the Aluminum Monster. a 318 with a special 24v

[2mAn]

What's with those manifolds? I thought M52 have decent tubular manifolds. Those look like they will add weight and lose power.

you are correct sir, these manifolds are cast iron M50/S50 manifolds compared with my sexy M52/ S52 stainless steel manifolds, but I need the smog peeps to believe this car is a M50, not a M52 mostly because I am using all OBD1 components. its stupid, but it must be done if I want to be able to get a regular smog instead of an illegal smog

the good news in all this is I have a plan, and these are just to appease the BAR and wont be on the car very long

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Good progress! Interested to see how the BAR certification goes. Idk if you ever got an evap canister but I still have mine if you need it

[2mAn]

Good progress! Interested to see how the BAR certification goes. Idk if you ever got an evap canister but I still have mine if you need it

I do need it! is it from the E30 ?

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I do need it! is it from the E30 ?

yes sir. PM me

[2mAn]

yes sir. PM me

done! and I forgot to mention, but can you send me a pic too

[Sh3rpak!ng]

done! and I forgot to mention, but can you send me a pic too

yup. send me another PM later to remind me. I usually get distracted immediately as soon as I enter the garage

[2mAn]

Just did an oil change right before I cross the 30k mile mark on the 24v. 15 months and 30k miles. Pretty fucking reliable car if you ask me, and overall the cars been low maintenance

So placed an order with Blunt for the exhaust gaskets, and also an OBD1 VCG. Ive had the metal OBD1 valve cover forever and it looks like a typical beatdown OBD1 valve cover. I have a plan for it, but I will wait until its installed to show you guys.

I hope to go battle the BAR at the end of the month and I am confident that it shouldnt be terrible.

In slightly related news, I have been fighting the urge to buy a 911, but that means that the E30 would need to be sold. I figure I will let God decide because once Ive passed the BAR, I will also have a fresh smog as well, which means the car will be easy to sell for 90 days while the Smog Certificate is current. The good news for the E30 lovers is that I can be picky about price and buyer. The other good news is that when Im behind the wheel of the E30, Im still in love, but when Im not, Im bored haha... Its really a sickness but luckily my sickness has to battle against a badass E30. I really should sign up for the track day thats coming up, I think that will help

[thatphysicsguy]

Just did an oil change right before I cross the 30k mile mark on the 24v. 15 months and 30k miles. Pretty fucking reliable car if you ask me, and overall the cars been low maintenance

So placed an order with Blunt for the exhaust gaskets, and also an OBD1 VCG. Ive had the metal OBD1 valve cover forever and it looks like a typical beatdown OBD1 valve cover. I have a plan for it, but I will wait until its installed to show you guys.

I hope to go battle the BAR at the end of the month and I am confident that it shouldnt be terrible.

In slightly related news, I have been fighting the urge to buy a 911, but that means that the E30 would need to be sold. I figure I will let God decide because once Ive passed the BAR, I will also have a fresh smog as well, which means the car will be easy to sell for 90 days while the Smog Certificate is current. The good news for the E30 lovers is that I can be picky about price and buyer. The other good news is that when Im behind the wheel of the E30, Im still in love, but when Im not, Im bored haha... Its really a sickness but luckily my sickness has to battle against a badass E30. I really should sign up for the track day thats coming up, I think that will help

Just keep saving up and you can have the best of both worlds... Daily the E30 and track the porsche?

[2mAn]

Just keep saving up and you can have the best of both worlds... Daily the E30 and track the porsche?

Ive considered this as well, but if Im buying a car to daily drive, its going to be a turbodiesel of some sort, and probably automatic with A/C. It cant be a boring car though, so we'll see....

So, this weekends plan was to tackle the manifold swap. Ended up helping a friend move yesterday so I was supposed to do it today and got a late start.

