e30guydownunder: Project M42, probs definitely got more power than your S50

[e30guydownunder]

Alrighty nothing has been happening and heres why:

As for an update from today. Well I have made most of the sump section of the oil pan. but I made the wing too long, it just hits the control arm, here is a picture. If you look closely you will notice the standrd windage tray is mounted also:



Stupid mistake really. Shoulda had the arm in there for mocking up purposes. Its not that big a deal to fix just a pain in the ass.

By this stage I was already starting to loose motivation and interest. So I took a step back and had a look at what was left. The majority of the mechanical stuff is bowled over. Theres the sump with is about 50% done, the intake mods and then the radiator outlet modification. Then a bunch of lil shit and its done. Except I hven't even started the brake master cylinder relocation (in the form of a custom pedal box with twin master cylinders etc). And then it dawned on me...the electrics! I want a full from scratch custom engine loom and dash wiring, integrated with the standard chassis loom etc. This wasn't going to happen in the time left. The decision was to get the engine rebuilt and stick it in and go from there....then this happened:

Well I was getting tired of this no updating BS. So thought I'd shake it up this weekend. Enter my weakness/mental disorder:



Yup another engine has landed! This one came complete with a gearbox and M3 clutch. 240mm diameter and rated to 350bhp or something. So thats my clutch issue sorted. Thanks go out to Ruger for the hookup.

But that wasn't enough. So today I washed it down as can be seen above. And Im going to have ripped the timing case apart and the sumps off and resealed them up before it goes into the race car.

Further to this I figured I would get crazy on my spare E36 Rack. I present to you the fabled leak free BMW Steering Rack.



I followed this miata guide (the two racks are very similar in design)...Click



Just need to plug the In/Out lines from the PS pump and the job is done. Very simple procedure and at last I will enjoy BMW ownership without a PS fluid puddle acumulating under the car (even my looped rack in the race car with powersteering fluid in it, leaks!)

So that about sums up the weekends happenings. I'm shooting to change the drivetrain by the end of this coming weekend as after that I will be back at uni.

And there ya go...I now have 4 M42's between 2 cars. Probably the oddest piece of info is between all the engines I only have 1 E30 head, but have onl purchased 1 E36 specific engine. The joys of bastardisation done by others!

[e30guydownunder]

Figured I'd put up another update. have been slowly tinkering away at things.

The oil pan as it is in situe. I have since added mounts for the windage tray and will be bending up the pan tomorrow hopefully.



I finished up the oil system over the weekend. Here is the take-off plate, including all fittings and lines:



Then the M30 oil filter housing, blanking plate, various fittings and takeoff ports. I haven't added the tee for the turbo oil feed and pressure sender yet and the port for the temp sender needs to be tapped the correct dimensions...need a temp sender also.



From there the oil cooler lines run over the top of the intercooler pipe (yet to be finallised, suitable alloy pipe and bends are in the mail) down thru the sheet metal, which will have a rubber edge in the final product and down to the oil cooler. For these I was able to remove the standard crimped on lines and reuse the barbed fittings in my push-loc line and then threw on some crimp on clamps just to be sure to be sure. The BMW fittings were a little looser than the push-loc hose ends, hence the double clmping. Doesn't look too ugly and considering I only had to buy the hose clamps (~$30) worked out rather affordable!



I also knocked up a joiner piece for the intake. This joins the air filter and the flexible hose I will be using to feed the turbo. There is heaps of room in front of the wheel so i positioned the filter to allow me room for my brake ducting hoses (which will be added at a later date, Ignore the piece of pipe infront of the air filter that is a piece of scrap that got in the photo!).

[e30guydownunder]

Thanks gearhead. I have changed from the MS to a DTA S60 Pro. I must have forgotten to put that in this thread. So I have gone full aftermarket standalone. Heres the specs

But you can do it with MS II Extra. That had been my plan. You can buy a plug and play MS off "tglaze" on M42club. Or if you ask Danny he will have his contact details. SO it can be done. Its just a matter of running some extra coil drivers (MS extra supports upto 4) but whether or not you can still have things like boost control I never worked out. I got a killer deal on the DTA and the MS I had was going to require major rework to work for my application.

You could even setup a wasted fire setup driving 2 coil drivers off the one output if you still wanted boost control etc. This would allow you to drive the OEM coils. Or just go with a standalone boost controller. Ohh and I have a COP conversion if you didn't know. No leads, no mess, no issues.

Boost? Thats very much a wait and see thing. I'll know once I get to the dyno nd see how good this E85 fuel is. Which I am hoping will be good enough to keep the standard interals cool enough. I am intending to O-ring the block and run the OEM headgasket with a set of BIG headbolts holding the head on. So I'm aiming for about 20psi, which should see me up over 200whp (remember our dynos read lower than yours ;) and it's only a small turbo). Hopefully it will be making 80% of that power for most of the rev range though :)

dk - thanks man, your 318iC is going well too! If I hadn't dumped all this moolah on turbo stuff I could have ITB's too! I tend to be quite a resourceful fellow, using scrap/second hand stell for most of my work. New steel would increase the cost of this whole car two or three times!

With the car being a race car handling is the key. Better weight distribution helps with that :) By moving the engine back there has been a number of advantages.

The Engine, Gearbox, Turbo, Exhaust is all back 100mm. The engine oil (4L of it!) has moved back around 300mm with the change to a rear sump. The Radiator, fan, water, intercooler, oil cooler are all further back. Making the lines shorter and lighter and the intercooler plumbing shorter simplier and less resstrictive. Its all just WIN WIN WIN, but as you noted alot of work. Hopefully the amount of time I put in here will pay off, with a much faster E30, both down the straight and round corners!

