The ups and downs of a 2.7L Turbo

[2mAn]

why not just add helper springs on the coils?

also tell Cheuk he sucks for sending me a rusty toehook.

[cleanasse30]

Nice thread

Thanks!

why not just add helper springs on the coils?

also tell Cheuk he sucks for sending me a rusty toehook.

Helper springs cost money ;D

[jeenyus]

looks great. I like that you turned the oil filter around. it looks like it's an easier location to change it. I've always hated that it's located right under the exhaust manifold.

[cleanasse30]

Today was a long but productive day of work on the e30. Started the day off by picking up a Miata to DD for the summer It has a coolant leak off the back of the engine and needs a new timing belt, but other than that the body is straight and the engine feels strong.



Over the past week I've been finalizing the design for my coil pack mount. Today I made the prototype and got it installed, it came out great imo. Here is a new shot of the engine bay:



And a closer shot of the mount:



If there is interest, I can make a small run of these mounts. The mount will only work with an ETA valve cover and the GM 3 coil wasted spark setup.

Next I installed the new muffler and exhaust tip, but I wasn't able to get a picture of that since I finished that up after it was dark out. I'll take some pictures tomorrow. I like the sound quite a bit more than the previous muffler. It made the exhaust note a bit throatier without being overly loud and it looks better too :D

The final install for the day was putting the new 650lb rear springs in, in lieu of the 750lb springs. The ride is so much more tolerable now and the car feels much better during cornering since it can transfer more weight in the rear. My setup is now 525lb f / 650lb r

[cleanasse30]

Spent the day getting the coolant leak on the Miata fixed so I didn't make any more progress on the e30 this weekend. I did happen to snag a pic and video of the exhaust though





I'm going to try to get the m3 style endlink tabs installed by the end of the week. Once that is complete I'll be able to get an alignment and a proper tune. :mrgreen:

[cleanasse30]

I spent some time working on the M3 style end link mounts this weekend. I started by creating a model of what I wanted in SolidWorks.



I've found that spending the time to model parts before you make them helps you get it right the first time, and makes the manufacturing more repeatable. From the model I was able to make a .dxf flat pattern of the part to make 1:1 printouts of the model. I cut out the flat patterns and traced them onto the bar stock. I went with 1.5" OD .120" wall mild steel since it looked slightly thicker than the OEM M3 mount.



I decided to go with the E36 M3 end links instead of adjustable end links due to the price difference ($44 vs $165). The only issue with this is the potential to preload the swaybar if the mounts aren't welded exactly in the right place. To ensure both sides are welded at the correct height I decided to measure the the distance from the top of the wheel to the top of the fender using a caliper. With the car sitting on the level garage I took a measurement of each side.



I used a level and took the measurement from the center line of the wheel. Probably not the most precise method, but it should work. Next I jacked the front end of the car up, removed both front springs and reattached the strut to the top hat.



To lift the axle to the correct height I used 2 other small jacks placed under the control arm. I reattached the wheels and measured with the caliper until the control arms were lifted up to the same height as when the car is sitting on the ground. After tracing the flat pattern cutouts onto the bar stock, I used a die grinder and cut off wheel to make the end link mount.



To place the mount in the right spot on the strut I positioned the sway bar to be parallel to the frame rails and mounted the new end links.



This is all I had time for this weekend. Next up ill grind the paint off the struts and do some fine tuning to the end link mounts to make sure they sit flush to make welding them up easier.

Here are some better pictures to show the design of the coil pack mount. I decided to use aluminum spacers to stand the plate off the valve cover about a half inch so I was able to run the spark plug wires under the plate. Electronics don't like vibrations so each washer shown is made of rubber to reduce vibrations transferred into the coil pack. Since making the prototype I realized I could extend the bottom of the plate down and cut notches into the plate to hold the spark plug wires. This would certainly tidy up the installation and keep the wires further away from the hot turbo and exhaust. I've talked to a company with a water jet and could produce these in batches of 5 if anyone is interested in them.

[CorvallisBMW]

Cool, always fun to see well designed and fab'd custom parts

[TimeMachinE30]

With the suspension work done, have you considered any efforts at the sway bar and its bushing?

[cleanasse30]

Cool, always fun to see well designed and fab'd custom parts

I appreciate the kind words! With my background in MechE and FSAE designing car parts is a fun hobby for me! Especially when they work right the first time :p

With the suspension work done, have you considered any efforts at the sway bar and its bushing?

Once I've finished the conversion to M3 style end links I'll see how it handles with the stock sway bars. From what I've read on the forums, people who've done the conversion estimate a 20-30% increase in sway bar effectiveness. That leads me to believe the stock 20mm sway bar will behave more like a 24-25mm sway bar which seems to be the sweet spot for these cars. I'm also running somewhat high spring rates, which usually means the sway bars should be smaller to allow some weight transfer during cornering.

