318is Turbo Project

[BushPilot9]

AC is working again, turns out it will turn off if the middle slider on the control panel isn't far enough to the right... and since mine no longer stays where you put it... luckily I didn't pull anything apart chasing it.

Started having the temperature climb while sitting in traffic, the radiator fan stopped turning on. Jumped the radiator fan switch to the hi speed side and it runs just fine so I think the switch went bad, even though it was just replaced while installing the turbo. Bought a 82 degree single temp switch since I was only running high speed with the addition of an intercooler and no stock engine driven fan.

While I wait for the new switch I checked my compression, as my tuner recommended to do on a regular basis to maintain a trend on engine health with the additional boost. With a 153k on the motor and about 700 miles with boost noises, I am pretty happy with the numbers and the state of the spark plugs.

[BushPilot9]

Finally made it out to a track day with the e30. Had an absolute blast, definitely need more aggressive front brake pads(brake fade braking from 100 mph is not a pleasant experience...) but was keeping up with much newer cars.

Only had video from my dashcam running with no audio. https://youtu.be/HlXS2qa0Gpw

The not so fun part of the day was after the final session, checked under the hood and found a lot of oil had blown out of the crankcase breather line, which I just had a small filter on. Checked the oil and added in a bit more for the drive home, which was quite smoky with lots of smoke coming out the tail pipe everytime I pulled away from a stop. Didn't notice a power loss but definitely oil going where its not supposed and a pressurized crank case..

Pulled the plugs out the next day and ran compression and low and behold cylinder number three looked a bit different than the rest...


The spark plug didn't look terrible and what I could see on the borescope looked fine but I am pretty sure my piston rings in cylinder #3 weren't happy with track day vibes. Any chance they just got stuck and I can break them loose or is it time to pull the engine and refresh everything with upgrades for more turbo goodness?

[2mAn]

Bummer on the low compression on #3. Loving the progress though, hope it works out fairly easy

[Mkcustoms88]

Reading this and now I may not do a swap so much back and forth , what to do lol

[BushPilot9]

Pulled the motor out and tore it down to see what was causing the oil blowby. Any one see anything wrong in this picture?

Somehow it was staying together and didnt leave any visible marks on the cylinder walls which is crazy but pretty happy about that.

Also pulled the transmission and rear Diff to upgrade the clutch and flywheel as well as change out the gear ratios in the rear diff. The diff was spotless inside, which was a bit of a surprise considering it was an ebay purchase a few years ago. With the new 3.25 ratio gears the backlash is a bit too tight, anyone know where I can find some different shims for the output flanges?

Now to figure out what internals to change out while I rebuild the motor. Looking at CP pistons but not sure what compression ratio to shoot for anymore.

[It's Soda Not Pop]

Are you going to lower the comp and run more boost next go around? What about cams to push that power figure further up the rpms?

[BushPilot9]

That is the current decision I am mulling over. Either dropping compression for more boosting, or keeping the higher compression ratio and swap to running E85 or a Flex fuel sensor. Swapping to E85 should be fairly easy since Haltech can handle a flex fuel sensor pretty easily. Just gotta swap all the rubber fuel lines and upgrade injectors and fuel pump. Although I have seen might need to increase the size of the fuel lines for enough throughput.

Took the block and head to a machine shop and the shop owner said they were in great shape and he didn't recommend any honing or decking. That was good to hear especially after seeing a piston that was disintegrating. He did recommend swapping the injector on that cylinder since he has seen that be the reason for pistons going out.

For now the plan is clean clean clean and collect parts for the rebuild.

Things I have upgraded or am planning on doing during the rebuild.

-MLS headgasket
-ARP head studs
-CP pistons
-360 main thrust bearing
-water pump with metal impeller
-late model M42 lower timing case without the idler gear
-all new gaskets and dust covers
-JB racing M20 lightweight flywheel
-Clutchmasters FX350 sprung hub clutch
-All transmission seals + pilot bearing + bushings
-DSSR from Garagistic (Short shifter already installed
-Removing the ABS module that doesn't work and putting in a brake bias valve from Ireland Engineering

Thinking about a larger intercooler and an oil cooler but not sure if its worth it for right now.

[varg]

Bummer, great to hear that the block is fine. Open the ring gap, run some quality injectors, and mind your tune which should be quite conservative if you're going to track the car. I can't say I'm surprised it didn't last a track day, it tests the heat rejection capabilities of your setup far more than street driving ever will, and I'll bet your coolant and oil temps got higher than you'd want. The oil was probably shot afterward with no oil cooler too, the turbo adds a lot of heat on the track. As for compression ratio, I wouldn't go below 9:1, it'll make the car less responsive and it doesn't look like you want the peak power build but the lightweight fun build which is responsive. What size is that intercooler by the way?

[BushPilot9]

Yeah I wasn't particularly surprised either, but it sure was a fun experience while it lasted. Such a fun car to drive, especially with the extra oompf from the turbo. Looking back I probably should have done some data logging or at least brought my laptop to look at the temps instead of just sending it but the rebuild is a fun project itself.

Intercooler is an 18x12x3 ebay special, and it did fine on the tests drives I did after the turbo install but not sure it is enough for track use. Did some research on fitting an oil cooler and seems like an oil filter cap is the best way to go. Anyone have any experience with FTWL Motorsport? Found this on ebay and its a bit expensive but seems like a well designed set up.

Checked my main bearing clearances and all were right around .025 mm which for 150k is quite legit. Was planning on swapping them out but they look in great shape and have solid oil clearances so I think I will just swap the one out to get a 360 degree thrust bearing and leave the rest in place.

Did some engine bay cleaning and removed the ABS module and wiring since it hasn't worked since I bought the car and I don't want to spend the money to fix it so might as well lose the weight. Not spotless but a whole lot cleaner than it was.

Also cleaned up the block and put a coat of rust converter on it in prep for painting it.

[BushPilot9]

Finally got my new pistons in a month or so ago. C/P 9 to 1 compression, should be a lot better suited to the boosted nature of the motor.

Spent a couple weekends putting it all together, looks like a whole new motor with clean parts and new pistons! Also upgraded to a late model timing case to get rid of the idler gear and a couple other small updates/upgrades.

Put a JB racing single mass flywheel and a Clutch Masters FX350 Clutch to handle the additional power as the old clutch was starting to slip. All back together and ready to go into the empty space in the engine bay that had been empty way too long.

After a Sunday afternoon with a buddy, all back where its supposed to be. Got a bit worried when I couldn't get oil pressure initially with just the starter turning the motor but after backfilling the oil pump through the turbo oil feed line it finally bumped the oil pressure of the peg. Started right up after that, and ran like a charm. Took it around the neighborhood to get it up to temperature and bleed the radiator, but when closing the bleed valve it snapped off leaving me with a leaking radiator... The radiator wasn't in great shape anyway so now I am waiting on an all aluminum Mishimoto replacement radiator before I can finish the break in process.