My E30 325i turbo project

[tiripiri 0]

Hi. My name in ingus. I’m new in this forum.I’m mechanic my self and loved cars all my life. The reason why I’m wrighting in this forum is that I need some help from BMW enthusiasts! Cause I’m on middle to boost my 1990 325i m-tech project car.

And now I’ll tell short story about my project

6 month ago After full respray and interior job:

Suspension and brakes wasn’t too god so we decided for brand new (I got them almost for nothing )

A nightmare for 3 days.

We had to respray inside cause there was some rust and scratches.

My friend spend lot of time to do wires

I replaced all gaskets and oil seals(I didn’t do head gasket) New ignition,w p and t-belt kit.

This was tricky cause of fresh paint everywhere

Pirate lol

After 6days and lots of red bull

I was so happy that local tuner magazine put it in to next issue!

So now after I drove car and felt that engine power was too week for my new brakes and suspension . (oh and I smashed sump over bump last week ) . I desided to boost it cause it is cheapest power for the money.

There is my exhaust manifold I got it from e-bay yesterday . Looks prity good job. Turbo charger what I’ll use is T3/TO4E A/R-50. I’ve to weld pipe from manifold to external 38mm wastegate.

Plan is to get front mount IC, bigger radiator, electric fan, bigger fuel pump, injectors etc.

I really want to use Megasquirt cause it is DIY. Or there is some better and not very expensive options for ECU? Is there any one who have some experience with similar setup?

How much boost will take stock bottom end? Or it is safer to lower the compression (with thicker MLS gasket and arp bolts)? Where I can found metal head gasket if there is some on market?

How about engine heads do they give trouble?

I this is my first boosted BMW so I’ll appreciate for any help.

Thanks

[Sammy J 1]

you have a beautiful car there mate, good luck with the project, im about to undertake the same project. it all depends on how much HP you want and how big your budget is.

[byza213 1]

fricken cool car dude love seeing the projects good luck with the rest

[bravo 35]

Badass. Nice work mate. Will be watching this project.

Plenty of guys use megasquirt as it is so cheap, but some of the more expensive computers might cause less headaches. All depends on what you're after.

[westy 614]

I think your're gunna fit right in.

Car is quality.

[topcat 11]

Hi there,

the stock bottem end is good for 450-500hp.or so various forums say.(good condition block)

a guy in the states has an e28 525 that sees 25psi often on a stock engine.yes he has

the head off every 6 mnths,but does good numbers.

it really depends on what your lump's condition is,milage etc.

and how much boost you want to run

i've currently got my second turbo project on the boil.

if you have Q's, PM me your number

ps; nice vehicle,love the wheels

[Nobimmer 694]

Awesome looking car mate well done.

[Jamez 2147483647]

niceeeeeeeee, i want it

[OLLIE 26]

fantastic - welcome to bimmersport, where are you from?

[JiB 0]

Wow, choice car mate.

I have a question though, what are the specs on the brake rotors? Just wondering what the dimensions of them are ie bell height, thickness, OD? I'm guessing 16" wheels are necessary to fit over the whole package?

[Mike 1]

dam thats tidy, welcome

you could always have a look at Link ECU, they are costing around $1500NZ (+ wideband ~$350) from memory, wheres MS will cost you around $800 NZ with the wideband.

I've gone MS and have very few dramas with it, but there are plenty of people who have problems with it. Ultimately I'd say a 'proper' ECU should will give you less issues and more reliability. That said if DIY is you're thing then MS is great fun to play around with and can do some pretty cool stuff. also plenty of support now as shitloads of people are running them on those motors so getting maps should be no worries. If its the end result your after go for a Link or similar with proper tune behind it and be done. or if you want to play around yourself and save a bit of cash you can still get a pretty good result with MS. (hope that makes sense?)

[tiripiri 0]

Hi there,

the stock bottem end is good for 450-500hp.or so various forums say.(good condition block)

a guy in the states has an e28 525 that sees 25psi often on a stock engine.yes he has

the head off every 6 mnths,but does good numbers.

it really depends on what your lump's condition is,milage etc.

and how much boost you want to run

i've currently got my second turbo project on the boil.

if you have Q's, PM me your number

ps; nice vehicle,love the wheels

thanks.

