I have an E 30.

[Nader393]

Love this thread! The car looks great. Thanks for continuing to share.

My pleasure. Usually. I'm sad to report that it's pinging under hard load. Only found out since it was running well enough to drive hard. So now I'm upset. And not too surprised. My calculated CR is 10.5:1, jacked up because the head was shaved a full 1mm, or "40 thou" in machinist speak. That's how it was when I bought it. So with the high comp pistons and aftermarket sport chip that advances ignition timing, I have detonation. I was worried this might be an issue while building it, but took a chance, and lost. Not gonna drive it in this condition.

My options now are:
A. Replace MarkD chip with stock chip for less ignition advance. Not guaranteed to fix detonation. Cost $20.
B. Replace head gasket with a Cometic MLS .120" thick to lower the compression back to 10:1 or less. Cost $300, and hassle of top end redo.
C. Replace head with unshaved spare. Have one laying around. Opportunity to have it built up. Cost $0-1500 and waiting on shop, and hassle of top end redo.
D. Run 100 octane AV-gas from local airport. Cost $4.75/gallon, and recurring hassle.
E. DNO. The "do nothing option." Park it. Cost $0, and ever present anger/depression.

I rarely ask for advice, but I'm tired of thinking about this. What say you?

**edit**
I went ahead and ordered a stock chip, from Moldova. If that doesn't do it, I'll get a few 5 gallon cans of AV-gas to buy time until I restore enough psychic energy to resume wrenching on the car. Will report back in a few weeks with results.

[mike.bmw]

Love this thread! The car looks great. Thanks for continuing to share.

[Nader393]

I admire your work and progress here! Way to go, man!

Thanks, buddy.

This is a good time to stop and take stock of the project. Here's a picture, and the latest spec sheet:



1991 BMW 325i, manual transmission, Alpine White II, black sport interior

(Originally automatic, tan interior)




Engine:

NA Stroker: M20 ETA block bored to 85mm by C&D Engine Performance

Pistons: 85mm Mahle Powerpak

Rods: S52, balanced

Crank: M52B28 with Metric Mechanics pulley spacer

Fasteners: ARP head studs, ARP main bearing studs, ARP connecting rod bolts

Head: Myster-E (now Bimmerheads) 885 Supersport head, shaved 0.040”, with dual pattern cam (280/274)

Compression ratio: 10.5:1 (calculated)

Cam pulley: Homemade, adjustable, titanium

Chip: E.A.T. Ultrachip (A.K.A.: MarkD) model: E30 173.6k9-9117 for 91 octane, 6900 rpm, 19 lb. injectors

Stock air intake box with K&N filter

Ireland Engineering heavy duty red spark plug wires

Bosch Type II 19lb fuel injectors

Malpassi adjustable fuel pressure regulator

New stock fuel pump

Racing Dynamics headers

Magnaflow 2:1 exhaust, no catalytic converter




Transmission:

5 Speed manual transmission swap

JBR aluminum flywheel; 8 lbs.

Stock clutch

Z3 short shifter

UUC shifter rod with new delrin bushings

4.10 rear differential




Chassis:

’95 e36 M3 steering rack

Ireland Engineering stainless steel strut brace, painted white

Ireland Engineering urethane steering coupler

Ground Control springs 400/650 lbs

Ground Control adjustable camber plates

Koni struts

Treehouse Racing solid control arm bushings

r134a A/C full retrofit (currently inoperative, compressor removed)




Cosmetic modifications:

Full glass-out repaint in Alpine White II in ’14, not perfect

OEM “Shadow line” black trim

Euro headlight surrounds

Stainless braided brake lines

15x7” Euro basket weave BBS wheels

BMW Motorsport aluminum door handles

Front spoiler lip

Reupholstered black leather sport seats and interior

Ski pass-through bag

Fresh powder coat on calipers and strut housings

Original “Premium Sound” radio

OBC fully functional

M-tech 1 steering wheel

M-tech 1 rear spoiler

Euro Hella smiley+crosshair smoked headlights with LED low beam bulbs, LED “city” lights

