1M Clone Build

[gaijin 174]

Back to the 1M faker,

LHS headlight lens being readied to seal back up

As almost as large as you can fit in dual oil coolers installed. RHS mounts as per the stock one, LHS requires a few parts that were not originally on the car, shown below,

 

This allows two of the three mount to attach to the chassis rail, this part get placed between the chassis rails and the front crash bar as per the RHS. Its on its way.

 

 

Seem to fit ok, holes in metal duct were for brake vents from the original owner.

Rear interior/boot reassembled, left out any part that isnt particularly functional. Meth tank cleaned out, lines routed.

 

Nex job later today is removal of fuel tank, to both clean out any residual crap and rinse remainder of fuel out. Also to ensure the stage 4 triple intank pumps are secure and finalised, including fuel lines and relays, hobb switch, ground wires, supply and return lines etc. I never truly finished this job to a point where Im confident its done properly. Probably fine, just dont want this to burn the car down by being lazy.

 

 

One part Ive been scratching head my head on literally is the half cage. It dawned on me that I quite possibly bought a LHD type cheap locally. The diagonal bar would preferably go the other direction giving me the space needed to no knock me out, or add so much padding that my face is up in the windscreen. May remove entirely. Leave this for later.

Found a genuine BMW motorsport gershifter new.

 

Lest we forget 🥀

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by gaijin
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[gaijin 174]

Change out stock plugs from wrecked 335i wagon, to um Stage 2/3, cant remember

Pulled all the valve cover wiring loom out of the way for now, will worry about tarting up the engine bay later, with new cam cover, pcv, heat shields etc

BMS/ Burger thermostat and AN fittings in for oil coolers run in series

Who says there just a few lines coming in/out of the turbo

Time to check fitment inclusive of turbosmart oil pressure regulator, likewise water feed ally pipe. Itll need to be changed/modified.

[gaijin 174]

Audi R8 coil packs install

They do not fit immediately, require some minor mods to fit tight on the new plugs

remove stainless outer sheath, pry apart, pull off.

Keep inner SS sheath, cut back rubber grommet to help lower the coil onto the plug. 

Reason is that the coil doesn't sit low enough over the top of the plug

Had a look at some yubtub vids but often they dont show that removal of the outer SS sheath is the key for the coil to sit lower to connect to the plugs.

The bimmerlife R8 coil harness is garbage, looking at alternatives for this

 

[elias 230]

looking good, lots of good work there, looks like an incredible build. In terms of a halfcage, that one doesnt look ideal, if you arent opposed to a weld in one, have a chat to chubb racing ltd, hes in auckland, welded a halfcage into my 135i, very happy with it and done to MSNZ spec. Seats, seatbelt anchorages are all LVV certified as well no so no issues there either. More info on the whole interior changes in my build thread

[gaijin 174]

Thanks Elias, looks really clean and plenty of space too. Looks great!

Ill see how I go, may I ask about how much $?

[gaijin 174]

Some minor but important changes

I couldnt get the ex manifold out of the car without lifting the engine on the RHS, a complete pain.

Solution was to pack up the RHS engine mount with a spacer allowing ex manifold to go in and out as it should

This allows enough room now without having to resort to beating the chassis strut area in as many people do, clearance shown in photo 7

I've removed the waterpump entirely to check all hose fitments. Reason for that is the inlet hose to the waterpump was just rubbing on the oil return to the block AN fitting JUST, enough to wear through in time. Ordered a modified factory return that sits up and around the pump still with an AN fitting, welded to the end.

Everything looking good and attached apart from the change in direction with the oil pressure regulator for the turbo. The mk1 Turbosmart OPR requires a plumbing back in of the oil return that is not in the same return line as the main turbo oil return drain, which would mean either a whole separate line to the sump or using their new mk2 returnless version which I've bought from North Short Toyota and the great team there. Ill get the final oil lines made up once the OPR arrives which should at that point complete the turbo plumbing, bar the heat shielding sleeves and the mounting of the OPR. Yeah, that and the boost lines for mac valve solenoid etc.

 

 

This is about as close to a final turbo plumbing solution as its ever got. Once Ive finished all the lines Ill keep going to finish the downpipe and look to feed the wastegate dump back into the main dump to keep LVVTA happy.

 

Crap bimmerlife coil harness solution. Ill see if  I can rescue it first.

