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I think its time for an update ! I’ve got good thing to show you and a big bad new that devastated me .. I’ll show you below !... but first let’s see the progress!
I’ve put a brand new oil filter on the engine $$moneyshot haha.. I also receive my water/methanol kit ! I will install it later but here’s the kit : AEM 30-3300 V3 
Then, it was the time for the Downpipe. Since the hx35 has a v-band exaust flange 2.5”, in order to make my 3” downpipe, it needed to be modifi. I cut the hx flange and weld an extension + vband flange 
After , was the time for the DIY pie cut cutting (On the picture , the cut are very rough , everything was been smoothed and chanfern grind for proper weld) 
Weld is standard mig welding and exaust materiel is standard 3“ pipe. Everything was weld completely and grind at 80% for a ... "better look" 
Then I ceramic coat it , and wrapped it with exaust wrap 
Look good with the wrap ! After that , I put the turbo blanket and install the downpipe 
The new Nissens radiator finally arrive , I install it , put new bmw coolant ht-12, and here is the almost finish engine bay look! 
I’ve take my oem power steering line to a machine shop to be extended about 3” since the stock length was not enough because the coil new location . 
Ok so now I was thrive ! Let’s start the engine !! 30 seconde later engine dosent start .. the coil was extremely hot . After 4 day and 12-14hours of search I found the problème and this is something you should remember ! When I extended the coil wire , I see that this wire is shielded , I mean , from exterior to interio the wire is compose : rubber ,thin wire , aluminium , rubber , copper . Something I didn’t know was that the thin wire around the aluminimum shied is grounded all the time . And it was making contact with the copper wire. That’s made the coil « grounded » and the Ecu was not sending signal to the coil . It probably could be very bad ! So , since I’ve got a spare harness , I take the most I can of the oem coil wire and here I show you how is it hook from the factory . 
For the proper extending operation , I have solder the thin wire to my harness , and the copper separately and make sure it don’t contact with the copper , then isolate carefully and seal everything . I don’t really know the purpose of the shielding but I thing I was a good thing to keep it ! After that , the engine start but very roughly , the base map on Megasquirt is for stock engine , it run very rough and very rich , I need to make a lot of base tuning to make it run properly but hey ! It’s alive !! 
Now the bad news . Yesterday I found that the brand new oem HG from the dealer directly , is leaking oil . The arp stud was torqued down to 70ft/lb in 3 step , in good order to 70ft/lb with a brand new gear wrench digital . And after a total of 4 min of idling , I already have the worst leak possible on a engine . Im devastated .. I’ve remove the valve cover to check for a loose head stud and unfortunately they were all good . So I à torque then back to 74ft/lb. Did something like this happen to someone ? Did we can torque more than 70 fr/lb ? I’ve seen people torque them over 80 a couple of time .. Please ! Tell me I don’t need to start from The beginning !!!
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Ok ! Thanks everyone for the reply ! Help me a lot ! So after further digging on the oil leak, I’ve found the culprit.
It’s either the cam seal or the rocker shaft plug. I take no chance et replace all four rocker plug and cam seals. So I’ve remove everything to get accès to the cam seal. It is exactly the same job as a timing belt job . But I was so happy ! I mean , who is happy to put 4 hour of labor for a second time and on a brand new timing belt job ? That was nothing for me after I réalise it was not my HG leaking haha! 
And after remove the cam seal housing , it was clear that the leak was from there . Look at how square the oring is and + , I found a crack on the housing 
Im lucky to have a spare engine to get spare part as this one 
So new seals are ordered and the quest continue !
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Well .. sorry to the late update ! I still manage to spend a lot of time on the car . Everything put back on , the oil leak is now gone ! I’ve put oem cam Seal/oring and oem valve cover gasket.
The car running now a little better. I still need to spend more time on the megasquirt to get it run better and going for a test drive . Here a link of the engine running with only the downpipe https://youtu.be/BSl2IKbRjuw 
Almost the entire exhaust is completed , I just need to fit and finish the muffler section . I can tell you that doing a full exhaust , with only a grinder and strait pipe , , direct on the ground is a hell of a job ! It does not look good, but I don’t care , I will work and it cost me less than half a professional one .. I also modifi the downpipe and add a flex pipe 
Then was the time to make the dump tube for the wastegate . Still no mendrel bend and only a grinder but everything came out good. 
I know the 90° direct exit is not the best , but I’ve had to deal with the space I have ..! I made a braket to solid fix the dump tube with the lower engine vibration damper ??, don’t know what is this for but now is for bracing the dumptube haha ! 
I spend a lot and a lot of time with the megasquirt and coponent wiring . I wanted the stock look above the glove box and all the oem plastic to be there without any wire in sight. The megasquirt unit is almost twice bigger than the stock ecu . 
