Messages

1

Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Re: Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: December 27, 2014, 02:49:05 PM »

Not yet

Finally 1.5 years ago I bought a house with space for workshop and garage so I could work on the car.







I also bought another identical 318is Class II:



Original project is being stripped bare to be ready for roll cage, pedal box and completely new electrics:



On top of that, I got an offer to work on norway which I accepted... Now I have money and room to build car but no time apart from vacations 

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Re: Solid lifter conversion

« on: May 10, 2013, 04:17:39 AM »

Hydraulic and mechanical lifters require different cam profiles. When I did get reground cams, machinist needed to know if cams were to be used hydraulic or mechanical lifters so he could grind them correctly.

With mechanical lifters cam needs to first take off the slack between cam profile and lifter, that's why there is period when lift increases slowly until cam and lifter make firm contact and only then cam profile starts really to push lifter. I think hydraulic lifters are not as fussy because they have some damping built in in form of fluid and the cam can start pushing lifter more aggressively.

I guess if you run mechanical lifters with hydro cam, initial cam profile might be bit too aggressive and cam noses hith lifters bit too hard and cause noise.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / S50b32 psitons with M44 crank

« on: January 27, 2013, 05:31:35 AM »

how are you going to fit 21mm diam wrist pin into 22mm rod small end?

You can swap con rod small end bushings from 22 mm to 21 mm. I did this with mine with M42 rods to fit Wössner E36 M3 forged pistons. Cost about 170€ so it was not cheap but it works.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: August 20, 2012, 08:05:40 AM »

Some progress:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANy7pwd6MM0

Small Nippon Denso alternator from Toyota Yaris charges the battery as it should. Vacuum rail is finished. Alu header tank has been installed etc. Basically car now moves again on it's own power, too bad it has not passed road inspection lately :p

I need to make some basic tuning on the road before going to dyno to tune igntion map. Also I need to find out if the car holds together in general, lots of changes...

Engine load is now MAP based but that should ideally be switched to ITB load mode before dyno but I don't have enough data to use it yet. I hope to install Shrick copy camshafts soon too.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: July 25, 2012, 02:32:57 AM »

what brakes are you putting on? the rx7 ones?

Wilwood Superlites:

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: July 23, 2012, 03:33:12 AM »

Well well well, it seems that I got the engine running with mega :eek:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmidb0XWdw

Friend is handling the throttle

Engine started pretty easily in the end, after I fixed some problems liek crossed fuel lines and ICV that fed 6 volts to ingition wire preventing car electricts to shut off and causing mega to reset after few seconds of cranking.

Engine runs now but no tuning has been done yet. Must source shorter alternator belt and suitable connector for that Nippon Denso alternator.

Alternator setup:



EGT sensors:



Front brakes are finally getting ready to install too...

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 22, 2012, 12:26:10 PM »

Why not STW spoiler?
http://www.raceparts.biz/bmw-e36/
High downforce version available...

IMHO big spoiler like E46 GTR with really big downforce will ruin your top speed if you will try to go faster than 200km/h.

STW wing is not very effective, it's dimensions and I suspect profile were restricted by Supertouring rules...

Tracks we have here in Finland are pretty slow and there are no long straights. On my favourite track my car does around 150 kmh on fastest place and average speed is 110 km/h. To have any kind of significant downforce you need plenty of wing/splitter area.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 22, 2012, 08:11:39 AM »

Looks dangerous!
Where have you sourced rear spoiler? I want one for my daily car

It's OEM part and it belongs to M3 GT and 318is Class II homologation models. They pop up occasionally on german eBay, mine came with the car :cool:

I think mine will become redundant soon when I replace trunk lid with glassfiber one. At some point I hope to build much bigger and effective wing that connects to car frame instead of trunk lid...

9

Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 18, 2012, 03:50:05 PM »

Car is back on it's feet but not yet running, need bit of vacuum hose, modification to DIY vacuum rail and then I can test if engine starts with megasquirt.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 11, 2012, 05:16:50 PM »

WOW, that is a gigantic air box! Could you give a little info on how you determined trumpet length (design equations?) and why you are after the largest possible plenum? Where will you fit an air filter?!

Awesome project. I have been having fun following it.

Yeah, it is pretty sizeable... Removing alternator and power steering pump gave room to expand downwards

This is Alfa Romeo 155 Supertouring engine + airbox:



That is pretty large too.

I did not start to calculate resonant frequencies for this design. Most things pointed to direction that larger is better because it acts as reservoir after air filter from where intake trumpets suck air to engine with almost zero restriction. If the airbox would be very small, all the air going to cylinder should be immediately replaced air sucked through filter and there is perhaps tiny bit of restriction there. Large airbox should smooth out those pulses.

With smaller one you could perhaps tune it to certain frequency to help cylinder filling at some rev range. I might do that after I got the thing running to see if it should be made bit larger or smaller.

Trumpets are simply sized after S50B30 (200 mm trumpet / limiter 7300 rpm) and S50B32 ( trumpet 150 mm / limiter 7600 rpm) trumpets. This "stock" engine is going to be limited to around 7300-7500 so trumpet lenght is simply halfway between those ie. 175 mm. M42 has slightly larger individual cylinder displacement but that should not affect tuning effect that much.

I also calculated harmonic resonant frequencies (ie revs) on spreadsheet for all of those engines and OEM trumpet lenghts and theory seemed hold well.

Air filter is K&N with 100 mm inside diameter and we made flange between it and 100 mm flexible hose. Similar flange will be fitter to front or bottom of the airbox so I can move filter around to find best location. One idea is to make filter enclosure below radiator to take in air from lower large opening on front bumper.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 11, 2012, 02:30:27 PM »

Yeah, I am sometiems suprised mysefl that this thing is still going on

Airbox and intake trumpets are almost ready. Still must weld in IAT sensor bung and tubes for idle and intake hoses.



