I have an E 30.

[Nader393]

Strong! Sounds like they spent the time to dial it all in which should give you some peace of mind. Well done.

You are correct, Michael Jordan Weimer! The car $pent over $ix hour$ on the dyno. Pretty much the whole day. No regert$! Definitely $ome of the be$t $$$ I've $pent on it.

This E30 is now faster than my '87 Carrera (which has a dyno-verified 185 RWHP, and weighs about the same)




And it also has a similar power/weight ratio to my '91 348.



This E30 is now almost as fast as a modern V6 Accord or Camry.

After all this, I have a pile of leftover parts. Including a complete running 2.7 (or is it 2.8?) stroker engine with shaved Myster-E performance head, G-260 transmission+clutch, and wire harness+ECU. I'm kicking around the idea of getting a crusty shell of a 2002 and doing an M20 swap. Hmm...

[mjweimer]

The guys in the shop seemed pretty excited about it. I am for sure. When they told me over the phone that it made over 220 HP, I was stoked. When I got to the shop and asked how much power at the wheels, they looked at me weird and said "That IS at the wheels!" Man, even if their eddy-current AWD dyno reads high, I'll take it.

Strong! Sounds like they spent the time to dial it all in which should give you some peace of mind. Well done.

[Nader393]

Bob? Ohhhh, TPIR! I was about to Google "dyno" and "bob" because I didn't get it. Heh, good 'ole Bob Barker. Now back to the car. Those were good, reasonable bids on the power, but these are inflationary times:

The actual retail price on this e30 is.... 226 RWHP, and 222 ft/lbs torque.

The guys in the shop seemed pretty excited about it. I am for sure. When they told me over the phone that it made over 220 HP, I was stoked. When I got to the shop and asked how much power at the wheels, they looked at me weird and said "That IS at the wheels!" Man, even if their eddy-current AWD dyno reads high, I'll take it.

Looks like they found an extra ten HP through the entire curve by pulling back all of the aggressive advance from the prior chip back to stock levels (thereby saving my engine), and really dialed in the fueling. Also raised my idle to a nice steady 950 RPM so it won't stall with that really lightweight flywheel.

[moatilliatta]

22rpd always seems a bit high. 191 bob

But 170 on other dyno jets.

Thanks for being old and coming back.

[2mAn]

2.8ish with 10:1 CR is good, but the cam seems a bit mild. proper tune and a wilder cam should be closer to 200whp... my guess is 190 Bob

[Nader393]

i'm gonna say 175 at the wheels.

Hi Austin. Good to see you here. That's a reasonable guess. Let's hear what other have to say (if there are any others anymore).

[Nader393]

Whoah! An hour after posting this, I got 183 PMs with earnest HP guesses, and 22 decent offers to buy the car outright.

Well, not that many... Actually, none at all. No guesses, no offers to buy. I was lying. Maybe if this was 2015 again. Or if I was on Facebook (or is it Instagram?) I dunno, I'm old.

But I'm not lying about this dyno graph of my PREVIOUS untuned 2.7 (or is it a 2.8?) engine, RWHP. This is the verified stroker engine I bought on Craigslist for <$3K (transmission and full exhaust included), and is what replaced the fake Metric Mechanic 2.9 that was actually a tired stock engine when I bought the car. All documented earlier in this thread. Knowing what I know now, I most certainly could have gotten more power out of this with live dyno tuning. I'm posting this as my previous baseline, back when after the first transplant I thought the car was spicier than ever. Like a 4-star spice rating for your Thai take-out. Again, this is the PREVIOUS engine, which dyno's out for RWHP slightly better than stock. (It felt extra fast because of the short 4.10 rear diff.) This is not the current engine.

[e30austin]

i'm gonna say 175 at the wheels.

[Nader393]

Just got my car back from a full day of dyno tuning at 22RPD. Any guesses on RWHP? Here's a refresher on what's in my engine:

2.9L M20 engine:

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

Pistons: 85mm Mahle Powerpak, 10:1 compression ratio

Rods: S52, balanced

Crank: M52B28 with Metric Mechanics pulley spacer

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

Head: Supertech valves, Schrick performance springs, dual pattern cam (280/274), IE H.D. rockers, porting by C&D

Head gasket: Cometic MLS 86mm, .070” thick

Chip: 22RPD custom live dyno tune

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

[Nader393]

Well, it's decided, I've booked dyno time at 22RPD. They look good on the internet and Instagram: https://22rpd.com/

I noticed this blog, which is reassuring: https://22rpd.com/blog/classic-with-...irt-mspnp-gen2

They're able to flash a custom chip while live tuning on the dyno. I think that's ideal for my purposes. I think this is the light at the end of the tunnel. Stay tuned... (see what I did there?)

[Northern]

I think the MAF conversion (either sssquid, ba114, or DIY - not miller's dumpster fire) makes sense for anyone who needs to replace their AFM vs the cost to rebuild/buy new.

I think there's a gap between that and megasquirt, either the cost to get it tuned or the interest/ability to tune it yourself.

[It's Soda Not Pop]

Mine utilizes the factory box. Either way if I was going stand alone. I wouldn't worry about a maf at all.

[moatilliatta]

I wouldn’t limit your self to megasquirt. Maybe reach out to race shops / Tuners and see what they use and go that route. If nobody supports your system, it’s useless.

[Nader393]

I don't know why everyone is trying to improve on the AFM; I was down that road before, and I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. I had the Miller MAF and didn't notice much improvement, and ditched it when it (the chip) gave me issues. I prefer the stock looking airbox as well.

I do need to address the tuning. Need to dial back the ignition advance, and raise the idle a couple hundred RPM because that lightweight flywheel makes it stall easily. I could spend $400 for another chip, but might be better off with a Megasquirt ECU and live custom tuning on a dyno. Finding a shop to do that locally is another hassle. Any recommendations for the Seattle area?

[It's Soda Not Pop]

Has only got a solid tune yet from the SSSquid maf conversion?

I have one that I order at the end of last year. The MAF from SSSquid doesn't require a tune you can use an OE chip. You can also use any of their custom chips as well without a retune. I have Version 19 I believe with a 2.7i (Squid Stage 2.5) chip. The only issue I have is that every once in awhile it cuts out. But for just a brief moment and it's not to bad. I'm the bugs will be worked out as they go.