The ups and downs of a 2.7L Turbo

[cleanasse30]

Copying these posts over from my other thread to get more visibility...

So I got back from my road trip last week. The engine still burns a considerable amount of oil, but from what my friends tell me when driving behind me it doesn't burn oil under boost. This got me thinking that maybe the m20 needs a constant vacuum source on the crank case. So I came up with an idea to achieve that by modifying my current oil catch can setup.

Here is a crude diagram:


Boomba Racing makes a 3/8" barb check valve which are the boxes inline in the diagram. This would allow the intake manifold to pull vacuum during cruising and decel, just like the stock system. When making boost, the valve inline to the manifold closes and the valve inline to the turbo inlet opens pulling vacuum during acceleration.

Post from last night:

So I ordered the boomba check valves and just finished installing them. As far as I can tell, its fixed and runs great! :) After a pull in the tunnels and watching to see if it dumped oil smoke during decel like it did before the install, the exhaust looks clean. I'm going to drive it to work tomorrow to to check the exhaust in daylight to double check.





Post from this morning:

Welp just got done driving it to work. I think the check valves helped, but it still poops oil smoke during decel in the higher rpms... Not as much as before, but definitely pooping oil smoke. I'm lost at this point. Don't know where to go from here...

HELP!?!?

[cleanasse30]

Shit that intercooler looks mean behind the grills :)

Good call on the drain line, Even a small low spot can do strange things. Out of curiosity, why vent your VC through the separator and then back in to your intake? Why not just vent to atmosphere?

Thanks! The catch can is routed back into the intake because I was/am having issues with burning oil during decel. I thought it was due to pressurizing the crank case initially so I was trying to pull vacuum with the intake, but I think that was a result of some other underlying issue...

this made me laugh in the office...LOLOL!

This build looks like so much fun! much respect! Would love to see the beast in person!

Thanks! I'm still working out some kinks but its a blast to drive! I'll bring it out to some local meets sooner or later lol.

[spiDmang]

I leave for a 2500 mile road trip down the west coast with 2 other bimmers in..... 3 hours

this made me laugh in the office...LOLOL!

This build looks like so much fun! much respect! Would love to see the beast in person!

[CorvallisBMW]

Shit that intercooler looks mean behind the grills :)

Good call on the drain line, Even a small low spot can do strange things. Out of curiosity, why vent your VC through the separator and then back in to your intake? Why not just vent to atmosphere?

[cleanasse30]

Yesterday I installed the catch can and changed my oil drain fitting to hopefully alleviate my oil consumption problem. I bought the Moroso Universal Air/Oil separator since it looked nice and had good reviews on summit.





It screws apart and there is a chamber for the oil to collect and two chambers filled with steel wool covered by a perforated piece of metal. It has a billet mounting bracket as well. Nice product for $150. The only issue with it, is that you need to also order a 3/8" npt to 3/4" barb fitting for the valve cover to oil can side. I had to cut the stock hose and use a 5/8" joiner, then get creative to make a 3/8" npt to 5/8" barb connector from lowes.



I also added a 3" aluminum elbow for the air intake to mount the fitting to provide vacuum for the oil catch can.





I also felt like my previous straight turbo oil drain fitting off the oil pan was causing a low spot for oil to collect, so I changed it to a 90 degree off the pan.





Then I hacked up the front valence since the intercooler got in the way. I left some pieces in there to keep its rigitity. Turned out well imo.



Front bumper back on and looking stealthy



I leave for a 2500 mile road trip down the west coast with 2 other bimmers in..... 3 hours

[cleanasse30]

So my current plan is to change my oil drain since I'm worried the low spot in my oil drain line might be causing the oil drain to back up, causing oil to push out of the seals in the turbo. I'll be changing to something like this:



My current oil drain is a straight fitting off the welded bung in my oil pan which creates a low spot. I also ordered an air oil separator to put between my VC and turbo inlet to draw vacuum on the crank case. If this doesn't solve the problem I'm pretty lost as to what will fix it...

[cleanasse30]

I just did a compression test tonight and it seems ok

Cyl 1: 170
Cyl 2: 162
Cyl 3:167
Cyl 4: 157 (I think this had a bad seal because the comp test fitting stripped out my cyl head and didn't seal with the o-ring )
Cyl 5: 172
Cyl 6:165

Pics of some of the plugs:







I don't have a ton of experience with plugs but looking off an online chart the plugs kind of seem slightly oil and fuel fouled with some slight signs of detonation. Can anyone confirm or deny my findings?

I'm going to buy a tap for the cyl head tomorrow and chase it to try to save myself from a helicoil. Then I'll re-test the compression and see how it turns out.

Would the compression readings I'm getting be a cause for the oil consumption?

[cleanasse30]

So this past weekend I bought and installed the 3.15 differential Saturday morning and afternoon. My roommate found a e28 535is in Bend, OR so we decided to take the e30 down to check it out. This let me put some miles on clutch to break it in before the trip and discover any other issues that need to be sorted.

So the initial drive from SEA to Portland went fairly well. My idle screw wiggled closed and gave me a 3k idle which wasn't good, but I temp fixed it with some zip ties lol. I think I also have a short in my brake wear sensor wiring because that started flickering wildly too. We ended up making it to the Mt Hood Nat forest and luckily found a side road to camp next to.



We made it to the sellers house around noon the next day and checked out the car. The suspension needs to be sorted through and it sits wayyyyy too low, but the engine is strong and the body is pretty straight. My roommate ended up buying the car and we set out back to Seattle.

Before we left I gave the seller a ride in the turbo e30 and during one of the pulls the throttle stuck open and pegged the engine to redline I figured out the zip ties on the throttle screw caught a part of the throttle so that turned out to be a bad idea....



