My E30 Rehabilitation! ft. Boost Noises

[zwill23]

None of your pics or vids work lad

Noooooo, okay I’ll check it out. They’re showing up for me so I may some privacy thing active on Flickr. Thanks for the heads up

[zwill23]

None of your pics or vids work lad

What browser are you using? It seems like they're working for me and a couple friends I sent it to, maybe they're broken in a specific browser?

[matias9]

Well, not the update I was hoping for y'all. I have the car back, but unfortunately I didn't receive a tune and was refunded my money. I may work with the tuner again in the future, but looks like I'm on my own for now.

I was able to drive it home from Boostlogic, but it was running pretty poorly and the wideband seemed to be acting up. I've since re-calibrated the wide-band and took a datalog, it's boosting at about 6lbs currently and I was seeing AFRs of 13+ in boost, which is obviously very bad. I've manually added a bunch of fuel and have been letting auto-tune run wild. Noticeable improvements, but still a long way off.

My plan of attack is to get my fuel table as close as I can to my AFR target table and then try cleaning up the idle. 6lbs of boost doesn't strike me as very detrimental, so I don't think it would hurt to give it a shot myself. I appreciate any advice for a novice tuner, not trying to blow this car up but getting a tune has also proved more challenging than I anticipated.

Here is my current AFR target table (which I believe is ballpark) if any tuning gurus want to chime in:

very nice build and nice numbers on dyno .how ended your spark and afr table?.wich type of fuel you run?

[zwill23]

very nice build and nice numbers on dyno .how ended your spark and afr table?.wich type of fuel you run?

Thanks! AFR target table has remained the same as far as I'm aware and I'm running it on 93. Out of respect for the tuner I'll keep the spark table to myself, but he did use the following thread to ballpark a conservative spark table (Texas heat to deal with) while still advancing the spark up quite a bit over my base map.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/e30-technical-forums/engine-drivetrain/alternative-tuning-w-a-r-megasquirt-etc/357401-megasquirt-timing-and-fuel-map-thread

[zwill23]

Sorting sorting sorting, this machine has been hectic the past few weeks and it being my only car again has added another fun level of complexity to the situation.

First up, got a nail in one of my tires after the road trip - Local shop took quick care of this.

A tapping on start up is becoming more evident, I have one valve that is mushroomed that can be a bit clackity. Installed an oversized eccentric to get the lash in spec, and this made almost no difference. Tapping is still there, but goes away after less than a minute or so of the engine running. I'm realizing this is likely an exhaust leak, which is no shocker because there is a lot of evidence that the mint performance manifolds are shipped warped to hell... on the longer list of things for me to take care of at the moment.

Tuner requested doing a pull and shutting the car down, then pulling a spark plug. This went well except the Cylinder 1 plug connector pulled off when I went to pull the sparkplug and I was an hour away from home getting scorched in the Texas heat. I managed to get the connector back on "Good enuff" to get me home. When the car cooled down I re-crimped the plug and noticed that 3 of 6 spark plug boots were barely connected, one was merely sitting in its hole. Car is no longer breaking up under full boost - lol

It's been running hotter as the TX temps have been creeping, I notched the front bumper to help expose more of the intercooler and funnel some more air into the engine bay. I also replaced the radiator shroud for good measure.

Slice n dice!



Pretty happy with the amount of intercooler this exposed!



Drove to a brewery to meet a friend, car cooled down, left brewery, and within a few min it was overheating up to about 220deg. Spent the next hour and half limping it home, driving it, letting it cool off, driving it, etc. This wasn't too big of a deal, except I had someone stop to "help" me only to have the situation devolve into a furious tirade when I wouldn't give HIM money after declining help. I'm the one on the side of the road, what makes you think I'm trying to give you money to get you home? Drugz man, smh

After getting the car back in the garage and letting it sit over night, I picked up a new thermostat at Oreillys and slapped it in - No more overheating. Seems like my old thermostat locked up in the closed position. I don't think any damage was done from the overheating, but we'll see how it holds up. I have a higher quality thermostat on order I'll swap in sometime soon, I'm considering the switch to an E36 radiator for some added capacity to try and keep the engine cooler with the AC on.

Next, I did a pull in second gear and when I shifted to third I got a nasty rattling / bobbling in the shifter. In gear, in neutral, clutch in, clutch out, would only stop when I came to a complete stop. I thought for sure the trans was going, but when I jacked the car up the torsional vibration damper went bad and it was just hitting my shifter assembly, thankfully.



