No History 318is - 'Old Faithful' Track Car

[downforce22]

So the whole turbo setup failed? Any idea what would have made it all work? Megasquirt issues from adapting a PNP for it?


I'm still going back and forth on whether I want to turbo mine. Wish I wouldn't have sold off the manifold and turbo to you a while back.

The manifold didn't fit as a bottom mount and wouldn't fit as a top mount. After fitting the intercooler and not able to get a turbo manifold built for it, I decided to get the car back on the road running n/a. I have the manifold, turbo, injectors, drain line, IAT, 4 bolt to vband adapter, and megasquirt setup still but was tired of seeing it sit for 6 months. The megasquirt had some driveability things I still need to work out so I decided to put the stock ecu back in for now. I was looking at building a top mount manifold with the flange and 4-1 collector from the ebay header but don't have a welder and have some other more imfortant things to fix first like the cv boots and wheel bearings.

I think it would be better to not modify the turbo and wastegate and use it on an e36 m42 with possible scavenge pump since it didn't fit with the e30 front subframe. I still toy with the idea of the turbo m42 since I already have the clutch, brakes, and diff to handle it.

[captain awesome]

It looks like you were pulling away from your brother pretty well. I am surprised it didn't keep up as well with the turbo m30 if I remember correctly. Makes my decision to ditch my e24 and go with the e30 seem less crazy.

I'm hoping to try Megasquirt later this year with e85 on my m42 swapped e21 later this year. At this point I'll probably buy the assembled one from diyautotune and add whatever coil drivers needed to make it work. Maybe build a stroker from the m44 crank? I think 185+ NA would be a good number.

[tschultz]

First picture not loading.

The 635 is my E12 based car with L-jetronic. Higher compression euro engine, but definitely no turbo.


I'm not sold on the black hood look either. But still ok for a change of mood and maybe some (20?) lbs of weight reduction.

[captain awesome]

First picture not loading.

The 635 is my E12 based car with L-jetronic. Higher compression euro engine, but definitely no turbo.


I'm not sold on the black hood look either. But still ok for a change of mood and maybe some (20?) lbs of weight reduction.

Aha. My mistake on that one. Both your cars make me want to find another e24, but I just love the little 3 series chassis that much more.

[wworm]

confused about the turbo situation-curious to hear more. Love how thorough your posts are and love that this car sees so much track abuse lol. I think the carbon hood looks great too

[downforce22]

I'm hoping to try Megasquirt later this year with e85 on my m42 swapped e21 later this year. At this point I'll probably buy the assembled one from diyautotune and add whatever coil drivers needed to make it work. Maybe build a stroker from the m44 crank? I think 185+ NA would be a good number.

the 55 pin unit is discontinued so you can't just plug and play megasquirt for any e30, let alone for the m1.7 m42 harness which was partly why I had to make an adapter.

First picture not loading.

The 635 is my E12 based car with L-jetronic. Higher compression euro engine, but definitely no turbo.


I'm not sold on the black hood look either. But still ok for a change of mood and maybe some (20?) lbs of weight reduction.

In person the hood makes the car look more racey. I'm wanting to add the gurney flap (painted black) on the spoiler and think it will flow a bit better. First picture works for me unless you are talking about the first post of the thread.

confused about the turbo situation-curious to hear more. Love how thorough your posts are and love that this car sees so much track abuse lol. I think the carbon hood looks great too

Thanks for the comments. I picked up the turbo and manifold from captain awesome, it is a bottom mount setup for an e36 m42/m44 so it interferes with the front subframe on the e30. If I try to make it a top mount the flange is too close to the head and interferes with the valve cover.

I was considering fabricating a new exhaust manifold for it, but as I think about it now, I could do a double exhaust gasket method and trim the old ebay exhaust header down to just the flange, sandwich that between the manifold and the cylinder head, and lengthen exhaust bolts to try to space the turbo away from the valve cover. It would add about a half inch which might allow me to utilize this manifold as a top mount setup. I'll look further into that as an option.

Was there anything specific you were wanting to hear about?

[captain awesome]

the 55 pin unit is discontinued so you can't just plug and play megasquirt for any e30, let alone for the m1.7 m42 harness which was partly why I had to make an adapter.



In person the hood makes the car look more racey. I'm wanting to add the gurney flap (painted black) on the spoiler and think it will flow a bit better. First picture works for me unless you are talking about the first post of the thread.



Thanks for the comments. I picked up the turbo and manifold from captain awesome, it is a bottom mount setup for an e36 m42/m44 so it interferes with the front subframe on the e30. If I try to make it a top mount the flange is too close to the head and interferes with the valve cover.

I was considering fabricating a new exhaust manifold for it, but as I think about it now, I could do a double exhaust gasket method and trim the old ebay exhaust header down to just the flange, sandwich that between the manifold and the cylinder head, and lengthen exhaust bolts to try to space the turbo away from the valve cover. It would add about a half inch which might allow me to utilize this manifold as a top mount setup. I'll look further into that as an option.

Was there anything specific you were wanting to hear about?

I was planning on the assembled unit and building the necessary pigtail to the stock m42 harness. I've got a couple ECMs kicking around to scavenge a connector from.


The ebay header flange sounds like a good option to space it out for the Mosselman. I don't recall it needed a ton of space to work there and should be clear of the strut tower. It's been a while though.

[pandaboo911]

Awesome car dude. Couldn't help but notice that you had a twin exhaust for an m42. Could easily shave some weight off the car with a single 2.5"

[jeenyus]

CF hood made it looks much meaner and cleaner and physically leaner.

[downforce22]

So the turbo build was put on hold, I don't want to lose the reliability I have with the car and I didn't like my wiring solution for the megasquirt.

In the mean time I have put 28,000 miles on the car. Most recently I took it to drive4corners bmw meet for its second trip. I removed the electric fan because it stopped working and put the factory fan and fan clutch back into it. Almost 1000 miles of driving for the d4c trip and it averaged over 32 mpg including on the gokart track and at full speed on some sections of scenic byway.

[downforce22]

Then I added a new eagle decal on the CF hood but it came the day after I got back from D4C.



And I got a set of 16" wheels and some tires for it, 205/50/16 BFG Sport Comp 2 tires. wheels 16x7.5 et 42, I need some centering rings as 3 of 4 were there with one missing so I found a cheap set that should fit coming. Mounted up last night in the dark so this is the best picture I have right now.

[nando]

your pics are broken, not sure if it's how you linked them or if it's a forum issue.

[downforce22]

thanks for the info, I tried the image button and linked in there, not sure if the image works the same way as before. The second post above was using the attachment feature. See below for testing of [img ] [/img ] code shortcut

[downforce22]

Some photos of the track during 2019 drive 4 corners at on independence pass above 12,000 ft on the way to grand junction motor speedway.





















Then i went to open lapping before my first 24 h or lemons race.



Sadly as i was driving home, my front subframe mounting ear was torn off somewhere during the weekend so the car is on jackstands and getting some upgrades. The trans mount broke as well so e21 trans mounts and cups, turner shifter carrier bushing, dssr, ss brake lines, new front subframe with reinforcement, new fan blade, new driveshaft nuts and bolts, csb, and giubo. I also might swap exhausts since my muffler started to crack and fall off. Stay tuned for more random updates on this car.

Any idea how to link more than 5 photos on the new forum layout?

[wworm]

I love this car
what kind of alignment specs have you been running?