Boost Junky: 2nd Saga - M50-T Project

[Boost Junky 1]

roflcopter at the photo of blair peepin up from behind the car!!

NICE WORK LUKE! ten points

haha crack up eh! Chea bud

Geez that's gonna haul ass. I'd forgotten how big the turbo was...

Yea lol i forget myself and not really gonna realise how big it actually is till i try to get traction down the road lol. Looks smaller though with all the intercooler hose and filter etc attached up.

yeeeooow nearly there, sounded so sick tonight!

yeah who is that guy peeping up from behind the car hahaha,

needa start sussing some new rubber i think luke!

HAha yea sounded mint aye bro loud as!! Yeap gonna have to find away to get rid of that camber and too fit some wider tyres without them rubbing on the guards...

[Forrest 35]

Looking and sounding sick bro, ideally would like to build something exactly like this when my current motor pops....

[Boost Junky 1]

Looking and sounding sick bro, ideally would like to build something exactly like this when my current motor pops....

Cheers bro! Not bad aye be better when it has an exhaust and can actually hear the true sound of it. I'd definitely go towards M50/M52 or even M54 if I were you

[drifty325i 0]

Whoa I love it

[Gus 5]

very tough, i like.

[Boost Junky 1]

Thanks guys. Man its taken ages to get this far but getting there. Went to town last night and caught up with a fellow who used to own a performance shop here. Hes a good customer of mine now buys alot of car parts off me. Showed him some images of my car on my phone and he was very impressed. Then he got talking about how he used to have and E36 and had a spare 5 speed gearbox sitting down the coast.

I asked him how much he wanted for it and he just said I could have it! Heres hoping its a ZF 5 speed!!

[topcat 11]

looks cool mate.shame the hot bit cant fit to sit straight,guess we cant win them all

[e30plz 1]

Looks and sounds tough as, So cool.

[Boost Junky 1]

looks cool mate.shame the hot bit cant fit to sit straight,guess we cant win them all

Cheers man. Yea damn it would have been nice if she sat straight aye. I still mite address that yet.

Looks and sounds tough as, So cool.

Yea man lovin it aye thanks bro. I will keep yas updated with pics etc once i get the exhaust made hopefully, gonna pull head off soon and put a thicker MLS headgastket in. Im unsure of what thickness I go with, I guess it depends on what kind of power i want to get out of her? Anyone know much down this alley? What I should go for?

Cheers, Luke

[OLLIE 26]

Im unsure of what thickness I go with, I guess it depends on what kind of power i want to get out of her? Anyone know much down this alley? What I should go for?

Cheers, Luke

Power vs reliability and a whole bunch of other factors I would have thought ... a thick one for lower compression, a thin one for higher compression ... Some quite complex maths/physics will help you make the decision aye.

Perhaps Glen - E30-323ti could give some advice??

[Boost Junky 1]

Yea thats what I gather Ollie, im going to loose power off boost around town etc arent I the thicker I go? Cheers bro I will PM him

[|ncary 0]

Keep the MLS gasket the same thickness as stock, those engines are built tough and the response will be worth it. Go about 12psi day in day out on stock internals from the hours I've read about turboing on e30tech. Of course you are limited by a decent tune.

I love it, nice work I say!

My turbo project is very, very close..

[Boost Junky 1]

Keep the MLS gasket the same thickness as stock, those engines are built tough and the response will be worth it. Go about 12psi day in day out on stock internals from the hours I've read about turboing on e30tech. Of course you are limited by a decent tune.

I love it, nice work I say!

My turbo project is very, very close..

Whats your project Incary? Hmmm so still run a MLS gasket at stock thickness (0.070 i believe) I have an elring factory style headgasket spare would that be ok or even leaving my current headgasket in? Id ultimately rather put a MLS 0.140" cometic gasket in after reading up on BimmerForums but damn its expensive after the currency conversion and freight...

[320guy 0]

0.140 Cometic is what everyone over at bimmerforums seems to use with great results. Though the head and block have to be decked to almost a mirror finish or it will not seal properly.

