10k RPM – 1991 Diamantschwarz 318is Slicktop – 231hp NA M42

[chriso]

I bought the Chasebays Stainless Braided brake line kit and posted them on another forum I’m on and got crap from all of the track and AutoX guys stating that the pedal will feel terrible from not running a hard line front to rear. I bought the $30 OEM hardline and didn’t look back, but am interested in hearing from someone who actually ran the Chasebays kit.

The old clutch cable isn't a true hardline anyway. It's a soft rubber line with two hardlines (about 1") on either side of the rubber hose. I don't anticipate a huge change in clutch pedal feel, but I could be wrong.

Brakes are waiting regardless, but I will report back with the route I decide to go. I don't think the RX7 BBK Setup that I have sitting in my garage will fit without spacers, so it probably won't be the direction I go, but when I decide, I'll be replacing my brake cables with it.

[AWDBOB]

Agreed! Sorry I wasn’t clear about that- I was just referring to replacing the stock hardline that runs front to rear. The rest of that stuff is A+

[chriso]

Not the prettiest photo, but the engine is in and attached to the transmission, and fluids bled! The home stretch.

[wworm]

awesome

[chriso]

Time for a long overdue update.

This project has taken far more time than expected, and quite a bit has happened, both related, and unrelated to the E30 in the past couple months.

Back in June, I assumed I was just about ready to turn the car over and drive it, but we were having tons of issues getting the Electromotive Tec3R to piggy back off of the stock and send power to the fuel pump and injectors properly. After trying myself for 3 straight weekends, I was quite burnt out, and needed a brake from it. I couldn't find any local shop willing to take a look, so I put the project on hold, and decided to make another awful life decision:



I spent about a month trying to find a K75, which, in my mind, is kind of like the 318is of BMW motorcycles.

I was so excited about getting my bike and my license, and I for sure have fallen in love with riding bikes, but I also did fall with my bike...



And I shattered my pinky. What looked like one break all the way through, was actually 3, so I ended up having surgery with 3 pins being placed in my hand, and between splits and casts, my left arm was immobilized for about 8 weeks.

The bike is okay, I only cracked the blinker. The crash was super minor, I just gave it a bit too much throttle and tried to save the bike as I dropped it, unfortunately having it drop directly onto my hand.

While my hand was casted up, I decided to do some cosmetic things to get the car ready to drive, as even when I was getting out of the cast, I would have another 8-12 weeks before I'd be able to grip a motorcycle clutch, so there's always next year.



I found this BMW Motorsport valve cover in Bulgaria on EBay, and instantly sniped it up. Its great fuel for the Facebook group flame wars.

I also found a local mechanic that works at one of our big custom shops that was willing to assist me with some of the wiring. In about 2 hours, we had my car running.

Here's a photo of the wiring rat's next, which will be professionally re-wrapped very soon.



After this, my car still sat for about 2 weeks while I tried to find a way to plug my radiator overflow return line, as it had been deleted with the new engine.

The solution was just a short coolant hose with an engine block off plate.




While not the most elegant, I plan on dropping in a Zionsville Radiator made specifically for my routing, an this works in the mean time, as the car won't be racing at all this year due to my hand, so I have another winter to finish it up.

The car is definitely in the final stretch, it can (sort of) drive. It can (sort of) idle. It can (sort of) stop. Just few gremlins to take care off.

Currently working on getting the brake booster working, and the plastic nipple on my clutch master cylinder broke, which the new nipple will be in tomorrow. The booster is proving to be more challenging, and isn't agreeing with my routing, or vacuum, as I deleted the IACV. I'm considering going boosterless, but I'd also be sort of concerned about having failure and fall back of the boosterless systems. Still doing a bit of research on this front.



Took a day two weeks ago to rearrange the garage and let the E30 idle to temperature outside a bit, and it idles well without over heating, and was able to bleed the system. What's left now is really super minor, and honestly, it could probably be done in the next 2-3 weeks once I know what I want to do with brakes, and then I really just need to seal up any remaining vacuum leaks, and toss on the medium case 4.10 LSD.

[dude8383]

That harmonic balancer doesn't appear to be stock... wondering if you could provide any detail on it.

I have a 2.1MM M42 and I know they built that thing to rev out but I'm worried about the harmonic balancer exploding. Really solid build... nice to see someone still appreciating the 4 bangers!!

[chriso]

That harmonic balancer doesn't appear to be stock... wondering if you could provide any detail on it.

I have a 2.1MM M42 and I know they built that thing to rev out but I'm worried about the harmonic balancer exploding. Really solid build... nice to see someone still appreciating the 4 bangers!!

Good eye!

I can't actually tell you too much about it, neither can Rebello, or the original designer. From what I gathered from reaching out to everyone involved with this engine, it was a huge effort with a lot of different people.

Someone named Rob Winter from Colorado originally built this engine for SCCA E Production, but it also matched NASA GTS3 specs.

The "Damper" you see is actually just a 2.4lb under drive pulley for the water pump, for the same reason you're looking for one, to avoid shattering the impellers of the water pump and preventing the crank damper from exploding.

This is the only one, and, according to posts on M42club, there is no CNC file for it. The engine has seen about 30 hours of racing without incident with WOT, and, as they assumed, there was no need to design a damper old the 4cyl.

[moatilliatta]

A local has a rebello m42 in an E30 he runs VSRA. I still want to see one on the dyno in person.

Whats it rev to?