Not the most hitech or elegant solution but should work well as iteration 1. Intake trumpets are optimized to match rev limiter of 7200-7500 rpm. Airbox volume is about largest we could get on sensible use of space and effort to make sure engine has plenty of high pressure air available at all times.

Mega and wb lamdba are in but not tested yet. Going back tomorrow to finalize OEM harness modifications. We might be able to finalize vacuum rail but sadly new EV6 injectors are too short to be used with any of the available fuel rails. We might be able to test start with old injectors. Before any serious running alternator must be attached and breather tank installed.

It's getting there...

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: June 07, 2012, 04:55:56 AM »

Something has happened :confused:

Turned out starter was only attached with one bolt and even that was falling out... Me and my friend decided to remove intake manifold to get easy access to fix it. Manifold was nasty to remove because of all the electric wiring for sensors etc being in middle of it and we really did not fancy idea of putting manifold back together...

So we decided to chuck it away and finally try to plug in the S50 ITB's. There's plenty of space with shortened S50B30 trumpets but since this engine  will not rev to 8500 (the other engine I have will once it is ready) so longer trumpets better suited to ~7500 rev limiter will be either manufactured from aluminium or nicked from spare S50B32 engine.

Megasquirt is waiting for installation, need just to make hole in spare motronic box housing adapter circuits for mega's D25 connector.

Still need to come up with vacuum rail and fuel rails. And airbox and filter enclosure, they are going to be aluminium at start. Most important thing now is to get car running, I can optimize parts later on.

Alternator and power steering pump have been removed, power steering pump will be replaced with Toyota MR2 electric pump later on. Alternator will be moved to where A/C compressor is. OEM alternator is huge and heavy, I think I might replace it with some small japanese car alternator that is half the size & weight.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: May 26, 2012, 07:38:17 AM »

Something has indeed happened :eek:

Went to dyno to get some baseline numbers before summer upgrades. Engine is well down on power and especially torque compared to run in same dyno in 2008:



2008 I only had ebay chip as tuning, this time I did not have chip, only modification is very free flow 2.5" exhaust and exhaust manifold secondaries.

I have always said that the chip was very effective altough the too-large-for-this-power-level exhaust might rob some torque down low.

I have been on track for few times this season and I have improved my laptime on my favourite track by 2.5 seconds now. Also won my class in BMW Club Finland sprint race by 3,5 s per lap and had I run one class higher I would have been on podium against 325's and 328's

Car is very stable and easy to drive, suspension and tires work well. I suspect I cannot get Toyo R888 tires up to working temperature so once summer warms up times should improve further even without other modifications. Problem is that I have to get to corners with huge speed adn try to maintain it throughout because I have so little power that I cannot make up the lost time from exits as car is now power limited, not grip limited.



There is hint of understeer on slow corners, I think that can be cured with adjusting camber with shims and tire pressures.

On the downside starter failed on dyno, we push started the car and on the way home car stalled on busy main road as I was coming to red light -> tow needed... The car will be taken to friends carage next week for fix and installing new parts I have had lying around for years.

To-do list:

- Fix starter...
- new mounting points for drivers seat (15 cm further back and 5 cm lower)
- 6-point harness mounting points
- High capacity radiator + expansion tank install
- Crankcase/valvecoer breather tank install
- Wideband lambda install

Bit later I hope:

- Remove door inside trim, window lifters, install alu trim
- Fabricate and install tubular + spherical rear control arms
- Move gearstick 10 cm backwards
- heel support below pedals
- install and tune megasquirt
- remove stock air meter + filter, replace with K& cone.
- Replace trunk lid with glassfiber one
- Make brackets to mount Wilwood Superlite front brakes
- Install 80 mm steering rack spacer to bring steering wheel closer

Things I have bought recently:

- Set of Bosch EV6 ~400 ccm injectors
- Set of BBS RK 8x17" wheels
- 2 sets of Michelin 200/610-17 racing slicks
- Set of Wilwood 323x32 mm brake discs (309x32 were too small in diameter, they will go back at some point)

On engine front I am not quite sure what to do... I need MOAR POWR but the all-out engine is too expensive to finish for this season so I might try to get something out of current engine if it clears compression etc checks... I will get yet another set of 256/10.4 mm cams made that I can use with current stock head, with megasquirt they should yield around 170 hp. And if I manage to install ITB,s well, I would be disapointed not to see 180 hp.

Car is now 1090 kg without driver, some 200 kg lighter than E36 M3 I go to track with (altough they have cages). With racing slicks this car should give any lightly modified M3 a good run for its money atleast on twisty circuits :cool:

14

Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: February 08, 2012, 07:40:11 PM »

good to see progress. what brake hats will you be using? Are those rotors Wilwoord 8x7.00" bcd? RallyDesign in the UK have universal hats for these rotors.

I did buy my hats from RallyDesign so they need some machining

I also bought those Wilwood UL32 309/32 mm rotors from there but I think I might have to order bigger ones... Now caliper lugs interfere somewhat with hub lugs even after bit of machining, I need about 10 mm larger diameter rotors.

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Swaps, Turbos, Buildups / Buildup: My quest for NA 280 hp

« on: February 08, 2012, 03:54:15 PM »

I also bought Toyota MR2 electric power steering pump and I am designin microcontroller circuit to adjust it's power depending on speed and demanded load. Electric pump is useful so I can get rid of stock pump which is in way of oil filter/cooler pickup plate connectors.