A Tale of Two 30s: Now with 100% More Boost!!!

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Just curious, what did you do to make the VDO's fit? just remove carpet? I'm thinking about changing mine out to this style pod since i never use my ash tray and my cigarette lighter is useless.

Removing the carpet is almost enough. I plan to trim the threaded pressure pickup back a little because it's so unnecessarily long and I'm worried about my boost sensing line being pinched against the trans tunnel. This problem is only for the boost gauge, my other VDO's are much shallower.

The car is finally back from the exhaust shop and instantly back to giving me problems. Maneuvering the car around the parking lot to pull it onto the tow dolly had me reading O2 values on my wideband for the first time. I know it's running real rich so the AFRs in the 10-11 range it was showing made sense. After about 10 seconds of that, the gauge started gradually climbing leaner and leaner until it went off the charts lean and just read 3 dashes. Every time I fire it up now it just goes cruises gradually up to the dashes again. With the sensor unplugged, the gauge reads 14.7 steady which is what it's supposed to do (and AEM updated the firmware and confirmed it was good). AEM tech support says it sounds like my sensor is bad and are going to send me a new one. Looks like I'm not making it to the local meet tomorrow night. Widebands suck.

Yes, I do know my O2 sensor is closer to the turbo than is traditionally done, but I've also seen/heard that it's actually fairly common and people that run them there don't have any issues. Certainly shouldn't be such an issue that it would cook a sensor in 10 seconds of idling...

Smudgy iPhone pictures!

[s14brent]

Alright update time!!!

First, the bad/annoying. I received my boost gauge and it turns out the Garagistic gauge pod doesn't play nicely with said gauge. Here it is maxed out on depth. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do. Hoping I can cut the carpet underneath and get enough clearance out of that to get it to sit flush. We'll see.

Just curious, what did you do to make the VDO's fit? just remove carpet? I'm thinking about changing mine out to this style pod since i never use my ash tray and my cigarette lighter is useless.

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Loving this build so far! looking to eventually get that same turbo kit once I am able to save up some more money and fix up some odds and ends on my e30. Did you order all that stainless tubing with mandrel bends from one place?

I got it off ebay as a single kit. Was about $160. If you just search stainless mandrel 3" piping (or something along those lines) it should come up.

I'm also getting a nice reminder of why I hate having shops work on my car. The guy that runs the exhaust shop got in a car accident the morning I brought the car in that jacked him up pretty bad. His ability to work has been poor and he's now had my car for almost 2 weeks. I talk to him every 1-2 days and every time he tells me he'll have it done in 1-2 days. Monday he PROMISED me he'd have it for me tonight. This morning that promise turned into "I think". Oh and he hasn't actually started on my car yet. I really feel for the guy and he comes very highly recommended but god damn am I frustrated.

[Binema]

Loving this build so far! looking to eventually get that same turbo kit once I am able to save up some more money and fix up some odds and ends on my e30. Did you order all that stainless tubing with mandrel bends from one place?

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Awesome Build! I'm at the same exact point with my turbo project. When you extended the ignition coil wires which ones did you extended? The ones from the ECU? If so, have you run into any problems with cutting into the shielded wire to the coil?

I snipped the ring terminals off the black and green wire and just soldered on new wire to extend them. I wrapped the whole length in woven fiberglass shielding and the connections are all protected by heat shrink.

It hasn't given me any issues but all it's done is idle and rev up to maybe 2k while maneuvering it around the shop.

[e30bobby]

Awesome Build! I'm at the same exact point with my turbo project. When you extended the ignition coil wires which ones did you extended? The ones from the ECU? If so, have you run into any problems with cutting into the shielded wire to the coil?

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Got stuck waiting for exhaust parts in the mail so I yanked the dash apart to get to my cluster. Replaced my odometer gears so that finally works again. Also sprayed my needles red, replaced some bulbs, and hit the clear plastic cover with some polishing compound to clean it up a bit. I was going to put some gauge rings on but after seeing them in place, decided to pass on them.




Finally got all my exhaust pieces in. Complete 3" all stainless exhaust, just add welding:
- 3" mandrel bent pipes (all the local shops just use compression bends)
- Flowmaster metallic-substrate race cat
- Vibrant resonator
- Vibrant muffler



And off to the exhaust shop she goes!

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Where in NorCal are you again? My buddy wants to buy the KAMotors kit too, so Im hoping he can come check out your setup to make sure its what he wants

I'm on the Peninsula. Send him to the Foster City meet Julien hosts every month. I'm pretty much always there.

