Panici's '87 325is E30 - Boosted In Bronze

[Panici]

• ARP Head Studs re-torqued after heat cycling. The valve cover just sneaks off past the turbo and downpipe.
• Installed the heavier Tial Q BOV spring.
• Plumbed the ICV into the charge pipe. Have a nicer fitting on order.
• Cleaned & Oiled the air filter.

Have about 120km on the new clutch now. Lots of stops and starts. So tempting to go WOT but have resisted the urge.

The clutch shudders quite aggressively from a stop with the 7.5lb lightweight flywheel. The engine actually moved so much that the turbo flange kissed the chassis and nicked the paint. Snugged up the lower motor mount bolts but they weren't loose. Think it's just the soft rubber E28 mounts.

I have started clearancing the flange carefully with a file, will take some effort and probably a more aggressive file to get it down in size.

I am already over the screamer pipes. It's WAY too loud whenever i'm in boost. Can't wait to recirculate the gates.
Think I will also be going with a resonator or larger muffler.

The 3.73 gears are definitely a poor match with the ZF320 ratios. Need to refinish that 2.79LSD and install, but will wait until the clutch is broken in. Have been starting in 2nd but it's nice to have the granny low 1st gear to start on hills for now.

Oh and that new brown BOV spring is too stiff (reading measurably less vacuum at idle now that my ICV is plumbed into the charge pipe). Turbo flutter does sound amazing though and won't hurt anything at 4psi on a ball-bearing turbo. Will try the white spring again as a next step.

Tuning is almost too easy. Lots of practice getting my boosted miata tuned up perfectly, and this MS3X has AFR protection and knock sensors to keep things from going south.


Paint looks amazing in full sun, even though it's still dusty!

[Panici]

• Got another drive in yesterday, 30km more of clutch break in.
• Moved the hood release handle up closer to the firewall. Still works great and gave me just enough slack for the tucked hood release cable running through the fender.
• Cut the front valance holes larger to get more air at the intercooler and radiator. Installed rivnuts for the airdam.
• Test fit the front airdam. Will need to reinforce the middle of the valance to the radiator core support. Airdam isn't going to be installed for good until it's been wrapped in PPF.
• Installed a vintage (1978) VDO Boost Gauge in the front ashtray location.
• Adjusted the chassis-mounted shifter for slightly longer throws, as 2nd and 4th gear were virtually in the same place previously.

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[Panici]

Let's Go To Oblivion!


Drove my E30 ~400km round-trip to a car show in London, Ontario on Sunday.
The show was called Oblivion, and is all about 80s and 90s vehicles and nostalgia.

It was an overcast day; The paint under indirect lighting looks like a normal brown colour.
Most folks gave the car only a passing glance in it's unfinished state, until they saw the engine bay & huge turbo.

The rain stayed away until the very end of the show, and the car performed flawlessly on the drive!
I will say it definitely needs a quieter muffler and a re-gear.

Changes since my last update:
Bumped the coil dwell time up from 1.5ms to 2.5ms for the trip to Oblivion. Car no longer breaks up at the top end. Logs of the drive reviewed afterwards still show some funkiness up top. Bumped coil dwell to 3ms and pulled some fuel for the next test.

Eastwood Internal Frame Coat in the rocker panels
Lloyd Mats Ultimat Floor Mats (Black) Front & Rear
Euro Grilles (refinished, have some holes in top edge from eyelids)
In-tank fuel pump hose changed to Submersible-rated Gates 27097 (3/8" ID)

I test fit the quarter hood and then installed the full hood. It is resting on the turbo blanket but it fits!


Also got my picture in the newspaper!
https://web.archive.org/web/20220901...ow-celebrates/



















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[AusScare]

Car looks great! Are you going to get it on a rolling road to sort the tune and get some numbers?

[e30m3s54turbo]

Like the project!
Do you have part number to K&N filter?

[Panici]

Car looks great! Are you going to get it on a rolling road to sort the tune and get some numbers?

Thank you! I'll be able to sort the tune on the street/track with some driving time.
I've been driving the car sparingly until I have the paint corrected and PPF installed.

Once I have it dialed in @ 4psi i'll take it to a rolling road for a few pulls just to get an idea of power numbers.

Like the project!
Do you have part number to K&N filter?

The filter is a Burger Tuning BMS Silicone Single Turbo Filter.
They've designed it specifically for mounting directly to a turbo inlet.

[Northern]

I was just in the engine bay thread and had to come here to say how damn clean it looks, and that I'm jealous. haha

[ForcedFirebird]

Looks great!

