per Bentley's pattern, repeat with 90 degrees x 2 for each
...

Curious why you chose to angle torque vs the recommended ARP torque specs?

Not sure that this procedure is valid for non TTY stock bolts and if you ended up with proper end torque. Do you plan to do a re-torque after any heat cycles?

[Old525i]

Is there a rebuild kit for the Throttle Housing Assembly? Were there any seals to replace around the throttle shafts?

[MrScuba]

After you refill the oil.

[Old525i]

When it rains, it pours. Full steam ahead.

[dvallis]

It fooking fell off the drill shank when we were done priming the oil. Dropped straight past the oil pump shaft with .0001" clearance on both sides, bounced UPHILL in the oil pan, OVER two ribs and stopped there. Had to drain the oil, find it with a fiber optic camera then fish it out with a magnet on a wire. Sheeh. Now we can start the car next time.

[Elysian]

So that's where I left that 10mm socket

[dvallis]

Who can guess what and where this is .....

[dvallis]

Back at it ...

Had to amputate the throttle position sensor, lengthen the cable. Soldering in place .. not my favorite.


That's better. FYI, the TPS and CPS sensors use exactly the same connector. That confused us for a few minutes :-)


Reworked the throttle body mechanism


Added the variable TPS


Turned out good, took a while though. Lots of minor fabrication required.


Finally oiled it up and primed the block with a drill. We are making 70 PSI .. great.


Ran out of time today. Next session we'll crank it up.

[Digitalwave]

Heat is an issue even with my NA track car. Every little bit helps!

[dvallis]

I did a lot of reading on header and downpipe wraps. NASCAR guys have data showing wraps trap heat causing metal failure, so no wraps. If you read back in the blog you'll see we heat shielded the bulkhead, tunnel and coils. Plug wires are also shielded. I might ceramic coat the downpipe later if heat still turns out to be an issue.