I didn't feel like dropping the driveshaft and the dampener had completely separated from the assembly, so naturally out came the grinder:



Success, going to drive it like this until I can swap my other differential in:



Beyond staying on top of that drama, I've been tidying things up around the car and engine bay. Secured the flopping top radiator hose with a proper clip:

Untitled by Zach Williamson, on Flickr

Installed a larger filter:



Did an oil change and sent a sample out to Black Stone Labs, stoked for positive results. There is some concern about the level of copper in the oil, hoping they're prediction is right that it's from the turbo breaking in. My full dyno session and road trip miles are on this sample:



My last interesting update is I'm about finished prepping the 3.46 LSD. Swapped diff covers, replaced the o-rings and diff seals, installed a new speed sensor, and added a second diff ear. I haven't been able to find axle stubs though, so if anyone has a lead on some I'd be happy to take them off your hands :). Side note on the Garagistic hardware for the second diff mount, I was really unimpressed by the thread engagement for the second ear mounting assembly. I would estimate only a half inch of engagement, fortunately I found some longer grade 8.8 bolts in my spare nutz n boltz bag that I feel better about.



Nearly ready for the swap!



Couple quality machines:



Next on the To Do List:

• Fix idle, tuner suggested running a Jeep ICV to fix my idle woes. I would like to attempt to keep the stock unit since it fits in the engine bay nicely and connects directly to the Megasquirt through stock wiring. Anyone have experience sorting the idle out with Megasquirt and a stock ICV?
• Fix exhaust leak between the manifold and head
• Remove torsional vibration dampener from drive shaft
• Install 3.46 LSD
• Install second diff ear

[econti]

Thing must be a riot. Don't bother fixing the vibration dampener it does nothing to leave it as it is.

[zwill23]

Thing must be a riot. Don't bother fixing the vibration dampener it does nothing to leave it as it is.

Heh, I have to actively tell myself to chill driving around town because of the temptations to hit the pedal and goooooo. The noises alone are addicting

Appreciate the insight there, I've left it as is for now and it's been fine. I figure I'll remove the rest of it when the diff goes in, though it's nice to not feel pressed to get the job done. The heat and the mosquitoes don't exactly make wrenching a great time at the moment...

[generate]

Just want to thank you for this write up. I know you started awhile ago but Im just seeing it now. Im planning a very similar build so this helps alot. Essentially doing a full rebuild on the bottom end, a stage 2 bimmerheads head, Megasquirt, wasted spark etc...

Im planning to use the same Borg Warner s257, what do you think of it so far as far as drivability? Does it spool pretty quick? Im aiming for somewhere over 300, probably under 350. Just keeping it conservative and hopefully reliable!

I also wanted to ask where you got the 3" exhaust tubes that fit into each other? Im thinking it will be much more cost effective if I build my own like you did. Thanks!

[Julien]

awesome progress. Polish that car some more though heh :)

[zwill23]

Just want to thank you for this write up. I know you started awhile ago but Im just seeing it now. Im planning a very similar build so this helps alot. Essentially doing a full rebuild on the bottom end, a stage 2 bimmerheads head, Megasquirt, wasted spark etc...

Im planning to use the same Borg Warner s257, what do you think of it so far as far as drivability? Does it spool pretty quick? Im aiming for somewhere over 300, probably under 350. Just keeping it conservative and hopefully reliable!

I also wanted to ask where you got the 3" exhaust tubes that fit into each other? Im thinking it will be much more cost effective if I build my own like you did. Thanks!

Of course! Glad it's helpful for ya!

Very cool on the build, that's the direction I'm eventually heading toward with a built top end and re-built bottom end, but for now the machine seems happy so I'll hold off on taking the plunge :). In my opinion the S257 feels great for a street turbo and with the .82 exhaust housing it pulls right up to redline. I would need to check a log to see exactly where boost comes on, but I believe I'm seeing positive pressure before 3k rpms and after 3k the turbo really spools up fast. While I'm cruising on the highway around 3k or so it feels like instantaneous boost when I get on throttle lol. I'll see about filming a clip and posting a log after to try and provide some better data on it.

