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

[Panici]

I know the feeling. I hated having to cut a bracket off of my E34's strut tower and pound on it with a hammer to provide clearance for the turbo. If I didn't have solid UHMW engine mounts it would still have contacted.

I wish I had test fit the turbo kit before painting the bay. I could have done a nice job adding clearance with bodywork hammer & dolly.

Hope its not too much of a pain... That shiny paint looks great right now

Thanks, yeah it does look good. Could use a wash for sure though!
It is what it is. Once it's done self clearancing I can touch up the paint, assuming my batch of colourmatch is still liquid.

This is coming along amazingly! It reminds me of "ImJoel" Turbo M50 Build from Youtube.

Thank you! I've seen one or two of his driving videos, but haven't looked at his build.

[Panici]

First fireup in two years!:

• Extended fuel return line to drain two year old gas into a 5L jerry can.
  • 6 feet of Gates fuel line costs over $50cad now. 💀
  • Old fuel had Stabil 360 Marine but I didn't want to take a chance, since all gasoline here has Ethanol now.
  • Cycled the fuel pump from the laptop. MS3X Test Mode screen is pretty handy!
  • Got 7-8 cans out of there and into the Mercury daily driver.

• Eliminated extra fitting on return side of fuel rail that was previously used for pressure gauge.
  • Less failure points and more clearance to remove oil filter housing.

• Found no spark on Cyl #5.
  • Was fine when parked.
  • Turns out that channel is bad on the #2 Quadspark module.
  • Swapped to spare channel and verified spark in Test Mode.
  • Had to drop the glovebox and part of the harness to troubleshoot and make the change. Still need to button things up.

• Changed the oil with Rotella T6 15w40.
  • Only bought 5L for whatever reason but it was enough to fire it up while the engine was still warm.
  • Need to buy more oil for the additional 1.5L

• Found an exhaust leak on the vband turbo outlet to downpipe.
  • Have the car on jackstands now, will have to loosen the downstream clamp and see if I can get things lined up better.

• Found the turbo oil feed line is just starting to fray through the outer jacket near the oil filter housing. Need to address before I drive the car.

• Going to need to do some retuning for the 93 (with ethanol) gas.
  • I previously wrote this tune on E0 91 octane.
  • Specifically I want to address the idle fueling, vanos at idle, add closed loop IAC valve control, and perhaps add some timing across the map for the extra octane.

[BadDays]

This is coming along amazingly! It reminds me of "ImJoel" Turbo M50 Build from Youtube.

[2mAn]

...As much as it pains me to say, the rest will have to self clearance...

Hope its not too much of a pain... That shiny paint looks great right now

[varg]

I know the feeling. I hated having to cut a bracket off of my E34's strut tower and pound on it with a hammer to provide clearance for the turbo. If I didn't have solid UHMW engine mounts it would still have contacted.

[Panici]

Took friday off work and got about 3 hours of wrenching in!
Felt good to get back into it.

Trimmed the T4 flange back as much as possible. If I was doing this turbo kit from scratch I would have used a v-band 100%.
As much as it pains me to say, the rest will have to self clearance.

Cleaned up the mounting surfaces a bit with a flat block and sandpaper. You can see where the high spots got knocked down some.
Didn't spend too much time on this as the turbo sealed fine before, and I'm using an MLS Vibrant 1442G gasket.

Installed the jetfighter compressor housing and got the turbo buttoned back up.
Still need to install the blanket and air filter.

Also chopped up the CBR 125r rear fender this morning. No fender eliminator kits for this bike.
Can still cut more but decided to keep the original turn signals and reflectors for now.

[JasonWilson48]

Yeah, the one main thing that is never going to change is availability. E30 chassis and parts are ever dwindling.

I think I want to own a 135i big single turbo eventually. You can find E87 chassis all over the place for dirt cheap. And parts are still pretty available. The engine just becomes the big question of reliability. I don't know.

My goal is still a streetable car for backroads. Not daily driver, but not racecar. I don't want a full track build.

I've talked about the other turbo car I want to own in another thread. A fiesta ST, and throw a bigger turbo on it. Similar availability as the E87 chassis, but maybe even less were sold.