Wind Splits hood spoilers







Current issues:

Side mirrors inoperable

AC inoperable, needs O-rings and compressor

Black sunroof panel

Cruise control inoperable

Fuel gauge needs to be tapped after starting

Stereo volume knob abrupt

Driver seat back cracked

Headlight warning indicator illuminated on OBC when turned on

Door handles faded




Old engine:

2.7L stroker engine, ETA block, SETA pistons, stock 885 head

Schrick 284 camshaft, heavy duty rockers

Miller Performance PSIK MAF conversion with possibly faulty chip (91 octane, no cats, 19lb injectors)

Black wrinkle intake manifold

White powder coat valve cover by Renewed Finishes

[Nader393]

Happy Thanksgiving. I had been dealing with a romping idle and bucking ride that I couldn't fix despite changing out the TPS, ICV, and even the MAF sensor for the Miller PSIK (pro street induction kit). I also had a newly erratic power antenna that would go up on startup even with the radio off, and also lost my tachometer and econometer. I thought that was because the instrument cluster's backup batteries may have died while the main battery was disconnected for a few weeks during the swap.

I finally ditched the MAF setup and went back to a stock airbox (with K&N filter) and an E.A.T. Ultrachip (A.K.A. MarkD). That fixed everything; idle, antenna, even the gauges. Weird, huh? Car is now good; fast and fun. I'd say it feels about as fast as my '87 Carrera now. Looking forward to getting it dyno'd. I prefer the stock airbox look, but I've lost some induction noise and can now hear more of the valvetrain noise.






Only problem left is that I couldn't, for the life of me, get the harness to reattach to the DME. I had to take it apart to reconnect a couple of cut wired to reverse the MAF conversion back to stock, and when buttoned up, the plug wouldn't lock back in with that metal lever. Took it apart a few times to see why. So I gave up, taped it secure and left it dangling for my test-drive. It's always something...

[rzerob]

While running, I'm pretty happy about it not blowing up or making odd noises.

Don't you hate when that happens?

[2mAn]

Congrats on getting the heavy lifting done solo!

What management will you have powering this whole thing?

[Nader393]

Swap is done. Initial no start after discovering a fuel pressure regulator issue (see below), followed by a stubborn/slow cold start-up because of a suspected ICV issue (see below). Once warmed up and shut down, it restarts easily.

While running, I'm pretty happy about it not blowing up or making odd noises. Minimal oil seep at the rear of the head, which pisses me off a little. Maybe a head stud retorque will fix it. When pushed, the car feels strong, a bit faster than before. While there's more displacement, more compression, better porting, and an aluminum flywheel, the cam is now milder. So not apples to apples. Remember what I said about the ear dyno (sounds faster!), mind dyno (theoretically faster!), and butt dyno (feels faster!) fooling you? I'll check it on a real dyno to be sure.

A damper on the festivities is that I'm also dealing with a romping idle when warm, same as after the last swap, that was previously fixed with a new TPS (throttle position sensor). Weird, because it's the same TPS and ICV (idle control valve) swapped over from the last engine. I put the multimeter on the parts, and the TPS has continuity where it should and is properly adjusted to the throttle, and the ICV has correct resistance at its terminals. Cleaned out the ICV with solvent and the barrel turns freely. But when I disconnect the ICV plug while it's running, no difference. So I'm ordering a new cheap repro ICV. At $33 vs. > $400, it's worth a try.

Also, these adjustable fuel pressure regulators are not dialed in out of the box. Car wouldn't fire up with it first installed, so I swapped in the old stock 3.0 bar regulator to get it running. Then I put together a temporary fuel pressure gauge. Checked stock, and it was 38 psi at idle. Installed the adjustable regulator (was initially less than 20 psi) and dialed in about 45 psi for good measure.

[Nader393]

When I'm doing stuff like this, I like listening to my home made boombox.




