This is going to be pretty long, so read as much or as little as you want, but if you ask a question, you better not make sure the answer was in what I have written already. I learned a lot on the way here, so lets get started!
I bought this car locally in Tucson where I reside. The previous owner had turboed it... 100% Ebay style! Ebay turbo, ebay manifold, ebay intercooler, might as well be sponsored by cheap parts galore. Well, I have to say at least it ran, and it built boost. Surprising with what I had to work with. Sound a lot of horrible wiring, exhaust leaks, ect. but no rust, a clean body, and complete interior with all windows and sunroof working. So potential! Here's how it sat when I received it.
So lets get started with the tear down. Open up the hood, and rip everything out. I had to remove the head with the turbo and manifold on because the manifold was so poorly made the bolts were impossible to get to. All cooling components, timing components, ignition, and pretty much everything was removed. Cylinders honed, and block was resurfaced. Stock bottom end components cleaned up and reused, only new parts were bearings.
So head tear down. Removed everything to a bare head. Took the head to a local machine shop and had the valves ground, head resurfaced, and hot tanked. Came back nice and clean. Now the weak point of these motors is the rocker arms, so Ireland Engineering heavy duty rocker arms go in. New O.E.M. camshaft, I didn't want a bunch of overlap with the turbo, stainless steel valves, new valve seals, performance retainers, new rocker arm hardware, and new double valve springs. Why new double valve springs, because 7200 RPM limit, that's why.
Now the important stuff! I looked online for a while for which turbo manifold was going to be best for me. I ended up with Rapid Spool Industries. Its a beautiful TIG welded schedule 10 stainless steel manifold. I was starting to run out of money so I just reused the Ebay turbo that was on the car to begin with... Jk, I gave that to some kid in a 89 Honda civic. I went with a Garrett GT2876R ball bearing turbo. To pair these off I went with a Tial MVR 44mm wastegate. Set with a 10lb spring, the rest of my boost is controlled by a Hallman manual boost controller.
So now that we have the cylinder head, turbo, and manifold together, we attached everything using a MLS headgasket and ARP headstuds. New waterpump, timing belt, high output alternator.
So, some more things. Walboro 255lph fuel pump with external pump deleted. Deka 80lb flow matched injectors on stock fuel rail. Stock rising rate FPR, 2.5in intercooler piping, HKS SSQ4 BOV. Now gets into the discussion most people mis-understand. Intercooler size, I'm using a relatively small intercooler, the reason being is I didn't want large pressure drops and better boost response. People think, larger intercooler = cooler air = more power, that's true, but you have to size your intercooler to your turbo also. It's better to have a smaller intercooler with the same cooling affects on your air, than a larger. My intake temperatures never pass 125 degrees, and that's on 95-110 degree days here in Arizona. Also my intercooler is directly in front of my radiator, which has a large 16in Spal fan that draws air through. I'm not running a Idle air control valve, or afm, just a GM AIT to run air speed density. All setup on a Megasquirt PNP
So, now the wiring was horrible. I had to remove the dash, the fuse box and re-do most of the wiring in the vehicle. I made a new relay panel behind the center console controls for the added electronics (Gauges, lights, ect.) The interior is half-stripped, I wanted it partially comfortable, so rear seats removed, headliner removed, bucket seats with an adjustable harness bar and G-force racing harnesses. Carpet, door panels still intact. Custom gauge cluster overlay, custom shift boot. There, I covered my interior.
The drive train, brakes, and wheels. The stock 5 speed transmission is accompanied by a 8lb single mass flywheel along with a 6 pack sprung stage two clutch. This is all accompanied by a 3.25 LSD differential from a 325e. It was not easy to find. All new brakes, master cylinder, booster, drilled and slotted rotors, and thermoquiet pads. Now the fun part. Trying to fit 17x8.5+20 and 17x10+15 wheels. I honestly regret going 17in, I should had gone 16in, but too late now. This would be easier if I didn't try to fit 275/35 tires in the rear, but I did, and 225/40 in the fronts. All of this with some K-Sport coilovers on top.
Now lets get down to important things. Dyno results. I'll have to photocopy my actual results, but this was a corrected dyno run.
