Northern's Sterlingsilber M52 Turbo 325is

[Northern]

Alright, time to back pedal a bit...

The issue I had with TPS errors stopped when I swapped to my second ECU, so I'm going to make a note of that and see if it changes next time I swap them.

I drove a lot, and took very few pictures:


My old Cam sensor:


Finally installed the IE strut bar I've been holding onto for like 5 years:


Slow time at work, so I made a brass hammer and a handle and mated the two. Super useful for fasteners like Hi-Lok, Hi-Lite, Hi-Tigue for stuff at work. Nice to cut out the middle-man when you don't have clearance for a 6" brass drift and a ball peen, or a brass snap on a rivet gun...


Picked up a bigger compressor for I think $75, unfortunately it's still too small to run a die grinder or paint gun for more than a few quick blasts, but still more than twice the size of my last one:


New shelf for the "Tire Room" and the tire hoard:


Corded my Falken FK452's because my toe is bad. Or was bad before I got an alignment last year, or maybe it's bad again after changing subframes. Who knows. Same size Toyo TR1's are on and ready to go for next year:



A mini project I've though about ever since I snapped my timing belt last year and realized how useless the stock toolkit is. I couldn't even pull the valve cover with the open ended wrench in the kit.

I bought an E34(?) Full size tool kit, and gutted the molded inside for some foam. I'll grab some wrenches, sockets, pliers, screwdriver, etc and shadow them into the foam.


And here's a random picture of a setup similar to what I bought from Otis last night:


I'll get more into that in the next post...

[Northern]

So. Back in 2012, there was a 4-5 month period where I was working 40 hours/week regular time, plus 24 at 1.5x and another 8 at 2x. That's when I decided I wanted an iX. So I bought one sight unseen and it was a huge mistake.

I also bought a semi-complete turbo kit a week later, which consisted of (Copypasta from FS thread):

So after I started my build I got an opportunity to buy a finished turbo E30, so the parts I've collected so far must be sacrificed. This setup made 406rwhp/370ft/lbs on a 2.7L M20 @ 16psi. * All prices are OBO and don't include shipping *
Holset HX35/HX40 Hybrid - 16cm H1C turbine housing. Ceramic coated compressor housing. -4AN feed flange, -10AN drain flange. Ready to bolt on. Only 10k on it since it was built by G-Pop Shop. $600



Equal-Length Stainless Turbo Manifold - One of the Dan Pinder Swedish made manifolds from a group buy a few years ago. It's been welded some around the turbo flange and a external wastegate provision has been added. $200


Tial 38mm Wastegate w/ Dump Tube - 10psi spring installed. Comes with flange bolts & a stainless 1.5" dump pipe. $150


21x9x2.75 Front Mount Intercooler - 2.5" inlet/outlet. Perfect for mounting behind the kidneys. A few bent fins, but works as it should. $70


2.5" Intercooler Piping w/ Couplers, T-Bolt Clamps, & HKS SSQV Knock-Off - 2.5" mandrel bent piping made specifically for a E30 w/ low-mount FMIC. Includes silicone couplers, t-bolt clamps, HKS knock-off BOV, and 2 types of GM IAT sensors installed. $100

Also came with some vacuum lines, a brace for between the turbo and valve cover, a downpipe + vband clamp and some other odds/ends.

Obviously the Manifold and wastegate aren't going to fit the 24v, so that's where the order from otis comes in.

In addition to that, I also bought:
Whodwho MS2 PNP unit (Not planning to use this now)
Innovate LC-1 Wideband (two of them because one came up super cheap after I bought the first)
M20 ARP studs
Wasted spark setup from a 6cyl GM
various gauges
oil filter relocation setup
GE silicon intake boot
Siemens Deka 60lb/hr injectors
TRE 255lph fuel pump (not sure how I feel about this now)
various oil feed lines/fittings.
all components to build a 3" exhaust w/vbands
3.64 Ring&pinion for the rear diff to go with the euro front diff I have.
plugs, wires, wire crimping tool and ends
heat wrap
and a whole shitload of other stuff.

So I'm going to rip everything off that car that I need and throw it on this one. Not going to use any M20 specific parts, or the megasquirt unit. I'm going to keep this running MS41 and see how far I get first.