More tool warnings. Me: "Then what the hell are you?!!"




This part sucked. I don't remember it sucking as much last time, but I'm sure it did. Like birthing a child, but reverse. This form of memory suppression is of biological benefit so that women aren't afraid to have more than one kid.





Heavy lifting done. Now just need to bolt on the rest of the crap. A good place to stop for a bit.

[Nader393]

Finally did some heavy lifting. Which, BTW, you're not supposed to do alone.




Yeet that lump!




Was a good engine, and there's its replacement lurking in the background




My neighbors are used to this kind of scene. They're too nice to say anything. I'm cognizant of the fact that people like me are the reason HOAs exist.




Obligatory standing in empty engine bay photo, again. Almost exactly two years since the last one. Not sure if I'm more gray now, or if it's just an optical illusion put on by awesome 'fro. (I deserved that pumpkin beer.)

[Nader393]

Finally got my rear in gear to get the lump out of the shed and into my driveway for the swap. Have I ever mentioned how much I like my hand-truck? It's aluminum, and transforms into a cart.







And here's the home-brew titanium pulley in place, with the teeth rotated to compensate for the shorter/shaved head. Now all I need is a few days of dry weather. Maybe late next week...

[2mAn]

I love when titanium parts show up... where do you find it?

[Skarpa]

It always brings satisfaction to create something yourself even if you could buy basically the same thing from a shop. "Time that you enjoy wasting is not wasted time." as someone said. Looking good.

[Nader393]

Here are the parts. Using the stock center piece because it fits correctly without play, made my own titanium center disk because it's awesome, and using the eBay outer ring because it's aluminum and has the correct dimensions. I used stainless screws on the outer ring threaded from the back with red loctite, instead of using the original socket screws, to reduce the chance stripping the threads in the ring.




Pretty much done. Combination of nylock nuts and belleville washers means that it should hopefully stay put after adjustment. Need to mount it up and scribe the timing marks. If I charged myself a bargain rate of $50/hr for the work, this thing would cost over $700. I could have just bought a Nuke pulley for $200, but this project was satisfying. Anyway, I'm running out of things to do for the engine before the swap. Now if only the weather would cooperate (forecast is still lousy, though).

[Nader393]

I keep procrastinating the engine swap. Part of it has to do with our garbage fall/winter weather here in the PNW, since I have to do the swap outside on my driveway. Whenever I have time off to do it, the weather takes a dump. So on those drizzly wet days, I find things to do in the shop.

Recall the cheap-ass eBay adjustable cam timing pulley I tried, it was garbage. The center piece that mounted onto the cam had several degrees of play, the bevels in the plate were cut at the wrong angle, timing marks didn't line up with the scribe on the head, belleville washers were installed upside down, slots were too big for the washers, and the washers were marring the aluminum center. I need an adjustable pulley because the head was milled down enough that the cam timing is affected. So I decided to make my own adjustable cam timing pulley using stock and eBay parts. With a titanium center.


First, I cut up a stock pulley to get the center that has the tight fit against the cam with no play. Used a recip saw to do it, then chucked the center on the lathe to get the legs evened out.




Then drill and tap the legs for M5 screws. Had to fabricate various aluminum bushings to mount the center pieces on the little rotary table to keep tolerances tight.




Cutting out the center disk from Grade 5 titanium was a biotch. Cut out a square using a cheap Harbor Freight bandsaw equipped with a very good Starrett blade, then ground the edges semi round before chucking it on the lathe to make it perfectly round and to size. Have to use carbide cutting tools.




Drilled the mounting holes and milled out the adjustment slots. Cut the slots 13/64" to correctly fit M5 fasteners. Have to use a carbide end mill. And there's another aluminum bushing to hold the center disk on the rotary table.

[rzerob]

Yeah, every time I replace something that I have lost whether buying a new one or making a new one. I always seem to find the original not soon after it has been replaced. Yet if it was never replaced I would have never found the original.