Okay...finally drove the car for the first time tonight. (Yes, it's very dirty from sitting in the garage for the past 10 months) There is a bit of turbo lag, especially in first gear...BUT...when that boost walks up....all I can say is WOW! :buttrock
I need to get my Dinan flywheel and M5 sport clutch in there soon. I also need a set of 275's or drag radials as the 245 Toyo T1-S's spun in 4th gear! The Butt Dyno says the car has over 400 horsepower. Keep in mind that I am on stock compression. I've never opened up the motor (was an OBD1 3.2).
The turbo just screams and the blow off valve has a nice bang to it. I'll refrain from saying that its faster than a viper, because I know its not true...BUT...it sure has a faster "feel" to it. :alright

EDIT: I have to say "THANKS!" to Vic Sias for the TEC3 plug-n-play stand alone and spending about two hours on the phone with me to get this running like a champ. I've got a couple of the best turbo car tuners around that will be with me at the dyno, but all of that would mean nothing without getting a good base calibration before hand.

Here are some pictures. Now, I know they aren't much to look at and you have seen this kind of thing before, but I'm going to post them anyways. :astromile

http://www.rallyroad.net/images/EMCTurbo00.jpg
http://www.rallyroad.net/images/EMCTurbo01.jpg
http://www.rallyroad.net/images/EMCTurbo02.jpg
http://www.rallyroad.net/images/EMCTurbo03.jpg

nice sleeper . . . u must have the only M3 in MI :D

btw are u in the UP or LP?

what kind of rims are those?

Lower...near Detroit. There are a few M3's around here. I've worked on at least 5 of them one time or another. I bought my car as an automatic 325i 6 years ago. Within a year and a half I had replaced the auto with a manual trans...and its gotten out of hand since then!

Rims are 18 inch ROJA Formula 7's....only weighed 21lbs which isn't all that bad for a forged 18.

Sweet...

holy shit

iiiiiiiiight

SHITS HOT!!!

A+

Can't wait to see the numbers, nice work :buttrock

Hmm..... u suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Awesome job BTW... I know I told you in the past... but the way you did your turbo is exactly the way I invisioned mine... hopefully mine will be a replica.... good thing you made yours first.... now you can help me! :) Mwuahaah :)

Boris

P.S. Go answer your emails! :)

Very cool! Do you have any pics of where the turbo is mounted?

Very nice family sedan.

~Matt

Great job ...I hope to be following in your foot steps...by this spring/summer.
A good EBC aka" Blitz SBCid" would definately help that lag.

hubba hubba hubba;)

Great job ...I hope to be following in your foot steps...by this spring/summer.
A good EBC aka" Blitz SBCid" would definately help that lag.

Thanks! I've got a Greddy Profec A, but just haven't hooked it up yet. I went a little larger on the exhaust housing so I woudn't overboost. It looks like maybe I should step it down a little bit.

Boost "lag" really isn't that bad. The car feels like an NA car until around 4000 RPM, then it really takes off. I think that tonight I'll throw my SO3's back on and see if that helps the traction issue. I'll probably have to throw the new clutch/flywheel in next weekend. :(

Post some #'s. Good job. Now go terrorize the streets (until your clutch goes):D

Sweet, sorry I missed you this past weekend was very busy. Definatly have to meet this weekend if weather permits. I have Dinan flywheel and M5 clutch. The clutch slips like crazy on my stg 2 set-up(20g mitsu@15psi) you might want to consider a Spec clutch ask for David. On the freeway you will be untouchable
Vipers & Zo6's will be a Joke and you eat 600cc bikes for breakfast especially with your turbo.

Kick ass dude, nice work. Can't wait for a ride. Come to think of it, can't wait to go out to Royal Oak with you so you can go home with some chick and I can drive it home!!!

Originally posted by heelandtoe
Kick ass dude, nice work. Can't wait for a ride. Come to think of it, can't wait to go out to Royal Oak with you so you can go home with some chick and I can drive it home!!!

lol, I call shot gun...

