M42 fotostory, as requested

[bwawuz02]

Fixed that for ya ;)

Good call on the 323i flywheel too, those things are awesome. Looking good.

To be honest, the schrick cams aren't too impressive. CatCams has a much better selection and VAC is a distributor for them here in the USA. My engine has reground stock cams, but I don't know what the specs of the grind are as I bought them second-hand.

[bwawuz02]

I'm Actually doing research on m42 parts in regards to boosting it. I'd love to be able to pop the hood and have a top mount turbo just staring at me :D . I'm might order my stuff from VAC motorsports, I've heard they are too pricey but from the looks of it their products look top quality.

Be careful with VAC and do your homework. They have some fair deals, but I've seen more than a few things that they resell at a much higher price, same with Metric Mechanic. Both are great at what they do, but will gouge you when they know something you might not.

[Gerta]

Be careful with VAC and do your homework. They have some fair deals, but I've seen more than a few things that they resell at a much higher price, same with Metric Mechanic. Both are great at what they do, but will gouge you when they know something you might not.

Explain please ... Specific to certain parts or what?

[bwawuz02]

I'm not going to say what specific parts, as there are many, nor do I want to dis either company. But if you do the work that they've done (e.g. measuring sizes and figuring out the specific mechanics of different things) you can find some of the same things they offer for cheaper. Hell, you can call Metric Mechanic and they might tell you a few things that you're local machine shop can do instead of shipping parts to them.

[S13_E30]

Be careful with VAC and do your homework. They have some fair deals, but I've seen more than a few things that they resell at a much higher price, same with Metric Mechanic. Both are great at what they do, but will gouge you when they know something you might not.

Thats kind of a bummer to hear that. I want to stay away from ebay as much as possible as far as engine parts go. I want to find a decent vendor that I can stick without throught the whole build, so that way they know what I've purchased and could help me find other parts I need.

[Gerta]

Food for thought op ... Thanks.

[Simon S]

well.. you're doing it right in my book..

props mate..

[Massimo]

How well do the ITB's match the ports. I find allot of people just slap ITB's on and think that is it. When in reality it could be possible that they are not much better then the stock manifold.

As for parts from VAC they are a distributor there prices will always be more then what you can get if you were to go strait to the supplier. But you pay for the customer support that they offer, which is more important then others.

Thats kind of a bummer to hear that. I want to stay away from ebay as much as possible as far as engine parts go. I want to find a decent vendor that I can stick without throught the whole build, so that way they know what I've purchased and could help me find other parts I need.

If you are happy to pay the money VAC is good.

So are you running with the M44 crank larger pistons? What will your displacement be? What will be your max rpm?

[bwawuz02]

How well do the ITB's match the ports. I find allot of people just slap ITB's on and think that is it.

I didn't check the port matching, but it is obvious that the ports on the head don't match the lower intake just from looking at the gasket. You can also see where the stock injector spray pattern constantly washes the mismatched portion of the intake ports on the head. This is my daily driver and I am in a hurry to get it back on the road.

When in reality it could be possible that they are not much better then the stock manifold.

simply not true.

VAC and MM are both good, I (and others) have found their offerings for cheaper thru extensive web searching. If I were to get CatCams, I would definitely go thru VAC.

So are you running with the M44 crank larger pistons? What will your displacement be? What will be your max rpm?

Yes, M44 crank and +0.50 M44 pistons. displacement turns out to be 1.92 liters, 117 cubic inches. Max rpm will be 7500 initially and maybe 7800 if I feel there are gains to be had from increasing it further. I'll have to calculate the hydraulic float point before making a final decision.

[bwawuz02]

Today I got the E36 electric fan wired in, throttle cable installed, UUC stuff ready to go in, and changed the selector shaft seal. Still need to hook up the knock sensors and wide-band O2, but I should be posting a running video tomorrow :)

[Massimo]

VAC and MM are both good, I (and others) have found their offerings for cheaper thru extensive web searching. If I were to get CatCams, I would definitely go thru VAC.

I am not saying everything VAC and MM sell is expensive somethings are and somethings are not. But that is besides the point they off great customer service and support, which I think is well worth extra money.

I didn't check the port matching, but it is obvious that the ports on the head don't match the lower intake just from looking at the gasket. You can also see where the stock injector spray pattern constantly washes the mismatched portion of the intake ports on the head. This is my daily driver and I am in a hurry to get it back on the road.

That is interesting, I would have thought something like that would have matched up perfectly. Unless they are expecting you to match ports.

Well I think your goal of 160whp should be no problems. Can't wait to see the out come.


I also see you are going to spin the cast crank up to 7.5-7.8. I want to see this. If all gose to plan I might look into keeping my stock forged item and trying to go for 8.5 maybe 8.8. depends on oil starvation and solid lifer options

[getouth]

About time someone show the M42 some respect. WELL DONE

[Ryann]

I didn't check the port matching, but it is obvious that the ports on the head don't match the lower intake just from looking at the gasket.

Who cares. The stock m42 intake ports are so choked up by valve guide protrusion and the aluminum around them that it probably doesn't matter. In your case dBilas are about throttle response and audio feedback.

[carnurd]

Funny you and I have pretty much the same build in mind just went mostly vac parts. I just need ITB's and I have 279/276cams at 11.5/10.95mm the lopes pretty well I make great power up top on track, but would die for a set of those dbilas to free up my top end. My engine sees about 7-7.5 all day on track with issues so far. I'm making 142rwhp at 2400ft elevation(and feels like a lot more at buttonwillow need a standalone). I also don't have pistons or a single row timing chain and I kept the m42 forged crank(crank has been nitrided).

My next step would be solid lifter/pistons/rods/intake. That would be a mighty fine hp/L.

[S13_E30]

Funny you and I have pretty much the same build in mind just went mostly vac parts. I just need ITB's and I have 279/276cams at 11.5/10.95mm the lopes pretty well I make great power up top on track, but would die for a set of those dbilas to free up my top end. My engine sees about 7-7.5 all day on track with issues so far. I'm making 142rwhp at 2400ft elevation(and feels like a lot more at buttonwillow need a standalone). I also don't have pistons or a single row timing chain and I kept the m42 forged crank(crank has been nitrided).

My next step would be solid lifter/pistons/rods/intake. That would be a mighty fine hp/L.

any pics of your car on here? Hearing about more and more ppl putting work into their M42's, makes me want to keep mine.