Edited April 27, 2023 by gaijin
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[elias 230]

17 hours ago, gaijin said:

Thanks Elias, looks really clean and plenty of space too. Looks great!

Ill see how I go, may I ask about how much $?

have sent you a message

[gaijin 174]

Sheesh, despite plenty of garage time over the last 3 days, doesn't 'look' like much has progressed.

oil pressure regulator v2 arrived and mounted forward of the turbo on a piece of 5mm ally. Hoses will need redoing. No independant drain is good. Turbosmart says 100mm away from significant heat sources. Tried a few mount locations, almost decided against the engine block (which would've been a nice tidy out of the way place, but then again a recommended oil pressure gauge and a washable filter means a local reachable position is preferred, so that decided the location. That took an age, I wish Khabib could have 'send me location' would have saved time....

Also pulled the wastegate apart to turn the port positions, turbosmart seem to be ok with three bolt configs which means an odd range of options for wastegate top/bottom pressure port positions. i.e. annoying

Mounted the stock water outlet from block to waterpump, fits snug to wastegate exhaust pipe. 

Bought a bunch of heat reflector sheets, hose sleeves etc.

Started the boost solenoid mac valve install, not sure where to place it yet.

Also decided to start a 3.5" turbo dump over the 3" since I think it'll fit, now that I have more clarity about fitment of everything down there, 

I did go though through the wiring parts and noticed the changes in the N54 scene since I started/ better said since I stopped driving the car for the ST conversion the build, in regards to port injection controllers. Usually a JB4 and additional injector controller etc etc was to the go to, now its the motiv reflx plus. start saving.....yet it does much more than just the PI part.

Photos just thrown in no specific order

 

 

 

 

Should get hold of the new front facing manifold tomorrow or so to get the cold side work going,  should be miles easier than the hot side.

Did buy some new brake decals and paint to freshen the calipers up at some point

[gaijin 174]

Got the fuel tank removed,

needed driveshaft to be removed, handbrake cables released from inside car etc.

 

Wanted to review previous work and make sure Im 100% happy with it.

The stage 4 Precision setup has 3 x walbro 450 90000267 pumps- e85 ok.

The third pumps sits off the side of the bucket and was needing to be installed to the bucket inside the fuel tank which was fiddly.

2 x 450l/hr is sufficient for up to 1k hp so will just install the two pumps to keep it clean for now.

Much happier with the completed bucket. I cleaned out the tank inside and out. Some minor junk was left in the tank.

 

Little cable nick fixed

#

Note the O ring coming out, replaced O rings.

 

Position of return feed really close to the tank outlet, will redrill with really limited space when the new reg/filter arrives. Also a part broken female receiving clip. New part fixes all that.

 

Noted the crimp connectors are pretty crap so soldered all connections, fixed a minor nick in one of the wires to a pump.

Ive bought a new regulator/filter (the LHS tank hole) to put in. I note that this will be the next fuel system restriction, may look at mods considering Ill run a regulator in the engine bay and pulse damper likewise a separate fuel filter that's already installed under the car.

Next job is getting it all back in, then going through the fuel line setup under the car so it meets cert requirements in regards to how they are fixed to the chassis.

 

My old front facing manifold

The front facing intake manifold arrived, yet doesnt fit, it interferes with the alternator at the throttle body weld interface. BEWARE buying this off Trade me. It'll need a spacer of sorts at the head to space it out circa 30mm. My N54 and engine is not unique in any way in this regard. Unsure if Ill return it, fix it or what. My last one fit ok. Bar going for a DOC or Plazmaman at huge expense, which is out of my budget.

A spacer kind of partly defeats the purpose adding another air/boost leak potential. Project life huh

Edited May 7, 2023 by gaijin
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[gaijin 174]

Some relief from the rain means time in the garage, hope you lot are not getting flooded!

The intake manifold hit the alternator, so got hold of a phenolic spacer, 26mm thick with cut outs for the o-ring seals on one side. Took the grinder to the alternator also to bring some of the fins of the back of it. Clears it all by maybe 2-3mm, so that's ok now. Seller offered some cash back for the non-fitting manifold so I'll leave it at that.

Can slowly put the cold side back together.

 

port injector carry 750cc @ 40psi injectors, plenty for now.

 

Hot side gets a short filter, about 90mm long. fits well.