I’ve made some aluminium braket to fit it with the stock screwing location . I also have to wired the water meth wire (10) and route some vaccum all in the area. 
Im happy with the result ! Everything is properly attached and nothing touch the glovebox at all , all the oem cover are there ! The water meth système is 80% completed Ive made a tank support for the trunk mounting 
Then wire the pump and plumb the pipe 
The trunk floor carpet hide almost everything for a better look ! Now , a little step back after further analyse haha.. The Bov location is not the best because of the water meth . At this location , the BOV will evacuate some meth résidu and spread all Over the engine bay so .. I’ve décide to put it right under the air filter after the turbo , I also modifi the turbo housing with a pièces of intercooler piping for a better clamping Than the turbo itself. I put a picture of before those modification 
And here the modified part 
Im here at the moment ! I’ve came more and more close to a street test drive . What’s next: —Bleed the coolant properly —Take a look a the brake pedal (spongy..) —finish the water meth wiring and test —finish the IC piping modification —finish the exaust system —install fuel pump —misc little thing I keep up !
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Amazing work man! Always excited to see progress with your build, one of my favorite threads on here easily.Comment
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Welllll, the starter moteur die on me , im glad it die into the garage since I perform many start and stop during the projet . BUT , I hâte the fact it die when the motor is ON the car ... hell of a job replacing a starter motor on a e30 !!
The water meth installation is finish. 
Look at how the LED is subtle!... I just need to install the meth nozzle , but I let this to the tuner for a optimal positioning and a properly install. Ose is already in the engine bay!
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I'm back after one year , read the whole thread again ! very nice updates and i love the progress and fab.
i'm jelly of your welding and painting skills , id be happy with 1/10th of it ! hahaha
keep it coming , i want to see a video with a flyby !Comment
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Thanks ! Welding skill do not need long to get ! But paint , it took a lot of practice and expérience ! I have made some more progress and now I’m on the run part ! Car is running on the street !! But first , here are the update...! Since I have modify the outlet of the turbo compressor , my IC piping does not fit as well as before so for a proper figement i have made a small pipe « adapter » that has been welded.
Then I repaint them 
After installing back together the piping and turbo , the engine « section » was 100% done! And next was install the fuel pump . I have choose the AEM I tank 340lph. I know it’s more than I need but the price was very good. Now I’m sure I will not have fuel delivery issue when the car will be at the dyno. 
The pump draw around 10 to 13 amp for the optimum operation , the stock wiring is for 7.5 amp so instead of replacing the 7.5 fuse by a 10 , I have to with a fuel pump relay kit. I do not have picture of the final installation but it was very straight forward .. 
The muffler I choose is something , discutable , but I do not wanted to have a very loud car , my ears are fragile ..! I went with a conservative dynomax super turbo S-chambered. Then was the time to build the « axel back » section of the exhaust système . 
I wanted the stock look with the twin pipe angled, I’ve made one by myself. It was kinda difficult to pair 2x 2.5” pipe with one 3” pipe . But anyway I’ve came to a non good looking solution that work perfectly! 
Then , the lol piecut section and the complete assembly 
A little goodie, I put the hand on a RPM gauge face that eliminate the AVG gauge . 
Ok so now the complete turbo setup is finished and completed ! I do not any Fab work or any installation do to ! FINALLY!!it was a good learning expérience. 
Ok now that all the fluid is bleeded and checked , double inspect everything , idle tuned well enough to the car run by itself , im ready to hit the street with the autotune. I have put a 5 psi spring in the wastegate , without any boost controller activated. I have made about 100 km with slow and moderate driving . Never WOT and always check the wideband to se if everything is ok . Then start to drive in the boost section . The Aututune work very well but it is a complementary tool. I need to have some solid ARf target table and conservative spark table. Anyways, the goal is only to be able to drive the car to the dyno wich is about 130km from my house..the dyno appointment is in may 10 ! 
I have a little vidéo to show you the car running. https://youtu.be/8thjcegskO4 Is not a crazy pull , I was about 60% of the pedal and driving carefully. But one thing is sure , is that even with only 5 psi, tune ultra conservative from a robot , the e30 is WAY faster than stock . I drive a 2020 Wrx daily wich is 265hp and the e30 is faster st only 5 untuned psi ! I can’t wait to have it tuned at 15 psi !! So for now , im driving it slowly and see if anything happens and fix it before the dyno !
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I bet is all about practice ! but they are very good!
The car looks like its running great , tbh pulls really hard for being only 5psi hahaComment
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Looks great fully assembled!Originally posted by priapismOriginally posted by shamesonComment
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Outstanding update!Comment
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Here is a littlw
video of a walk around my car!
this will be the setup for this year!
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