Track Day Project

[rwh11385]

Great build. Nice work

[diegom6]

Very cool build and clean! What did you use to clean or coat the intake manifold and valve cover (t-stat housing, etc)...? looks brand new!

[Dyno4mance]

cool, looking forward to seeing what your ignition looks like compared to mine. I went to the dyno yesterday and added another 10whp from the last time I was there - which makes it 20 peak HP more over motronic and probably 30hp more in the upper RPM area (won't know until they email me the files). I also put down more than a 2005 330xi with a bunch of dinan crap on it which made me pretty happy. Too bad the AWD sucks so much out of it before it reaches the ground!

oh are you running the MS2/extra 2.1.0 RC3 (or what may be the release by now)? if not I highly reccomend it. was a huge improvement over what I've been using for a couple years now, and I don't like updating things that aren't broken.

I think that is what we are running....even if I was not I would not change what I have as it took nearly 4 weeks of continuous research to figure the MS out from what I initially received....a real pain in the ass to be honest

[Dyno4mance]

Great results! What would it cost to duplicate that engine?

HHmmm....I have not added it up but if you include headers, injectors, FPR at around a $1000.00 around $1300.00 in the head with springs and cam and followers and machine work and about $2300.00 in the bottom end with custom pistons, forged eagle rods, tri metal bearings, new oil pump, water pump etc balanced, lightened flywheel with crank scraper and machine work..I would say nearly $5000.00thats scary!! did not realize I spent that much and I built the engine!!!

[Dyno4mance]

Very cool build and clean! What did you use to clean or coat the intake manifold and valve cover (t-stat housing, etc)...? looks brand new!

No cleaning, I had all the aluminum parts glass beaded by a local machine shop...then I painted the big bits with textured metalic paint and then finished them with clear coat from a can...all the other aluminum parts I just left them as they were after they werre beaded

[Andreas]

..I would say nearly $5000.00thats scary!! did not realize I spent that much and I built the engine!!!

It is the same with the small block Chev V8. Standard spares are very affordable, but once you put in the good stuff, costs go through the roof.

RE. your previous question, I should start the repair process on my Alpina this week. EDIT : Serious cost cutting measures introduced at my workplace, have led me to hold off any repairs.

[Stevie30]

The car sounds great. I can't wait to see it in person again.

[markseven]

HHmmm....I have not added it up but if you include headers, injectors, FPR at around a $1000.00 around $1300.00 in the head with springs and cam and followers and machine work and about $2300.00 in the bottom end with custom pistons, forged eagle rods, tri metal bearings, new oil pump, water pump etc balanced, lightened flywheel with crank scraper and machine work..I would say nearly $5000.00thats scary!! did not realize I spent that much and I built the engine!!!

Well worth it, imo :D

Can you please elaborate on the head work? Match-ported on both sides? Polished? What are your thoughts on extrude-honing the intake manifold?

[Dyno4mance]

Well worth it, imo :D

Can you please elaborate on the head work? Match-ported on both sides? Polished? What are your thoughts on extrude-honing the intake manifold?

When we used to build rally cars back in England it always seemed that the heads we modified with an old die grinder and some riffler files for our friends and fellow competitors as opposed to the ones we bought always seemed to perform better dispite the claims of flow on the bought ones blah blah blah...;)
After researching a couple of vendors offering ported M20 heads that claimed good increases in flow with thier heads and some with a price tag in excess of 2 grand!!!! I decided to modify the head myself...

If you strip an M20 head completely and actually look at the port design it appears to me to be really good..with a very straight shot from the port entrance to the cylinder....so I took the stance that if it aint broke why fix it...all I did is remove rough casting edges and abrupt transitions like the one on the short side of the port were it meets the valve seat..
I also smoothed in the guide area again so the guide did not create too much interuption and turbulance.

As for your question about extrude honing the maifold I really have no comment....I am not really going to stick with the stock intake manifold for long as I am going with ITB's...so it was never a consideration on my car..I do know that the long intake runners on the stock manifold is for sure the reason for the very good and flexible torque on the M20...

