325e turbo / fun project

[Cyrix2k]

moar updates. I pulled the engine thursday to pull the oilpan, have easier access to the transmission linkage, and to fix the brake booster situation. Originally I was planning to use the stock booster and redrill the holes on the firewall, but I stopped by the junkyard today to get some misc hardware and also wound up with a girling 944 booster. If you don't know, the girling uses a 12mm rod that needs to be ground down and threaded while the ATE uses a 10mm rod that only needs to be threaded. I thought this was going to be hard - actually it's not that bad.

Pics!
Oil pan with -10an return


New, chinese metric die set from sears. Note the (standard) tap & die set underneath was made in the USA.


944 booster


944 booster with extension removed and marked for grinding/threading. Note the black sharpie mark is where my e30 jam nut sits.


Ground down. It turns out this doesn't need to be perfect as the die will clean it up


Tap that! I used ATF for lube, dunno if you can go dry without damage to the die?


oooh, nice. I took the die off for the pic, but leave it on for the next step


Compared to the stock booster (on left)


bottom of masking tape is the cut line


that looks good!


Wow, perfect fit the very first time!!! Seriously, that's what I found when I went under the dash. It literally could not have been any better.


More updates tomorrow. With luck, the engine will be back in and I'll have a functioning shifter again!

[entrepreneuR]

Nice build!

[Cyrix2k]

So I wired the engine up again to make sure everything was still ready to go. I'm glad to say that it fired right up! Video of engine firing... this is on starting fluid so it died immediately, but I fixed my fuel issue later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTe2kQHz88Y

Teaser time:


Today I removed the a/c bracket from the side of the motor, removed the factory manifolds, and mocked up the turbo. Rather annoyingly, it looks like the turbo oil drain line needs to be about 20" and all the ebay kits are 17".... so time to order a 3 foot length of -10 braided hose from summit. It also looks like my 3" exhaust is going to be TIGHT, but it will fit. Before we get there, the bracket for my early model coolant expansion tank was in the way, so off it goes!

Plenty of room now

and a parting shot

[Cyrix2k]

:edit: I posted in my old thread. This car has an m50b25 in it now!

how is the build going

SLOW, but it's about to pick up :D

Soooo like a year later, and parts are coming in again. Screw NA, this baby is getting FI.

Updates since my last post:
Not much has happened. I did do some quick wiring and successfully started the car (video below), but it was unable to be driven. A job that I was told I had fell through after they jerked me around all summer which both killed my budget and prime wrenching opportunities. I applied for a couple other jobs, most to put pressure on the offer I was told I had - "only the paperwork needed to be completed" and instead took a different job about 24 hours after I started applying. Since then I've been busy, but now have a decent budget and nice weather is rolling around again. My goal is to have it on the road by June 1st 2012 (I'll put a year there, just in case!)

Video of the start

http://youtu.be/Hq3zMlXjd88

Hopefully the motor is fine after sitting for so long... I pulled the spark plugs and it cranked over fine by hand a couple weekends ago.

Annnd a new delivery:

Familiar turbo?

Old turbo on left

[go sideways]

how is the build going

[Cyrix2k]

Why not an i head swap?

it's getting one. I'm trying to find an intake manifold cheaply now... every time I plan a run to the junkyard, it rains beforehand so I just haven't had time to pick one up. I've had the head for a while :)

Also, I should point out the car has been running & boosted (6 psi, current injectors are maxed) for the last 1300 miles now. I've been revving it out to 5500 rpms on the eta head and haven't broken anything yet. This thread will be updated with the build photos once I complete the head swap and clean up the engine bay.

[Norgs3030]

Why not an i head swap?

[1mz]

hahah I read this thread and didn't realize it was yours. You boost hungry little bastard - I'm determined to always be multiple steps ahead of you now :)

[Cyrix2k]

subscribed. More pictures of that m3? I have been looking at those cars lately and really want to buy one. Just waiting for a good enough deal.

sure. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1423638

It's a 2004 with 54k miles iirc. Cost $24k with two sets of rims. My friend in the orange shirt is the proud new owner :)

[Be30mer]

subscribed. More pictures of that m3? I have been looking at those cars lately and really want to buy one. Just waiting for a good enough deal.

[Cyrix2k]

after sitting for a while, do a full lock to full lock to circulate the powersteering fluid. or a few mins of driving will do it as well.

Cool. I didn't know that.

Update for today: CSB was replaced and I just cut the exhaust off behind the rear O2. I need to fabricate new exhaust for the turbo anyway (3" as that's the size exhaust tubing I have laying around). Car had the factory cat!

I can't believe someone wrapped the drive shaft with duct tape instead of just replacing the CSB. WTF?


The remnants of the old CSB. This thing was BAD. I just ripped that bracket off prior to taking the earlier photo... that shouldn't happen.


Anyway, car drives down the road quite nicely now. I also noted that the rear sway bar is out of it's left end link, so I need to fix that. The car will be getting fatter sway bars as part of a suspension refresh later on. I'll probably start tearing into the A/C tomorrow.

[xwill112x]

nope, it fired right up. The car had a rough idle for a few minutes and no power steering. I took it for a run up the street, then just let it idle. Everything smoothed out and the power steering came back (wtf?).

after sitting for a while, do a full lock to full lock to circulate the powersteering fluid. or a few mins of driving will do it as well.

[Cyrix2k]

looking good dude. guess your goin to turbo the 2.7 motor. was there any problems start up considering that fuel was sitting so long. did the prev owner use stabil.

nope, it fired right up. The car had a rough idle for a few minutes and no power steering. I took it for a run up the street, then just let it idle. Everything smoothed out and the power steering came back (wtf?). It runs like a top now. No stabil as far as I can tell.

[Cyrix2k]

weather fail!
do a head swap first then boost

I was planning on it until I did some research on the turbo. The turbo was given to me and it appears to be off a volvo and is quite small. It would run out of steam very quickly at high rpms, so I'm going to get the stand alone ecu up and running, turbo it (but build everything to handle a proper turbo), then swap the i head over & probably pick up a garrett GT35R. My goal is 300-400 whp when I'm done.

[ttrousdell]

looking good dude. guess your goin to turbo the 2.7 motor. was there any problems start up considering that fuel was sitting so long. did the prev owner use stabil.