My turbo 24v alpine coupe

[mitchlevy7]

GUESS WHAT?

No progress! Ive been taking a motor out of an rv at work and it really sucks and ive had no time to touch my car.

I think its been too long since ive driven an e30. My cressida didnt have the fun factor.....so.... I sold it friday. Bought another e30 saturday morning!



212k on the broken odo
120k on m20
3.91s in the rear
new speakers
pretty fresh black interior
5 speed
needs some work....full paint correction, coolant leak, shitty comfort seats, getrag rattle, rusty fender, some kind of clunk in the rear (diff or subframe)

[mitchlevy7]

That looks like a pretty bitchin FSAE car. Ive always wondered whether the spoilers are really necessary on FSAE cars. With the speeds these things hit on the courses it seems like the creates more drag than downforce. I always wanted to build one with a nice front spoiler and nothing on the back to keep the front wheels planted and let the rear end slide a little. but what do I know, I never finished my engineering degree and my school had a shitty FSAE team

We are actually the team with one of the biggest aero packages in FSAE. They made a rule to make the cars openwheeled because of us. We have done many simulations and many tests to make sure our aero focus makes sense. The wing package is IIRC about 70% efficient. At cornering speed, our downforce is more then what the car weights. We have tested the car on the same course, same driver, with and without aero and the lap times speak for themselves. All the aero is designed in CAD and CFD software and made from CNC cut molds.

From what ive learned, balance is very important in aero. Alot of front aero will make your car pitch forward and change the angle of your control arms to the ground and upset stability. Our aero is designed around the suspension, which is designed around the tires.

We are also working on a DRS system for the rear wing ;)

thanks man!

[2mAn]

That looks like a pretty bitchin FSAE car. Ive always wondered whether the spoilers are really necessary on FSAE cars. With the speeds these things hit on the courses it seems like the creates more drag than downforce. I always wanted to build one with a nice front spoiler and nothing on the back to keep the front wheels planted and let the rear end slide a little. but what do I know, I never finished my engineering degree and my school had a shitty FSAE team

[mitchlevy7]

So, with race season coming and working in a shop being one of 3 employees, I havent had a minute to touch the car. However, ive been doing research. I think im going to change how I mount the corbeaus. I was looking at how I can mount them and make them legal for racing leagues. Some people on the spec e30 forums refered to vic halls spec e30 car for mounting seats.... hey.... that car is in my shop right now....im going to use square tubing instead of flat bars.

In other news, I decided to hold off on wheels because im spending the summer at nagoya university in japan in a course on automotive design and technology. So.... im hoping to pick up wheels there.... work miesters are on my mind.

I wont be able to touch my car until school ends and I can work 5 days a week. I have a bunch of ideas on what could be wrong and I hooe to get it started and driving soon.

On friday I spent 24 hours straight working on finishing our unveiling of our fsae car for this year.






Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[mitchlevy7]

New wheel idea..... 16x8 et35 enkei rpf1. Ill need at least 20mm spacers. But there about 15 lbs and ill be able to do 245 45. I have been really busy at work snd havent had more then an hour to work on the car in the last 2 weeks. I changed the grounds and now I gotta put all the coils and plugs back in. I was still getting only 8.3v between the 12v and ground....

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Tapatalk

[mitchlevy7]

got it running. its missing alot and im double checking my wiring. I think its a grounding issue as Im using a shield where a ground should be. Basically when the ecu is on, one of the grounds is at +3v so its throwing everything off. Once this is sorted out I have a few things to tidy up and it should be ready to go on the dyno.

The gauges are wired now, it took FOREVER. Had to cut all the wires at the pigtail and sodered in all new wires. They all work and match the dash when the lights are on. Since they are getting power from the window switches, I can turn them all off via the circuit braker.

I have been thinking. I will be tuning this car to 17-18 psi and try to get max power, but i don't think I will really run that much power, even though I won't be dailying it, 10-12 psi (should be well over 300whp) is really alot in an e30. I know the m52 should be able to handle 500hp, but for how long? We have a car at work running 750 wheel with 315's out back and the car is really just a death trap, even with abs and traction control. I also will need to get used to the car in track events, and as an unexperienced track driver, I need to be able to drive the car within my limits. With that being said, some kind of electronic boost controller will be installed later (or through the ecu) so i can switch on the go.

did a compression test just to make sure everything was good and the motor is healthy. videos will come soon!

[mitchlevy7]

quick update...