[markseven]

When we used to build rally cars back in England it always seemed that the heads we modified with an old die grinder and some riffler files for our friends and fellow competitors as opposed to the ones we bought always seemed to perform better dispite the claims of flow on the bought ones blah blah blah...;)
After researching a couple of vendors offering ported M20 heads that claimed good increases in flow with thier heads and some with a price tag in excess of 2 grand!!!! I decided to modify the head myself...

If you strip an M20 head completely and actually look at the port design it appears to me to be really good..with a very straight shot from the port entrance to the cylinder....so I took the stance that if it aint broke why fix it...all I did is remove rough casting edges and abrupt transitions like the one on the short side of the port were it meets the valve seat..
I also smoothed in the guide area again so the guide did not create too much interuption and turbulance.

As for your question about extrude honing the maifold I really have no comment....I am not really going to stick with the stock intake manifold for long as I am going with ITB's...so it was never a consideration on my car..I do know that the long intake runners on the stock manifold is for sure the reason for the very good and flexible torque on the M20...

Thank you for sharing the info - it is appreciated.

[nando]

When we used to build rally cars back in England it always seemed that the heads we modified with an old die grinder and some riffler files for our friends and fellow competitors as opposed to the ones we bought always seemed to perform better dispite the claims of flow on the bought ones blah blah blah...;)
After researching a couple of vendors offering ported M20 heads that claimed good increases in flow with thier heads and some with a price tag in excess of 2 grand!!!! I decided to modify the head myself...

If you strip an M20 head completely and actually look at the port design it appears to me to be really good..with a very straight shot from the port entrance to the cylinder....so I took the stance that if it aint broke why fix it...all I did is remove rough casting edges and abrupt transitions like the one on the short side of the port were it meets the valve seat..
I also smoothed in the guide area again so the guide did not create too much interuption and turbulance.

As for your question about extrude honing the maifold I really have no comment....I am not really going to stick with the stock intake manifold for long as I am going with ITB's...so it was never a consideration on my car..I do know that the long intake runners on the stock manifold is for sure the reason for the very good and flexible torque on the M20...

this is correct - it's really easy to ruin the intake ports by making them bigger. it actually needs material *added* to the roof of the port, which is a difficult and expensive proposition. The best you can do is clean it up a bit and maybe back cut the valves.

[Dyno4mance]

On a side note, just FYI, after about 150-200 miles on the new engine I noticed a small but present oil leak seeping from what looked like between the head and the block in the head gasket area, I checked the obvious VCG and I replaced the rubber camshaft seals with another set using ultra gray silicone but it still leaked..so I decided to retorque the head studs and sure enough 50% were now coming in at 45ft/lb...This was alarming as I know I torqued the ARPs down to the required 60ft/lb with moly during final assembly....so I retightened to 68ft/lb on all and 300 miles later PRESTO no oil leak....completely gone!!!
After searching on this forum and others it seems that oil leaks in this area on M20s is very commonplace maybe this is the fix for those cars although if people are using the factory bolts I would not recommend re-torquing as they are supposed to be 1 time use only....food for thought though...

[Dyno4mance]

A few videos incar, trying to set up the camera....sorry about the buffeting wind and the squeaky clutch pedal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU-1VyxQh5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6c368FiheY&feature=channel

[tn325i]

WOW !! you really have that thing tuned better now... Has your local reputation changed since you have been "road testing"....:evil:


Awesome , just awesome !!!!

[Mike]

That shit rips! Did you have windows in the doors? If you do, I'd like to hear the in car camera with the windows up.

Also, with my similiar setup, I also have ARP headstud kit, and I have about 2200 miles on mine, and I am getting some coolant trailing down the side of my block. I did 80lb/ft, and rechecked after the first 500miles. I just noticed the minor coolant seepage a few days ago. Maybe I will get that valve cover back off and recheck again.