91 Octane
19.7 PSI max
432RWHP
418FTLB
So all in all, I got respectable dyno numbers. The car is an absolute monster on the street, especially not weighing very much. I will eventually get it on the drag strip. Although I still need to set-up my wasted spark. Please let me know if you have any questions, more pictures on my instagram of the build. Thanks for reading!:thankyou::coolphoto:
I bought this car locally in Tucson where I reside. The previous owner had turboed it... 100% Ebay style! Ebay turbo, ebay manifold, ebay intercooler, might as well be sponsored by cheap parts galore. Well, I have to say at least it ran, and it built boost. Surprising with what I had to work with. Sound a lot of horrible wiring, exhaust leaks, ect. but no rust, a clean body, and complete interior with all windows and sunroof working. So potential! Here's how it sat when I received it.
So lets get started with the tear down. Open up the hood, and rip everything out. I had to remove the head with the turbo and manifold on because the manifold was so poorly made the bolts were impossible to get to. All cooling components, timing components, ignition, and pretty much everything was removed. Cylinders honed, and block was resurfaced. Stock bottom end components cleaned up and reused, only new parts were bearings.
So head tear down. Removed everything to a bare head. Took the head to a local machine shop and had the valves ground, head resurfaced, and hot tanked. Came back nice and clean. Now the weak point of these motors is the rocker arms, so Ireland Engineering heavy duty rocker arms go in. New O.E.M. camshaft, I didn't want a bunch of overlap with the turbo, stainless steel valves, new valve seals, performance retainers, new rocker arm hardware, and new double valve springs. Why new double valve springs, because 7200 RPM limit, that's why.
Now the important stuff! I looked online for a while for which turbo manifold was going to be best for me. I ended up with Rapid Spool Industries. Its a beautiful TIG welded schedule 10 stainless steel manifold. I was starting to run out of money so I just reused the Ebay turbo that was on the car to begin with... Jk, I gave that to some kid in a 89 Honda civic. I went with a Garrett GT2876R ball bearing turbo. To pair these off I went with a Tial MVR 44mm wastegate. Set with a 10lb spring, the rest of my boost is controlled by a Hallman manual boost controller.
So now that we have the cylinder head, turbo, and manifold together, we attached everything using a MLS headgasket and ARP headstuds. New waterpump, timing belt, high output alternator.
So, some more things. Walboro 255lph fuel pump with external pump deleted. Deka 80lb flow matched injectors on stock fuel rail. Stock rising rate FPR, 2.5in intercooler piping, HKS SSQ4 BOV. Now gets into the discussion most people mis-understand. Intercooler size, I'm using a relatively small intercooler, the reason being is I didn't want large pressure drops and better boost response. People think, larger intercooler = cooler air = more power, that's true, but you have to size your intercooler to your turbo also. It's better to have a smaller intercooler with the same cooling affects on your air, than a larger. My intake temperatures never pass 125 degrees, and that's on 95-110 degree days here in Arizona. Also my intercooler is directly in front of my radiator, which has a large 16in Spal fan that draws air through. I'm not running a Idle air control valve, or afm, just a GM AIT to run air speed density. All setup on a Megasquirt PNP
So, now the wiring was horrible. I had to remove the dash, the fuse box and re-do most of the wiring in the vehicle. I made a new relay panel behind the center console controls for the added electronics (Gauges, lights, ect.) The interior is half-stripped, I wanted it partially comfortable, so rear seats removed, headliner removed, bucket seats with an adjustable harness bar and G-force racing harnesses. Carpet, door panels still intact. Custom gauge cluster overlay, custom shift boot. There, I covered my interior.
The drive train, brakes, and wheels. The stock 5 speed transmission is accompanied by a 8lb single mass flywheel along with a 6 pack sprung stage two clutch. This is all accompanied by a 3.25 LSD differential from a 325e. It was not easy to find. All new brakes, master cylinder, booster, drilled and slotted rotors, and thermoquiet pads. Now the fun part. Trying to fit 17x8.5+20 and 17x10+15 wheels. I honestly regret going 17in, I should had gone 16in, but too late now. This would be easier if I didn't try to fit 275/35 tires in the rear, but I did, and 225/40 in the fronts. All of this with some K-Sport coilovers on top.
Now lets get down to important things. Dyno results. I'll have to photocopy my actual results, but this was a corrected dyno run.
91 Octane
19.7 PSI max
432RWHP
418FTLB
So all in all, I got respectable dyno numbers. The car is an absolute monster on the street, especially not weighing very much. I will eventually get it on the drag strip. Although I still need to set-up my wasted spark. Please let me know if you have any questions, more pictures on my instagram of the build. Thanks for reading!:thankyou::coolphoto:
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