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    Another turbo M20 build

    I've been on the forums for a while now and I am slowly inching on a project that I sourced parts together from. I did cheat a little as far as the motor goes (bought it somewhat refreshed), but the shell is something that I am more concerned about at this point (pics of those will eventually come).

    I have 2 E30's. Both the same year (1989), both the same color (bronzit), except one is a daily 4-door and the other is a 2-door. My original plan was to boost the 4-door and get either an E36 or E46 daily driver. But because I love driving my E30 so much and it's a clean DD and get compliments on it, I figured I should get another E30 and make it my project.

    The left is the project and the right is the daily:


    This is the motor how I got it:


    Well, it was my lucky day because I decided to take the chance and get the snail sent off to CMR for an inspection and possible rebuild. Upon futher investigation of the motor, I found that the piston rings were fine and that it was the turbo that was causing the smoke when going into boost (CMR said seals in the turbo were blown and a bearing needed to be replaced, otherwise it was good to go). I pretty much did a victory dance when I found out the motor was stout. The turbo is an H1C Holset. I originally thought about picking up an HX40 but went against it because I hear the H1C's are relatively cheap and easy to rebuild if something were to go wrong. Plus I don't have the money for a brand new turbo. lol

    Because of my lack of motivation to work on a motor after being at a dealership all day, I didn't do much today other than replace the valve cover gasket, paint the VC itself flat black, put some new plugs in (BP5ES's), and remove the intake manifold for a bit of black paint (IM not shown, but will be in the next post when I get more shit done):


    I will be using MS to run the system and then I will update as I go along. My goals are mild, somewhere in the 300's on a reliable safe tune. If anyone has any questions or can chime in their own personal experiences, please feel free to do. This is my 2nd turbo build, as my first one was a KA-T 240SX and this is my first time boosting a BMW.
    1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
    2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
    2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

    #2
    what kind of m20 is it?

    " WHY DO YOU NEED 300HP TO DO THE SPEED LIMIT?"

    Comment


      #3
      Sorry, forgot to clarify a LOT of things. I'm pretty tired from work and other things.

      It's an M20B25 that is stroked to 2.7L with Super ETA internals and whatnot, so I can't give a true displacement. Basically a bastard motor. lol I'm going to use 42 lb injectors to see about 14 lbs of boost. Spark is going to be controlled by GM coil packs. Not crazy power as you can tell, but enough to have fun with.
      1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
      2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
      2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

      Comment


        #4
        Looks like you have a good start man! Looking forward to seeing this pounding the concrete. Sub'd
        1989 325i|1992 325i|And completely obsessed|:woowoo:
        sigpic BMW. The Ultimate Driving Machine.
        The Build...

        Comment


          #5
          Looks like an awesome start. Sub'd.

          Comment


            #6
            Subscribed! Can't wait to see more.
            Originally posted by LJ851
            kingston is the play by play announcer for this thread.
            ‘Tis by the grace of God that my cars run!

            Originally posted by unloadedak
            #teamross
            Siobhan's Build Thread - UPDATED!

            Comment


              #7
              Not much to update because I'm waiting on a few gaskets. The real work is in my shell, which will be seeing a nice amount of before and after photos.

              Painted the block, changed the timing belt and the alternator/water pump belt (only one I will be running, unless I decide to add power steering later on):



              Next week or so, after I obtain a decent air compressor, I will be posting pics of a leakdown test and possibly a how to procedure incase nobody has had the time to do a write up on it. My father just moved from Florida to Michigan and gave me a welder, so I'm going to try and weld a new downpipe for the turbo. Also, my turbo is finished and it should be back to me sometime next week. Pics of more fun stuff to come!
              1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
              2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
              2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

              Comment


                #8
                Alrighty, just a quick update! I got my turbo back from CMR in Tampa, and let me tell you....this guy did a fantastic job. Quality work, great communication, the turbo looks and feels brand new! Here are a few pictures of it:







                It's not much, but I wanted to let people know that I'm still working on this. I have been slacking for one reason, and that reason is I'm going broke literally every single week putting time and money into this. I have to take it easy now until I can get all my MS sensors as well as the rest of the things I need.