This is what I used for my exhaust! Honestly, I'll bet there is enough exhaust tubing to do two cars worth in this "kit" so it was nice to have some extra tubing to screw up on.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/133036357469

awesome progress. Polish that car some more though heh :)

Thanks! Heh... Yeah, should probably do something with the exterior at this point. With most of the kinks ironed out with the turbo setup I've been considering hunting for some better body panels. Maybe I'll give wrapping a shot

[zwill23]

Howdy R3v, so it's been a year since my last post and hopefully this comes off more entertaining than like a diary entry, but no guarantees. It's been a hell of a year, but I'm coming back around from it and feeling excited for the automotive adventures on the horizon. A fit of motivation has inspired me to update this thread, I haven't been incredible about detailing my progress as I have in years past, but hopefully y'all enjoy it nonetheless.

The real reason I installed a turbo is to outrun these silly Texas beasties:



Leaving engineering school, I was saddled with $200k+ in student loans that I somehow managed to pay off. To give myself a pat on the back, I picked up a weird JDM import from Japanese Classics out of Richmond, VA.

A Pajero!!!!

I bought a one way ticket to VA and the dealership picked me up at the Airport in the Paj. It was a pretty awesome experience, they gave me a tour of the facility, time to look the truck over, and recommendations for a bite to eat. They were confident the machine would get me back to TX, which it did, but I did discover some issues that I really wish would have been disclosed / addressed. Namely, cracked fuel lines, this ended up not being an issue on the way home, but considering how cheap fuel lines are I was a bit irritated that they weren't replaced after being repeatedly told how "rigorous" their inspection process was. Additionally, I noticed a “slapping” noise coming from the engine, particularly at high rpm or during heavy acceleration. I mentioned this to them and they assured me it wasn't anything to worry about, I chalked this up to worn engine mounts or something and went on my way.

Overall though, the machine was in wonderful shape aesthetically and the interior was impeccable with some fun JDM oddities, like a Japanese Toll Road device that greeted me in Japanese every time I turned the car on. I also discovered the Paj spent its whole life in and around Mount Fuji after translating some old inspection stickers I found.

Pajero!



Rear climate controls in a '95! What!



Crashed with friends for the night in Greensborough, NC:



The next day's drive, that was MUCH longer than 12hrs:



Hustled the Pajero through Atlanta:



Bombed some hot chicken after managing Atlanta traffic:



Somewhere in Alabama, I think :)



Finally made it home in the Paj, after crashing a wedding in New Orleans and catching up with good friends:



With the road trip from Richmond, VA to Austin, TX under my belt, it was time to redirect my focus on the E30's blown head gasket I caused after 7k boosted miles and a night of heavy footed driving... poor Cyl 6.



Fortunately, I had a friend help pull the head:



During the downtime, I pulled the 3.73 and swapped in a 3.46 rear end.



3.46!!



Also installed a second diff ear, which seemed like a good idea:



Reinforcement plate in the trunk, with a couple squirts for good measure:



Beyond blowing the head gasket, the engine developed some issues that needed to be addressed. One of which was a warped exhaust manifold. This was remedied with an enormous belt sander.



Alas, during this time I wasn't able to focus my wrenching souly on the E30. I finally identified what was causing the "slapping" noise in the Paj... a slack timing chain. With a fresh package from the middle east on my doorstep, I was able to get started on the hellish wrenching job of installing a new timing chain, guides, tensioner, and other bits onto the truck.

I am very thankful the slack timing chain didn’t cause an engine failure during my road trip back to Austin.

Here you can see my excitement for the complete lack of functioning vehicles, who wants to go to work really?



After many hours, the swiss watch internals were exposed and I was able to slip the timing chain and tensioners into their homes:



Took a very long time to ensure the timing marks were lined up, but eventually... we got it!



I thought this timing chain tensioner was pretty fun... that little hook held the spring loaded tensioner in place. Upon starting, the rumble of the 4M40 turbo diesel flips the hook and tensioner pops out!



With the Paj back up and running, life was feeling pretty good so that may have been a healthy indicator there was something afoot. Coming up on the holidays, my girlfriend of 5 years and I split. Naturally, what better way to clear your head than driving 24 hours back to your hometown in Pennsylvania for Christmas? My Dad, being the nice man that he is, flew down to Austin and we road tripped back to Pennsylvania together. He picked up right-hand drive pretty quickly ;).



Made it to my parents place without a hiccup and full trust in the bush mechanic timing chain job I performed the month before. We listened to McConaughey's Green Lights on audiobook the whole way, highly recommend for a road trip.



With family time and friend hangs under my belt, it was time to head back to Austin. On the way up, my Dad and I grabbed a hotel in Nashville, but I had visions of camping inside my JDM steed on the way back with its party trick:



Cruising!



