The official turbo build thread.

[So Live]

Well, the cool thing with the non-vanos motors is that they got a six pin hot film maf. The vanos motors (all of them) got a 4 pin hot wire maf. Aka i cant jsut throw a 3.5 euro or 540 maf in! It kinda sucks.

Well the dude who i was supposed to get the voltage clamp for my MAF from never responded this weekend so that never happened.

I got some stuff done but not much. I had to take the manifold off to do a little massaging :) . I welded in another o2 sensor bung in the down pipe this time so hopefully ill get a more accurate reading. I cut the cat out and gutted that biotch. I kinda reworked where the muffler sits cause it was a little too high. So when i left to go to mothers day dinner, i was fitting the gutted cat back in the exhaust. I had to cut like an inch out and it still doesnt fit. I guess i moved the muffler quite a bit!

I rewrapped the wastegate pipe and the downpipe again.

Thats about it. This week and next week are finals so im probably not going to work on her this weekend.

The 21st is time to do work.

[So Live]

So, finally an update!

Today was a big day. Stripped the quarter inside and out, stripped the whole rear valence. Cleaned the snot out of the area around the muffler. Pulled all 50-60lbs of trunk tar out of the trunk. Scuffed up the inside of the trunk Killed all the small rust spots.

Sprayed some primer on the inside of the trunk and above/ near the muffler area.

I screwed up the mix in the trunk so its kinda screwed up but the muffler area is mint. All in all, not so bad for my first time spraying anything out of a 'real' gun.

Also picked up a 12cm^2 turbine housing instead of the 21cm housing i have on at the moment.

Im waiting on a caliper and need to buy a tail light lense and im all set on parts though.

MSnS is about 5 wires away (idle control stuff) to being ready to try!!!!!!

Pics tomoro or monday. Not sure if ill have time before i head up to limerock...

[e30325ic]

Good to hear you are still trying to git it back on the road. Good luck with the repairs.

[So Live]

Im just going to spray the outside with this cheap single stage enamel for now. Blend it in the best i can. Im going to take a few weeks this sumer and base clear the whole car because i finally figured out that its never going to be as nice as i want it unless i do it.

So basically my summer is going to be... work, get the car nice enough and running well, work some more, fix my broke ass dirt bike, work, buy a decent tig welder,work, paint my car, work, bank some $$$$, work, school. Mm sounds like fun....

Stripped valence:


Muffler area:


Trunk




The "cat" section:


Notice the discoloration from the cat igniting fuel hahahahaha...

[e30325ic]

Glad to see that its coming back together. I am going to hold off on my turbo for now and just get my car running. I should have it together in a week or so. I pulled the m42 and installed it an another car last Sat. I still plan on gong turbo in the near future. I still plan on trying to get about 400hp when I am finished. Right now I just need to get it on the road. Good luck the the repairs. Looking forward to seeing it back together.

[So Live]

Thanks dude! Yeah i hear ya on getting the ar running first. I had my car running m50 for about a year and got most of the bugs worked out. Im hoping i can get the muffler area and the trunk painted for real tomoro or the day after. That way i can get the trunk re wired and the exhaust hung and some tips made up. Im hoping to drive this thing to a friends house in Jersey this saturday!! Maybe ill have MS installed and he can help me tune it hahaha

Me driving it to jersey is more a matter of the tail light lense getting here on time.

[PiercedE30]

Nice progress. You're working fast. Are you just going to cut out the cat and replace it with straight pipe?

[So Live]

Thanks man!! I miss my car!

I was going to but i got talked into gutting the cat and putting it back. So thats what went down. This way it looks like there is one just in case.

Im hoping to drive to NJ this saturday which means getting the inside stuff painted, the bottom undercoated and the trunk wired.... Sweet!!!!!

[RedHoodRidah]

Making fast progress very good very good. Leave the rear valence smoothed out and just hit it with some rust protecting paint if your going to drive it. It will look better and different.

[kenika65]

The "cat" section:


Notice the discoloration from the cat igniting fuel hahahahaha...

Oh now I know why this happend!!! Because you used a chepoooo universal cat,,, They are seriously crap im so glad that cheep cat didn't ruin your entire build.


Now I know you know better then to use a universal cat ever again I hope

[So Live]

Thanks!!! Meh, the stuff i used before has a really really fine texture. From a distance it looks smooth but it isnt. It helps hide the small imperfections too. The right way to do it is to prime, paint n then use the coating n then paint again! So im gonna paint it n not do the coating or last coat of paint.

Im really really hoping to have the insides painted tonight. Tomoro will be undercoating the muffler area, wire the trunk, throw the exhaust up. Smooth out the quarter some and prime the quarter and valence. Thursday i might try to paint it!

Hopefully i get the tail light lenses by friday so i can go to jerz.

[So Live]

So, got the inside and underneath painted!

I cant wait to see it dry and see how bad it is hahahaha.

If its good enough for me, im gonna run the wires and finish the underside.

Pics tomoro

[e30325ic]

Making great progress. Looking forward to the pics.

[So Live]

kenika65, totally missed your post! Sorry about that. The cat didnt start everything. Its not just because the cat that my car was on fire. If there wasnt a whole bunch of fuel in the exhaust from the coils not sparking the plugs, there wouldnt have been a problem.

So the paint looks pretty good. Not wet enough in the trunk but it looks good enough. The muffler area came out great.

[So Live]

So today, i got the trunk wires hooked up. Apparently the wiring for the central locking in the trunk isnt a part of the main trunk harness :( . All my tail lights function as they should. The 3rd brake light doesnt. When i took it off, the little circuit board is a little melted. Balls.

Got the muffler area undercoated twice. Got the exhaust up and made some tips from the left over 3" stainless i have. Im undecided weather im going to paint or polish them yet.

She runs!!! and its super loud. Oh well ill be buying a center muffler soon enough.

Tomoro is body work unfortunately. Im trying to get it driveable by saturday but we'll see.

Im still waiting on the caliper and the tail light lenses are supposed to be here saturday.