14 years - 1991 325ix, Stroker/5-Speed (N52 swap?)

[5Toes]

Hopefully.

Did you personally just make a new harness or PNP it yourself for the MS2?

[nando]

Somewhere. I dunno. It's sort of pointless to do a "how to" because MS is always evolving. It was already almost 2 years ago that I did the installation, so half of what I did is obsolete already. Heck, my firmware is 6 months out of date. The learning curve from MS2 to MS3 was pretty flat, after about 3 months I was already bored and really haven't touched it since I went to the dyno.

There'll be MS3 PnP solutions by the end of the year for M20s and M50s, I'm sure. It's hardly worth building yourself if you can barely handle it, and it's certainly not worth doing a hand-built kit for somebody else any more.

[5Toes]

So nando, do you have a detailed writeup on MS3?

You should make one!

[nando]

yeah, from germany, I got a really good deal (I think 220 euros shipped for the diff and oil pan??) it's a 3.38, not a 3.28. it's also not from an E30. :p

3.64s are all over the place there.. 5-speeds got them standard until 1988. we didn't get them here, though. they also had 3.73 on early automatics. I've seen 3.64s for sale, but never a 3.73.

front diffs are typically open, that's how you really want it for good steering feel. the rear will be a clutch for now, the TC still a VC. If I can do a 3.23 later down the road, it'll probably be a VC rear again. we'll see how the clutch diff feels.

[downforce22]

You have some very nice iX epdific pictures in there that will come in handy I am sure. The cluster looks neat!

Is that a front diff housing sent from germany? And I thought the 3.64 diffs I found were rare... Isn't a 3.28 going to be hard to build and use? I would expect a 3.25 might be easier to build. Then again you do have some extra power and torque so that shouldn't really matter, and I don't know how hard it is to assemble. Would it be a VC type differential?

[nando]

2011 updated, 2012 added.. also fixed some oversized images

[nando]

all the young guys who buy and build a car for a passing fad rather than a timeless well engineered car to have a lasting enjoyable ownership for a decade and counting. Well done.

they will come and go. I'm not offended personally if somebody wants to stance their $500 rustbucket "drift" car. Actually, I want to take the car a couple steps back to a more "BMW engineered" feel. The car just got too "raw" for a while. Either that, or I'm getting old!

It's taken a long time and the car still isn't "perfect". It's got some paint issues (especially the roof and rear valance). The interior could use some love. I really don't like my current suspension. And of course, there could always be more power. On the other hand, I get to drive it every single day and it never lets me down. And it *really* stands out in this little town - which isn't too hard!

[nando]

chris how much is your car pushing at peak hp now?

well, since I'm basically done with this M20, I may as well post it. the ix's drivetrain loss is about 25%, so keep that in mind when looking at the #s (works out to be 220ish BHP).



-Red is with an open cone filter (much less restrictive, but the dyno shows a low end torque loss, because it needs airflow or it sucks radiator).
-Green is with the stock airbox and a K&N panel filter (barely any difference from a stock paper filter).
-Blue is with Motronic 1.3 (yeah, it sucks).

these were all taken on the exact same dyno, down at Carb Connection in Kirkland, WA.

I know exactly what I need to do for more power - I get a big pressure drop across the throttle at around 6500-7000rpm (about 10%). Also, I'm sure my port work wasn't that great (DIY hackjob), and I wanted to try a bigger cam. Then I was going to do a whole new motor with a 3.1 bottom end (because I should have in the first place, it would have cost maybe $500 more!). Getting to 200whp would definitely be possible with carefully matched components. Also, this motor is not "balanced and blueprinted". It's a bone stock eta crank, and I don't even know how many miles were on it when I built it in the downstairs storage room of my old apartment. It doesn't seem to mind 7500rpm though. :p

The biggest problem is the intake manifold and throttle. Not just because it's restrictive on my motor, but because there's not really anything that exists on the market that I'd want. You can get an extrude honed intake manifold that will help, but that's $700, and you're still stuck with a single throttle that's too small. the Dbilas ITBs are $2500, and they don't even fit that well. Plus the throttles are way too big, and the plenum is crap. There's fully custom, of course, but I honestly don't have time for that sort of project.

the 885 head with good port work can flow 180-190cfm, so it's not a problem. Bottom end can be brought up to 3.1 for not really that much money. There's an abundance of cam choices, and obviously I can handle the tuning. But, I spent a lot of time already tinkering with the M20. I'm ready to move on to something else. Also, M20s leak oil. They just do, it's a fact of life. I'm tired of cleaning up a puddle on my garage floor every morning. :p

The only other thing I'd do is replace my exhaust shop hack job Y-pipe with tuned merge, like from Burns Stainless. Something setup for maximum scavenging near my peak HP level. I had one but I never got to use it. I'll probably do it eventually as I'm going to re-use my exhaust anyway.