Stopped to look at the horses ft. dope JDM hood scoop:



The power cruiser got me to Asheville, so I stopped at Wicked Weed Brewing for a bite, a couple bevs, and to make a plan on where I would sleep that night. A few hours away, I ended up finding a nice looking campsite that I booked, but thunderstorms were on the forecast... fortunately, that's no problem for the Paj :P.

Snagging a six pack to go from Wicked Weed, I raced off to find my campsite.



During the few hour trek, the last hour and a half felt like a constant hill climb. The further I ventured into the mountains, the fewer cars I saw and the more the storm picked up. In the last half hour, my GPS directed me down a dirt road complete with fallen branches and laden with deep puddles. It was about at this point that I turned on 4hi in the Paj, I'm sure it wasn't necessary, but watching the front wheels light up on the dash engaging Mitsubish's Super Select 4WD system felt like a treat.





Coming up on the campground, a bridge came into view that let water run over the top of it as the creek level rose. Feeling confident in my new 4WD and with my lack of better judgement I crashed through the water on the bridge only to realize it was a foot or so deep. Water splashed up onto the hood and soaked the windshield, but the 4M40 kept ticking and I cruised right into my camp site.

With my “bed” already setup in the back, I turned on a movie and enjoyed the storm. Chipping away at the six pack I snagged from Wicked Weed, I admired how comfortable my impromptu camper was and appreciated the enormous smoker’s visors on the side windows that let me keep the windows down as the rain fell.

Thinking I was the only one at the campsite, I was surprised to see a white pick up truck roll through at about 2:30am. I dimmed my computer screen, and watched as the truck drove up to my camp site and came to a complete stop. Heart thumping, the truck slowly pulled away and continued down the path. Laughing at myself a bit, I opened the laptop and unpaused the movie, only the hear a BANG as something hit the Pajero.

I felt a chill from the top of my head down to my ankles as I assessed what just happened. Slowly, I creeped out of the Pajero, only to find a large branch on the ground. Lol

The rest of the night was cool and peaceful and I snoozed well into late morning feeling the most relaxed I had in a long while.



Stopping to see my buddy in New Orleans again, I crashed there the following night and continued on my way. Finally making it home after a few weeks away.



While I was in Pennsylvania, the Pajero developed an issue during warm up where the engine would shut off. This is apparently a common 4M40 issue, a seal in the diesel pump goes bad and lets air into the system. Once it’s warmed up the seal expands and everything works just fine.

I planned to fix this, but in the short term my plan was to “drive around” this issue. Well, this bit me.. because the car shut down on me while I was driving at about 40mph. Getting accustomed to this issue, I would shift into neutral and restart the car while moving.

This time, I went one past neutral into reverse. The rear end locked up during my 9am commute to work and I spun into oncoming traffic hitting a suburban. I was okay, the woman I hit was okay, thankfully, but the Pajero was done.





RIP



This was definitely a blow, between the break up, the accident, and some family issues going on back home, I felt like things were spiraling. Fortunately, these times are also a reminder of the great friends in your life who will swoop in to support you. Within a few hours of the wreck, a friend dropped his extra car off at my house so I had something to use while I got back on my feet.

The noble steed, which happens to be a manual 3.0 swapped wagon:



Motivated to get the car back on the road, and honestly appreciating the distraction, I set out to get it back on the road as quickly as possible. Of course, while adding some touches as an ode to the Paj.

Stole the cup holder mats from the Pajero and they happened to fit quite nicely:



Fun Paj inspired rally lights:



Okay, back to actual work. I installed a PPF timing belt tensioner and a gates racing belt. I had a tensioner fail on me previously that I luckily caught before a major failure. So this seemed like money well spent:



Refreshed head buttoned back up, new valve stem seals, two new valves, HD rocker arms, and a bimmerheads 280/274 cam and decking of course:



Finally together again, it fired right off without hesitation. I drove the car around tuning it for a bit with the new cam profile, but ultimately the stress of trying to safely tune it (when I’m really just a tooner) proved to be too much, so I bought a manual second gen 4runner as the new side piece.



Meet Reggie (From the CL ad):



First order of business was replacing the dry rotted tires:



Then obviously, an 8 hour drive to Bentonville, AR to ride some mountain bikes. Reggie did great, though admittedly used a bit more oil than I would like. But c’mon, what rig with 260k miles doesn’t use a bit of oil amirite?



Jumps!



What a steed:



When I got back home I put a bit of work in, new driveshaft, brake booster, master cylinder, clutch master cylinder, sound system, etc.. I’ve genuinely enjoyed working on this thing, so damn simple to fix.

