e30 316 build x2 (m52/m50, turbo, 3pcs bottle caps etc)

[pazi88]

Makes a whole lot of sense to me. Are you running different cams in this engine too? If I recall, I remember you talking about running an m54b30 intake cam (with modified vanos gear) in one of your vids but I dont know if you said you'd be running it on this engine.

Yeah I have m54b30 intake cam and m50 non-vanos intake cam as exhaust cam (both are 240 degrees and 9.7mm lift).

Finnish guy made comparisons with m54b30 intake cam and m50/m52 intake in NA engine. I didn't find the graphs anymore, but with m54b30 intake cam there is only about 5hp difference between m52 and m50 intake. (not the 20-25 difference as there is with stock intake cam). And with m52 intake + m54b30 cam, you get +10hp and +20 Nm at 4000 RPM compared to m50 intake. Also the torque peak start 1000 RPM lower with m52 intake.

So conclusion: With 100% stock m52b28 engine, you get 20-25 hp more with m50 intake at top end (you lose same amount of low end torque). So if you keep your engine revs high, that is good mod. But if you have better cams in your m52b28, it's better to have stock m52 intake.

[pazi88]

New video of my e30 finally out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5jyKYTsZFY

[Javier h]

Nice

So an M52 with S52 cams has better overall "initial" performance than

and stock M52 with M50 intake

in the sense that the power comes quicker.

Most go M52 with M50 intake and S52 cams... are they just not getting a better bang for the buck especially if they want to feel power initially?

Like most, as daily drivers, I am not necessarily redlining the car on every shift. Sounds like the S52 cams is a mild improvement from stock but worth it if you get the cams at a reasonable price and are in the engine already for lets say a headgasket.

For those that race, and keep their engines at 3500 rpms....the balance of the modifications suits them.

Great insights!

Javier

[Julien]

Love the build, keep the updates coming please!

[pazi88]

Love the build, keep the updates coming please!

Thanks! I will.

Just got the flexfuel sensor for my car:


This one is cheapo one from eBay. About third of the price of genuine one. But comparing to the genuine one I got these are 1:1 same part. Maybe even from same production line. Interesting to see if there is differences how this cheapo one works compared to genuine one.

Also got the fuel pump bracket for in-tank fuel pump. So I should now get the engine running again during the Easter. I got one already. But it was so rusted that rather than spending lot of time refurbishing it, I just bought the cheapest replacement pump kit I did find, to get the bracket. The fuel pump is probably garbage but That will be replaced with the 450lph walbro. (I got the e85 one which is bit more expensive than the regular one)

I also got the ms3 for the ONE electrically finished, so we can test that also:


The extra rs232 port is in reality CAN connector. It will be used to connect extra gauges and maybe even EGT sensor unit. I got 3D printer and to test that I printed mount for the connector.

[pazi88]

Finished the ms3x megasquirt. For looks I 3D printed logo and painted the box black.


The back has CAN-interface port, extra map for exhaust pressure and the wire bundle has the stuff that wasn't on the stock ecu connector, like boost solenoid output, VSS input, flex fuel input etc.


The cherry hall sensors are now wired to stock sensor connectors so that those will fit directly to stock wiring harness.


With first try I hand no signal from the sensors at all. WTF. Well for the crank sensor I forgot to fully plug in the connector :D But for cam sensor, we had forgot to install the trigger plate to the end of the cam. After I installed that, I got the wanted signals from the sensors:


Full RPM sync:


Unfortunately I had missed the part in megasquirt documentation that the coil and injector outputs need to be wired according to the firing order. So we couldn't yet start the engine before I change the wiring. But here is how the engine looks now:


Here is the newest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w15RmezlVvE

[econti]

Once the wiring covers are all on that will look fantastic

[wworm]

never fail to impress. This thread has so much good stuff in it

[pandaboo911]

Sounds like you got a new microphone, new vids are good quality :)

I like that catch can. Did you just fill it with stainless chips or did you weld in some baffles?

