SNAFU; high performance 318is build that lives up to the name, Turbo M42 ➞ Turbo M20

[LowR3V'in]

hell yeah.
15 to 20 is a big jump and imo the m20 really starts to wake up at 20.

[TeXJ]

I like colors :D

[varg]

Results of today's drive and pulls with the auto-tune running to dial in AFRs a little higher in the map. That's a lot of boost...



Head gasket don't fail me now. Because if you do I have to send the head off to get that damn stud out and get the stupid header machined flat, and that's not gonna be cheap.

[varg]

I ended up salvaging and using the old stock studs. I soaked the ones with seized nuts in penetrating oil then clamped them double nutted in my vice and eventually got all of the seized nuts off and used new nuts. Any studs that come out with the nut in the future will just get replaced with OE studs, since it seems appropriately rated studs with a hex for driving them in are not available in the size I need.

[digger]

Ah this weekend. It started as a fixing a simple thing, a blown out turbo gasket caused by fasteners that won't stay put:



Then this happened:



And then this:



All because this stud showed up in a search for "m8x40 exhaust stud":



I didn't bother to look up 45H steel, which is a set screw specification, and according to ISO898-5 "The use of set screws of hardness class 33H and 45H under tensile stress (axial or bending) is not recommended." For a project in school, or in my future job as an engineer I'd definitely have looked into this 45H spec before ordering, since it would be my job to double check something like that, but since this was "just hobby stuff" I didn't and here I am. I spent a few hours trying to weld a nut to the stud and back it out last night and failed, I need to get some nuts that aren't contaminated beyond what a wire wheel can fix. Now I'm working on stuff for school and don't know if I'll have time to fix this before the school week starts. I'm so glad I couldn't replace the other studs when I got my new hardware in months ago because I couldn't remove them without taking the header off, they may have all broken because I was torquing them down pretty tight to compensate for a warped header flange. The stud didn't break when I torqued it down, it stretched, and when I went to remove the nut that's when it failed.

those are the ones i was going to use. 45H isnt a bad material the specs dont call out a yield strength only hardness. it never dawned on me that they are meant as a long grub screw... they are prone to hydrogen embrittlement though from memory. what did you end up using? you can get stainless but those are not strong and need to probably antiseize the crap out of them . i might just end up using stock ones lol

[varg]

By the look of it the front will be way easier than the rear. Rear was bad enough that after I replaced one on my own I had a shop do the other one. Front looks straightforward as long as the race doesn't separate, but even if it does it seems a 3-jaw puller should be all I need.

[econti]

Fuck wheel bearings
Are rears the same disgusting job as fronts?

[varg]

800mi or so on the new clutch and it is disengaging fully now. As it wore in it gradually got better. Looks like I've lucked out. The next maintenance items are right around the corner. It sounds like my front right wheel bearing is going bad and the boots on my CV joints all need replacement. 3 are cracked, 1 is torn.

As for non-maintenance items, my next project is some sort of housing or ducting for my air filter, I have needed it for a long time. I'm not satisfied with seeing high intake air temperatures while sitting idle on a hot day, this is the highest I've seen (177°f). It usually drops to ambient or at least close to it while moving pretty quickly, but I'm hoping to reduce or outright eliminate this sort of thing.

[wworm]

What a huge pain in the ass. Sorry to hear about it man. Hope this works out quickly and cheaply. A good friend of mine has had a similar year with his land rover (lol...to be expected with a land rover) and its been hard seeing him so defeated all the time. Stick with it! It'll be worth it in the end

[varg]

When you text about the trans jack, kinda figured you got one of those typical adapters for a floor jack - that scissor jack looks like it's a better option!

Yeah, it's stable and allows pretty fine adjustment of height easily even compared to the transmission adapter for a floor jack so it makes the transmission installation almost trivial compared to my previous experiences balancing it on the pad of a floor jack or bench pressing it.

I'm gonna need to rent that scissor jack from ya.

Just let me know when and hopefully my transmission doesn't need to come off again at the same time.

Man you've had the worst luck over the past year. I hope this is the last of it

Me too. This has sucked.

Wow I bet you're getting the trans in and out in a hurry with all that practice. What is causing the clutch issues? I need to do mine soon and this situation would be a nightmare as getting the trans off on an iX is a little less trivial...

At this point the leading theories are the clutch disc being too thick or having too much runout and the flywheel being too short since it is below the minimum spec quoted in the Bentley manual. However, the flywheel is not even 2mm too short, the brass pivot I installed is 3mm longer than stock, and I extended the slave cylinder pushrod by 6mm and the problem persists. The math doesn't work out for it being a simple lack of travel and I'm now leaning towards the clutch disc or pressure plate being the problem. The issue there is let's say I take the transmission off again to get the clutch looked at by Spec so they can say "oh yeah that disc is too thick/runout is too much sorry about that", I have to send it back to them for inspection they won't just send me a new clutch so I can swap it out then and there, so I'd have to wait while my clutch goes to AL and waits on a bench for someone to inspect it then wait for a new one to ship to me if they find a problem, and if the problem isn't the clutch I'm getting it back with no clue at all what the problem is. Friggin sucks.

[Fraser]

Wow I bet you're getting the trans in and out in a hurry with all that practice. What is causing the clutch issues? I need to do mine soon and this situation would be a nightmare as getting the trans off on an iX is a little less trivial...

[Northern]

Man you've had the worst luck over the past year. I hope this is the last of it

[Digitalwave]

I'm gonna need to rent that scissor jack from ya.

[ForcedFirebird]

When you text about the trans jack, kinda figured you got one of those typical adapters for a floor jack - that scissor jack looks like it's a better option!

[varg]

Long story short: clutch started slipping a few weeks ago, ordered a new Spec Stage 3+ clutch, transmission had to come off twice because the clutch wouldn't disengage. It's currently driveable but not perfect, there is still some clutch drag and it is not smooth going into first from a stop. I also discovered some more rust in the floor. What a pain in the ass.

Nice wear on the flywheel


Machined


New clutch


New output shaft and shift rod seals, also replaced rear main seal and input shaft seal.


Installed


Best $80 I've spent in a long time


Rust :(