Budget M42 turbo build

[e30guydownunder]

Awesome! I just got my Subaru Wagon going. Yesterday taking off from the lights I gunned it a bit (raining pretty heavy) and it came on boost hard (15psi) and just started spinning all 4. Is sooo much fun. I'm anxious to get the same sorta power into the race car thats for sure.

2WD and about 400kg's lighter it will be pretty lively!

I can relate to putting the gauges in your line of sight. Looking down at my AFR's all the time sucks. Especially when your trying to do a pull on boost and watch the AFR's :crazy

[gearheadE30]

haha 15 psi....that'd be fun on the M42... once I get mine on the dyno and maybe get a slightly better matched turbo, it should be fun :).

and I'm actually not running an AFR gauge. The entire time I tuned the car I either did AFRs off of the laptop screen or off of a datalog, and it worked out fine. The problem is you can't keep an eye on it during transitions and such, so I'm trying to find a good deal on the Innovate analog AFR gauge.

[Dj Buttchug]

haha 15 psi....that'd be fun on the M42... once I get mine on the dyno and maybe get a slightly better matched turbo, it should be fun :).

and I'm actually not running an AFR gauge. The entire time I tuned the car I either did AFRs off of the laptop screen or off of a datalog, and it worked out fine. The problem is you can't keep an eye on it during transitions and such, so I'm trying to find a good deal on the Innovate analog AFR gauge.

I have one brand new in box im selling. I cant run innovative because it wont work with my electromotive im going with after i get broken in... its a G5 kit.
You want it? Ill sell it cheap. fur da m42 boost pressurz? pm me

[gearheadE30]

Okay, sweet. PM sent

[Mr Deagle]

You drilled holes in your intercooler? You are supposed to get rid of boost leaks, not make more.

You should have just bought one of my BPV's, probably less than what you paid for your ebay valve and works perfect every time, no adjustment needed.

[gearheadE30]

I drilled holes in the intercooler end tanks and then tapped and plugged them so I have a drain. It doesn't leak anymore :).

What exactly is a BPV? I might be interested...

[e30guydownunder]

Bypass Valve. Does the same thing as a BOV a lil differently.

He works for these guys:

http://www.modeincparts.com/index_files/products_porsche.htm

They make a Bosch BPV out of alloy and better.

[gearheadE30]

Oh, got it. Yeah, I know what a bypass valve is, I just didn't make the connection haha. Well, we'll see how this ebay dealio works out first, and if it ends up being terrible or doesn't work out, I'll probably give it a try.

[gearheadE30]

Dang, it's been 2 months without an update...

So a lot has changed. Here're some recent engine bay pics; sorry it's so dirty....



Not a whole lot to see here, but the mount for the wastegate has been revised so it is mounted from the bottom instead of to the strut brace. This made the car so much quieter it's ridiculous. There is a little more vibration on the wastegate now, but since these are usually bolted the the manifold directly, I figure it should be okay... I suppose time will tell.

I also changed the washer tank so that it is securely mounted now and won't fall off. The intake still doesn't have a heat shield, but I modified the headlight backing panel to cover up the wires and such so it looks a little cleaner.

There is a little more heat shielding on the fender; the paint was getting incredibly hot and I didn't want it to crack or anything.

Also did some work to the interior, so now I have a-pillar pods instead of the boost gauge on the center console. Looking down at it wasn't bad, but it is sooo much nicer in the line of sight.

I changed the color of the lights behind the buttons on the head unit, so now they match the interior. Interestingly enough, these bulbs are incandescent, which would explain why they only work intermittently....

Airbag system has been removed except for the sensors in the engine bay, although depending on how hard it is to get the wires out, those may be gone soon as well. For now I have the sport package steering wheel, but I'll probably get an m-tech or something for it. All of the stalks were replaced, and I actually have the correct OBC turn stalk now, which is nice.



