Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[zwill23]

I'm excited to see this thing hit the dyno!!

I'm currently working toward a boosted M20 myself (albeit modestly), and I'm wondering how you felt about having your down pipe ceramic coated? I imagine it would see very similar temps to the turbine housing and it's quite close to the ignition for the last few cylinders. I read the article you posted regarding ceramic coating and I was surprised to see a naked down pipe.

Maybe a simple wrap makes sense in this case?

[dvallis]

Working through the punch list. Missing a few boost parts but its coming along well.

[dvallis]

LoL, yes. Very familiar with big turbos late on boost. I had a Porsche 930 that would punish you severely for getting into it on the wrong part of the track. Don't ... lift. Was fast once you learned how to drive it though.

Truth of the matter is Rob & I really don't know what kind of HP the Beast will make. We pretty much did everything you can to an M20 without getting too crazy: 2.8L M52B28 crank, 6262 T4 turbo, 62mm compressor wheel 0.84 A/R, schrick 282/274 cam, HD rockers, ARP studs, MLS head gasket, balanced pistons/rods, 3" mandrel exhaust, MegaSquirt, wasted spark, electronic boost contol, 60 lb/h injectors, nuke fuel rail, boost ref FPR, P/S delete, A/C delete, brake booster delete, MAF delete, mech fan delete, big radiator.

Conservatively expecting 400 HP at 15 psi. We'll see on the dyno soon.

[ForcedFirebird]

I would need to check your turbo spec again, but have dyno'd many m20's.

What I found is ~12psi on a 56mm compressor, t3, a/r of .48 is pretty much gonna make close or at 300whp/320wtq (think Super 60 stats). Increase the inducer approaching 62mm, that's going to bump up to ~400/400 at 12psi, but come in much later. Go in to a 6266 t4 and you can easily make an m20 go 500whp, but it boosts very late and you break stuff at that point. For 500whp you need high quality pistons, over-engineered rods, and hope you don't ever starve fuel or #6 piston rings lands will melt. Personal best on an m20 was 518whp/590wtq at 19psi on a custom 6267 t4 with a big housing. Took 5k to reach full boost, but tires would break loose at 130mph swapping gears.

For a road track car, this is way too unpredictable. Worse thing you can do is have boost surge mid corner and upset the car. Your pointy end will be facing oncoming traffic at a lot of corners.

[dvallis]

M20 is a great engine. Easy to work on, takes boost like a champ. Turbocharged it has an impressive horsepower to weight ratio. We're shooting for 400-500 HP. Here's some data from early in the build when we were considering engine swaps.

[jeenyus]

I just love this build. I have an IX and for the longest time I couldn't stop thinking about how to accomplish an engine swap. Then it occurred to me that a turbo M20 is a completely viable, awesome option. What figures are you hoping for?

[dvallis]

Don't think so. Belt fits just fine in all the teeth where the belt wraps around it.

[digger]

you don't have one of the dodgy gears with wrong tooth profile? you can tell how well the belt fits in when its off the engine. i had to get a replacement sent out and i know of others also

[dvallis]

More progress

Head seated flush on the MLS head gasket. Pins aligned with block and head


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


I remember this dance from the last time. At TDC the head gear teeth line up exactly with the belt teeth. There is NO stretch in that kevlar belt, so it's not going on this way.


Last time we cheated and put a couple of degrees advance on on the head to line up gear teeth with belt notches. Not horrible but not the best way. This time we used the Nuke gear adjustable feature to leave the head and block TDC, but slightly turn the head gear.


Note the gear TDC "dot" and head dash are still aligned.


Found the old throttle cable so we'll reuse this bracket and plastic bits.


Test fitting the manifold, throttle body and boost piping. I like the new look. No, the blue boost hose is not staying. :-)

[dvallis]

Finally back on track

Moving the fuel rail to the new manifold. Had to make new brackets.


Fits great on the stock manifold


Upgraded the manifold boost reference output


Ported all the intake runners. They had bumps near the end like the one on the left


Throttle body holes plugged with set screws and loctite 545 pneumatic sealant. That stuff is strong!


Block mating surface cleaned up, ready for gasket and head


Head gasket on. Using two studs only as guides.


Verified TDC for the head


Block at TDC


Head re-installed


Used anti-seize for all the head studs




We'll put the head stud nuts on and torque them down next time. Using the valve cover to keep dust out for now. Looks pretty good with the black oil cap.

[turbski]

That is Friggin sweet. Nice choice.

[berndt]

That looks amazing. Now I want to do that to mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Elysian]

Hot damn

[dvallis]

Manifold and valve cover back from powder coating. Total M20 porn

Interesting how they do two color:

Media blast
Shoot the black
Bake it
Shoot the white
Brush white powder off black highlights
Bake it again

Turned out great!

[dvallis]

I ended up needing three different tap sizes for the throttle body

7/16-20 for these two




9/16-18 for this one




Then 1/2-20 for the hole I previously covered up. Decided to tap it as well. I'll replace the cover once its plugged.




All the taps turned out great. Just waiting for the set screws. Decided to clean the thing up in the meantime