2nd e30, 87 Lachssilber Revival

[Reichart12]

Another week, another update. Spoiler alert, haven't finished the ITB install. I'm really trying to break it into little sections to not feel overwhelmed or feel like I need to rush to finish.

First step was easy enough. Changing over the engine wire harness to an old one I had. I thought it would be best to switch to this since I previously used it with the 2.9L and engine with Megasquirt. So it was already cut for the wideband, had the vTPS pins switched, and had the IAT sensor in place of the MAF. Took longer to change the harness than it would have been to just add in these sensors. Oh well, now I have an uncut harness on the parts shelf.



Next up was getting Megasquirt in. As I talked about above, I was able to get it wired up and running the car but the MS TunerStudio gauge for AFRs was off. Didn't bother figuring it out as I knew I had a bunch more steps to go before running the car with ITBs and MS.



Following that, there was nothing left to procrastinate so time for the ITBs. So I started to remove the crab intake. Fairly straightforward. Just remove things until its off. Had to take the bleeder screw off the t-stat housing to get the fpr off. Left the fuel rail and wiring attached to the manifold. One stud was slightly bent, not sure if it was from me pulling hard on the manifold or not. But a couple light taps with a rubber mallet and it was all good.











Scroll back far enough in my thread and you'll see 2mAn tell me to clean my engine bay when I was changing the engine. I didn't. And I slightly regretted it. Now with shiny parts going in, that's all I could think about so here's a little elbow grease. It's still stupid dirty. But I also removed AC lines (haven't had a compressor for 7 years), removed washer lines (haven't had washer fluid for 7 years), and removed power steering pump (have had manual Z3 for 3 years?).

Before:



After:



Before:



After:

[Northern]

LM Programmer will show you what AFR/Lambda scaling it is, and will let you set the two outputs to whatever you want, narrrowband or wideband.
Helpful for me because I need one scalar for the LC-1's gauge and another for my GFB G-Force III. ECU also gets fed the second output to funnel into a log.

[Reichart12]

What are you running for wideband? If it's an Innovate product, you might need to change the scaling in LM Programmer. My LC-1 and LC-2 came set to the wrong multiplier and I had to manually update it.
Not recommending Innovate stuff, just mentioning because I know how popular it still is with the MS crowd for some reason.

You guessed correctly. It's the LC-2. I had it running previously (2015-16) with this wideband and MS unit before removing for a stock engine. But maybe since I started a new MS project with a base tune, it could have reset that. There's also talk about one wire being wide band 0-5v and the other being narrow 0-1v and as of now I have both connected so not sure there haha.

[Northern]

What are you running for wideband? If it's an Innovate product, you might need to change the scaling in LM Programmer. My LC-1 and LC-2 came set to the wrong multiplier and I had to manually update it.
Not recommending Innovate stuff, just mentioning because I know how popular it still is with the MS crowd for some reason.

[Reichart12]

A no photo update but decided to skip autocross this coming weekend to work on the car. Got the Megasquirt 2 reinstalled in the car. The wideband AFR is reading at 7.5 and at throttle will jump to 10.5. Definitely something off with the calibration of the unit but besides that the car will idle nicely and is responsive on rev.

Depending on work schedule, I will begin to remove the air intake and get the ITBs on shortly after. Even reading the instructions and going through other threads, I'm weary on the steps that need to happen. So expect some frequent updates/questions over the next couple weeks.

[digger]

Those are my brothers cluster rings! He supplies them to RaceGerman. Looking good man.

There is a lot of built M20 talk in this thread these days..... I have now done a few of the proper 9.4:1 2.7L strokers and you really can't beat it for the money.

If you have a really nice block you can just cut the deck ~2mm, install e crank/rods into said nice block with stock "i" pistons. It works so well and is so affordable compared to the rabbit hole that is 2.9L++

If you have a not-so-nice block you can use 84.5mm overbore pistons from russia with OEM rings for ~$325 and still do the above.

Either way it saves so much coin over shaving down m52b28 counterweights, buying custom pistons, or whatever else the stroker build entails, and makes the overall scenario rather approachable in cost.

IMO In the grand scheme of things the differential cost of forged slugs vs OE/OEM is a pittance on a full rebuild. At the end of the day the engine build needs to be balanced from a component selection perspective and this is what should drive configuration choice. No use building a 3L with stock head, cam and intake if you want to go racing etc.

[Reichart12]

Noice! A goal of 10 Motorsports events this year sounds fun. Any of them stand out or more excited about than the other?

