Turbo M42 More-Door

[Leon T. Trout]

Finally going to start my project log. I bought the car a little over a year ago from a non-enthusiast who wanted something bigger. I've wanted an e30 for years, but finally was in the position to get one, so I started trolling craigslist. I think my car was up for 4 hours when I called the guy and headed over with cash. I haggled him down to $800.

The car is a 1991 Alpine White 318i slicktop, black comfort vinyl interior, probably the cheapest BMW available that year. The od stopped at 226k but mechanically it felt very sound, pulled hard (as hard as the M42 can) and looked decent. Had some rust but I snatched it up. I've been doing little maintenance and repair projects on it, waiting for the day I'd have a little more money to spend on it. I was supporting my wife and I while she went to grad school for the last few years and now my patience has paid off. She said the words car loving guys wait their whole live to hear from their SOs.
"You should use the whole tax return this year for your car stuff."

I had orders placed before she closed her mouth. Here is the plan:

• Finish Maintenance - I have most of the parts to delete the unnecessary coolant and vacuum hoses under the intake, etc.
• Suspension refresh -I put some vogtland springs on it and it has Bilsteins, probably HD, but they are tired and I want moar low. I'm thinking the GE coilovers, camaro/mr2 agx shocks and a camber plate of some sort and bushings all around.
• Body work - I need to get the rust under control
• Wheels - I have a set of 42 Draft Designs adapters and a set of e38 style fives that need some cleaning up.
• Misc interior stuffs - I have some component speakers front tweeter pods and premium sound rear speaker trim parts i want to get installed and a wood wheel of some sort, probably NRG
• ..and finally a jakeb turbo kit Thread Here I PMed him yesterday and the wait time is probably two months b/c he is working on other projects (LS3 e36) and quality takes time, but i am putting may name on the list

Running Mods/Repairs List:

• Turbo bits
• .48AR Internal Wastegate Chinese Turbo at 9psi
• Top-mount manifold by Jakeb
• Front-mount intercooler
• Bosch-style bypass valve
• Engine management is stock Motronic with Jakeb chip
  
  Misc Engine
• 42lb injectors
• Walbro 255lph Fuel Pump
• COP conversion
• F1 Stage 2 Clutch (Installing soon)
  
  Gauges
• Innovate Wideband O2
• Econometer Boost Gauge
  
  Exhaust
• 2.5" Mandrel pipe
• High flow cat
• Glasspack resonator
• Dynomax super Turbo Muffler
  
  Suspension
• Vogtland Springs
• MR2 KYB AGX Adjustable Struts in front, Camaro KYB Gas-A-Just in rear
• e90 drop hats
• e46 strut mounts in rear
  
  Wheel/Tire
• 16x8 HRE 501 reps
• 205/50r16 Falken Ziex ZE-912
  
  Misc
• Repainted rocker panels with truck bed liner
• Painted windshield wiper arms and other front trim with Duplicolor trim paint
• US ellipsoids with Ebay 55w HIDs, smoked the low beams, need to get crosshairs for high beams still
• Top Gaiters Shift and e-brake boots
• e34 leather e-brake handle
• Swapped front seats. The driver side bolsters were quite flaccid.
• Replaced timing chain tensioner

So this will be my log of what gets done. I'll try to add lots of pictars, cuz that's all you really want.

As she sits now, wheel covers ftw


Dented poorly painted drivers door


Fender cancer


Battery box cancer


From the PO "that's where I hit it with the lawn mower!" Thanks

[Leon T. Trout]

Today's Project

My fuel pump has started making a lot of noise since it has gotten hot recently so I pulled it out to check it. It looks fine, the sock wan't clogged and it was replaced somewhat recently, so i figured I would replace the fuel filter to see if that would help.

Said fuel filter

Yeah, that's original :hitler:

I pulled it off, and this is what came out


Replaced it and the small bit of fuel hose with new bits from GutenParts

Much Better

The car seems to idle a bit better and no more noise. Hopefully that was it, but putting in one of the Walbro 255lph in-tanks probably isn't a bad idea

[Leon T. Trout]

Interior shots

The Top Gaiter boots are great quality


The interior is in pretty great shape, dash has a few cracks and the carpet could use some cleaning.



