tim_s

[tim_s]

hey guys,
Thought i'd introduce myself (again), was only the other day i was saying hi over on bimmerforums! i'm tim, from the UK (bristol/london), I'm a cambridge uni graduate (classics) now at bristol uni doing a master's degree (contemporary history). when not studying, I've usually worked with computers, last time working for an encryption software company.

here's the car details:
AlpinweissII
blue cheque interior and cream headlining, quite an unusual combination
opening rear windows etc

mods:
-koni adjustable suspension
-eibach anti roll bars (sway bars!)
-sebring exhaust
-chip/fan delete/z3 short shift and a few other small changes

upcoming mods:
-2.1 high compression (11:1) short block and ITBs
-early euro m40 flywheel, euro e36 exh. manifold etc
-Megasquirt 1 v3 to control fuel and sparks

here's some pics:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/Dscn2211.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/DSCN2217.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/tbs/DSCN2489.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/ICE/DSCN2180.jpg

[Febi Guibo]

Tim, tell you what: you give me your car... I'll buy you a lottery ticket every day for the rest of your life, you can even pick the numbers!

can you tell us a little bit more about your planned 2.1 conversion also?

and, WELCOME AND THANKS!!

[M42Technik]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/tbs/DSCN2489.jpg

Where did you come across that pretty thing? Tell me more! I want.

[tim_s]

Thanks for the comments!
OK, so the conversion stuff. The 2.1 is pretty complicated to explain in detail, in short it has some lighter shorter rods, 86.6mm pistons and a longer stoke crank. it has proved to be more expensive than anticipated, mainly because of the amount of machining required and the scarcity of parts.

the intake is a custom fibreglass item that I made myself. It's currently at a bodyshop being painted properly as I couldn't stop the paint reacting with either the filler or the fibreglass. it all mates up very sweetly to the m42, if perhaps at not as steep an angle as would have been most convenient (but less effective as far as the inlet path is concerned).

There's still a fair way to go with the project.I'm hoping for circa 200bhp at the flywheel when complete, good daily driver manners and good fuel economy (mainly due to the better fuelling potential with megasquirt).
HTH!

edited to clean up and get rid of crank stuff

[m42 fan]

Tim, that's a great looking car. The attention to detail is obvious. cue drooling sounds. :)
Brian

[M42Technik]

Um. Can I just have the ITB's like in the picture...? Is that like a bolt on? What else do I have to do to get that on my car and working?

Serious noob question.

[Febi Guibo]

hi, another serious noob question... roughly what will your engine redline at, and what are you using (if any?! remember, me = noob) for a harmonic balancer or absorper thing...?

thanks man, this is some seriously great info... I was going to just say... "shipping to 10013 pls." but I'll spare the poor humor....

[e9nine]

You make me drool, nice work dude!!!!

[tim_s]

hi guys,
as far as the ITBs are concerned, as pictured they'll bolt right up to the m42. it also has all the required feeds for the ICV, breathers, brake servo etc.


I can build up throttle bodies like mine for about £400 ($700) without the intake plenum, the plenum i'd have to get a quote to have one built up to the same spec as mine by a local place, would probably cost about £150 at a guess, mb more if carbon fibre. I just don't like messing with fibreglass as its a pita and stinks.

If you want a setup similar to mine but made by a mainstream manufacturer - then dbilas or bmpdesign are the two options. both will cost you a lot more money though (circa $1700 iirc), and i have my reservations about the dbilas design (never seen a BMPdesign one though).

as for max rev limit and the myths surrounding the e30 crank pulley etc, I'm not looking to rev to highly (yet) as its my daily driver and its still on hydraulic lifters etc. for now my rev limit will be as low as stock, and after a few thousand miles, I reckon circa 7,250 or 7,500 rpm will be my limit. As for the tales of the crank pulley breaking up at 7,200rpm or whatever, these claims appear to be totally unfounded. I think what is more likely is that the rubber is perishing in certain conditions with age, our engines are 15yrs old after all. I've inspected the crank pulley going onto the engine and it shows no evidence of wear/perishing. I have never really got the whole get to 7,200 and your crank pulley will disintegrate thing. I know of m42s with this vib damper running up to 7,500 consistently with no ill-effects. It can easily be overcome anyway, but i'm not particularly concerned about this. If someone can give some concrete details of one breaking up etc and pics etc and the conditions under which it broke up, i'd be much more concerned. but tbh i've never actually seen this, just heard tales.
Cheers guys!
tim

[M42Technik]

I can build up throttle bodies like mine for about £400 ($700) without the intake plenum, the plenum i'd have to get a quote to have one built up to the same spec as mine by a local place, would probably cost about £150 at a guess, mb more if carbon fibre. I just don't like messing with fibreglass as its a pita and stinks...

