Barn Built Turbo M42 drift car

[Karolis]

Hello, used my quarantine to catch some turbo m42 info again and found this.

Wow, is this a 7 year diary of fun too? :)

Very very nice.

You always ran a 3,73 diff?

What gearbox do you use? m40 m42? Had any failures? Also, how does the guibo last?

I wanted a turbo years ago, but bought a e30 touring with idea to used it for drift and ice riding, with a tired m20 stroker, now it will go out and hoping for the end of the year will have the m42 turbo. Just worrying about gearbox life on low and high boost (aiming for 170 180 hp and later for 230 250). Hoping to have more time and driving fun because now it was more repair than driving. Engines goes out for a crack in the front rail... The joy of old rusted cars.

Couldn't your detonation problems be cause by the flat 19 degree advance in the high row? I'm not an expert, absolutely, never mapped a turbo and every engine is different, but it seems a little bit high.

[ccsdo5]

Hello, used my quarantine to catch some turbo m42 info again and found this.

Wow, is this a 7 year diary of fun too? :)

Very very nice.

You always ran a 3,73 diff?

What gearbox do you use? m40 m42? Had any failures? Also, how does the guibo last?

I wanted a turbo years ago, but bought a e30 touring with idea to used it for drift and ice riding, with a tired m20 stroker, now it will go out and hoping for the end of the year will have the m42 turbo. Just worrying about gearbox life on low and high boost (aiming for 170 180 hp and later for 230 250). Hoping to have more time and driving fun because now it was more repair than driving. Engines goes out for a crack in the front rail... The joy of old rusted cars.

Couldn't your detonation problems be cause by the flat 19 degree advance in the high row? I'm not an expert, absolutely, never mapped a turbo and every engine is different, but it seems a little bit high.

Yeah I have had the same 3.73 welded diff in my car for the last like 5 years and never changed the fluid on it...

Using a factory m42 gearbox, getrag 240 right now. It's been the same one for a while now. the mounting tabs broke on it so I need to fix that. But other than a little bit of whining it's been reliable. I don't think my car makes enough power or torque to break one. I've had one guibo fail but pretty sure it was the original one from 1991 and I knew it was cracked already so I had a spare ordered.

As far as my detonation issue is. Probably has something to do with it. the timing table I posted earlier was very aggressive and I pulled a lot of it out since then. I still think the ring clearance is too tight for boost. I have a friend with an M52 who had the same issue and he ended up opening his rings up a little which solved his problem and his engine has been running fine for years now.

I love the wagon though. I wish it was easy and affordable to get a wagon here in the states.




Finished building the 17x10 wheels and they look good. Also got the front fitment a little better with these super wide fenders. I wish I got the 3" lips instead of the 2.5" so the front would be 9" wide and the rear would be 10" Might try to get another set of style 42's and build more but it's a decent amount of work.

[ccsdo5]

Finally got around to fixing my car for realz and went drifting again even through all the corona virus stuff going on... Car doesn't look terrible with the over fenders and new B-pillar welded in from 100 feet away, considering it was basically totaled last year. Lost part of my already broken front bumper though. My custom threepiece wheels all held air and worked great all weekend!

Mega photo dump though from club loose's east coast bash.









So I've seen like 3 or 4 different pictures of this same lap in the exact same spot with just slight differences and I find it hilarious! I like the middle one the best though because it has the stands and the bar in the background.



DSC_0847 by Nick Calciano, on Flickr

DSC_0660-2 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_1029-2 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_1030 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_0502 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_0254-2 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_0256-3 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

DSC_0969 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

I sadly was big dumb and put my steering wheel on my dash like I have done a million times before and this time it hit my windshield and cracked it real good. Of course it happens after I finally put the banner and stickers on it My buddies S13 did not have a good weekend either after he drove right into the wall. The entire strut tower and stuff is moved on it too this time... I think e's going to try and fix it again. Poor car has been to hell and back the last few years. It's the third time it has been into the wall at englishtown too.





This is my favorite picture I've seen from the event though, and probably one of my favorite pictures of mine and my friends cars on track thus far.

