The 15 Y/O Turbo M42 Build Thread (Now Holley EFI Terminator X Controlled)

[zwill23]

I just picked up some Wilwood's off marketplace that will fit with my euroweaves. I'm excited for the extra stopping power too.

Glad to see you back up and running! 300whp is the perfect amount in our chassis, I bet 17psi feels great.

[Dj Buttchug]

Brakes all sorted after a warranty bias valve from Wilwood was sent. Stopping power is wild now. New ECU is working well so far with only minor glitches. Currently @ 17psi.

[Dj Buttchug]

Some installed photos. Bias valve is not working as there is no flow of fluid to the rear brakes. Waiting on a replacement from Wilwood. Still need to fabricate some form of support for the air ducting to the front brakes. Possibly need to update to a larger master cylinder. Waiting to finish the bleed process and test before we move forward.

[Dj Buttchug]

Slight subject adjustment.

Much needed safety equipment soon to be installed.

[Dj Buttchug]

Approaching 100 miles driven on new ECU. Working out the bugs.

[Dj Buttchug]

Glad you're successfully working through the kinks with the setup, seems like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel now

Yes! Certainly a lot of work so far to get to this point. Hoping to have a running video up soon.

[Northern]

Glad you're successfully working through the kinks with the setup, seems like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel now

[Dj Buttchug]

My cam sensor issue has been solved. The cherry sensor I ordered for the cam is not magnetic. It is a speed sensor that requires a magnet to pass by it in order to get a square wave.

Small mistake caused huge loss of time.

Attempted a cam sensor fit from a F chassis 328i but the sensor is not long enough to catch the signal from the M42 cam gear peg. Deciding on waiting for the correct sensor to arrive or retrofitting something I have here at the shop that can work...

Once this is sorted I can begin the self learn tuning feature that is built into the Terminator X.

[Dj Buttchug]

Cam sensor is not pulling down on the scope. Looking for an alternative came sensor solution now. I have had tons of problems with sensors. Holley sniper MAP sensors are complete junk. DO NOT USE THESE unless you want to waste time and beat your head against a wall for days. The sensors do not read the correct KPA at atmosphere or under vacuum. 3 different sensors, same problem on all. Went to a local parts store and bought a 2.5 Bar BOSCH and it instantly worked.

Great.


Now I need to find a digital cam sensor that mirrors the M42 design. Looking at mini cooper stuff and others as well. Will report.

[Dj Buttchug]

Update:


New clutch and flywheel is in. 113 teeth on the M42/44 flywheel setup

New WOSP high torque starter in (works and sounds amazing) surely worth $700 LOL
Engine now starts but runs quite poorly. Timing is off. enrichments are off, decay is off as well as other settings. Not really a big issue just need to fiddle with it.



Problems still to work through.

Cam sensor will not sync. Possible cause: cam and crank signal are pulsing too close together 114 degree (20 teeth) needs to be somewhere in the 10-14 range to space things out a bit, OR cam sensor is faulty. I will scope the sensor tomorrow to confirm.

Possible remedy. Rotate the harmonic balancer, make new pin hole, scribe new TDC mark and test. Also possible remedy offset the timing 15 degrees in the program.

Still tossing ideas around.

[Dj Buttchug]

Both the M20 flywheel and the M50 flywheel have 137 teeth. I verified this yesterday after removing the clutch and flywheel off the M42.

Here are some photos of why this doesn't work. You can see the starter bendix gear is not the correct size or pitch to fit into the flywheel ring gear. The bendix will just bounce off when the starter engages.


So my plan to run an m50 flywheel is out. After some digging and a conversation with ClutchMasters I have ordered a a new clutch and flywheel that SHOULD work.

M20 flywheel has seen better days. Clutch looks ok but the hotspots are not very satisfying to see. This clutch has 6k miles on it.