You just let me know how much to save up, and I'll be ready when the time comes. I'd love the plenum in CF, that would rock so hard. I want this SO BAD. That car is going to sound amazing too.

[stevohill]

as stated in the movie "super troopers" ooooh ooooh oooooooooh

[StreetSpec_iS]

good to see you on here Tim! keep keeping us updated.

[dude8383]

noticed that your battery is up front...did you do that, or thats how you bought the car??

also, i have setup my sub as a free-air as well! i've got 2 amps, one for the sub of course and the other for a set of components. i love the box for the amps..i mounted mine against the back surrounding the sub. i need to get something to cover up the whole mess of wires though. what kind of carpeting did you use to cover up the amps?

[nickmpower]

are you sure all that has to be done to the crank? someone on bimmer forums used one from a m47 and they just needed to shave like 1mm off the front or something

[Febi Guibo]

edit: whoa, I knew that crank would bring up some more questions!


tim, thanks for the info re: the harmonic balancer thing... um, the crank you've got pictured... is that the diesel crank (forged, 8 counterweights?)

thanks again for fielding this barrage of questions... in lieu of imitation, consider it the second highest form of flattery

[tim_s]

hey streetspec, there's no place like the zone but don't mind spreading my wings a little from time to time. the zone's been quite quiet of late too especially with all the bickering. nice to see some proper pics of your car, I must have missed them in the past!

dude, the battery has always been in the front. all euro ones are like this, are yours in the back?

nick, yes of course i'm sure! i can't speak for other people etc, but i know what i had to do to mine.

as for the vibration damper stuff, don't take it as gospel, it's only my opinion. i may well stand to be corrected, in which case i will do something about it - its easily changed.

[asubimmer]

HAHAHA we have one up on the euro cars!!!! our battery's are rear right :D

[dude8383]

yup in the rear right...what do you have in that area? just some storage area??

[tim_s]

yeah, we got a cubby hole there. the euro 325i has the battery in the boot though, same place as yours. wonder why the US battery is in the boot? i've never been a fan of having too much weight past the rear axle personally. anyone got a pic of a US engine?

[D. Clay]

I love that car. Loved UK when I visited there in 2003. A friend of mine named Tavo Hellmund ran third in F3000 a few years ago. He sold everything he owned to rent-a-ride for a season. It's true we are separated by a common language. Love that "contemporary history" and rubber parts that "perish" We have "modern history" and "rot" Cheers!

[Choking Hazard]

"I do not feel inadequate. I do not feel innadequate."

[tim_s]

thanks for all the kind comments so far! the car's continuing to develop, thought i'd add some more recent pics ( a lot of these have been posted elsewhere on here!):
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/Dscn2682new.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/DSCN2681.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/engine%20rebuild/DSCN2744.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/DSCN2472.jpg

[tim_s]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/640_PICT1192.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/DSCN2784.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/DSCN2785.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/DSCN2787.jpg

[tim_s]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/IMAGE_032edit.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/tbs/DSCN2767.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/tbs/DSCN2375.jpg

[kowalski]

mmm, thats lookin reall nice man. have you hit the dyno yet?

[tim_s]

mmm, thats lookin reall nice man. have you hit the dyno yet?
thanks mike. not been on the dyno since the rebuild, i still have a lot of work to do before its ready. the ITBs aren't on the car as a permanent fixture yet, the MS still needs work, and the head is completely standard for the moment. have standard cams too. i drove dan's (318-is) standardish e30 318is the other day, which sounded great and went very well up top, but it demonstrated the massive increase in torque and outright performance that i have.
how's yours coming along?

[tim_s]

couldn't help myself, I know i posted pics the other day, but the weather was just too good today, and we dont get many days like that here! i'd also just cleaned the car having done the best part of 1000 miles over the last week or two.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2812.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2808.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2800.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2801.jpg

[tim_s]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2797.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/june%2006/Dscn2793.jpg

[e9nine]

Cheers to you and your ride bro. Downing some Warsteiner here after my first tennis game in 3 years :rolleyes:

[StreetSpec_iS]

my first tennis game in 3 years :rolleyes:

:D . funny mental picture bro.

Looking niiiiice Tim! such the sleeper. Im wishing for some sunshine here. only just getting into winter, but already its too much for me. hehe

[kowalski]

mines kinda still building the funds right now, i got a pretty sweet job so it should come soon. but unfortunatly i might be straying away from the m42... it depends cause i could drop a ford 302 in with 550hp for 3,500$ cause my friends got a built 302 that hes had for like 2 years in his shop with 0 miles, and a tranny so its looking really really tempting cause its 1/3 the price...