 

Changing to a banjo top oil feed adapter to the turbo, as the previous version stuck up above the turbo, meaning the bonnet would likely hit that first, good fire starting opportunity.

Starting to feel like its coming together

Edited May 9, 2023 by gaijin
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[gaijin 174]

Cool projects still have shite jobs

Not too caked up but port inj means it'll end up in the cylinders, so needs to be cleaned. Used brake cleaner and a HD pipe cleaner, prob about 4 passes each, then compressed air and more brake clean. Came up decent.

 

Cleaned up the gasket surface

Also gave the block some love, diluted HCL acid sprayed on, left for 15mins, then rinsed off. Had a fair amount of oxidation, like a powder built up in places. All cleaned up.

 

Gave the cut engine cover a paint job in tungsten mett.

Removed all the engine bay loom, which was taken from the donor 335i auto. Manual and auto looms are a little different. That's this weekends job, make a decent loom from each, fixing the bits that er need fixing.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2023 by gaijin
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[Cement 782]

Looking pretty slick ... I reckon you should get a dry ice blaster ... so I can borrow it

[gaijin 174]

Totally on my mind, after watching the P1 and Tavarish last night C02 blasting , yeah drool....makes my project look like project cars for dummies...

Here is me selling my walnut blasting machine and a 30kg sack of walnut 2 years ago...sheesh

Carbon gunk removed, mostly onto me, at least well transferred...

[gaijin 174]

Haven't done as much as planned but progress nonetheless,

So all intake ports cleaned up and the mess is gone, likewise nice to work around a clean block and bay.

Put the intake manifold studs back in after a clean up, left the furthest back one out, to replace with a bolt, as it is the one that makes it more difficult to take the manifold out/in.

Removed some aircon lines as one doesn't look too happy, for replacement/fix later.

Next larger things to make fit are the radiator and PS reservoirs.

Had a few basic brackets that I trying to mock fit for now, to then test all the other clearances, hose connections, inner wheel guard etc. Still the stock 135i rad res. no the 335d one often used. See if a reorientated throttle body gives it more space, unlikely.

Ill get the port injectors in for a test this week and make sure they are good, spray pattern and flow etc.

 

[gaijin 174]

In between watching the Nurburgring 24hr and finishing the fuel tank off and finally getting the Golf R back from E&H, its been busy.

Golf managed a bit less than 370whp at all fours, feels enough for the daily. Runs at 28lbs, had a boost tap sitting under a map sensor causing heat soak into the sensor which I sorted/removed afterwards, so the dyno was run with 45+ deg C IATs, so expect a little higher hp now that I se low 20's deg C on the mway. Meth/water injection half installed, almost the last job on the project.

Bits turned up for the fuel tank, found some factory limitations with the filter/regulator assembly. The fuel feed into the filter then regulator is tiny. Opened up the old one to investigate, very unserviceable. Perhaps later Ill replace it entirely (for an aftermarket performance type one, much larger lines etc)  if I need to. For now its a OEM replacement.

Yip, this is the internal fuel tank feed line to the HPFP (and also port injection rail) , doesn't matter how many pumps you add (apart from the fuel pump controller getting pushed past its capacity), this will be the limitation.

Added some foam packers that sit against the tank and the chassis that over time disappeared.

 

 Redrilled the new fuel return into the top of the filter/reg. Moved the position slightly as it was rubbing against the fuel supply and return connectors. New O-Rings for the buckets etc

Then had my usual garage party Friday night session to have a look at the engine bay bits,

Painted some stuff, made some sh*t, fixed down the radiator reservoir with mounts

 

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by gaijin
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[gaijin 174]

What a bloody rigmarole, couldn't sleep so spent 4 hrs finishing the tank off, ready to reinstall.

Ended up putting the third pump back in, meh. Perhaps drilling a hole into the top of the filter regulator WASNT the return, idiot, it was the second fuel feed to the front, so instead of plugging the hole, I may as well use it. Would be hard to do this whole job in the car and with any fuel at all in the tank, you'd be passed out, as I did when I tried it last. Lots to build with two hands in the tank.

100% happy with it all now, what can be replaced has been replaced and enough fuel for whatever eventuates. 

[Cement 782]

All the fuel !! Feels weird having all those wires inside ya gas tank right hah

[gaijin 174]

It does, but beats external pumps making a racket. Just made sure no chance of shorts etc

[smiddy 76]

Great build and nice work, does this pump system come with relays and wiring to control current draw?