Glad you made a new thread about the wheel hop issue, otherwise might not have strolled into this thread. Probably would have never even seen the post - I tend to go straight into the "help me" threads - lackey on the build threads. :(

[zwill23]

Coming from someone only making 300whp-ish on euroweaves, I bet you'll blow those tires off with a proper tune

This is such an impressive thread - the rust, the smashed rear-end, full respray, turbo setup, what a life this machine has lived. Love that you're running diving boards too

[Panici]

I was just in the engine bay thread and had to come here to say how damn clean it looks, and that I'm jealous. haha

Thanks! It was worth the effort to clean up the engine bay. Can't wait to get my quarter-hood on and show it off full-time!

Looks great!
Glad you made a new thread about the wheel hop issue, otherwise might not have strolled into this thread. Probably would have never even seen the post - I tend to go straight into the "help me" threads - lackey on the build threads. :(

I usually go to build threads when I'm looking for some reading material. The older ones are a long read but lots of inspiration to be found!

Coming from someone only making 300whp-ish on euroweaves, I bet you'll blow those tires off with a proper tune
This is such an impressive thread - the rust, the smashed rear-end, full respray, turbo setup, what a life this machine has lived. Love that you're running diving boards too

Funny that you mention it, I've roughed in a conservative tune for 4psi and it spins them up in 1st and 2nd now in a straight line
It's a riot to roll into 2nd gear in a curve and have the back end step out!

The car has certainly seen some changes over the past eight years, and I'm not done yet!
As for the diving boards:

[Panici]

Muffler Swap, 2.93 LSD, 4PSI, Trunk Mat

I'm not one to leave things alone and just drive the car, so the march towards perfection continues!




Swapped out the Magnaflow straight-through muffler with a Dynomax Super Turbo unit. Helped to quiet things down nicely (until the wastegates crack open ). Gave it a coat of high-temp exhaust paint.

Changed my 3.73 LSD for the 2.93 LSD. I rebuilt everything except for the input shaft seal, which now leaks (and will be a winter project). Fresh POR15 makes it look the part.
It was difficult getting those differential bolts lined up with the subframe in the car. Will swap to a stud kit over the winter.

Added in an "Ultimat" trunk carpet from Lloyd Mats to match the floormats.

Have almost 1000km on the new clutch setup. It's breaking in nicely, and is becoming livable.

I have sorted out a conservative tune @ 4psi now.
I am seeing about 0.5psi of restriction up top with boost dropping from 4psi to ~3.5psi. Going to move my wastegate reference line to right before the intake manifold which should remedy the issue.
These dual gates must have great flow as this is the opposite problem of boost creep.

Car is making decent power now as I'm getting some serious wheel hop in 1st and 2nd gear. I made a separate thread here to discuss the issue.

It shakes the drivetrain enough to pop my passenger side mirror glass out of place (which I was able to recover unscathed), and knock the turbo feed line into the underside of the hood, leaving a tiny dent. I have since bent the feed line down for clearance.

Went to a mostly-E30 car show at Deltaparkauto yesterday, but I forgot to take pictures. I left the car there afterwards for paint correction. Excited to see the clearcoat runs fixed, and then I'll finally be able to install the trim & badging.

[DEV0 E30]

I can't get over how clean everything is. Job well done. Love the constant search for perfection, but progress over perfection this speaks too.

[2mAn]

What are your plans for the bumpers? Sticking with the diving boards? I like the solution for the rear that another member has... drawing a blank on his name right now

[Panici]

I can't get over how clean everything is. Job well done. Love the constant search for perfection, but progress over perfection this speaks too.

Thank you, and well said. My goal has been to get the car running and driving every summer. I've done that every year except for 2021 (when it was at the bodyshop).

As things get closer to "finished" I hope to have less wrenching and more driving time with the E30.
Although I have the distinct feeling that this is one of those projects that's never done!

What are your plans for the bumpers? Sticking with the diving boards? I like the solution for the rear that another member has... drawing a blank on his name right now

I love the diving boards, they're one of the first things that attracted me to the E30 chassis. (And now to the E28 which looks even more homely/frumpy)

I have a set of refinished and colourmatched surrounds waiting to go on. (still have the black surrounds as well)
Also have the '87 iS front air dam and a 3-piece Kamei rear valance/apron (see post 329) that I bought from Albie325 like three years ago.



I've seen the "high dive" solution that you're talking about. When he has a front setup figured out I'm going to buy a set just to keep in storage. Might want to change up the look some years down the road.

I'd also like to find a set of 1988 bumper shocks to try out (which are the shortest OEM option).

[2mAn]

all good options there. excited to see it progress