[enildeR]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/bmw/engine%20rebuild/DSCN2744.jpg


Man. Makes me want to take my valve cover and intake mani off and paint them black (of course while maintaining the silver stripes). It makes such a difference in the engine bay to see those clean, dark pieces.
But I just spent a whole hell of a lot of time taking my injectors out to have them cleaned. I don't want to deal with taking the intake mani off againe. :(

Nice ride. I might go this direction sometime in the future. That intake plenum wicked.

[Berlin]

How did you design the plenum? tell me it wasnt' eye-balled for double the displacement...what donated the tb's? oh oh and what type of mould/plug did you use to make it.
ps. your car is a role model to me.

[tim_s]

Cheers to you and your ride bro. Downing some Warsteiner here after my first tennis game in 3 years :rolleyes:

mmm warasteiner, nice one!

mines kinda still building the funds right now, i got a pretty sweet job so it should come soon. but unfortunatly i might be straying away from the m42... it depends cause i could drop a ford 302 in with 550hp for 3,500$ cause my friends got a built 302 that hes had for like 2 years in his shop with 0 miles, and a tranny so its looking really really tempting cause its 1/3 the price...

i can see your point, but ford 302 in a baby 4 pot bmw? i dunno, there's just something not quite right with that.


How did you design the plenum? tell me it wasnt' eye-balled for double the displacement...what donated the tb's? oh oh and what type of mould/plug did you use to make it.
ps. your car is a role model to me.
there's some info on the tbs/intake etc elsewhere on here iirc. briefly, the plenum design was not just eyeballed, and is nowhere near 4 litres - look at the pic! I had an s50 and an s14 plenum for comparison (in fact at first i tried to use the s14 plenum, but its just not do-able with the brakes where they are), but overall the design was a bit compromised due to it actually having to fit an e30 m42.
its a similar story with trumpet tuning - the ones on there are based on a lot of comparison and calculations etc, but may need some tuning as you can't beat trial and error for that kinda thing.
the plenum's actually my prototype, i built it using odds and sods i had lying around just to get running and for doing testing, but as it fitted well and looked ok i've gone with it for now. but rest assured, i've put a lot of time and effort into the design and consulted some knowledgable friends!

[tim_s]

Thought I'd add a recent-ish engine pic for you guys:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/LPG/DSCN3133.jpg

I'm pretty much good to go on LPG now, and MS is working pretty well, with only a few hiccups left to iron out. I'm still not 100% happy with MS but i'm only 6 months into it, and have a useable setup. I'm running MAF now unlike a while back, it's working well for me. My fuel economy has dropped a few mpg due to the ITBs, i'm not really sure why I'm using more fuel on the motorway with them, although i can understand why i use more fuel around town. soon when I have the LPG rigged up that won't be such a concern. Hopefully I can shortly resolve my lifter tick, add a new wilder inlet cam and get her on a dyno.

[M42Technik]

Bumping that hotness. I would love to do this someday.

[hammoj28]

Loving it Tim. Looks amazing. I have my other M42 engine waiting for work now.lol. Can only hope it turns out as well as yours.

[silverblades181]

I'm really anxious to see the dyno results!

[tim_s]

hey all! been a long time since I updated this thread.
the big news was that a small end bush mashed itself - engine had only done about 10k miles. not really sure why. so the engine came out for rebuild no.2 which, although unwelcome, in hindsight wasn't such a bad thing as it allowed me to check and re-measure bores etc. With some new super-strong SE bushes and some nice new lightweight pins, new oil pump, everything balanced again (new pressure plate went in so i did the lot again!) i'm pretty happy. everything was running in great, only small issue was slight hot spots between cylinder walls. Whole ordeal took 2 weeks to sort out.

I put the car back to the standard inlet following this for a number of reasons. the standard inlet is quieter and drives a bit better in the city - it has a stronger idle and copes with high inlet temps better. Also I wanted to devote my attention to my sequential LPG injection project. LPG is under half the cost of petrol over here, has a very high octane rating, and is clean. My setup is now running and I'm very happy with it. its saving me a load of money (car is now as cheap as something like a vw polo in fuel) and is much better in terms of CO2 emissions.

I want to do some more track time, travelling and various other things including more Ring time this yr, so I'm taking a bit of a break from serious engine work for a little while, but there will be more to come. I wasn't able to source ARP rod bolts when rebuilding, but now have a supplier, so I have to have the oil pans off and fit these. I've been weighing up paying somewhere to do the work but I'm not sure. I also want to build another cyl head up at some pt. The current head on the car, although late-spec, low miles, young and fbmwsh, is standard with just re-lapped valves and new gen. stem seals. I'd also like to fit a thinner MLS HG to cure the hot spots and to raise the CR further. Current set of ITBs look like they'll be sold to a friend (dan-318is), so I may have to start on a new setup, learning from the first attempt. The plenum was always intended to be a prototype, I'd like to improve the way the flanges meet with the plenum/trumpets and get the plenum held more firmly to improve the pedal feel. I'd also like to try the advances in MS such as the hi res code.