How many Race hours do they say these are good for?

[chriso]

A local has a rebello m42 in an E30 he runs VSRA. I still want to see one on the dyno in person.

Whats it rev to?

How many Race hours do they say these are good for?

The one local to you is currently for sale, actually. Curt Richards from Motorsports of Lexington has it for sale with this trailer and entire track car and spare parts for I think $20,000? It's definitely a steal. His engine I believe has single digit hours on it, and is a 2.0L making something like 290hp. The car is a GT3 car that started its life as a 325, but has since been converted to tube chassis for the most part.

Curt sold me this engine and shipped it from Lexington when he replaced it for his new engine.

Between Curt and the original builder of my engine, there is 30 hours on it.

According to Rebello, there was originally two identical motors built for the original owner (before Curt). The sister motor to mine recently went back after having around 90 hours of racing on it, and was so clean and solid that it essentially was just reassembled. It's supposedly incredibly rock solid and clean running.

Also according to Rebello, the engine will happily continue revving well past 8,200 rpm, the current fuel cutoff. Upwards of 10k, but you gain no power after 8,200 due to the cam specs.

Based on the condition of this engine, if you're interested in a Rebello engine, do not hesitate to pick up Curt's car. It's a steal for the price, seeing as if you were to try to spec out an M42 build similar to these Rebello builds, you're over $12,000 in parts alone.

[moatilliatta]

I don't think its close to tube frame.. But Is a nice older build. I just want the aluminum trailer... I got too many projects!!

I have a 318Ti, That's the interest I have in these motors... Id almost consider one if it still had some torque..

Amazing that they get 90+ hours. S14 S54 race motors get half that...

Zach

[chriso]

I don't think its close to tube frame.. But Is a nice older build. I just want the aluminum trailer... I got too many projects!!

I have a 318Ti, That's the interest I have in these motors... Id almost consider one if it still had some torque..

Amazing that they get 90+ hours. S14 S54 race motors get half that...

Zach

Ah, I haven’t seen it in person, only in a few photos. Just based on what I saw, I kind of assumed.

But yeah, I’m not expecting this engine to last years. I’m expecting two seasons out of it hill climbing, and if I don’t throw it off a cliff, it will get a rebuild once I have a bit of funds to make some new mods to it.

However, it is still much cleaner than my old M42, and should be a nice treat.



Im currently trying to decide if I want to buy the bullet and delete my brake booster for the Massive booster delete. I’m leaning in that direction, though.

[jeenyus]

I bought the Chasebays Stainless Braided brake line kit and posted them on another forum I’m on and got crap from all of the track and AutoX guys stating that the pedal will feel terrible from not running a hard line front to rear. I bought the $30 OEM hardline and didn’t look back, but am interested in hearing from someone who actually ran the Chasebays kit.

This surprises me. Are they are bleeding their brakes properly or what? lol, I'll have to just buy them and report how good they are or aren't.

[chriso]

This surprises me. Are they are bleeding their brakes properly or what? lol, I'll have to just buy them and report how good they are or aren't.

From what I’ve gathered, they simply expand more, and can fatigue quicker than solid lines. They last about 3-5 years, where as hard lines last 30 years.

I think a lot of the idea idea is just that soft lines are easier to work with.

Im torn as well, but I still have a while until I touch the brakes, and I’m trying to decide if I want to drop the money on the front and rear massive kit.

[nrubenstein]

There are two big problems with stainless lines:
1) They wear out a lot more quickly than hard lines (fresh hard lines will almost certainly exceed the remaining life of these cars, soft lines won’t).
2) Stainless braided lines are much harder to crimp properly. I’ve seen enough of them fail spontaneously (hose popping out of crimped end, including on my own car) that I just use standard rubber lines where I need soft line.

Also, the modern copper hard lines are so easy to work with that it boggles the mind that anyone would even consider a soft line instead. They bend easily by hand, and are easily flared with hand tools. Why would you even want a crappy soft line?

[wazzu70]

Good eye!

I can't actually tell you too much about it, neither can Rebello, or the original designer. From what I gathered from reaching out to everyone involved with this engine, it was a huge effort with a lot of different people.

Someone named Rob Winter from Colorado originally built this engine for SCCA E Production, but it also matched NASA GTS3 specs.

The "Damper" you see is actually just a 2.4lb under drive pulley for the water pump, for the same reason you're looking for one, to avoid shattering the impellers of the water pump and preventing the crank damper from exploding.

This is the only one, and, according to posts on M42club, there is no CNC file for it. The engine has seen about 30 hours of racing without incident with WOT, and, as they assumed, there was no need to design a damper old the 4cyl.

On a 4cyl in the upper rev range you dont have so much torsional vibration on the crankshft since its so short. The bad TV on an I4 engine is down in the low rpms. The I6 engines are opposite due to the long crank. Smooth down low and want to rip themselves apart up high. Think about using solid aluminum motor mounts on the I6 vs I4 and you will see what I mean :)

The S54 touring cars had cooling ducts that went to the damper to help keep it cool and the damper design on that engine is way better than the run of the mill M5x engine! This is one reason the I6 has so many issues with oil pump drives.

On a racing engine that spends its life at higher rpm, they just use a billett piece that is a one piece pulley/toothed wheel combo thats mainly there for the toothed wheel (otherwise could just be a pulley).

For a mixed use car I would get something made by ATI so you have a damper made for the application thats durable. Best of everything except cost!