The other project for the day. I worked on one of e38 style fives. I think I'm going to need to strip them and repaint. Dirty on the left cleanish on the right.



Anyone need e38 tires?

[lucidy]

Very cool, excited to see those plans come along, especially the turbo haha. Will you be going 5-lug or adapters?

[Leon T. Trout]

Very cool, excited to see those plans come along, especially the turbo haha. Will you be going 5-lug or adapters?

Adapters. I keep going back and forth about trying to piece together my own turbo setup, but the kit would be so easy.

[ScHpAnKy]

those look like e34 style 5's without the caps - they're def 16's?

[Leon T. Trout]

those look like e34 style 5's without the caps - they're def 16's?

Yeah, they're e38 style fives. I have the plastic centre caps, but I'd prefer the metal hex style ones. I've read that they aren't interchangeable, but I found a set at a junk yard that I might try to make work.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

[Vivek]

I'm gonna get that turbo too. Did you send a deposit already? It really is a great deal for what you get, and should be more reliable than piecing one together.

[pacmanE30]

nice start, and congrats with getting the "green light" for your tax monies. i'm interested to see your plans for turbo.

[eur04lif3]

I'm sub'd. Your success/failure on the turbo setup will determine whether i want to go that route :up:

Also, how much experience do you have in FI?

[Leon T. Trout]

I'm gonna get that turbo too. Did you send a deposit already? It really is a great deal for what you get, and should be more reliable than piecing one together.

Deposit sent today! The month or two i have to wait will let me get the maintenance stuff done. Can't wait.

I'm sub'd. Your success/failure on the turbo setup will determine whether i want to go that route

Also, how much experience do you have in FI?

I have quite a bit of experience with general car maintenance/repair, but this is my first experience with FI. Best way to learn something is to start doing it! I should be a great guinea pig for the kit.

[Vivek]

Yep, especially with a high mileage engine it'll be nice to see how it goes for you.

[eur04lif3]

updates?

[Leon T. Trout]

Small update:

Got an email from jakeb letting me know that it will be mid June when he'll be ready to ship the kit, so i have a little more time to get other stuff done. Last weekend I decided to tackle the exhaust.

I decided to try and teach myself to weld by putting together the exhaust for my car. I picked up a cheap flux core MIG welder from Harbor Freight that actually is pretty well reviewed and some scrap metal to practice on. Then I headed down to Mandrel Bending Solutions, an exhaust shop a little south of Baltimore that has a true mandrel bending machine and sells parts. I picked up 2 J bends and some straight pipe and headed home. These guys are awesome and really know their stuff. I think most of they guys there drive VWs.

I got a high flow cat, cherry bomb type glasspack for tone control and a Dynomax Super Turbo Muffler. For the time being I just used a 2.25 to 2.5 adapter after the O2 sensor, but when the kit comes, I'll cut it off and run a flex pipe straight to the cat from the down pipe.

On to pictures! The welds look pretty shitty, but they are solid with good penetration.

Adapter to cat

The cells in the high flow cat look similar to the stock cat, but there are more of them. I think some high flow cats have larger cell sizes, this one was pretty cheap.

Cat to glasspack


Looking forward from the muffler


Quality Control, they are sticklers


I think it sounds pretty good, much deeper tone than stock. Maybe a little bit too loud for me, but not very drone-y on the highway. I'll be interested to hear how the turbo changes the sound. It's tucked up in there pretty tight, but it will be more solid when i get rid of the adapter and clamps.

Putting it together was a huge pain in the ass and by then end of the weekend I would have paid someone a ton of cash just to finish it, but I feel good about getting it done and now I can kind of weld. I'll probably hit it with some high temp paint to cut down on corrosion. Still not sure what to do for a tip, probably just leave the bare pipe.

[Leon T. Trout]

This weekend I got the e38 style fives on and replaced the rear shocks with Camaro KYB Gas-A-Just. Holy crap, I didn't think the bilsteins that came on the car were that bad until I drove it with the new ones. Night and day difference. So much less squat on launch, even with a stock m42.

I know it shouldn't make any difference, but it does sit a little higher with the new shocks, too. Maybe it will settle a little bit. One night this week I'll try to get the front shocks replaced and install the e90 drop hats to get it a little lower in front.