I've also been working on a few other car projects including a stipped out 2l 8v scirocco on carbs (the chavrocco), a late m44 e36, and soon hopefully an m52 (e36 328i sport) project, although what exactly I'm going to do with the m52 i don't know, but the car is being bought with a fairly large tuning budget in mind. my car is currently the slowest among my closest car buddies, among their cars are a 400bhp audi S4 with 365mm RS6 front brakes, a 300bhp audi S2, a 3 dr sierra cosworth with 300bhp, not to mention the chavrocco which with 110bhp at the wheels will probably give mine a hard time... until the twisties. Still have very little desire to change, the BM is driving great!

Oh and I may be on some dastek rollers next month, but will prob run with the standard inlet.

[twism]

Hey I know this is old thread but I would like to ask couple questions. First of all Tim in your last post I saw you said you might be selling your old set up, did you sold it all ready? And before that you said that it might cost around 700$ for a setup like yours? Whats included in those 700$? If it's the ITB with the injectors and the plenum you might tell me your e-mail adres so I can send you the money via paypal :D

[tim_s]

hiya twism, sorry for not replying to your pm, I've not been on here much of late. I've kinda stopped playing with the e30, have a few trackdays on the cards (brands hatch on 21st jan!) and a nurburgring trip in april though :)
I'm not running TBs any more because my needs for the car changed a lot :( I sold them to a friend! I now use it on the motorway and city a lot and do a lot of miles (20,000 ish a year). I'm actually considering an e46 coupe to replace it! Sadly even the 330 engine feels much less lively than my M42, and I prefer the e30 to look at. The e46 is a better motorway/city car though. Nonetheless, I'm struggling to find an e46 that I'm happy to replace mine with, and at the same time I have managed to get lucky and land another set of throttle bodies, without really intending to! I bought a cylinder head from Steve (steve321), and it was port-matched to his set of throttle bodies, so we came to an agreement regarding swapping my spare throttle bodies for his! If I build (or have built!) another plenum (probably CF this time), I'll certainly entertain making a second one as the mould can be re-used.
As for the throttle bodies + plenum, yup, I think that for around $800 or so (the dollar's a bit weaker now agains the £) a set could be made, mb a little more depending on plenum choice.
as an aside, the car now makes 185bhp/162ft/lbs on a rolling road that I trust to give accurate figures. That's in full daily driving spec with tame cams and single throttle body. I'd like a slightly more aggressive inlet cam to get to 200bhp, but that's on hold for the moment. The engine is intermittently when warm a bit noisy which is frustrating. I think its the inlet cam/carrier/tappets sort of area that's making some noise, it sort of chatters when coming off the throttle. Doesn't do it all the time, I think if I change inlet cam, I'll buy a new carrier too. I'll guess I'll get a garage to diagnose it first though. Runs great otherwise though.

[twism]

Hey Tim, thank you for your reply! 800$ doesn't sound bad, but yesterday I started thinking about eaton m45 or M62 + intercooler, I might go with this plan...what do you think about supercharged m42s? Me and my friends are now thinking about going to the ring in august, maybe about 10 BMWs most of them E30s, I'll send you msg again when it's close to see if you're going to be around there by that time :)

[tim_s]

Pics from brands hatch track day the other day (sorry no on track pics :( ). The e30 was really good, was very happy with it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/brands%2008/P1000174no.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/brands%2008/P1000184-2no.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/brands%2008/P1000167-2no.jpg

[tim_s]

Ring pics!!!
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/ring/T8E_0041_HRnoplate.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/ts295/ring/IMG_3655noplate.jpg

[hoevesruperd]

very nice car and engine!!! and cool pictures!!

[tim_s]

Thanks! Car needs some TLC after the ring trip, I've nailed a rear wheel bearing and got a tap from the inlet side. Arg! Think I need a new inlet cam carrier :( Needs to lose some weight and perhaps some lighter wheels, but it's quite a clean example and I use it on the road a lot. There was a 325 on coilovers out there which was impressive on the twisties, a lot of that was driver though I think. The koni/eibach arbs setup I have proved stiffer and to give more corner speed than bilstein/hnr (went with a few 318is cars), but seemed to be more of a handful in the wet.

[Asserti]

wow! Very nice car and very clean engine bay, I like a lot!

Which Koni/eibach gave the higher cornering speed and my next question is probably a bit noobish, what is arbs?

Last question, what did you do to get your 180bhp that you're having now?

Thank you very much, next time you go to the NS, let me know ;)