[2mAn]

Where in NorCal are you again? My buddy wants to buy the KAMotors kit too, so Im hoping he can come check out your setup to make sure its what he wants

[varg]

Nice, clean head. Put some insulating sleeves on those plug wires though, those things ain't cheap.

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Minor update. Been knocking items off the to-do list over the last week.

Turbo oil lines are now fully plumbed, as is the oil catch can. Engine is full of fresh oil with the addition of a magnetic drain plug that I never got around to doing before.

Coil wires have been extended so it can sit behind the passenger headlight against the inner fender. Still needs a sheet metal screw to mount it.

I picked up the local Craiglist's finest used blow off valve. Opted for a recirculating valve so I can divert and muffle the bypassed air for stealthiness, but have said muffling system be removable for those essential Hotboi moments.

Swapped my stock head bolts out for ARP's. Kameron says the kit is fine with stock head bolts but I have no doubt that I'm eventually going to need more holding power somewhere down the line.

Got a few more gauges mocked up. Probably going to have to swap the boost gauge for one that also shows vacuum, and might end up getting rid of the water temp gauge in favor of oil temp & pressure. Discovered today that MS does water temp digitally and I really just wanted a frame of reference for the stock gauge marks vs actual temperatures.

I'm also not a fan of the AEM AFR gauge so out of place next to the VDO's. I'm thinking that I want to put it in the dash vent on the left side of the steering wheel but haven't seen any gauge pods for that spot yet. These are the kinda things I'm going to have to learn to improve to my preferences by trying various setups though.

Exhaust is also ordered. None of my local shops will do mandrel bent so I ended up ordering a kit of stainless mandrel bends and pipes, and going to bring that to the exhaust shop with my muffler, resonator, and race cat. Appointment is next Tuesday.

Anyways, pictures!

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Edit: As promised: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU7..._as=subscriber

None of these are with the turbo, just M52 into 3" 1142 Ultraquiet Resonator > 3" 1047 Streetpower muffler.
Only the two vids to the left have an external mic, and even then the sound quality isn't the greatest

Oh geez. That is loud. Hopefully the addition of a cat quiets it down a bit more. It does sound fantastic though.

That said, I'm not worried about it sounding like a performance car, I just don't want it to be pull-me-over loud. It's a fine line...

you filled your coolant with tap water? that's a party foul.

Why yes. Yes it is. It's a lovely habit I picked up when I was 16 and $3 for distilled water plus the gas to get to the store was just too large of an expense. Then again I probably could've filled that Jeep's radiator with mop water and it would've kept running fine out of stubborn-ness.

[jeenyus]

you filled your coolant with tap water? that's a party foul.

[Northern]

This looks so familiar haha

I have both of these on my car behind an M52 (sans cat) and they aren't quiet. Even after adding a turbo, it's pretty loud. I'll try to drop a video when I get home, youtube is blocked at work.



Edit: As promised: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU7..._as=subscriber

None of these are with the turbo, just M52 into 3" 1142 Ultraquiet Resonator > 3" 1047 Streetpower muffler.
Only the two vids to the left have an external mic, and even then the sound quality isn't the greatest

[the_eskimo_wonder]

Alright update time!!!

First, the bad/annoying. I received my boost gauge and it turns out the Garagistic gauge pod doesn't play nicely with said gauge. Here it is maxed out on depth. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do. Hoping I can cut the carpet underneath and get enough clearance out of that to get it to sit flush. We'll see.



Now the fun stuff!

Had a couple friends flowing in and out of my house yesterday and we made some major progress. Manifold, turbo, intercooler, and charge piping are all on. I'm impressed with this kit so far. It's pretty complete and Kameron's support has been awesome. We've been going back and forth on Facebook Messenger pretty constantly and it's been so helpful.

Anyways, pictures!





Peekaboo





Got some fun exhaust goodies too. Vibrant Ultra Quiet resonator and Streetpower muffler. Both in 3". Car is going to get a high flow cat as well. I'm in California so this whole thing needs to be rather covert. That should keep the exhaust pretty quiet. Still not sure how I'm going to hide the nice "PSSHHHHH" from a blowoff valve....

Still to do:
- Finish running oil lines (need the oil filter stud that threads into the block from an eta to install oil filter relocation kit)
- Replace turbo mockup bolts with copper
- Find longer or extend coil wiring so it can be relocated
- Run vacuum line to MS2 for boost monitoring
- Run vacuum line for wastegate solenoid
- Run oil catch can lines
- Turbo blanket
- Intake elbow & filter
- Exhaust