DSC_0260 by Ethan Martin, on Flickr

cheap ebay rebuilt T25 finally took a crap after about 5 years of working on my friends SR then my M42 so it's time to do another rebuild on that to keep me driving right now. My M42 also has been dumping oil in the catch can again so I'm not sure if the rings have butted again or not, but I'm willing to bet they are so I should probably do a compression test and see what's going on. A buddy who runs a M52 turbo on e85 says he had similar problems until he gapped the rings bigger on his engine. Luckily I have another M42 i picked up for $100 from a friend so I'll probably do a rebuild on that, gap the rings a little bigger, use a 0.098" MLS HG, ARP studs, and put the GT2871r I have on and convert the car to e85 since I don't drive it on the road anymore. Hopefully that'll make a reliable 250whp and I won't have blow by issues like I have had with the last two stock engines I just slapped a turbo kit on. I'm just lazy and don't want to do the work even though I have 99% of the parts including an updated timing case...

[econti]

Stock bottom end E30 M42 is confirmed by a friend to make 270rwkw (350hp ish?) on E85. Had cams, forward facing plenum, gasket and studs.
Basically turn it up and plant that tach needle straight in the ketchup.
Those wheels are unbelievably juicy too. What offset did they end up as?

[2mAn]

I mean heck I hold my body kit on with self tappers and zip ties...

dat drift lyfe

just busting your balls. its all about enjoying the car and nobody will doubt that you're doing that

[ccsdo5]

Stock bottom end E30 M42 is confirmed by a friend to make 270rwkw (350hp ish?) on E85. Had cams, forward facing plenum, gasket and studs.
Basically turn it up and plant that tach needle straight in the ketchup.
Those wheels are unbelievably juicy too. What offset did they end up as?

Yeah I've seen a few stock M42's make good power on just e85 like 300whp so I'm sure it's possible, cams would really wake the engine up I feel but I would probably just go e85, HG, and ARP studs. I think I figured out my piston ring issue from doing some research last night.

Stock piston ring gaps:
1st: 0.008"
2nd" 0.0160"
Oil: 0.008" - 0.0180"

Ring gap according to JE piston calculations for a street / turbo application based on the M42 bore size:
1st: 0.0150"
2nd: 0.0167"
Oil: min. 0.015"

So it looks like that's a 0.007" increase on both the upper and lower ring. So between making the ring gap gap larger, running a slightly bigger 0.098" HG with ARP studs, and converting the car to e85 I would think the cylinder temperatures would be much lower and prevent the top ring from butting and welding to the piston which I'm 99% sure is what is happening now causing the excessive crank case pressure and blow by after a few laps when the oil get hot.

The wheel specs are:
Front" 17x8.5" ET +14 added 0.5" of lip 2.5" overall
Rear: 17x10" ET -5 added 2" of lip 4" overall

I wish I did 17x9 up front with a 3" but threepiece.us didn't have any 3" blanks so I got the 2.5" since they took forever. bt a 215-40-R17 fits perfect on the 8.5" if I were to do it again I would probably make the fronts 3" lips and 5.5" barrels and the rears 3.5" lips and 6" barrels.

just busting your balls. its all about enjoying the car and nobody will doubt that you're doing that

I know definitely enjoying the car. I mean it doesn't really matter anyway because the thing was basically totaled before I got it the frame rails were so bent. So better me using it as drift/track car than it going to the scrap yard.

[ccsdo5]

just dumping photo's here now basically. Car is sad, clutch is slipping, broke my manifold again and had to get it welded at the track, my turbo fell off, and the engine pukes oil still but season is basically done here so guess I gotta do some stuff over the winter.



















JTB_9564-Edit by Justin Brisebois, on Flickr

[ccsdo5]

Recently picked up a built cylinder head from rougetoaster on here on r3v so I can assemble a new engine since mine has continued to have blow-by issues all year. It should have:
- Valves
- Valve springs / retainers / guides
- VW lifters
- Cat Cams 279/274
- some light port work??