Worked alot on the tune. i figured out how much fuel one cylinder needs to burn the 2.8liters/6 of air (making a VE of 100%). Then, I found the flow rate of the 60lb injectors at the 3.5 bar FPR that should be in there to find a base amount out fuel...at phi/lambda =1. Then, I scaled it using a V.E. table i found on a thread (it seemed correct) and then I did a bunch of adding some here, taking some here. I think its a good starting point.

Also, I looked at some pictures of the crank sensor location. The guy who sold me the ecu with the tune had the crank sensor at 90 degrees before TDC. anyone who has seen an m52 knows this isnt right. it looks to be around 30 degrees. I did some searching (mostly on megasquirt forums and such) and I found the figure of the crank sensor being 324 DBTDC. or, the crank sensor is 36 degrees before the TDC timing mark.... that makes ALOT more sense. some people had 342.... but it looks to be more then 18 degrees. I have no idea how he ran the motor like that. In that setting, it wouldnt start because it was backfiring into the intake. There was a 54 degree offset, so it was sparking while still in the intake stroke.

Im still trying to figure out the FP relay situation. Its getting 9v with the key, but according to the specs on these relays, that should be enough. I am going to test the relay and then see why there is (potentially) 3 volts at the ecu ground. Im not looking forward to taking apart wiring to figure this out.


anyways, progress is slowing down for now. I have 4 midterms between monday and wednesday next week. And were trying to finalize intake design on our FSAE car. Also, one of the techs at work moved to another job, so, its me, the owner, and his son. I am only there 2 days and week so they have alot of work for me when I am there. More money, less time to work on my car.

I think ill finish it up over spring break, the week after next.

Hopefully the next post will include a video of it running, maybe followed by some dyno runs!

[mitchlevy7]

today was a roller coaster.


I spent a much of time relocating the oil cooler. As i mentioned before, under the intercooler was too low and the lines would be ripped off really quick. So I mounted the oil cooler to the valance and did a bunch of clearancing.



Here you see all I have cut out of the valance just to make everything fit.



I cut the bumper a little so it will all fit on



Here it is all together. I kinda want some blue AN fittings to match the oil cooler and stick out a little more.....but thats 50 bucks just in fittings.

So I buttoned a few more things up. When I turn the key on, the fuel pump doesnt go on. This is the point where I become good friends with the multimeter. The Main fuel pump lines are getting power but the ecu ground is at 3 volts, making only 9 at the relay. Anybody have a clue to why the hell that would happen?

I couldnt figure it out but I jumped it. Fuel pump works.....until there was a puddle of fuel under the car. The output of the filter was leaking. The clamp wasnt tight. that was an easy fix.

I filled the car with oil. This is a bitch with the oil cooler. Took 7 quarts. Had to prime the motor a bunch of times just to get the oil into the cooler and recheck the dipstick. Oil changes wont be cheap.

Next was connecting to the ECU. Turns out the serial adapter doesnt work with my new windows 8.1 laptop. I had to use my old netbook which sucks. It will be okay to keep with me and make changes on the go, although it doesnt keep a charge too well. I finally connected to the laptop.

The sensors were all setup which is good. It recognized RPM, air temp, and throttle, I think the map sensor works too. Makes me feel good that the wiring is mostly good.

There was a giant oil leak at the vanos feed line. Turns out I used a washer that was too big. Put 2 new crush washer gaskets and no more leak. Good that was all that was leaking.

So i tried to crank it with the fuel pump jumped. It backfired a little with the throttle open, but it would fire up. It gave me some hope, to no avail. I didnt change any fuel settings on the ecu and it was setup for 85lb injectors.

I am utterly suprised that whoever had this ecu before actually had a running car with it. Its running a alpha N tune with compensation for boost pressure (and timing compensation). Honestly, I think it is really stupid that way. alpha n isnt for boost. I also think the MAP sensor isnt calibrated correctly. On top of that, without boost, there should be an approximately linear relationship of fuel as rpm increases, but the fuel map is almost flat. I have to find some base tunes for 60 lb injectors and change it to complete speed density. If anybody has some info that could help that would be great.

In terms of timing im going with a age old method of going with 12 degrees accross the whole map, and work with the dyno from there.

IM SOOOO CLOSE! I am WAAAY over budget, and I will start actually working and making money at work starting next week.