I think the ultimate cheap chassis right now is the E90. They are pretty bloated, but there are so god many parts cars out there, that you wouldn't have to worry about price hikes for a decade or so probably. An 335i sedan with a 6 speed could be the move

[Panici]

I think I have the itch for boost. S52 is plenty of fun to get in trouble, but I think once I get my current car in a good spot with all the small things buttoned up... I'm either going to look for another chassis and M50 to throw in it, or go away from the E30 chassis for something else I could boost on a budget, while I'm learning how it all works. Until then, I'll just keep wringing out the S52 and sending it. Done so much work to this car the past winter, I need to slow down and enjoy it for a bit lol.

Depends on what you want to do with the car. The E30 is capable, but won't compare to something newer around the track (for example).

Definitely take the time to drive and enjoy it. I haven't done that enough with my E30 since it was painted.
Took on too many cars/motorcycles at once!

[JasonWilson48]

I think I have the itch for boost. S52 is plenty of fun to get in trouble, but I think once I get my current car in a good spot with all the small things buttoned up... I'm either going to look for another chassis and M50 to throw in it, or go away from the E30 chassis for something else I could boost on a budget, while I'm learning how it all works. Until then, I'll just keep wringing out the S52 and sending it. Done so much work to this car the past winter, I need to slow down and enjoy it for a bit lol.

[varg]

(edit: I just realized that the jet fighter cover in question is a picture that I didn't see on my first read through the new posts.) I really think precision and others just use holes like that for looks, it may have been patent avoidance back in the day that started it though. What made the T51R so loud was the interruptions in the anti-surge port at the compressor and how open the inlet side of the port is. The old Holsets were pretty loud too because they were very similar, some OEMs used a silencer ring that partially blocked the port off to reduce the whistle, everyone loved to remove them.

[Panici]

Is the Jet Fighter housing basically a factory Precision Turbo "T51R" mod? Or is it just better anti-surge?

Interested in any driving opinion on the BOV delete when the time comes...

Factory T51R mod.
Since the original 6062 compressor is anti-surge, I would expect this one to actually surge more?

We will see!

[Northern]

Is the Jet Fighter housing basically a factory Precision Turbo "T51R" mod? Or is it just better anti-surge?

Interested in any driving opinion on the BOV delete when the time comes...

[Panici]

Slow and steady on the E30.


Have the turbo off to try and add some clearance between the flange and the fender.
Really wish I had test fit the turbo stuff before I painted the engine bay, I could have made room in an elegant way.

Looking now at the pictures, I think it bothers me more then it should.
Really not a big deal, but it being a blemish on an otherwise flawless engine bay really gets to me for some reason.

Also, blocked off the BOV port on the charge pipe.
I never had the BOV hooked up to vacuum in the first place, and the red clashed with the rest of the engine bay.
Went through two different brands before I found one that fits.
For the amount I drive the car, a little bit of surge off-throttle won't hurt anything. And who doesn't love the sound!





















Also, got the new-to-me CBR 125R on the road too!

[Panici]

Sitrep Spring 2026

Think this is the longest I've gone without updating my E30 build thread.

Still working on some health issues, but at least I can do some minor wrenching with hope for more.

Fleet Update:
Sold 2000 Ducati Monster.
Sold 2004 Jeep TJ.
Listed 1999 BMW M3 for sale.
Bought 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis - Made a thread on R3v for it here
Bought 2008 Honda CBR 125R

-------------------------

Going to start back in on the E30 slowly, but the plan is to have it out this spring!

So far over the past month I've replaced the aged (and damaged) fuse box cover. Paid the hefty price while BMW is still making them new.
Finally got replacement tweeters installed in the doors (paint shop lost the originals).
Plastic covers added for pass seatbelt upper bolt, pass seat front bolts, driver's side door handle surround, and pass side hole into rocker (in doorjam).

Fixed the driver's side door lock cyl that was loose, and wouldn't lock with the key in the door. Had to remove and bend out the backing plate, remove the actuator.

Door lock heater(?) microswitch bracket and heating element were just hanging loose inside the door, so removed those.
Removed the driver's side power lock actuator as central locking stopped working some years back after a rain storm.
I suspect the actuator was damaged when the central locking module filled with water.
It had enough mechanical resistance that the key would bump over the spring into double locked position with the door still being unlocked.

Oh, and I finally pulled the trigger on a 60mm Jetfighter compressor cover for the Precision 6062 turbo. Want to get it polished if I can find someone local to do the job.

[Panici]

Not going to get into rego/insurance/the space they take up...

That's the other part of it as well. I could deal with the cost and space issues if I was making good use of everything.
Paying $100 a month on insurance (year round) for the Ducati to ride it once or twice a month in the summer? Those are expensive rides!