Didn't exactly know all the details since he didn't have the original detail sheet from when he got it but found a part number on the cams to determine they were 279/274 cams. I'm not sure how well big NA cams will work in a turbo application but for the price it saved me on getting machine work done to an existing head I had and better parts than just doing an OE refresh. The thing looked literally brand new so was hard to pass up since I regret selling my original cylinder head I had built years ago.

Got the spare engine I had taken apart, gave the block a quick clean and painted it black. Pulled all the rods and pistons from it. Gave it the ole dingleberry hone job and got new gotze rings for it. Gapped the rings to 0.018" for the top and 0.020" for the bottom rings after doing the calculations. They might be a little/a lot looser than that though because I'm a jabroni. But I would rather burn a little oil then butt and weld rings to the pistons again. Also used my ARP head studs and cometic 0.098" MLS head gasket that I bought like 3 or 4 years ago.

















Finally found myself an updated timing case for cheap, I think I paid about $100 for it on ebay last year and just had it sitting in a box waiting for me to build a new engine. I even bought a set of really nice cam gears from Jordan a while back but got super lucky and this engine had a very nice set on it already so I just gave them a quick clean and put them back on. It was also nice hoarding all my new old timing parts like a chain, guides, ect. only had to buy the deflector rail and updated lower guide. Although it looks like the lower guide is for a single row chain not a double and it doesn't even come close to the chain or sprocket. Is this normal? I installed it figuring it probably isn't that big of deal, but still curious if I bought the wrong part or not. I even decided to not fuck around this time and I'm going to seal this whole engine with hondabond so it hopefully doesn't leak like every M42 in the world.









Still have lots to do while the car is buried in the snow. Gotta clean the oil pans and make some sorta baffling for the lower oil pan, put the oil filter housing on, and then do manifolds. Talked to Otis about making a new exhaust manifold because mine has cracked a few times, but I'm not complaining it has seen hell. I want to try and have an close to equal length manifold and he said making out of 321 SS would probably be stronger and more durable than making it out of 304 SS again. Plan on putting some 1000cc injectors in since the plan is e85 this year too. Going to leave the stock intake manifolds but make an M50 throttle body adapter since it'll use the same TPS sensor and get rid of the silly egg shaped one. My goal is hopefully 300whp with a GT2871R maybe more I don't know ideally 320whp would be perfect for what I do with the car.

[econti]

Idle with those cams will be fucking juicy

[varg]

Nice, cams AND a timing case upgrade, moving up in the world. If you're ordering a new header make it thick, like sch10 or thicker, because you'll probably crack anything thin wall no matter who makes it because of just how much it is getting beat on.

[Karolis]

It's a joy to read about all these progresses.

Nice going! Keep on!

The lower "slider" seems funny, it's normal.

Have you used only Hondabond or Hondabond + gaskets?

[ccsdo5]

It's a joy to read about all these progresses.
Have you used only Hondabond or Hondabond + gaskets?

Thanks! I used hondabond and the gaskets I thinik the upper timing cover I forgot to order the gasket so I just used honda bond.

Idle with those cams will be fucking juicy

Idle is in fact juicy.

UPDATE TIME:

Made a crappy jig for Otis to make me a new manifold because mine is tired and I didn't love the subaru rumble it makes with the runner length. Asked him to make it equal length or at least close to equal length. He delivered. It's made from 321SS this time so should be less prone to cracking compared to a standard 304SS. I did have to smash in the wheel well a little to get it to fit in and out without needing to jack the engine up or anything weird. Runner two is a little short to really be equal length but the car has an SR20 sound to it now with the GT2871R and this manifold.







I wanted to make a cool sheet metal intake manifold like some other guys ae running because apparently the stock one is limited in flow at some point. But didn't really have the time to fabricate one with all the other work I needed to do and opted to make a M42-M50 throttle body adapter in the idea to get the car running for this season. I always had the coupler fall off the dumb avocado style throttle body so this helped with using a standard 2.75 round throttle body.






Also welded up some -10 AN fittings on the valve cover for a catch can setup since I feel I needed more crank case breathers on my last setup because I had blow by issues. Did a sneaky RB trick too by adding fuel cell foam into the baffles on the valve cover so the oil can't splash out of the breathers as easier. I've seen other engines have like steel mesh inside the baffles weird the M42 has nothing inside it.





