MyE28.com DEV

I was asked by a few people to start an actual thread for the current turbo project i'm doing on my very own car. It is an m30b35 that will run an hx40 with 15-19PSI of boost, arp studs and an o-ringed block. Ported intake, with an equal length tubular manifold. I am going to use megasquirt for tune and boost control, i'll post things up here as they get done.

Here is the junkyard engine.


I took it completely out of the car and had it in the trunk in an hour and a half, I think that was a record. I had to be at work lol. I drove around for like 2 days with the engine in the back haha.

I finished rebuilding this T-5 before tearing down my engine, its for a volvo 240 that has a swapped modified 740 engine.


I started breaking down the engine, everything was amazingly clean, the valves were perfectly clean there was no carbon buildup on anything.



Bottom end apart, i'll reuse the rods, but I have a set of Todd's forged JE pistons that will go in.

I purchased the hx-40 and the TIAL wastegate that Aaron had for sale, here is a picture of the turbo once I got it home

I started playing with the porting of the intake, here is the initial gasket matching.

Yummy! I hope you keep updating this...sounds like fun.

Need any parts? I have some MS stuff I probably won't use.

Nice to see a new build, sub'd.

Must see exhaust manifold...

Sweet.

Good luck on the project!

I did some powerdercoating, and got around to o-ringing the block. The block will soon be bored 20thousandths over for the je pistons. I need to get all the new bearings/seals/rings for the bottom end.

I wanted to imitate the old bmw racing turbo engines, when they were ridiculous powerhouses.



Here is a picture of the block o-ringed. The rings obviously aren't installed yet.

It's about time, Scott!

In for updates...

I'm doing some mechanical peice research, and waiting to hear from todd on some rings for my pistons before sending the block to the machine shop. I had some spare time so powerdercoated the intake/throttlebody, it came out well I think here is a pic.

Off to the machine shop.

Oh shit! I'm diggin' yer color choices on the engine parts.

Did you already cut the o-ring grooves in the block before machining? Aren't you decking the block?

The block will only be decked if it needs it. I ringed the block myself, so even if they deck it a little, I just cut with the tool the same depth. I like cutting the rings before boring because i'm anal and the tool runs against the cylinder walls. So that way if it leaves a scratch it will be fixed by the boring and honing. It's not a big deal either way.

Gotcha. If it were me, I'd be decking the block no matter what. Actually, that's the only thing I had the machine shop do other than hot tanking it on the Yunk Jard. I haven't had a head gasket failure yet on a turbo m30 and I don't want to start.

M. Holtmeier wrote:I'd be decking the block no matter what.

+1...make sure the RA of the head and block surface is below 50.

So finally got some more parts ordered for the engine, got intercooler various hoses/couplers and clamps. Got multiple gauges as well. I have a new set of Total seal pistons rings that need to be gapped. The block has been bored/honed, and the RA of the head was measured. I also need to install my arp headstuds. I will hopefully get to work on the block again soon, and install an oil resistor to prevent overfilling at high rpm.

Maybe a silly question but what is the RA?

Jeltuh wrote:Maybe a silly question but what is the RA?

The quality of finish of the block. RA is a machinists measurement of a surface finish. It stands for roughness average

The 50 that Duke is referring to is the roughness average as measured in microinches.

OK thanks I didn't knew the abbreviation.

Interested. Subscribed.

nice to hear you are finally making it happen scott. Not to high jack your thread but i will hopefully be throwing up some pictures soon of the new project and the new goodies for my 533i.

Glad to hear it. I may be moving, plus i've been doing a lot of studying of the suspension and racing so I got off track with the engine. It's like yay big power and i work on it but at the same time my little 300,000+ mile engine still chugs around town like the little engine that could. This winter I should really get things up to speed though!

Get back to work!!

I got back to work, new set of total seal rings on the je pistons. Block is bored/flattened the deck. Oil restrictors installed in the block for the head. Cleaned the block in a large MART machine and then painted.

Oil restrictors? For the head?

Ya I dont know if the m20 has the same problem as the m30. On track events the head gets way overfilled with oil. I have setscrews with a drilled hole in the middle to restrict some of the oil. At low rpm oil flow should be the same, as RPM are raised it will prevent some of the large amount of overfilling I would see at track events. I think it will also benefit not only overfilling of the head, but I now have more possible oil flow to the turbo and the bottomend.

Oil restrictors are a fairly common modification to street engines that see a few track events or have head overoiling issues.

I wouldn't go there unless it was certainly necessary. The M30 isn't a motor I'd run around a track at redline any period of time anyway. Its much more efficient at making midrange power.

Restrictors are effective all the time, so you're getting less oil at idle and everywhere else too. For these motors that presents a problem. The oil spray bar requires a certain volume of oil to function at all. I'd explore improving oil drainage, installing baffling or even a catch can or oil recovery system before I restricted oil supply to the head. That should be a last resort if engine life is going to be a concern.

The valve cover is already baffled at the top, and I have a catch can. Even pushing it on the street it starts to fill up my catch can. If you ever watch Peter Florances autocross runs you would see huge smoke clouds. The extent of the m30 overoiling is quite a bit, even below 4k rpm. I can make the catch can fill up even on the street. I think that the oil restriction at idle would be very little, if any due to the lower volume because the pump wouldn't be spinning as fast. This is what I meant by less restriction at idle, since there is less volume, the restriction "shouldn't" pose an issue. The restrictor to the head seems to be quite popular and was suggested by both the top machinist at my work, and by Paul Burke. Some engines I believe small block chevys benefit from larger return oils like you were saying. However the restrictor itself seems to be the more desirable way on this particular engine.

How do you know you're not blowing oil because of worn rings? Thats generally what excessive oil loss through the breather means, especially on the street. If you're getting more than vapors theres a problem in the bottom end. BTDT. Assuming this is due to "overoiling" seems to be simplistic and likely incorrect. You're not giving BMW much credit, and they don't (or didn't) fuck around when it comes to building a motor.

But hey, its your motor. Let me know how the top end holds up.

turbodan wrote:How do you know you're not blowing oil because of worn rings? Thats generally what excessive oil loss through the breather means, especially on the street. If you're getting more than vapors theres a problem in the bottom end. BTDT. Assuming this is due to "overoiling" seems to be simplistic and likely incorrect. You're not giving BMW much credit, and they don't (or didn't) fuck around when it comes to building a motor.

But hey, its your motor. Let me know how the top end holds up.

I've seen even fresh M30's do this. Most M30 owners don't run them at these RPM's for this long with this level of grip.
I believe M20's have a setup to return oil from the intake manifold to the sump. M30's have no such system.
We've run a turbo e12 with this setup and it works great. I'd rather keep my oil in the sump where I really need it.