Stock EKPM will fry its self while idleing with this array.

Who are you looking to for tuning?

[gaijin 174]

Cheers man,

It'll just be the one lpfp on the pump controller, the other two at this stage will be powered directly from the battery via a relay and hobbs switch under the intake manifold. May look at what zero to 60 did with solid state relay.

If I can fund a maxxecu later then I'll run directly from that, or more likely the reflex+ and use PWM so the two additional pumps aren't all on or off. 

Tuning wise, Ive tuned this car over the years myself, but will see later as to what ECU or ECU and piggyback I run with.

Only used a tuner twice in the last 20 years, the golf r recently and then Soichi when he was in business for the Celica TA22, but lets see later

Edited May 26, 2023 by gaijin
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[gaijin 174]

Headlight time,

picked out the old seal, what a mongrel, took hours. Dont think Ill be doing LED strips etc, pretty happy as they are now. New lenses ready to get

 gooed back on

[gaijin 174]

The brakes, the giant brakes. Red has faded, chips in the paint etc. I've put brakes on cars, but these are the best I've had.

Took about 4 passes with the stripper to get them ready for paint,

 

Chicken or the beef?

Ill have brakes tonight thanks

 

 

I do note that the AP racing pads are down from 16mm new to 5mm, so cant say they havent been used.

 

[smiddy 76]

All sounds good and your on to it.

I have hybrid twins on mine, put a walbro 350 into exsisting bucket.

Ran into overheat problems with pump control unit, which shuts down at around 22A draw.

Was getting really hot, even to touch, around 80 deg C, added heat sinks to components and heat transfer padding to circuit board and mount area, did the 40mm PC fan modd also.

Down to 30 deg C and smooth fuel pump ramp up now, unit was not happy hot.

 

[gaijin 174]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:51 AM, smiddy said:

Excellent work, beats paying $$$ for an aftermarket controller,

On my Golf we reduced the available current to the controller via tuning, not sure if this can be done on N54 platforms 

 

[gaijin 174]

Ok, so more general admin on the car, while patiently waiting for parts to arrive.

New Tial Q BOV, genuine! onto new front facing plenum charge pipe, all fits well, minor miracle. Using some prefered products for air pressure plumbing, NPT 90 deg swivel fittings w/ high temp nylon hose for the BOV to under the intake manifold fitting.

 

Turbo guard as a no filter option

Headlight lens 1 sealed back onto housing and completed using all new headlight specific sealant, happy with the results for sure. Glad wrapped to fend off any garage rash

Not going to paint or powder coat the calipers, but Cerakote C series ceramic coat them. All stripped down, replaced the calipers bolts to grade 12.0 cap bolts instead of the star headed 10.9s that are easy to strip, as two did whilst removing to separate the caliper halves. Colour likely https://www.cerakote.com/shop/cerakote-coating/C-148/burnt-bronze

new AP Racing seal kit inc dust boots and nipples arrived. New AP Racing CP5555 pads, very similar to ferodo DS2500. Will get calipers sandblasted first, not thats there any paint left, but to get a good key/surface finish for the cerakote to bind to. A 5 day cure tho after application...

After reading for days and nights the fuel tank is back out for a Walbro/Ti Industries 535 aka 295 pump as the main pump. EKP cooling mod approaching also...found a 3d printed new cover that incorporates a fan alongside heatsinks to go inside. It'll need more fuel if I delete the HPFP and Di, more to come on that...

          

While im under the car I may get hubs and arms cerakoted while im digging around in there. The US military use it on some of their weapons, and found a local who is reliable and cheap applying it, save myself anymore cancer breathing it in.

So for sh*ts n giggles, the HPFP and HP injectors will be removed shortly and to run port injection only. It some ways its a backward step. The system is pretty good, if not getting very pricey to replace these parts. Its the ECu being the biggest headache when N54 start getting pushed.

Going standalone ECU,  this is a major step in being able to control the engine as opposed to suggestions with the MSD80/81, and avoiding a life dealing with MSD codes. I've experienced enough, now Ive read enough to have made my mind up. HPFP and Di delete kit on its way. Thank you to Dan Buchner on this decision.

https://vargasturbo.com/product/vtt-n54-di-injector-delete-kit/

Might get my money back on a Maxx Ecu with the prices of index 12's these days sheesh

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by gaijin
vroom