Das Beast: My E30 track / street build

[dvallis]

Ah, 2mAn got lucky and found the "unicorn": aluminum single vanos M52B28 from a 97-98 Z3 ;-)

[dvallis]

Another score today. Found a set of 130mm ETA rods and 84mm pistons for $120 on eBay. Used PayPal $$$ from selling my E30 spare parts so total cost was $0. Das Beast is self funding. :-)

Will be using those pistons if we need to shave the tops to lower compression for turbocharging.

[dvallis]

Almost time to start tearing down the M52 block. Did some more detailed compression ratio calculations tonight. To a first order, there is no need for piston shaving, boring, etc. etc. etc. Just using an M52B28 crank, M20B27 rods and 140 mil head gasket will get me back down to 8.0:1 CR. Perfect for a turbo engine. This is looking promising.



And speaking of engine parts, the 130mm rods arrived today.

[dvallis]

And ..... some guy on eBay sent me the wrong rods. @#$@#$#$! At least when you buy from E30 enthusiasts on R3V they send you the RIGHT FRIGGING STUFF!

They should have been BMW P/N 1265301 M20B27 rods. What I got was BWM P/N 1717085 M20B25 rods.

eBay fail. Back to looking for 130mm rods. :curse:

[dvallis]

M52 Teardown

Alright, time to extract the 84mm stroke crank from our M52TUB28. Shop us ready, tools are ready. Looking forward to finally making more progress.

Here's the unsuspecting donor block on our new electric hoist. Don't worry. Those cargo straps are rated 500lbs each.


Engine transferred to the stand.


Here's why the block was free. Broken engine mount.


Cover removed. Cams exposed.



Pulled the cams and holders pretty quickly. They're in good shape.


Next we pulled out the valves and springs. Damn. Reasons not to do a 24 valve build. Replacing them with HD springs would be $$$$.


Used this handy tool to pull head bolts. Had to go buy star sockets.


Head removed. Lots of nastiness going on with one set of valves.


First piston looks pretty nasty as well. We don't care. Not using it anyway.


Ugh. Piston sludge.


Got the oil pan off


Rest of the bottom end oiling gear


Our first setback. The crank pulley "jesus bolt" stubbornly resisted the 700 ft-lb air impact wrench. Time to get the 10 foot breaker bar. It can put 2500 ft-lbs on any damn bolt. Used a chain wrench to hold the pulley in place.


Crank bolt came off easily with that setup. No drama. 1/4 turn to break and impact wrench for the rest.


With the pulley off we could get to the timing chain covers.


We can finally see the crank!


Except the stupid engine stand is blocking removal of the flywheel side cover.


Got that resolved and finally ..... pulled the crank. Total time less than two hours. Time to tackle pulling Das Beast engine.


First time to grab some lunch. Check out the great sign at a local sandwich shop. ;-)

[dvallis]

DAS BEAST Engine Removal

Here's our starting point. Stock M20B25


We decided to label EVERYTHING. So it's going to take a bit longer, but we'll have a chance of reassembling the engine. :devil: A helpful neighbor loaned us his handheld printer that makes water and oil proof labels ... for cheap. You can buy a 24' refill cartridge for $5. And yeah, I know, that's not the fuel return. It's the supply to the fuel rail. I relabeled it.


Grill, bumper, valence, air dam etc. removed.


Radiator, cooling hoses, mass air, air box and more bits removed. Handy service manual nearby. Coolant drained.


The frigging radiator fan is a Q#$@# to remove. We locked the pulley with a strap wrench and got out the big ass breaker bar again. By the way, the nut is reverse threaded. Forget whacking it with a hammer. No way it can resist the 2500 ft-lbs.


Radiator fan, alternator, ignition system etc. removed.


Looking pretty good for a few hours work. We called it a day until next time.

