I have an E 30.

[e30austin]

glad to see you making progress!

AB

[Nader393]

I have to post updates on this project regardless of progress, to get me back in the mood to do this engine swap. So here goes nothing:

Remember how I lost that homemade Ducati clutch tool that I originally used on the m20 crank? The one that looks like a 9, or a 6 or a p or a q? The one I replaced with another, improved crank holding tool? Well, sure enough, rzerob was right and I found the damned thing not long after making the new tool. Stupid q!



In anticipation of this impending swap, I took my current 2.7 stroker setup to the dyno as a baseline to compare against the 2.9 for when I dyno it after it's installed. This recent baseline told me I have about 150-something HP at the wheels, which seems about right, but it also said it was lean at high RPM. Dyno dood thought it was costing about 5-10 HP. He suggested an adjustable fuel pressure regulator to dial it in. So I got this Italian-made FPR for the new engine. I wanted something that went in the stock location.




So that's about as much as I can do before the swap. I'm trying to psych myself up to git-er-dun in the next couple weeks. Which then gets me thinking about what I'll do with the current 2.7. Toying with the idea of turboing it in my leisure. I kinda have the itch to build the car into a sleeper so I can harass faster cars at track days. Why would I care? I took my 348 to a track day a couple months ago, and I was good in the turns, but not blazing fast in the straights. Here's footage of one lap where I reel in a modern Alfa sedan (Quad?) in the turns only to have him walk away in the straights. (I tried to embed the Youtube link, but couldn't get it to work. So I pasted the link there at the bottom like a luddite. Is this new website jacked?):



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uPo2BL3xjc&t=39s

[2mAn]

So that's about as much as I can do before the swap. I'm trying to psych myself up to git-er-dun in the next couple weeks. Which then gets me thinking about what I'll do with the current 2.7. Toying with the idea of turboing it in my leisure. I kinda have the itch to build the car into a sleeper so I can harass faster cars at track days. Why would I care? I took my 348 to a track day a couple months ago, and I was good in the turns, but not blazing fast in the straights. Here's footage of one lap where I reel in a modern Alfa sedan (Quad?) in the turns only to have him walk away in the straights. (I tried to embed the Youtube link, but couldn't get it to work. So I pasted the link there at the bottom like a luddite. Is this new website jacked?):



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uPo2BL3xjc&t=39s

The Mid-Engine will definitely be better in the turns, but I would definitely avoid trying to make the 348 a track monster, unless you have really deep pockets!..

The E30 on the otherhand wont be bad, though I think you'll be impressed with the 2.9 as-is and Id suggest leaving it NA. You will need to get it tuned properly which likely means megasquirt.

Rather than turbocharging I suggest you add lightness. After seeing your work on the Alfa, that will go quite far with the E30. My old Aluminum Monster E30 made 225whp, but only weighed 2350# and went like stink. Being a 318 model really confused people at the POC event I took it to. Pointing a 911 by and then walking away from him on the straight was hilarious... sadly my 225 Dunlops had nothing on his 275 Hoosiers so he ate me up in the turns. Your car likely weighs around 2750 so theres plenty of weight to shed without needing to get crazy.

Add lightness, my friend.

[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.

[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.

[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).

[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.

[2mAn]

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

[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...

[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]

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]

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.

[2mAn]

Congrats on getting the heavy lifting done solo!

What management will you have powering this whole thing?

[rzerob]

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

Don't you hate when that happens?

[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...