                I just need to source a few more things and the next shots will be of the motor going into the car. Once that is in, it's business time. haha
                1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
                2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
                2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

                Comment


                  #9
                  keep us updated! coming along nicely though
                  GRIPPY'S*GARAGE

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Okay, another small update:

                    I was able to at least get a leakdown test in last weekend (I know, I've been slacking even way worse than before) and the numbers were...okay. and by okay, I'm talking about not 100% what I wanted. Cylinders 2 through 5 are all consistent with numbers, but 1 and 6 are showing less leakage past the rings, which means I may have to tear the motor down and start from scratch.
                    1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
                    2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
                    2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I managed to pop the head from the motor because if I'm going to build this car, I want to do it right the first time. I did a second leakdown test just in case I thought I was doing it wrong, but sure enough, I got the same results. I am showing leaking exhaust valves, so here's the head popped off:





                      So now while I'm waiting for my head studs and a new head gasket and other goodies to come in, I mounted in a 3-gauge pod in the center A/C vents, courtesy of my buddy Joel from Hi-Boost.com. He sells laser cut gauge panels for a good price and they are all direct fit in either your OBC, A/C vent, ashtray area, wherever! It's pretty sweet, so go check it out. /buddy advertising. hahaha



                      I had some rear rotors and pads that I was going to throw on my sedan a while back, but didn't need, so I went from these:



                      To these:



                      Simple shit, I know, but I had to do something productive each day so I can stop looking at this car sitting in my garage. lol


                      Here is a shot of my intercooler and oil cooler setup:



                      The oil cooler is from a W126 Mercedes-Benz. I got it for free and I figured it would be more efficient than the stock oil cooler (as you can see it's bigger. lol).

                      Next update is my manifold re-do-make-over blah blah blah and a few other things. You get the idea.
                      1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
                      2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
                      2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I had one of my buddies come take a look at my motor. I figured a second set of eyes could really help me figure out what all I should do to make this motor in top shape again without pissing money away. Plus he is a BMW mastermind. He currently has an M54 powered E30 that is pushing over 22 lbs of boost and he fabs everything himself. Needless to say, he is an expert.

                        After a nice thorough look at the motor, it turns out that the motor has a bad headgasket (as opposed to the exhaust valves that I THOUGHT were bad). that was great news, so a head rebuild wasn't necessary at this point. After disassembling the head from the block, we removed the pistons and the cylinder walls still had factory crosshatching. Also, the piston rings were in great shape as well! (Pics at the end of this post).

                        I am definitely going to need to re-fab my turbo manifold so I won't even get into that. lol

                        We concluded I would need the following for my motor:
                        • Goetze Headgasket
                        • ARP Head Studs
                        • Main Rod Bearings
                        • Set of piston rings


                        Pretty short list, so I am digging the condition of the overall health of the motor.

                        Now...because I am waiting for parts to arrive (or whenever I can afford them), a majority of the pictures on here for a while will be focused on drivetrain and other parts on the car that aren't directly affiliated with the engine itself.

                        As I was mounting in my 3.25 LSD differential, I noticed my CV axles seemed a bit worn, not to mention the boots were torn, so I went ahead and ordered CV axles for both sides. After they finally came in, I mounted them up. Look at the nice new shiny stuff!





                        Only ran me $120 for both of them, so I figured it would be some cheap insurance.

                        Cylinder wall:


                        Pistons out of block:


                        Cylinder head, oil pan, oil pump, and transmission attachment that goes to the pan....all ready to be cleaned up:


                        More to come later!
                        1989 325i - 2.7i, Holset H1C, 60lb injectors, whodwho MS-PNP.
                        2012 Passat TDI - DD Duty
                        2008 GMC Yukon XL Denali - Kiddie hauler/grocery getter

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Where did you get the axles for that cheap?!?!?!!!! Nice work man. Keep it going
                          1989 325i|1992 325i|And completely obsessed|:woowoo:
                          sigpic BMW. The Ultimate Driving Machine.
                          The Build...

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by drutt23 View Post
                            where did you get the axles for that cheap?!?!?!!!!
                            +1
                            sigpic

                            A man chooses, a slave obeys... Would you kindly?

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Good looking build so far! Looking forward to seeing more!
                              stephenbrody.com

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