Instead of going back the same way we decided to head to hwy 242 west out of Sisters, OR. If you are ever in the area and have the chance to drive HWY 242, DO IT. Its an amazing road through lava fields and forests, continuous twisties for what seemed like 30 mins. The views are pretty cool too!





Once we got through the fun section of HWY 242 we headed up north to HWY 20. Soon after getting on HWY 20 the 535is had its first issue that nearly left us stranded. The bung off the coolant reservoir cracked since the plastic is 30 years old, and it was pissing coolant all over the place. We ghetto fixed it with some RTV sealant around the crack and on the hose and luckily it didn't leak any more. Back on the road to Seattle 8-)



About 20 miles south of Portland I notice my oil check light came on, so in about 500 miles my car burned about 1/2 quart of oil. This does not seem good. I'm venting my valve cover to ATM for the time being since I thought it would not pressurize the crank case. It seems as if that is not true, because my oil cap has gotten much looser and it seems to burn lots of oil during and after a hard pull in boost. I am going to do a compression test today to see if its the rings, but other than that I'm not sure what could be causing my oil consumption. PLEASE HELP!?!?!

Other than the oil consumption issues, the engine runs really strong and pulls pretty hard. The miles and varying terrain let me get the tune dialed in fairly well. It sits around 14.5-15.5 AFR cruising 13.0-13.5 during mild accel, in the 12s during hard accel and into the high 11s during WOT. The 3.15 diff is a tad long, but once I turn up the boost it should be pretty nice.

The next issue in the 535is saga was the fact that its got only about an inch of ground clearance. In Oregon it was fine, but as soon as we got into Washington the car started bottoming out on the freeway over bridges and expansion joints. We made it all the way up to Seattle around 11:30pm, no more than 5 miles from home, and it hit a HUGE bump and busted the oil pan So that made a super long day even worse for my roommate. The first thing he planned to do was raise it up to a drivable height, but he didn't even make it home :( Anyone have an M30 oil pan for sale?

[efficient]

im jelly of your build

[cleanasse30]

Quick update. I'm talking to a local diff builder about picking up a 3.15 LSD from a 95 M3 that has been swapped into an e30 case this weekend. My only real concern with the diff is the long ratio, I'm not sure if it will make the car feel sluggish even with the turbo. 2500 in fifth gear will cruise at about 65mph. Shifting from 3rd to 4th shouldn't drop me out of boost in theory. Anyone have experience with a similar ratio?

[cleanasse30]

ALRIGHT.....

:D

IT RUNS!!!

So this weekends progress updates. I've been trying to hustle to get this finished for the upcoming road trip (2 weekends away, 1 weekend left for major work) so I haven't taken many pics while doing things.

Saturday I was able to knock out:
-re-install wasted spark
-hook up oil feed and drain
-plumb wastegate
-install radiator
-fab intercooler mount
-install intercooler and piping
-adjust tune
-hope it doesn't blow up

I was able to get it started off the map the BMWManiac posted on e30tech since we have similar builds. The idle was pretty rough though and it was also lean to the point my AEM wouldn't read. Sunday I was able to get it to idle steadily, but really lean. Then my buddy and I figured out the idle screw was too far in causing the lean idle. Closed it up and it ran better, so we went for a drive.

The first drive was interesting. Immediately noticed the clutch has a very slim engagement zone, and really grabs once it starts to engage. Going up hills under load the diff whines like a diesel truck... so yet another part I bought that was bad, I guess they are valuable lessons though. Do your homework before buying used parts!! Also noticed that I was making way too much boost. Under half-ish throttle it was almost hitting 15 psi before i would quickly get out of it. The map I am using is also fairly rich under heavy load, but that's better than being lean. I plan to use the tune analyzer on Tuner Studio to get me a reasonable tune for the road trip.

Here it is in all its glory:



















Today, I installed the Econoboost gauge, which is probably my favorite mod on the whole car. I love the stock look, and it was a breeze to install once the cluster was removed. I also read up and realized that the wastegate I ordered came with 2x7lb springs, so I took it apart and removed one of the springs. Drove the car around and it makes about 9-10psi, pretty good to break it in for now! I ran the tune analyzer and hammered on it a bit, its pretty quick! Forgot to take pics tonight, but I'll get some more in the next few days as I put the front end back on.

[IronFreak]

Thanks!



Yeah, he seemed pretty fair about the price but good lookin out. Haha if I didn't have a day job I would love to, this kinda stuff is way more fun/interesting than sitting at a desk all day with my thumb up my ass...

Mine is getting pretty smelly as we speak........

[cleanasse30]

Looks great so far! Subd :)

Thanks!

That sound about right then. I just hate seeing people get ripped off. Great progress man! feel free to come finish mine.......

Yeah, he seemed pretty fair about the price but good lookin out. Haha if I didn't have a day job I would love to, this kinda stuff is way more fun/interesting than sitting at a desk all day with my thumb up my ass...

[IronFreak]

It was 3 runners that needed to be chopped and re-welded, plus I had the welder weld up the BOV flange on my intercooler pipe, turn and tap a bung for the IAT sensor and weld that to the IC pipe as well, and weld the new wastegate vband flange to the manifold. So it was a bit more than just having the runners on the mani fixed.

That sound about right then. I just hate seeing people get ripped off. Great progress man! feel free to come finish mine.......

[cleanasse30]

.........Who charged you $300 to fix that? was it just 2 runners?

It was 3 runners that needed to be chopped and re-welded, plus I had the welder weld up the BOV flange on my intercooler pipe, turn and tap a bung for the IAT sensor and weld that to the IC pipe as well, and weld the new wastegate vband flange to the manifold. So it was a bit more than just having the runners on the mani fixed.