'89 318i 6 speed m50b32tu turbo swap build

[ba114]

8 August 2021 - First start:

[ba114]

Box of goodies arrived today:


Bought the IE 310mm front bbk but swapped out the supplied calipers (1.62,1.12,1.12) with 1.38, 1.0, 1.0 piston calipers instead.
This paired with the z3 36mm piston calipers and e36 325i 280mm rotors in the rear results in a 68% forward bias when used with the e9x 25/22 master cylinder. Its a bit more forward than i would have liked however overall not too bad. I could always remove the bias valve later and see how that feels.

[Northern]

I like these developments, first start on that engine combo with MS43 is a huge milestone, and shiny new parts are always great to look at

[ba114]

Was getting some issues with starting and a persistent DTC 83 (crankshaft sensor) error. The wiring on the ms43 sensor patch harness was good/new, however i'd leveraged the original harness for connecting to the sensor.
No pics, but the cable was not in great shape.

Decided to just run the e36 MS41.0 EURO obd2 front mounted crank sensor. In the e36 this is fed 5v from the DME, however i was informed that it would also accept 12v feed. So i wired up an adapter harness so i could wire it into the ms43 harness. Started first go! no more errors and a VERY strong start.

I also ordered some 17" wheels. More copies - Lenso BSX in 17x17.5 ET20 for the front and 17x8.5 ET15 for the rear. These are almost the same as what i'm running now (16" ESM-002r) but i got them for a really good price. Now to get some rubber!

[ba114]

And today just paid for. An IE. 310mm rear wilwood brake kit to match the fronts....

[ba114]

Slow progress is still progress right?
Rear brakes arrived...in need of a clean.


New vs Old wheels:


Bird poo welds getting cleaned up on modified downpipe:

[econti]

Other people can't see shit welds on your car when you blow past them at 3x the speed limit

[ba114]

Was in a rush to get this thing ready for the BMW Nationals 2022 which was being hosted in my home state so got busy finishing some things off.
Finished the downpipe and titanium wrapped it. Then tried welding aluminium for the first time, on the compressor housing. Had to weld a tight 90 degree but seems to have turned out "OK". Thank goodness for angle grinders and flapper discs.


After that, it was time to finally fit the new brakes. The rears went on no problems. The front however, im a bit less than impressed with. The install kit is going to make it a more difficult process to change pads in future than it should be. Additionally, the caliper to hub bolt setup comes with 2 washers. Counter intuitively, you have to somehow put one washer between the hub and the caliper adapter otherwise you'll end up with binding. I dont know why IE dont make their adapter with the required spacing already, but its really quite frustrating. Im not the only person that has reported having to shim the setup.



Then finally after getting it all put together on a sunday afternoon, i was finally able to load a base tune on it and take it for a drive - this was short lived as i soon started to experience brake binding. My initial thoughts went to the new/old calipers, however i did also change the booster and master many months ago. So i checked the rod that goes across the firewall on RHD cars. Sure enough, there was a little bit of pre-load on the booster even with the pedal at rest. A quick adjustment to the rod and i was back in business.


After about an hour of logging and adjustments to the tune i was at a point where it was "OK" to drive it to the show and shine event at the nationals :)

[Northern]

Glad you sorted the brake binding and it wasn't something with the calipers.

[moatilliatta]

Looking good, hows it run?

[ba114]

Looking good, hows it run?

Yesterday i dropped the running in oil and pulled it apart again to fix an intake cam timing issue. But before that i had AFRs and STFT looking pretty perfect.

[ba114]

Fixed up a few pinhole leaks in the downpipe but am still chasing exhaust leaks either at the turbo/manifold flange, or the manifold/head flange. i'm hoping its the former as it is far simpler to address....

[Northern]

Hope it is the former. I dread the moment I have to remove my manifold and see how warped it is.

[ba114]

Well, there was definitely a leak at the turbo flange. replaced the gasket with a remflex gasket and made sure it was torqued down properly. Result? no more leak there, but still a loud exhaust leak. Time to pull the manifold :(

In other news ive been selling quite a few bi-xenon retrofit kits for bosch euro smileys from my facebook page. #shamelessplug

[QuiqueUy]

had a nice read! v nice build btw , you had to go from 16" to 17" to clear those breaks right?

I'm looking to upgrade my brakes but can't give up my 16" bbs rs's haha.

keep the good work ! i want a video with a pull :D