Gave the engine bay a decent degrease and power was because it was covered in leaking oil, tire, dirt, and other nastiness from all the track abuse. Not perfect but I'm not going for show quality engine bay as a track car. Fitted a smaller high mount style intercooler too. Going to keep the intercooler pipes as short as possible for good response.





Pinned some EV14 connectors to the factory M42 injector harness for my ID1000's couldn't use the fancy plastic cover so tried to make it as nice as possible with some heat shrink.



Engine came out looking BEAUTIFUL! Going to be a shame with it leaks and looks like crap after a few days of driving. Got it installed and started to tig weld a downpipe and exhaust. Did a 3" downpipe this time because these cams are going to move some air for sure! But did 3" oval for the mid section for clearance purposes because my car is a little low, no slammed but a decent track height. I'm not the best tig welder but it was some good practice and I am proud of it. They'll probably crack because a lot of them were fusion welds. Exhaust has a 8" oval "race" muffler that basically does nothing I feel, and a vibrant ultra quiet resonator in the rear. Definitely the quietest setup I've had on the car however I might want to make it a little quieter in the future still. I think it leaks from my Oval slip joint I have in the mid-section so I might put a band clamp on it or even high temp RTV to try and get it to seal up a little better. Finished the tailpipe up with a 3" oval turndown I made from some extra pipe I had. I wish I made it from 4" oval but used what I had.













Engine has a small leak from the profile gasket that I will need to fix whenever I have the turbo and valve cover off. Probably in a a couple weeks to re-torque the head studs after I drive the car on track. (not sure what the deal is about re-torqueing head studs some people say to do it others say no need) But for now the leak isn't bad enough to stop me from driving it. Put the body panels back on and you can see how tweaked the front of this car is. Not sure if it can take another hit without needing to get a tower replaced or getting the front part of the frame rails cut off and a tube front as much as I don't want one. Also the filter I ordered is a tad too big but I got it to fit barely. It rubs the headlight pretty bad, but luckily that's the broken headlight anyway haha!











BONUS VIDEO of the car driving before I finished the exhaust. Basically just a straight pipe to the axle with the small useless muffler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noH_rsqDSUs

[econti]

Spool sounds wicked. God I love this car

[ccsdo5]

Spool sounds wicked. God I love this car

Me too. Definitely the best version of it so far.

Well I drove it 2 weeks ago aaaaaaaaand it broke. Was super cold wet and raining all weekend at the track. Still managed to blow up two getrag 240 transmissions IN THE RAIN so clearly that is the weakest link in the drivetrain. First one lost second gear towards the end of the track and I just drove off. Luckily a friend was bringing me a spare I bought, Didn't think I be swapping it at the track but I did. Took about an hour and a half which isn't too bad. But after like 4 laps same thing trans blew up second gear when I clutch kicked to flick into a turn and then I put it in third and it worked for about 1.5 turns after until the whole thing said bye forever. Car currently only has 4th gear so I am thinking that it broke the countershaft in the trans. I'm gonna take that one apart and find out. But obviously have met the torque limit to the getrag 240 transmission. I don't know what the car makes, but people with SR's say they 320whp with 264 cams and a gt2871r on 10psi... I don't think my car is making that maybe 280whp?!? It doesn't have any timing in it but the 279/274 cams are pretty aggressive. Got a S5-31z or more commonly known as a ZF320 to put into the car. I'm gonna probably have to change the rear end to a 4.10 or something close to get my desired wheel speed with this trans though so we will find out.

IMG_0437 by Scott Hastings, on Flickr

IMG_0440 by Scott Hastings, on Flickr

IMG_0441 by Scott Hastings, on Flickr

Untitled by Eva Battistini, on Flickr

Untitled by Eva Battistini, on Flickr



Video of a box of rocks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvvHYy-172A

[roguetoaster]

G250s do seem to be slightly stronger, but there are so many transmissions that will fit behind an M42, so you just have to pick the ratios you want. Any more video of the car driving in anger, really want to hear more of the cammed turbo thing?