Inital plan is to run ~8lbs of boost on stock CR without studs and see how that goes while adding/upgrading parts. I have a spare engine, so if something pops, the plan is:
Send out other head to get resurfaced
Buy .120 or .140 MLS
Buy 11mm S54 ARP studs
Rent jig to drill and tap block for S54 ARP's
Install new head with MLS.
Turn boost up to 15psi ish.

If budget allows, I'll also try to pick up some riot regrind cams and some supertech springs/retainers and up the redline to 7500 or so.

I know I'll have problems cheaping out on a lot of stuff.
I know the 16cm holset housing is like 1.12A/R so spool will suck. A PT6262 or at the very least, a Bullseye Power .70 A/R housing for this holset would be spectacular.
I know I'm going to want or need an S54 housing/oil cooler setup, I have my eyes open
I'm going to want a cleaner gauge setup: Econoboost gauge, George graves AFR gauge, etc.
EBC, Water/Meth, catch can, silicon intake boot/nicer charge piping, better fuel pump/fuel system, etc.

On the other hand, things I have going for me:
FX stage 3 clutch
Pretty nice 3" stainless exhaust
Bigass radiator
-10AN oil return in side of block
Metric fucktons of downpipe clearance thanks to the skinny Arc Asylum subframe and front mounted swaybar.
Significantly reinforced engine mount tabs on subframe, also thanks to the above.

End game, I would like to go low comp bottom end with stock gasket,
and some sort of mildly built head and timing setup to withstand 8k RPM.
I want to keep the block unmodified, and the head casting stock so If something does happen, its just a matter of getting another one checked and slapping the valvetrain into it.

Going to start ripping things apart as soon as I get the car tent set up in the back yard.

[Northern]

I did some stuff, and found the original owner of that kit on e30tech, here's what it looked like circa 2009:

[FreedomM3]

Sweetness

[Northern]

Ordered some bits during the black Friday sales:
Garagistic delrin subframe 12mm riser bushings
Garagistic Weld-on m3 style sway bar tabs
Revshift 95a trailing arm bushings.

I already have studs in my diff to make it easier to line up and hold the smaller diff spacers I'm running because of the shitty Lencas bushings I bought forever ago. I did need 12mm diff spacers though, so I found an old stainless bolt and turned it into some decent looking spacers.

...and I guess I can't upload pictures from my phone.

[Northern]

...there we go.

[ahrensNW]

that's a pretty wild coolant routing on the original setup.

[Northern]

that's a pretty wild coolant routing on the original setup.

It looks a little weird with the early coolant setup and some mods to relocate the reservoir. Definitely cleaner to just convert it to a late e30 setup.

[328ijunkie]

MLS is garbage. Dont use.

[varg]

MLS is garbage. Dont use.

Care to elaborate?

[328ijunkie]

Mls leak nearly without fail, unless extensively prepped.
We use cutring hgs on all our customer FI cars.

[Northern]

Mls leak nearly without fail, unless extensively prepped.
We use cutring hgs on all our customer FI cars.

I can't spend $500USD on a head gasket. I've been through the "don't go MLS" circuit and been an advocate of the CES spacer+ cutring, but as I read more and more, I see some people still running the MLS. Some threads mentioned newer ARP's holding better and block/head/gasket prep being an issue before. I'm still not set on MLS by any means, and thinking about other (dumber) ideas like CES spacer + elring gasket for similar price to the MLS.

If it comes down to it, I'd rather spend ~1k on 8.5:1ish pistons and run a cheap Elring HG (As Boris does) than money on a "consumable" HG, but how much money I can drop when the gasket pops is what really decides what way I'll go.

[328ijunkie]

The biggest thing with MLS is extensive prep, and lotsa copper spray. Still not infallible either way. Cutring is a cutring. Halfway to Oringing block and holds as such.

[Northern]

I'd love to build a bottom end right away, then borrow an isky o-ring tool to o-ring the block and run a stock gasket. If the first gasket lasts at ~10psi for a summer, then I might be able to go straight to that option.

[328ijunkie]

Were running ~450whp on stock gasket on a SC car...