E30 2.9L Stroker ITBs etc build...

[mrlucretius]

Hello,

Thought I would say hi, and introduce my new ride, a 1989 325is Bronzit.

It was treated well for its life so far. Stock as crap, 156k miles, in really good shape, original paint (mostly, aside from mirrors, bumpers, valence, spoiler), bilstein HDs. Interior is all original aside from a reupholstered drivers seat. Everything works, power sunroof, mirrors, antennae, computer, abs. Well AC needs a little attention...

I put 205-55 r15 rubber on some euroweaves, some H&R OE Sports, H&R Sways on her, now it is my (nice weather) daily driver, and autox events.

I am also getting a motor built, a 2.9L m20 with ITBs, MegaSquirt, port and polish, cam and exhaust, that is going to make a lot of power, and scare the bejesus out of me, hopefully on some track days down the road.

Ill try to post photos as the motor project comes along, and I promise to post some dyno results when the thing is broken in and on the street...

So, hello!

[MR E30 325is]

Nice intro! Car looks very clean.

[Rusty.Piranha]

Beauty! Let me know if you ever want to part ways with your euroweaves, very interested in those!

[mrlucretius]

Progress: New Motor is in...

Hey People,

I got the megasquirt running on the stock motor with wideband oxygen sensor and a base (not performance) tune. Let me tell you, a modern ecu running on MAP with wideband O2 absolutely transformed the stock e30... Not joking some experienced guys and myself think based on butt dyno measurements that 10-20 horsepower were added to the stock car. Not joking. Unfortunately I have no real dyno measurements of that setup...

However here is evidence of progress with the new motor:

Real Dyno plots and full specs coming soon!

[mrlucretius]

Hi People,

This thing is finally running. 2.9 liter m20 stroker, dbilas ITBs, e36 TPS, schrick 288, +1mm intake valves, head work, ireland engineering long tube header, custom dual 2.25" stainless exhaust, megasquirt MS2PNP running on MAP for now, 19.4lb injectors.

Also put a 2.7 turn lock to lock steering rack from a 1.8liter Z3 to shorten up the steering (from 4 turns lock to lock).

Right now we finally resolved how to get the MAP signal from the ITB setup in a happy fashion. More on that later.

It is heading for the dyno next week. Right now, we seem to be fuel starved at 5krpm WOT. This is interesting, as S52B32 uses 21.5lb injectors and can produce 300whp without an injector change... Does this mean I am approaching ~270whp and then running out of injector? Hopefully!

Well, don't worry, I will have a real dyno tune and measurements done. No guessing or arguing, just the facts.

Stay tuned.

[2mAn]

Very cool! looking forward to the results

[slippery]

Any idea what kind of dyno you are going to be using?

Also, whats the altitude where you live?

[ak-]

Hi People,

This thing is finally running. 2.9 liter m20 stroker, dbilas ITBs, e36 TPS, schrick 288, +1 intake valves, head work, ireland engineering long tube header, custom dual 2.25" stainless exhaust, megasquirt MS2PNP running on MAP for now, 19.4lb injectors.

Also put a 2.7 turn lock to lock steering rack from a 1.8liter Z3 to shorten up the steering (from 4 turns lock to lock).

Right now we finally resolved how to get the MAP signal from the ITB setup in a happy fashion. More on that later.

It is heading for the dyno next week. Right now, we seem to be fuel starved at 5krpm WOT. This is interesting, as S52B32 uses 21.5lb injectors and can produce 300whp without an injector change... Does this mean I am approaching ~270whp and then running out of injector? Hopefully!

Well, don't worry, I will have a real dyno tune and measurements done. No guessing or arguing, just the facts.

Stay tuned.

You can log injector duty cycle % on tunerstudio to be sure what's going on.
A new 255 pump won't hurt either since they aren't expensive in comparison to your nice build.

[mrlucretius]

Any idea what kind of dyno you are going to be using?

Also, whats the altitude where you live?

Hey,

The dyno is a super flow autodyn 30.

We are in the Denver area so we are at a 5280 feet or so.

[mrlucretius]

You can log injector duty cycle % on tunerstudio to be sure what's going on.
A new 255 pump won't hurt either since they aren't expensive in comparison to your nice build.

Ya, it is reported that the duty cycle is going up to 160% but I have not seen the logs myself yet. I will try to get my hands on those to verify.

Good point about the fuel pump. This project is at about 50% over initial budget. Mostly due to exhaust, some additional unexpected labor (replacing all sorts of stuff like engine mounts, tranny seals, anything that looked worth replacing) and related parts costs (new clutch kit, parts for all the replacement stuff).

I should have a good diagnosis this coming week, and also some initial and hopefully final dyno plots.

[mrlucretius]

Hi People,

Sorry long delay. It turns out the stock ignition couldn't drive the high compression at high rpm.

So I went wasted spark like this:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=399056

I will post some photos, I was able to assemble it and mount it without drilling any holes in the car!

BTW the car makes 180hp at the wheels right now, pulls hard to 7krpm and beyond, I am at 5300 feet above sea level, so I think this is about 250 crank hp?

I still need a final tune now that the ignition is fixed, cross your fingers.

Specs:

1989 e30 325is, ~160k miles
m20 stroker 2.9L 10.5:1 CR
+1mm intake valves, mild port + polish
dbilas ITB setup with custom cold air intake
long tube IE headers
full custom SS dual 2.25" exhaust
MS2PNP from DIYAutoTune
Innovate LS2 wideband O2
Schrick 288 with adjustable cam sprocket
wasted spark setup (see below)

@Digger, I hope I can get you feedback on this build, I still need to put ICV in, advance cam, and probably re-arrange my exhaust (x-pipe is right at headers, also I have a big dual in/out cat, but it is not two separate cats).

[mrlucretius]

Here is how I built the wasted spark setup.

I used the stock wires and just reversed the loom.

One thing that is slightly unnerving is that the bracket is very close to the 12v battery terminal.... Probably like 1" metal to metal. There is of course the stock plastic battery bus cover....

The mounting is really solid. However in a real emergency situation, there is a slight chance the coil mount could be driven into the battery terminal...

I think I will mount some polycarbonate or similar plastic sheet between the battery terminals and the coil mounting bracket at some point.

[mrlucretius]

Here is the current exhaust:

[mrlucretius]

e30 m20 stroker + schrick 288 emissions

Hi People,

Just wanted to say:

Using MS2PNP, wideband O2, and an oversized cat, schrick 288 cam, I was able to pass emission first try.

Basically for the tune for low loads, low RPM, you aim for stoich AFR.

1.5 out of 2 (limit) HC emissions was the closest fail. Everything else was low.

BTW I am in Boulder County Colorado.

They opened the hood, stared at everything carefully, stared at the exhaust for a while... Scared the shit out of me since I don't recall them opening the hood before... Thought I had failed inspection, the guy came into the booth, and... He shook my hand, and complimented me on the pretty exhaust!

So this is a good data point. Using modern ECU + wideband O2 + big cat + schrick 288... No big deal.

To be clear, Colorado is a pain in the ass relative to many states regarding emissions.

[digger]

hi post up a dyno sheet? 180 whp is around 210bhp or so.

what is the primary pipe length on those headers? with longer primaries the collector length can be alot shorter....

the best way to gain more would be a RHD ITB setup not that you want to hear that at this point