[varg]

That sucks, and is a real drawback to that system that is good to know about; it won't start if the battery gets low. Is the ratio of flywheel to starter tooth counts any different between M20 and M42? I don't think my M20 E30 cranks at under 200rpm but I've never paid it much attention because it's enough to start so

[Dj Buttchug]

Long over due update. Figured I should outline some of the process installing Terminator X LSX based hardware in the E30 chassis to run the M42B18 engine so if anyone tries to attempt this the thread may pop up in a google search.

The basics on the subject are what I have found to work/not work so far with the swap. Removing most of the engine wiring harness and installing the LSX harness is pretty straightforward. Obviously only using 4 injectors and 4 ignition coils the other half of the harness is neatly tucked away and nothing was cut. Pins were moved in the JB1 connector so the ecu will control the correct coils and injectors. Also not very difficult. All engine management sensors are now GM based. For my application a Holley sniper 2.5 bar map sensor was used. I found a GM coolant temp sensor with the correct thread pitch that will screw into the M42 head. The throttle position sensor on the M50 TB I am using is compatible with the ECU so nothing was changed there other than the wiring connector so it will clip into the Holley harness. No oil pressure, fuel pressure or knock sensors were used. Cam and crank sensors were made using Sieger Electronics cherry sensors. Overall the install was free of problems however it was very time consuming to install clean and to my liking. Budget 40 hours from start to finish just for the wiring harness install.

Now onto the problems. There is only one but it is a major one. The cranking speed of the engine is not fast enough to sync the cam and crank sensors on the 60-2 toothed harmonic balancer.

This may not happen on other installs but it did on my car. My engine has a lightweight M20 single mass flywheel. I installed this years ago because it was cost effective. Working through this problem I believe (and this is just a theory as of now) that the M20 flywheel could be a cause of a slower cranking speed due to the number of teeth on the ring. The starter bendix has a smaller pitched tooth gear as well. Cranking speed is 190 RPM with no spark plugs installed. With plugs in the engine it is probably 140-150 rpm.

Anyway, without sufficient cranking speed (over 200RPM at least) there is no fuel and no spark. The old MS1 system would catch it just fine. Never had any issues on the previous engine control stuff. So with that said, make sure to plan for this if you decide to go this route and update to a much newer management system. It is likely other brands will have this same issue if the cam and crank sensors used are digital.

As of now the engine cranks, all sensors are working. I am waiting for a WOSP high output starter motor on way from overseas to attempt to correct the issue. We will see how that favors. A possible flywheel change may be needed but I am not certain just yet.

[TobyB]

Also, I should add that during the install of the new standalone I was able to find the reason why the MS1 was turning off randomly. Turns out the main terminal connection at the front battery tray was the cause of the issues. The + connection was dropping out causing the car to suddenly shut off. My assumptions about the MS1 board were wrong. Too late to go back now.

I feel that pain-
a few years ago, I stripped apart the power supply for a very low- volume early automated audio console.
The thing was waaay ahead of its time in 1992, but had been flakey since its initial installation, and was scrapped sometime around 2007.

When I took the power supply apart, I found that one of the main ground busses had never been soldered, and there was evidence
of arcing in more than a few places. 2 minutes of soldering missed, 15 years of intermittent failures that couldn't be duplicated.

I now triple- check my own work, and then run a 150% current test looking for voltage drops....

t
which is why as you age, you work faster by working slower, I guess.

[Dj Buttchug]

Hello again, been a while. Now I got an M42 turbo setup of my own going. As of right now I don't have a good tune going though. Was wondering if DJ Buttchug or someone else had a good starter tune for MS2 to share. I cannot find a tuner locally and in some parts of the tune like the ignition table I am quite unsure what to do. So I need something safe i could run for this winter. Thanks! Any ignition, afr, VE tables or any other information very welcome. Even info about the general engine setup. Im running a 3.0mm MLS head gasket, arp headbolts, 0.5mm ring gaps and a large chinese turbo. Stock injector/fueling setup. Running planning on running 7psi for the next few months.

PM me a good email and I can send you a few things to get you started.