Now that you mention it though, I should probably pick up a set of poly sway bar bushings since the stock ones look fairly worn. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Danny Pallister]

Holy crap this looked terrible lol. I did a track day in this config and the car did really well when I nailed the turn, but punished me with nasty neck breaking body roll when I missed the apex. I found some GCs locally and snagged them, a little stiff to daily but much better than before:



Last weekend I started the tear down for the new stroker swap, turbo, and 3.46 LSD install. Here is how the car sat before the teardown:

What Size tires are these? Looks awesome

[cleanasse30]

What Size tires are these? Looks awesome

I believe they are 225/45/15 BFG G-force Rivals. Really good dry weather tire, but if there is any standing water on the road you're in for some white knuckle hydroplaning. During the last hour of our road trip last year it was pouring rain and the freeway was covered with water. I had to chug along at about 40mph to keep control of the car through the puddles, getting passed by semi-trucks. It was an extremely unnerving experience to finish off a 17 hour day of driving.

[econti]

So, I have a question RE the sway bars.
Before we start, not having a dig at you or anything, I'm just curious

Is there any other effect on the sway bars by mounting them on the strut, other than more effective?
As in, why go to that effort when you could buy a 24mm or whatever sway and mount it in the usual place?
There's obviously a reason why they strut mounted them on the M3, but I do not know that reason

[cleanasse30]

So, I have a question RE the sway bars.
Before we start, not having a dig at you or anything, I'm just curious

Is there any other effect on the sway bars by mounting them on the strut, other than more effective?
As in, why go to that effort when you could buy a 24mm or whatever sway and mount it in the usual place?
There's obviously a reason why they strut mounted them on the M3, but I do not know that reason

To be honest I've never driven a car with the M3 style end links so I don't have first hand experience, only what I've read on the forums. That being said, I've read that it helps increase steering feel during cornering in addition to increasing the effectiveness of the sway bar. By moving the end link mount to the strut, the moment arm created by the control arm is increased. The wheel/strut travels more distance along an arc than the point at which the non-m end link mounts to the control arm. Because of this, the sway bar will start resisting suspension travel "sooner" or more effectively which feels like a stiffer sway bar.

Yes, I could've gone a bought a new sway bar and likely gotten 80% of the same result, but since I have access to a welder, garage and tools why not just make the M3 end link mounts? My end links needed to be replaced anyways, so the total project is going to cost me all of about $60 plus some hours of my time. Buying a new swaybar and adjustable endlinks would be at least twice, if not three times the price, and not nearly as rewarding.

[cleanasse30]

This weekend I finished up welding on the M3 style end link tabs. I ran out of time last night and wasn't able to get the car back on the road, but the welding is complete.

I started coming down with a cold/cough saturday, and woke up feeling congested sunday, but took some of the good Sutafed (you know the one with psuedophedrine). My congestion started clearing up and I got bored watching Netflix so I decided to work on the car...

I started by double checking the wheel to fender distance again since it had been a week and I was using crappy old jacks to hold up the controls arms. They had lowered slightly so I jacked them up to the right place and then made some final adjustments to the driver side end link mount. Once I was happy with the mount I wire wheeled the strut housing and tacked the mount in place.



Next I made the passenger side mount, tracing out the flat patterns onto the bar stock. I ground the bar stock down until I had the shape I needed and then cut the mount off with a cut off wheel. After I had the shape I wanted I deburred all the edges with a file. It was now time to tack the passenger side in place. To get this right, I double checked both wheel to fender distances again, pulled the wheel off and tacked the passenger side in place, the hard part was done.

In my infinite pseudophedrine induced wisdom I decided it would be fine to fully weld the end link tabs in place without taking the shocks out. I noted that there is an air gap between the shock insert and strut hosing when I fixed the gland nut a few months ago, so I think it SHOULD be fine. As my thread title states, I'm a lazy ass haha. In an attempt to not put too much heat into the strut housing I tried to make inch sized welds at a time and switched sides to allow the strut housing to cool down. It was a little tight getting the mask, gun, grounding clamp and light into the wheel well so the welds aren't the best but they should be functional.





After I had them all welded up, I threw some enamel suspension paint on the exposed metal to prevent rust. I think they turned out alright, but the welds would've looked better had I taken the strut assembly out of the car. Hindsight is 20/20 :P

[cleanasse30]

I spent last night getting the rest of the front suspension put together. Once I had the wheels on the ground I double checked that the front ride height was the same, and checked to see how the sway bar looked in relation to the ground. Both sides were spot on and the sway bar was parallel to the ground! I nervously took the car out for a test drive, and as soon as I got on the street and did a couple turns with the car I immediately noticed how flat the car cornered. The M3 end link conversion is a great modification! I would highly recommend it since it can be done fairly cheaply using your existing stock sway bar.

My friend also took some videos of my exhaust, so once I get those I'll put them up here! It sounds amazing imo :D