Recipe for disaster.

but heres what was supposed to get installed today. OBD1 cast manifolds, new gaskets and E34 o2 sensor to replace the E36 sensor. E34 sensor has more wire to reach all the way under the car to mount in the S50 downpipe instead of the OBD2 manifold.



overall I figured I would start from the harder area to the easy area. Started with the S50 downpipe and installing the new o2 sensor. Got that out with no trouble. Routed it up to the engine bay and plugged it in and left the other o2 unplugged. Next were the manifolds themselves. I had sprayed all the nuts with PB blaster a few times, but the manifold to downpipes were still super tight, so I sprayed them again, but from the bottom this time to make sure it soaked the threads. The 24 manifold nuts came off easy, followed by the rear manifold. So far, so good! Then I tried to take the manifold out but the o2 was stuck between the engine and the firewall.



I dealt with this for a little while and after finally taking a picture of it I was able to wiggle it out, thank God I didnt get too frustrated and cut the wires...

again, so far so good!... then I hit a wall. The front manifold gave me a little headache but I got two of the three out and then I got stuck. I struggled with this for what felt like 4 hours but was more like 2-3. Still way too much time.

So heres where Im stuck. Exhaust manifold to head nuts are all out. 5 out of the 6 exhaust manifold to downpipe nuts are out, and this last little bastard is still in. Theres only about an inch between the nut and the subframe. not much lateral space either once I get a wrench on them...



and now some comparison of OBD1 manifolds and gaskets in comparison with the OBD2 manifolds and gaskets

Heres an OBD2 gasket sitting on top of the OBD1 gasket. big difference in port opening



OBD2 manifold with the OBD1 gasket



OBD1 manifold with the OBD2 gasket



OBD1 manifold and an OBD1 gasket



and a side by side comparison of the two manifolds



I should have it all finished tomorrow... another reason to have a second car though

[glnr13]

good luck with bar, buddy! hope you make it thru.

btw if you get this thing certified you better not sell it.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

is it just me or do the obd2 manifold inlets look a little smaller than the obd1?

Can't you get a 3/8 socket and extension onto that last nut? I'm pretty sure any time I've installed/removed those nuts on my e36 or the e30 I never used a wrench, only 3/8 socket/extension. And then blast that nut with a torch, it'll come off.

[2mAn]

good luck with bar, buddy! hope you make it thru.

btw if you get this thing certified you better not sell it.

Im feeling better and better about it as Im getting closer. Thanks to Charlie (Sh3rpak!ng) for the EVAP purge and charcoal canister too. Once those are all mounted, then its just wiring and I will be ready for battle, assuming the CEL isnt on.

is it just me or do the obd2 manifold inlets look a little smaller than the obd1?

Can't you get a 3/8 socket and extension onto that last nut? I'm pretty sure any time I've installed/removed those nuts on my e36 or the e30 I never used a wrench, only 3/8 socket/extension. And then blast that nut with a torch, it'll come off.

I was kinda shocked too, the OBD1 certainly weighs more, but that doesnt mean they would flow any better or worse... Just documenting stuff with pics since I had them side by side.

Im going to try a 15mm 3/8" socket, swivel and an extension and that might be the combo to end the nightmare. I was going to try it last night after I got the right socket from my neighbor ( mine was a deep socket 15mm), but I was too frustrated with the thing and decided to start fresh on it tonight.

[2mAn]

What's the worst that could happen?... Well
... I couldn't get the manifold off and couldn't get the other one back on. So I gave up and threw in the towel







I think from here I'll stick to breaking stuff instead of trying to "fix"stuff

[pazi88]

is it just me or do the obd2 manifold inlets look a little smaller than the obd1?
.

The obd2 manifolds are shaped like that because they give more low end torque than obd1 manifolds. And those obd2 manifolds are not restriction for high end power in stock or almost stock engines.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

What's the worst that could happen?... Well
... I couldn't get the manifold off and couldn't get the other one back on. So I gave up and threw in the towel

I think from here I'll stick to breaking stuff instead of trying to "fix"stuff

Ahhh damn thats pretty sucky. BAR is turning into a little bit of a bitch ehh?

You gonna be at the last scca autox at el toro? next weekend?

The obd2 manifolds are shaped like that because they give more low end torque than obd1 manifolds. And those obd2 manifolds are not restriction for high end power in stock or almost stock engines.

Yup, gotcha. Just curious. I guess I haven't really taken a closer look at them anytime I had them off.