I also put in cloth door cards. My car was incredibly dark inside, especially with the black headliner, so this lightens it up a bit. I personally like the look of cloth a lot better than the fake leather anyway. Thanks to Wishno87 for those :thumbsup:



I also went through the entire rear end. Again. It now has new GC adjusters (The originals broke, somehow...) rubber trailing arm bushings, 80A AKG diff bushing, new axles, new wheel bearings, and a 3.73 medium case LSD. I had AKG rtabs in it before, but they were making unnerving thunking noises, and this car sees a lot of street use. Well, I'm glad I switched back. I can't tell a difference in handling at all, and the inner races of the AKGs were completely corroded to the bolts, and the sleeves were corroded on the OD such that they no longer roatated in the bushing. Talk about a bad design. I had to cut the bushings out of the trailing arms to remove them... Pics to come, I'm sure.

The axles there both pretty dry and original after 240k miles, although the boots were only minorly cracked. They had a good 5-10 degrees of rotational play... $99 apiece rebuilt at Indy Rack and Axle got me a lifetime warranty and a much, much smoother drivetrain. Also really liking the 3.73; it matches the torque curve of this setup a lot better than the 4.10 did, and it honestly feels a little quicker through the gears for some reason. Maybe just less shifts, I guess. It's a lot nicer running 3000 instead of 3700 revs at 75 mph as well...

Also put in a new fuel filter and replaced one of the fuel lines, but now I have a leak under there...presumably from the line that I didn't replace. Oh well. At least the parts are cheap.

If anyone's been in general tech recently, I've had a bit of a head gasket scare. Turned out to (I think) be a leak in the lower radiator hose, allowing air to get to the thermostat housing, so that it didn't open, or opened erratically. The more coolant that leaked out, the worse it got. So now the car is running better, bu still a little hot, so I need to bleed the coolant. Again, it was -1 last night. I wasn't in the mood to spend much time on it, heh. Thread is HERE.

The car is also having a bit of a wastegate issue, although I'm going to chalk this up to the cold weather... the wastegate won't open, or at least not enough. Thank goodness for the boost cut in Megasquirt; it saved my ass. I blew out the pressure line to see if it was blocked, and it had moisture in it...I think that the airflow through the engine is actually cold enough that the moisture is freezing in the line... Haven't figured out what to do about that yet, heh.

Right now, the future plan is a turbo upgrade, to a .63 AR Turbonetics Super 60. It's literally perfectly sized for this engine. I'd go with the .48 AR, but I like having the top end on the turbo; I'll give up a little spool time for that. Right now I have a .82, anyway. So the TA3107 will be up for sale soon.

[gearheadE30]

Future plan is coming true!! Just bought a brand new V-band turbonetics Super 60 stage 1 with a 0.63 AR turbine housing! Gotta have a bit of exhaust fabrication done because the v-band on the TA31 is a little unique, but otherwise it should drop in.

[gearheadE30]

And it has also been brought to my attention that I changed the BOV and I forgot to tell everyone, haha. The old BOV didn't flow nearly enough and was really ricey loud, and I was getting compressor surge when driving hard. This one is from ebay seller Wyntonm, and I have been really pleased with it. It is 44mm in diameter, adjustable, and takes Tial springs. The build quality is extremely good, and the whole deal is sealed with o-rings. Best of all, it's very quiet; almost an OE level of sound. The andodizing is good quality, and it was $80 with the adapter pipe, if I remember correctly.

[gearheadE30]

minor update, turbo showed up today....if the exhaust shop pulls through, it might be in this weekend :)

[Dj Buttchug]

oh yes. excitement for new spoolerrz

[gearheadE30]

Little news here. Got the turbo, and it's pretty damn awesome looking....but I can't install it until next weekend because this turbo comes with a filter in the oil feed, and it has different threads than the line I am currently using, and I can't just swap feed bungs because it voids the warranty. So I have to wait for parts that will get here Monday or Tuesday along with having an extension made in order for the downpipe to mate with the new turbo, due to length differences.

On the plus side, it should be 50 here all next week and I'm going to pick up some Kumho Ecsta XS's on the cheap for my ACS's, so I should have some more pics on the way :). bought these rims 2 years ago and am finally in a position to put them on the car, hah.

[alwaysinabimmer]

"Is it in yet?"

(NO,... she didn't just say that)

Is your new turbo installed yet? So much for the nice weather we HAD.