Off-roading for the first time was such a wild experience:



Took a moment to cook up some sausages and hang with a buddy who tagged along:



I could not believe what this thing would drive over, I was clearly the weak link here:





New driveshaft!



Crafted some larger rear speaker mounts for the rear:





Installed a head unit with CarPlay and the like:



Subwoofer under the front seat:



Officially cracking 260k!



A fresh set of bulbs did wonders:



Found a hitch at the junkyard, slapped it on:



Side stepping a bit here, helped a friend with some work on his LS swapped E30. New steering rack, camber plates, and some other goodies installed!



Whoever installed the steering rack installed the bolts upside down so I of course could not remove the steering rack without lifting the engine or dropping the subframe - not a chance. I broke out the reciprocating saw and did some precision cutting. I was pretty proud of this solution ;)



Friends truck was gutted leaving it over night in our parking garage, so I helped him get it back on its wheels... fuckin’ people nabbed the wheels, head unit, completely trashed the ignition trying to get it running, snipped the battery out, and stole a bunch of engine parts while they were at it. They clearly took their time…

Dicks.



Back to the star of the show, I got fed up with the sunroof and the clamps I was using to hold it closed. Finally deleted it, and I’m glad I did because the cassette was starting to rust…







Test fit:



Installed!



I also decided my seats have been putting a crick in my back for too damn long, so I consumed several beverages, and woke up to a big order:



Installed:



Got the car re-tuned with the new cam at Bardabe performance in Austin:



Made some power, but got some ignition break up. I think it’s my plug wires, so I’ll address this soon. Overall though, this is the best the car has ever felt. That feels good.



Cheers R3v, to some well deserved beers!

[JDM]

Hey there! I’ve been wanting to turbo my m20 E30 for a while and found your thread on the turbo bit of your build very helpful! I actually have two questions!
Home for the .83 A/R T3 S257 what options did you choose? I’m very new to cars and have no idea what turbo housing to use or what compressor elbow is or what it means by the T51R modification 😭
Forum You said you don’t recommend the mint Performant manifold, do you have any personal suggestions? I found one on protuninglab for t3 at 181.99 but if there’s better options I’d like to consider them first

[zwill23]

Hey there! I’ve been wanting to turbo my m20 E30 for a while and found your thread on the turbo bit of your build very helpful! I actually have two questions!
Home for the .83 A/R T3 S257 what options did you choose? I’m very new to cars and have no idea what turbo housing to use or what compressor elbow is or what it means by the T51R modification 😭
Forum You said you don’t recommend the mint Performant manifold, do you have any personal suggestions? I found one on protuninglab for t3 at 181.99 but if there’s better options I’d like to consider them first

Heya dude, I didn't choose any options for my turbo beyond what you already have listed. .83/A/R T3 open turbine housing, w/S257 BW supercore I think they call it. It's been a great turbo so far, no issues to complain about. I just bought it off Amazon as it was the cheapest place I could find the turbo at the time, I suppose the only real option I was looking for was a vband outlet for the turbine housing. Compressor elbow is if you want an elbow welded off the end of the turbo compressor outlet. I just used a small silicone elbow for this. I thinkkkk the T51R mod is just for style points, makes the turbo whistle louder.

Yeah, don't buy mint performance... the owner is awful and quality has gone down hill after a lead fabricator left. I recommend not cheaping out on a manifold if you plan on putting miles on the car, $182 for a manifold is way too cheap. If I did it again I would for sure go with PPF, they make a quality product and pump out insane hp cars all day.

Good luck with the build! I recommend doing lots of research and understanding how a turbo system works as much as possible before taking the plunge :). The noises alone are worth it!

[AusScare]

Had a full read of this thread over the last few days and even spotted a comment from myself years ago! Good to see the e30 has remained a constant in your life and such a great project car to learn on. I picked mine up in 2014 and am still loving it too!

[zwill23]

Had a full read of this thread over the last few days and even spotted a comment from myself years ago! Good to see the e30 has remained a constant in your life and such a great project car to learn on. I picked mine up in 2014 and am still loving it too!

Hah! That's awesome, it's nice to see people still lurking around the forums. Looking back I'm thankful it was in such bad shape mechanically lol, I owe 100% of my wrenching skill to this thing. It's been a great project so far and I still get excited about the evolution and adventure of it all... growing as I grow kinda thing.

Hopefully we hold onto them for many years to come