The official turbo build thread.

[So Live]

Alright, so i guess its about time for me to let all of you know whats been going on in my garage for the past month.

I decided to turbo my non-vanos m50 e30. So i bought a bunch of parts.

So far i have:
Garrett t3 .63 ar /t04e 57 trim .60 ar stage 1 turbine
turbonetics deltagate wastegate
Audi diverter valve
Ford 30lb injectors
Custom turbo manifold
a bunch of 2.5" aluminized steel bends and straight pipe for intake
a bunch of 3" stainless bends and straight for exhaust.
21x9x2.75 intercooler
bunch of silicone couplers and t-bolt clamps
Megasquirt v2.2 with some add ons which is giving me some problems...

I just bought a Holset h1c and a 16cm^2 turbine housing so that will be the turbo of choice.





decided to put the MS in a spare motronic box:






Manifold, took stock obd2 manifolds and flipped them and added some stuff:






Intercooler and some piping:










Still need to go over my welds again on all the pipes including the manifold. Just to make sure. I go back to school this sunday so this is probably as far as it will go for now. Progress will probably be super slow... :(

Im hoping to get megasquirt all sorted out while im at school though. Im having some seriously annoying communications problems and can not flash the extra code to the processor.

[Tavern Gnome]

Great start man!

[Jparkr]

this looks great. update again soon

[BenM]

Awesome man, looks like a great start. Are you gonna use an MLS Headgasket with that or can non-vanos M50s take that kind of boost?

Be sure to update often. :D

[nando]

just curious, why are you using the V2.2 board and not V3.0?

[So Live]

I got it cheap and didnt know any better. Somethings wrong with it so i might be buying a 3.0

Ill try to keep the progress going forward but its going to be tough with school. im planning on running around 10psi to start with. Ill see how much power i make. Then the next step will be mls, studs, injectors and more boost :)

[e30polak]

sick fabbing bro...looks like a great start...turbo NV m50 :woowoo:

[e30325ic]

Damn Looks like you read my mind. I am planning a m52 build with turbo and was planning on the same exhaust build. Keep us informed because I wasn't sure what engine control I was going to use.

[Black Power]

cool man! did you fit up the bumper yet?

[So Live]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, i did fit it actually. Fits perfect. the 2.75 core is perfect with almost no cutting to the valence. Ill get pics when i have a slim fan inbetween the rad and the ic. Im also waiting on some new bumper shocks though. i have about 3" clearance for the fan so itll fit nicely.

[e30325ic]

How much HP do you plan on making? I am looking into building a 2.8 turbo set and shooting for about 375-400hp. How much do you want for the Garret t3?

[So Live]

Hi, looking for around 300whp on 10psi and then upping the boost to around 15 (maybe more) once i feel confident enough tuning and i want to put a head gasket and studs in.

The Garrett is already sold. Sorry!

[MasukBMW]

good shit bro honestly thats impressive
next time your home you should come run by my garage and take alook at my project. its NOTHING like this, but we all have to start somewhere.
excellent work tho

[So Live]

Dude i hear that. I bought my car for $2400 and it was 100% stock. Look at it now.

So turns out one of my Mechanical Engineering labs is a skills workshop where we have to get accustomed to the machines in our shop. Hehehe. Nice tig welder and milling machines and band saws. its what my garage wished it could be. I have to spend atleast and hour a week there and my instructor said hed teach me how to tig, Maybe ill build my exhaust and a nice manifold here :)

IM really fucking tempted to build a MS1v3.0 board from scratch and ditch the shitt second hand v2.2 its $165 from DIY with no case or processor. Sounds like i might be building a new one once i get my own multi meter. I have to check a few serial communications parts and see.

Exhaust parts are on their way!!!! too bad MS sucks or id be ready for boost!

[E30_pilot]

i do like turbos...