FWIW I saw a 3.0 IE stroker M20 ix put down only 150awhp a couple years ago (when I did the Motronic 1.3 143awhp run). My engine currently would probably be about 185-190whp in a RWD chassis. With a better intake setup it could potentially do about 10% more than that. I think James was putting down ~165whp with a war chip in his RWD car, with what is basically the exact same engine as mine (2.8 MM pistons, schrick 284/272, and long tube headers). So I don't feel too bad considering how much extra the AWD sucks out of it.

The cam gear is also set for a broader torque curve, rather than peak power. I never did try adjusting it for more power (I'd already been on the dyno for 3 hours) but that could be a 5-10whp difference by itself (with possibly a large sacrifice in low end torque). The answer to that, of course, is variable valve timing..

Here's a stock ix dyno for comparison. yeah, stock ix's are slow:

(this is eric johnson's dyno chart).

I actually guessed 125whp for a stock ix, but I wasn't surprised to see it was lower. I'd think even 130awhp for a stock ix would be pretty strong.

[Wild Ride]

My alpine 325is stroker had a 12 year period of ownership with the previous owner that was very similar to yours: very meticulous, auto-xer, tasteful oem+ mods, stroker build so I appreciate your approach and story. Your IX is honestly one of the very few silver e30's that has ever made me want to own a silver e30. I believe this is the proper approach to owning an e30 and should set president to all the young guys who buy and build a car for a passing fad rather than a timeless well engineered car to have a lasting enjoyable ownership for a decade and counting. Well done.

[bmwstephen]

best weekend ever thanks to chris's thread lol...

chris how much is your car pushing at peak hp now?

[nando]

How did you like the megasquirt tunability? What about the camshaft sprocket? How did you do your instument cluster also?

Ok enough questions, I have to wipe the drool off of my keyboard now!

MS is very easy to tune, especially compared to OEM stuff. of course, you can screw things up pretty badly if you don't do your research first.

the cam gear works fine. it does have a problem with the teeth being a little too thick, makes it tough to get a new belt on. but it was well worth having the adjustability, I gained a ton of torque for a small sacrifice in peak HP. it also made mounting a cam sensor tooth easy.

Wow. Time flies. Car still looks amazing, Chris.

Thanks for reminding me of that pallet lol. Jesus FC, that was such a pain in the ass and not worth it. I think James was the only one that really came out well on that deal. He probably overpaid, but at least his parts were OK. We were all a bunch of 20-22yo kids giddy at the prospect of getting some real euro parts. I now know, as you pointed out and the European members can affirm, that it just means old rusty junk. We thought we were saving money by shipping it bulk on pallets on a ship. It took like two months, and we got screwed by having to pay a customs broker to process the paperwork on our $150 pallet of parts (the "invoice" was laughable at best. I had all of the wheels listed at like $5/ea). Then there was some other storage/processing fee in some seaport in LA. I was a college junior having to google what the hell a "bill of lading" was. Ugh, what a fucking nightmare. I drove all the way up from Eugene and had to pick the pallet up in a shipyard. They couldn't forklift it into my truck, so my friend and I took the shrink wrap off in the parking lot, threw the parts in the bed, and left the pallets in their lot. I had no tie downs so we literally took duct tape and just taped the pile down across the bed.
NEVER. AGAIN.

yeah, it was a mess, and I didn't even have to deal with the shipping! I figured after what I paid for the wheels, and materials to refinish them, I could have literally bought a BRAND NEW set. that doesn't even account for the week I spent working on them!

Haha. How time flies.

It was like a trip down memory lane. I like the MS3 install--it looks soo clean!

What happens after 2014?

well, I'll get bored of it, then I'll have to sell it for FOURTEENKAY and buy a Toyota. :p

[FredK]

Haha. How time flies.

It was like a trip down memory lane. I like the MS3 install--it looks soo clean!

What happens after 2014?

[5Toes]

Oh my god.. you are the man! Just read the whole thing.. I am very jealous!

[hfabricius]

Awesome thread! You truly are an innovator in the ix world. Its no wonder why people recommend you for ix problems. Cant wait to see more!

[Kevin_e30]

I had a good time reading this post. great job and keep it up.