Right now it's just autocross. There was a track lapping day but something else came up that day so I won't be able to attend.

So many updates, must mean the nicer weather has arrived.

Maybe I'll be more consistent for the next 6 months or so.

Those are my brothers cluster rings! He supplies them to RaceGerman. Looking good man.

There is a lot of built M20 talk in this thread these days..... I have now done a few of the proper 9.4:1 2.7L strokers and you really can't beat it for the money.

If you have a really nice block you can just cut the deck ~2mm, install e crank/rods into said nice block with stock "i" pistons. It works so well and is so affordable compared to the rabbit hole that is 2.9L++

If you have a not-so-nice block you can use 84.5mm overbore pistons from russia with OEM rings for ~$325 and still do the above.

Either way it saves so much coin over shaving down m52b28 counterweights, buying custom pistons, or whatever else the stroker build entails, and makes the overall scenario rather approachable in cost.

Nice rings, they wouldn't quite snap all the way into place so I added a couple dabs of glue just to be double sure they wouldn't fall out. If for some reason, I get another e30, I would definitely grab another set of rings.

Old engine was custom 11:1 pistons +1mm, M52 crank, M20B25 rods. There was no reasonable aspect to my budget that time haha.

[AWDBOB]

Those are my brothers cluster rings! He supplies them to RaceGerman. Looking good man.

There is a lot of built M20 talk in this thread these days..... I have now done a few of the proper 9.4:1 2.7L strokers and you really can't beat it for the money.

If you have a really nice block you can just cut the deck ~2mm, install e crank/rods into said nice block with stock "i" pistons. It works so well and is so affordable compared to the rabbit hole that is 2.9L++

If you have a not-so-nice block you can use 84.5mm overbore pistons from russia with OEM rings for ~$325 and still do the above.

Either way it saves so much coin over shaving down m52b28 counterweights, buying custom pistons, or whatever else the stroker build entails, and makes the overall scenario rather approachable in cost.

[roguetoaster]

So many updates, must mean the nicer weather has arrived.

[moatilliatta]

Noice! A goal of 10 Motorsports events this year sounds fun. Any of them stand out or more excited about than the other?

[Reichart12]

Couple months ago I added Race German cluster rings and painted the needles racer red. Came out good, I enjoy it. Should have polished the cover but oh well.





Mentioned these in my truck thread. Convenient.



Finally another photographer at autocross so got some action photos. This was event 2 of the year. Aiming for 10 motorsport events this year.









Still working on carbon fiber gas door. Hoping within the next week I can have a final product but it's been lackluster so far. Fun to do, but lackluster outcome.

[Reichart12]

Not much happening with the beginning of this year. Signing up for some autocross events. The club here does "Winter Heats" as a practice before points events so had one so far and another tomorrow. Watching back my video, I can definitely drive deeper into the turns so hopefully keeping that in mind tomorrow will help me gain a couple seconds more. Hate my brakes still. Currently registered as STX but once I get the ITBs in, that'll change my class to DSP. PAX adjustment going from 0.817 to 0.844.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY0EWFkC8do

My plan is autocross this weekend, cars and coffee the following weekend, and then I have three weeks of no events to change over to Megasquirt. If that goes smoothly, maybe also ITBs but not trying to rush that. Would also like to get back to trying to make something out of carbon fiber as the garage space warms up a bit more.

[Reichart12]

I thought that motor was stashed at your parents house or something on the East Coast?

Good photos, really complements the metal and mechanical ness of them.

I think I enjoy the quality of the photo more than that they are ITB’s

Will you do a built M20 again?

Yeah, old engine parts are stashed at my parents' house. I actually just called my dad to see if he could ship me the old harness so I didn't need to splice the current one to add on Megasquirt. Little fuzzy where the actual block is haha. Might still be at my dad's friend shop where the stock motor was swapped in at. If we did leave it there, hopefully he never threw it out but honestly no clue. The head is definitely in the basement.

In the end, I would like to add in a built motor again. Would it be for this chassis, a rust free e30, or even a e21 or 2002 to scratch those itches? No clue until it happens.

[2mAn]

You're telling me. I wish I still had my 2.9L M20 for these ITBs.

I thought that motor was stashed at your parents house or something on the East Coast?

[moatilliatta]

Good photos, really complements the metal and mechanical ness of them.

I think I enjoy the quality of the photo more than that they are ITB’s

Will you do a built M20 again?