[Boost Junky 1]

Yea thats what I have concluded. The head will be decked, I saw a certain grade of roughness in one of the posts that it needs to be for Cometic gaskets. Alot of the guys have cleaned the block face and sanded it with fine grit sandpaper and had no problems. Only issue I saw pop up on other forums was the gasket leaking a small amount of oil by the timing cover with some of the guys on there. Man those gaskets arnt cheap! Especially with the exchange rate

[320guy 0]

No, they arent cheap at all. A few people have issues with them leaking, some people have success by spraying them with copper spray, others say its not needed and have success without the copper spray. Im not sure if the head and block have to be done, but if you were to sand it, you would have to be extremely careful.

[Boost Junky 1]

No, they arent cheap at all. A few people have issues with them leaking, some people have success by spraying them with copper spray, others say its not needed and have success without the copper spray. Im not sure if the head and block have to be done, but if you were to sand it, you would have to be extremely careful.

Yea man I would be using copper spray as a precaution, we have it at work so thats convenient. Most people recomend having the head decked and atleast cleaning and giving the block a very careful/light finish which id use some emry tape.

[Mike 1]

when I spoke to cometic about mine they said factory finish is normally fine, its just sub-standard repair jobs that can cause problems

[topcat 11]

another way, or cheaper i think is the good blokes at 'gaskets unlimited'

used them on the first turbo project.and have a new unit to go on the current.

he/they copied the OEM gasket and fitted prefectly

good advice and a sharp price.

cheers marty

[Boost Junky 1]

when I spoke to cometic about mine they said factory finish is normally fine, its just sub-standard repair jobs that can cause problems

I see, so should really get the block profesionally decked also?

another way, or cheaper i think is the good blokes at 'gaskets unlimited'

used them on the first turbo project.and have a new unit to go on the current.

he/they copied the OEM gasket and fitted prefectly

good advice and a sharp price.

cheers marty

Thanks Marty! Forgot about them, I think Rach at NZ Gaskets metioned that a few weeks back will def look into that!

Cheers, Luke

[Mike 1]

I see, so should really get the block profesionally decked also?

Cheers, Luke

No, what I meant was if the motor hasn't been apart and you can get the old gasket off cleanly then it should be fine as it is.

Are you using ARP studs also?

[Boost Junky 1]

Ah I see. Umm I was thinking about but a few people have told me that the standard torque yield bolts should be fine...

[Boost Junky 1]

So its about time for an update...

Project must be say 90% complete to date. All the turbo manifold, IC Piping, Oil/Water Lines are plumbed up. Stripped it all off again over the weekend and ripped the head off the motor. Going to run the Cometic 0.140" MLS headgasket which will drop my compression for more than enough boost. Have decided to replace the headbolts with a fresh set of factory bolts. Headgasket is in the country according to track n trace.

As far as the head goes I will be getting the valves reground and the valve seats. Head plane is on the list and will clean up the block facing ready for the gasket.

My mate and I started on the downpipe but only got as far as the rear of the engine bay as we cannot fit 3" down between the steering arm and block so will be going 2.5" from there to the rear end..

While the head is off im going to check out the firewall as I suspect a bit of rust commonly found in the E30's... may even have to drop the block out to sort this issue out.

My manifold is currently under pressure testing thanks to a guy I know locally who works in the NDT industry.

Heres some more pics:

More too come shortly

[320guy 0]

You can squeeze a 3" pipe between the strut tower and the steering column. Might be a bit of work, but it can be done, and far better than doing 2.5".

[Boost Junky 1]

You can squeeze a 3" pipe between the strut tower and the steering column. Might be a bit of work, but it can be done, and far better than doing 2.5".

Hey man, yea its already only gonna clear the chasis and steering shaft by like 10mm either side and then the movement of the motor on top of that will make it definitely touch the body or steering shaft... I dunno maybe I will squash up a piece of 3" and see what it will be like..