My engine have 200000+miles. so i'll do head gasket and 'll try to get ARP bolts as well.

in one of forums samebody told me that i should weld the coolant channels in the head to match the block for more gasket sealing area.

I'm not shore that i understand what you told me there''if you have Q's, PM me your number"

[tiripiri 0]

fantastic - welcome to bimmersport, where are you from?

I'm coming from Latvia,but now i work live in ireland

[tiripiri 0]

Wow, choice car mate.

I have a question though, what are the specs on the brake rotors? Just wondering what the dimensions of them are ie bell height, thickness, OD? I'm guessing 16" wheels are necessary to fit over the whole package?

I'm not shore i'll try tu mesure them tomorow

[bravo 35]

I think your're gunna fit right in.

I agree with you Westy,

I think he's related to Gus. Even the names are similar!

Edited October 28, 2008 by bravo

[tiripiri 0]

why i cant post in e30tech.com . How long i've to wait till they will let me in?

[bravo 35]

Hey ingus,

Yeah it takes awhile for them to approve your membership. maybe as long as a week???

Slow buggers!

[Forrest 35]

why i cant post in e30tech.com . How long i've to wait till they will let me in?

i joined months ago...and havnt been able to post yet

Sorry a bit OT.

Nice car man, looking tasty

Edited October 29, 2008 by Forrest

[CamB 48]

The founder of e30tech seems to go awol for months at a time unfortunately. There is an active thread about it. Hang in there.

(edit) I'd like to add that the chances of you asking a question not already answered there are actually kind of minimal - it's just that the search sucks. These two threads are good reading:

Mops (who is an NZer and posts here on BS)

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55733

danmartin - eventually made 400whp plus on a stock bottom end

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.ph...light=danmartin

Just be careful on the whole "stock bottom end" thing - I am unsure whether there is a compression ratio difference from US to Euro cars.

Its also worth noting the "e30tech way" is to run a larger turbo which comes in later and stronger.

Edited October 29, 2008 by CamB

[tibbs.james 1]

Its also worth noting the "e30tech way" is to run a larger turbo which comes in later and stronger.

I would just like to ninja in there and point out a larger well sized turbo will generate less heat and be more efficient for the engine. Huge emphasis of well sized/selected whatever you call it.

[325_driver 422]

holy flying sh*t

that car better be at the meets

cause woah, you got 3 thumbs up from me

[e30plz 1]

but he's in ireland..

and this is "new zealands bmw community"

wtf, oh well, nice car (:

[kento 0]

Very nice job, nice install. We just finished our e21 323i race car project. It runs a t3/t4 combination. Some problems encountered along the way, but we now think we have a good reliable set up. You should see about 300 rwhp with 10 lbs on a 9.5:1 comp. MLS Cometic gasket at 2mm thick. Advice is to get lots of fuel up there and lots of advance on the spark (26 dgs). We run 700cc injectors at a base of 38 lbs fuel pressure. The duty phase is 45%. In spite of very large injectors, the engine is very tractable and idles as a stock car does. Would not suggest that more HP is needed, although quite possible to get. Stick at this level as a maximum and the car will probably keep the gearbox and diff together if treated well. Clutch will be best upgraded to a 5 puck with heavier pressure plate. This system we have found is not too harsh.

[tiripiri 0]

Hi. I'm back with some update. It was long time i did something with my project. I don't own the car any more but i still have tu finish my project. I had to move in to another hause and garage thats why my project fas freeze fore a wile. But now i'm back and i've to finish this project as soon as possible cause big car show event is coming up.

So here is my full 2.5" egxaust system. Half of it is stainless steel and those bends is from truck shop. I did weld pipe to eghaust manifold for 38mm waste gate.

This is a skyline performance radiator which fits perfect between shasy legs My friend had it and i got it very cheep!

Fuel pump swap to walbro.

Here is oil cooler and Mercedes diesel van fan!

Edited March 29, 2009 by ingus

[tiripiri 0]

I read in some places about head modifications what privent haed gasket blowing. So i weld my head as well. When i took off head i so that gasket edges near water galerys was allready black and was allmoust ready to blow. So good thing i took head of

Here is my inter cooler. I know its not big but i think it will bee good for 250hp what im planing for begining.

Edited March 29, 2009 by ingus