[dvallis]

Some clutch research:

- G260 transmission gets baby size 228mm clutch natively for e30.
- G260 transmission is designed to take a 240mm Clutch kit natively by Getrag; reference e32 735i.
- G260 is shipped from factory with both dual mass and single mass clutch setups in both 228mm and 240mm.
- 240mm is bigger than 228mm. Bigger = hold more torque, more heat.
- e36m3 S52b32 complete dual mass setup weight = 32lbs

"Build your own" options"


What's on the market. (so far)

[dvallis]

Time to get some more done:

ABS Delete. We don't need no steenking APS on a street legal race car


Getting back into the wiring harness. Decided to just rip the whole thing out and make my own. Fun, light weight and easier than reassembling this nasty thing. I'll post a plan for it some time later.


That's more like it. Got the whole front end harness pulled.


Complete wiring harness pulled. 15 lbs of nasty


Fuse Box gone. Now there's room for the roll cage to pick up the left front shock tower.


Packed up and called it a night. More tomorrow ...

[2mAn]

I need to catch up on the build, sounds like I've fallin behind

edit: I wanted to tell you that if you wanted, you could convert that M52tu to a single vanos, but then I saw the broken engine mount.

bummer, but this will be a beast with a 2.8T M20

[dvallis]

You are wayyyyy behind. ;-)

I was thinking of doing that conversion but the M52 rods changed my mind. They are super flimsy compared to M20 rods. Check out the difference. I'd rather have the 325e rods and boost the heck out of my M20.

[dvallis]

More progress

Got the thermostat control valve etc. pulled off


Then we tackled the manifold. This was a total pain in the ass, just due to reaching all 12 of the bolts.


Finally wrestled the damn thing off


And now it's easy to remove the engine harness


Nice view of the block intake ports


Engine bay is looking good. Will be finally pulling the engine this weekend.


Called it good and shut down for today.

[dvallis]

Today's the day. Engine is finally coming out.

Got the brake booster and master out. Going to custom manual brakes so more weight gone.


Holy Frigging HELL the exhaust system is HEAVY. Feels like 100 lbs. We didn't have two scales to stand on and weigh it. Definitely going with a custom lightweight single 3" stainless exhaust.


Remember the damn heater core? It's bolted to the firewall, behind a plastic shield inside the engine compartment. Ugh. Remains of heater core and firewall plastic cover is gone gone gone. We'll replace it with a sheet metal blank. Also a nice option for wiring harness.


Exhaust manifolds off. One wasn't properly connected, which I knew from the exhaust smell and raspy engine note. :devil: Good riddance. We're bolting on a turbo exhaust manifold.


Good shot of the block exhaust ports.


Here's our victim hooked to the electric hoist and load leveler. (Very useful)


Last bit. Needed to remove the clutch slave cylinder


And the ENGINE IS OUT! Finally. Was actually really easy with two guys


Breaking down the block and transmission while its still on the ground


Pressure plate. I'm looking into a Sachs 765 upgrade for this


Rob with the block and transmission. Putting the G260 into storage for now


And finally ... engine on the stand. Get the Harbor Freight type with 4 legs. It's very stable.


Engine bay looks great now. We're going to power wash it and grind off all the random attachment points before it goes to cage fabrication


Victory photo :devil:

[2mAn]

Victory photo :devil:

ahhh the elusive "Im in the engine bay" shot :rofl:

Congrats, it will start getting really fun.

also: Might want to send a moderator a PM to move this to either the projects forum, maybe the turbo or M20 also. I would move it to the projects forum and start a specific engine build thread. Nice way to monitor whats going on and get help

Im excited to see the next wave

[dvallis]

Right. Good idea. I just asked Jparkr to move me to the Forced Induction forum. It's definitely going to be a 2.8L turbo stroker.

[dvallis]

Finally! Actual ETA rods and pistons arrived. Will definitely be using these 130 mm rods for the stroker.



I re-did the compression ratio numbers to include flat top pistons. The ones I have are Euro M20B27 (see this link) From the picture below they clearly have the completely round dish without a flat side. Took actual measurements and calculated the dish volume as 3.2 CC, versus 4.0 CC for M20B25 pistons. This means B27 Euro pistons would raise the compression ratio by 0.1. It's a turbo motor so I want lower CR. Looks like B25 pistons for an 8:1 CR. Not a bad compromise. High enough CR to develop power before boost, low enough CR to take a fair amount of boost.



B27 euro pistons