[mitchlevy7]

I live in Northern VA and always saw your ad when you were parting ways with the vert....( due to i have a 1992 e30 turbo vert) I will keep my eyes on this build! Keep up the good work!!!

Thanks! I remember your car from bimmerfest last year. Very nice

Did your car used to be owned by brian? Was like a 92 or 3 5 speed vert alpine white on esm borbet reps and hr races? If so I almost bought it before you did.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[.FUDD.]

I live in Northern VA and always saw your ad when you were parting ways with the vert....( due to i have a 1992 e30 turbo vert) I will keep my eyes on this build! Keep up the good work!!!

[mitchlevy7]

yesterday i did more buttoning up. The final details are always the most frustrating. Honestly its all the stuff ive been putting off because it sucks.

I started a little late because I have a buyer for my bbs rs and I needed to take the tires off. I havent done stretched tires before, only watched. They were a pain in the ass! Each wheel I had to flip the wheel on the machine like 3 times because the bottom bead breaker wasnt strong enough and was lifting the whole wheel. Anyways, selling them will get me out of alot the the debt I have accumulated with this project. Feels good paying off debt. Also, one of the 4 people at work is leaving so Ill have alot more work and responsibility, maybe more money and a chance to show what im made of .


Anyways, did all the gauge wiring. I am just stealing power from the window switches. I got everything wired just to find out that I have old prosport gauges that they don't make wiring harnesses for anymore. I called them and they happened to have used connectors that they sent me for almost free. Ill have to repin the ends but i dont think that will be too hard. Now theres a ton of wiring that will sit in my glovebox.

OIL COOLER
between the fan, radiator, and intercooler, theres not much room up there. My previous placement had the lines going under the car and up into the bay. Not only were they WAYY too low (lowest point on the car) but they would prevent me from running my skidplate.
My backup plan was run it jdm style but I decided that was a little skitchy too. One big rock or even a bug and there goes my oil pressure. New plan...... cut more into the valance and mount it directly to the valance and make holes for the lines to run. Ill have to cut some reliefs in the bumper but i think it will look cool to have the little hint of an oil cooler up in the front.

ECU:
cant connect to it. I turn on the car and the main relay clicks, but not the fuel pump relay. Ive heard that the ECU will not turn on the fuel pump until it gets a crank signal, so im not worried about that yet. I know the ECU is on because i ran a multimeter to the TPS and its getting its 5 volts. I will have to play with some settings so I can connect to the ECU. From what I know, I have a s52 low compression 80lb 15psi tune. Ill have to scale the injectors down to the 60s and ill pull some timing so I can add more on the dyno. Hopefully all the settings are okay.

Im still not sure if ill need pull up resistors for the crank and cam sensors. If anybody has any insights on that, it would be great. I know on some of the newer ECUs, DTA builds them in. Also, the manual says the BMW crank and cam sensors work out of the box. Ill see.

Anybody got some wheel recommendations? once I pay off my debts, my tax returns will come in from last year. Ideally id have about a 1500 budget, but factoring tires it will be lower. Gotta be 4x100. 16s or bigger. Wide as I can in the rear.

[mitchlevy7]

today was a day of buttoning everything up. on tuesday I put plastic epoxy in the ICV hole and increased how open the throttle body will be when its closed.

I connected the fuel rail to the lines and put the intake manifold on, only after I made all the vacuum lines. I had to put like 4 t-s in the vacuum lines for the boost gauge, map sensor, FPR, and BOV. Also, after taking a look at the BOV I have and a real HKS SSQV, I think mine is real. I also installed it in the charge piping.

I reclocked the turbo so its almost a straight shot to the coupler on the intercooler. I cut the 45 i had to size, same with the 3 inch straight for the other side. I got to use the bead roller for the first time. It made beads better then what came on the boost piping.

I realized/ my boss pointed out that the oil cooler location makes the oil lines too low on the car, so i will have to change the lines a little and switch up the location. I think I will put it under the frame rail.


I also started alittle on the gauge wiring. Anybody know a good place to tap into for 12 v accessory? Theres like 5 different wires that need power for the gauges, and 4 grounds. Also need a good source of 12v thats switched by the light. I think I will tap into the window switch light. Finishing that up and mounting the ecu are almost the last things left. This is the engine bay as of now (except for the filter i put on right before I left.





so close I can taste it. Forgive the stupid looking boost gauge hose.

[mitchlevy7]

todays progress:

Went in early to get alot done. I did a bunch of little things because thats really all thats left, just a ton of little things.