For a road car no way would I do it this way. However I still reocn you could get the intercooler in the engine bay maintaining sleeper status out on the roads ;)

[decay]

good stuff man. very interesting to see how you engineered the turbo setup around moving the engine back. i wish i had the resources to do something similar.

[gearheadE30]

Wow, this is an insane build!

I'm in the process of building up a turbo M42 for my 318is as well and I've been doing a ton of research on Megasquirt and the M42. I'l pretty sure I already have everything else. What are you planning on doing about the ignition system, considering that megasquirt doesn't nativley support coil-per-plug ignition? Also, how much boost are you planning on running, given that it appears you are keeping the stock internals?

[e30guydownunder]

Just a lil update from the pst couple of days.

Got my Take off plate nearly 100%. Just need to fit the top port a bit better and then weld the reducing bush in.





And here is the start I have made on me custom sump. I recon it will come out fairly well, time will tell.



(Yes that back plate is recycled steel, free material WIN)

[e30guydownunder]

I drink too much and work slowly but fuck this will be a good car once its done :)

Been taking it easy, back at work now and funnily enough i sorta got a bit enthuiastic...great timing.

Anyway I got a nice lil package today. Some turbo bits:









Still waiting for all my Couplers to get here:

Another slow weekend, but solid progress non the less. I mounted my thermo fan on the radiator. Dad helped me out with a solid start on the radiator/intercooler shroud. Thats coming up real nice and will do the trick (There are some rolled ribs in the top section of the shroud, didn't come out in the picture). Also had a play with the intercooler pipe.



I also made a solid start on the relocation of the oil filter. Just need to weld the bracket to the chassis. The blanking plate needs to be drilled and tapped for the inlet/outlet ports yet, and I need to work out where the oil temp/pressure and turbo feed are going to go. Now thats left with the oil filter/cooler is the lines (which are pretty much sorted for a good price ;)) and then the take off plate on the block.

[e30guydownunder]

Heres the progress thus far:

Couple of slow updates...

Dump Pipe flange has been faced and a bit more progress has been made:







Alternator sitting on its mount. Just waiting for the wreckers to open up and go get a tensioner for the top side:





How it sits currently:





My tentative deadline of the event in Feburary has been scrapped. I will build it at my liesure and when its done is when I will go to the dyno. Till then I will work on a bunch of improvements (the turbo, braking, maybe intake) and keep driving the car as is from last season. Or until the current tyres dont pass scrutineering :p

[e30guydownunder]

Cheers guys. And Iain skid pics will come ASAP and electric fans only here....standard fan is great but given the amount of time I'm actually using the electric fan currently on the car, I could probably go without especially with this bigger radiator.

No pics at the moment, but turbo manifold is about 90%, need to machine the flanges and a couple of tidy ups (porting etc) and its done.

Made a lower alternator mount for my new 55 amp alternator and got a mount between the top of the intercooler and radiator, just need to make a nice stainless steel shield up to tie the two to the radiator support panel.

[Iain]

Skid pics not loading. <-- you should fix that issue STAT.

If you need to borrow fan-type stuff Project Meat Flange's shit is just sitting around in my garage if you wanted to borrow it for comparison/fab purposes...? I doubt the M40 radiator will cool a grumpy 6.0 :p

[Danny]

Looks great buddy.

[e30guydownunder]

anyhow, an update is due! I've finally shaken the multiple hangovers and scrapped together some time in the shed. This is all post an adventure to the wreckers where i picked up two perhaps suitable radiators (one with fans/shrouds etc) and a set of HKS springs and adjuster out of a jazz (mostly got these for the adjusters but you never know). Anyway, the price? It was good :D

So today I've finished off the cooler mount I began and about 90% completed the lower mounts for the radiator, just need to find my other OEM gearbox mount and paint em up. Then a couple of mounts on top for the radiator and the intercooler and bob's your uncle.

The view from the front:



And the back (note ou cn see the lower radiator mount in the works):



First person to guess the origin of the radiator gets a prize. In the mean time check this out for luck of the draw:



Thats a late M20 radiator hose and its damn near perfect. NICE. The radiator is roughly double the volume of the M42 one so should do the trick. And having copper tanks we can modify the lower hose connection to suit our application and will also be adding a couple of extra ports (for temp senders and turbo outlets etc). I'll also be using one of the fans/shrouds off the other radiator and with some mounts this should be more than enough to keep the car cool in the pits.

I've mouted the radiator level with the bottom edge of the chassis, so low as possible for CofG but still protected :)

Have also got some thoughts in the works for the remote oil filter in the form of the oil filter canister off an M30, including thermostat and oil cooler take off points (free).

Turbo manifold is probably 70% complete. Some final welding of runners to do and then facing the flanges.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas (I sure did) and have a Happy New Year.

[e30guydownunder]

Haha mate that is the last year of my life, not like it was a days work ofr anything :)

Got another update :)

Just ran out of gas! And its 5:30, so thats progress haulted till tomorrow. Just uploading some pictures now.

Wait for it

Wait for it

BAM something is missing:



Yep thats right, engine mounts!
I didn't quite get to finish the gusseting on the passenger side mount:



And I'm giving up on squeezing the turbo down the side. Everything works better with a top mount so what ever:




The finished Drivers side mount:





Should support the thing no matter how much power its making!
Cheers folks, now to work out what I'm going to do with myself for a few hours with no welder :crazy:

[Vtec?lol]

holy mother of updates! nice

[Iain]

If you need a hand, lemme know. I have contacts who know a lot about tuning, especially turbo cars and cars on E85 (a good mate is the bloke who designed/built the E8 & E11v2 ECUs for Haltech)