[pazi88]

Once the wiring covers are all on that will look fantastic

I hope so :D

never fail to impress. This thread has so much good stuff in it

Thanks a lot!

Sounds like you got a new microphone, new vids are good quality :)

I like that catch can. Did you just fill it with stainless chips or did you weld in some baffles?

Same old. Just found new video editing tricks to make sound lot better :D

There are few baffles. That engine has so little oil coming out of breather that it doesn't require special trickery in catch can. There is just quite much e85 vapors coming out and condensing there, so that's why we needed bigger one.

BTW new video about my car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zONO1cf-GxE

[econti]

honestly easy way to baffle a catch can is just to stuff steel wool inside it, it catches all the oil

[pazi88]

honestly easy way to baffle a catch can is just to stuff steel wool inside it, it catches all the oil

Yeah that's one way to do that.

But I now got the missing power steering pump bracket for my e30:


Got the hose made to replace the power steering cooling loop and the injectors came from refurbishment:


The injectors were fine when tested, so that was bit of waste of money. Probably the wd40 got those open, because I left lot of it in the bag with injectors in it. But Still I would not have been comfortable just relying on that "wd40 bath" to clean the injectors, so I would had to get those checked in any case.


Got the GAZ rear shocks that are shimmed for my car for drag race use. Hopefully that will solve the tire hopping issues I had:


So I now have all the pieces to get the car ready for summer.

Now when I got other things done, I started working on the engine info screen that will communicate with megasquirt using can-bus. This is just test of the oled screen to show random data:


Video of that working: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bh6qmgDl...en-by=sipasema

I also got the can interface working, but I'm currently trying to figure out how to get those two SPI devices working simultaneously. The screen works and the can interface works but after using the can, the screen stops responding. I have to do something to handle the SS-lines correctly. But when That's done, it should be fairly easy to show what I want on the screen. And hopefully even send some commands to megasquirt with some push buttons.

[pandaboo911]

honestly easy way to baffle a catch can is just to stuff steel wool inside it, it catches all the oil

Yeah I’ve been planning on doing that but steel wool is too thin I think, it also tends to separate and come apart. I’ll use stainless machining chips from my lathe

Same old. Just found new video editing tricks to make sound lot better :D

There are few baffles. That engine has so little oil coming out of breather that it doesn't require special trickery in catch can. There is just quite much e85 vapors coming out and condensing there, so that's why we needed bigger one.

BTW new video about my car: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zONO1cf-GxE

Interesting, one of the reasons why I ditched e85. My catch can was full to the brim with e85 once a month.

[pazi88]

Interesting, one of the reasons why I ditched e85. My catch can was full to the brim with e85 once a month.

That's why I don't personally lile the catch can setup (in any car), because it's not maintenance free. Once I get the car finished, I don't like to work on it while it's in use. In my car I have vibrant scavencer which has direct hose from valve cover. It's just bit smelly so I'm going to add e39 m5 separator in the line. And possibly reroute the line to turbo inlet. I was thinking of using the m52 separator, but it turns out I did cut away the bracket for that :D So the m5 one will be easier.

BTW I got both cars running fully sequential. Here is potato video of the ONE running: https://www.instagram.com/p/BiH-UIwlpIX/

Phone makes it sound like it's missing few cyl. But in reality, it seems to run lot smoother now than it did with stock intake and in batch fire/wasted spark mode with "ms2".

The m50NV is bit slow to start because of the single pin on the cam trigger. But the m52 has the half-moon trigger on the cam, so I can use the poll-level mode in megasquirt. And it starts just by touching the key

[econti]

Yeah I’ve been planning on doing that but steel wool is too thin I think, it also tends to separate and come apart. I’ll use stainless machining chips from my lathe

Depends what wool you use, I got some thick stuff and had it in my Skyline for a year and a half with no issues. No issues with the catch can at least lol