Mounted the fan on the radiator and mounted the radiator. Drilled holes in the core support and the radiator and put 3 nuts on it, so it kind of makes it adjustable so i could get it exactly where I wanted it. I still had my A/C pulley on with no belt because there are a little longer then the no a/c bolts. If you use the bolts witout the pulley they dig into the timing cover and can even make it leak. I put an extra washer on all the bolts and took the A/C pulley off. They are close but don't hit the timing cover. The fan is sandwiched against the intercooler. Its all really close in there.




Also in the picture, I took the wiring cover off because I didn't have the backing to it and i used another wiring cover we use at work. I also routed the headlight and fan wiring into the front. The previous owner did some really wacky headlight wiring. He used splices for housing wiring that just twists on. I took them apart and crimped and shrinkwraped them and retaped a good amount of the harness.

The lines going to the oil cooler were way to long. I would have had to loop them around the engine bay. I made them shorter and also redid the oil feed line with -an line because the rally road one was too long.

On the inside of the car I started making plans for the seat brackets i'm going to make. I'm going to make a square and then figure out where I am most comfortable and go from there.

I also started to make a mount for the ecu. I will be able to use the bolts that hold the ecu housing together. Finally I got the center vent out and put the gauges in, they still need to be wired up though.

[mitchlevy7]

tuesday i got a few steps closer to firing it up. I installed the spacers and grinded down the calipers more for clearance. I started to install the wiring harness for the engine. Everything is hooked up except for what is on the manifold. I need to get a plug for the icv. I measured the ICV port and plan on getting something to plug in there at the hardware store. I also need to find a way to mount the ecu in the glovebox that was made for motronic units. zipties seemed sketchy so im going to attatch small aluminum tabs and use the stock ecu mounts.

I also cut some more out of the front of the bay so that the couplers would fit okay on the intercooler. I started to install the radiator and fan and realized that there is NO room for the fan. All the fans we had at the shop (i tried about 4) were too thick to fit in front of in the back of the radiator. Me and my boss devised a plan to move the radiator up about an inch or so in order to make room between the intercooler and the radiator. Im going to make some mounting brackets and weld them in, and change it up a bit up top to keep it secure.


I also have to make a custom bracket for the coolant res. I plan to put it where the abs unit used to be. I also had to reclock the turbo in order to get the oil return line installed. It was touching the manifold. Now the outlet of the turbo isnt inline with the intercooler like I would have liked, so I had to order some couplers and pieces of aluminum so I can make charge pipes. After the BOV pipe, it goes up to 3 inches from 2.5 as it goes to the throttle body.

Whats left to do:
plug ICV on intake manifold and install.
install fuel rail and lines
install oil cooler lines
move radiator and mount and wire fan
install coolant lines
bleed brakes and clutch
make seat brackets for corbeaus.
make ecu bracket
install gauges and sensors
charge piping
install BOV and vacuum lines
install front end
mount coolant res


getting close. No work tomorrow. No way the cressida will make it there in this weather.

[mitchlevy7]

I forgot to hit enter Thursday..... this is what i did


I spent most of the day finishing the exhaust. My welds keep getting better and better.



I used 2 exhaust hangers and didn't use any of the oem stuff.

Here is a few of the finished product.






My motorsport hardware stud kit came in yesterday. Quality product. Good price.



Also, I had 2 pass side rx7 calipers. My new drivers side one came today, or reman actually. I grinded off the mazda logo and painted them real quick. This time i didnt totally strip them and rebuild them for painting. I installed the pads and other hardware, installed my ss brake lines and the studs. My spacers were waiting for me when I get home so this is the last thing I need to get the car on the ground with brakes.




I also finished the wiring harness last night. Stayed up late to finish it. Unfortunatley, the location of the ignition wires (they are hed together by a shielding covering, doesnt allow the locking connector housing to fit over all the wires, so ill have to run without it. I still need to work out one issue, as I am not sure if I need to run a ground wire for the wideband signal. If anybody knows please let me know. Ive wired a megasquirt for wideband before and i think the lambda ground input is only for a narrowband sensor.

I'm hoping ill be able to start it up next tuesday. Not much left to do.


To do list:
install wiring harness
plug icv port on intake manifold
wire up gauges
install intake manifold
make charge piping
install headlights, valance, front end stuff
make seat brackets and install seat
mount ecu/plx/map sensor
redo fan wiring