Congrats on finishing up the project Eric! I'm definately coming to pick up those wheels now :evil2

congratulations:clap: how do you like the TEC3?
i think its cool that it is plug and play using the factory harness.
also since you are running stock internals try and not boost over 10lbs of boost.

Car is around 7 psi right now and I don't have any plans on going past 8.5 lbs. I guess the parts to lower compression are relatively cheap, so I may pull the head this winter...

Originally posted by EMC
Car is around 7 psi right now and I don't have any plans on going past 8.5 lbs. I guess the parts to lower compression are relatively cheap, so I may pull the head this winter...
that is the best thing you can do;)
you dont want to be in this position:help

Sounds pretty sweet, if I'm ever in the area, you'll have to give me a ride! :)

Very impressive..

I went for a ride tonight with "Mikea" in his AA Stage2.5. Very Fast Car! Then we went for a ride in mine.
He thought that the cars were pretty close. I think that his is a little faster, but then again...he was running 15lbs of boost and I was running 6.5~7.0 lbs.

Now if I could only get my damned hood open! Frigin thing is stuck shut. No data logging / changing calibration / or anything like that for me.

If anyone has a way to force it open, please let me know! I've pulled one of the kidneys out and am ready to destroy the latches to get it open. After that I'm just running hood pins.

Try pulling the handle inside while someone is putting slight downward pressure on the front of the hood. Then, while you are still pulling the handle inside, pull UP on the front of the hood, on both sides near where the pins/latches are.

Hopefully one side, or both will pop loose. Then open as usual.

Worked for me when mine was stuck shut (ironically right after I got the twin-screw on and running)!!!!

Steve

Thanks Steve! I'll have someone OTHER THAN my girlfriend help me tomorrow. The little handle inside the car broke when I pulled on it. The whole thing is pretty messed up. The side with the safety latch will come loose, but the other side won't budge. I'm getting ride of those and going with hood pins just as soon as I have it open!

DId you make your own turbo kit? Looks sweet. What turbo are you running? Where did you get the turbo manifold(if you made your own kit)?

The AA manifold is the only "BMW" turbo kit part I bought. Patrick (e34biturbo) sold it to me for a nice price.

The turbo is a T04S (60-1) with a T3 exhaust side. There are plenty of T3 turbine housings out there and they are pretty cheap for the most part, so I figured I'd stay with that.

what about your IC. that thing is massive

It's actually two neon srt-4 intercoolers with custom end tanks.

you two have both discovered BMW's method of keeping homebrew hotrodders away! You can't tune what you can't get to:)

after looking at your pics im super impressed with the quality parts and plumbing.

Only if you would make and sell these kits to the rest of us:devillook

and also, why did you choose 2 neon IC's? That sounds kinda cheesy compared to the rest of the quality you have into your kit. This is not intended to be a flame at all. I don't know how efficient they are at all. Do they flow well for your application?

Nice WORK!!

What A/R on the turbine housing? I've got a 60-1 TO4E w/ a stage 4 turbine wheel sitting in my garage. I've got a .63 turbine housing on it, but I was thinking this may be too small.

I've got a 1.06, but might eventually try out a .82 a/r housing.

The car drives nice and normal when I want it to, and the boost has no problem kicking up when I really get on it. I've got a huge Tial 46mm wastegate so I can run the smaller housing if I choose...without overboosting.

Also..my stock clutch was slipping badly on only my second time out. When I hit around 70 or 80, the rpms zing up near red line in 4th or 5th gears without a lot of effort.

I'll probably take it "easy" for a few days and then put my Dinan/M5 unit in next week. After driving this for a couple of days, I couldn't go back to my stock 226 rwhp car. It's also much much faster than my 300+ hp 2500 lb "330ti" race car.

Originally posted by EMC
I've got a 1.06, but might eventually try out a .82 a/r housing.

The car drives nice and normal when I want it to, and the boost has no problem kicking up when I really get on it. I've got a huge Tial 46mm wastegate so I can run the smaller housing if I choose...without overboosting.

Eric, do you think you could take Excel and plot approximately your current boost pattern? Boost @ per 1k rpm... and just post a screenshot of that or something? Or just write it out here...

When choosing a turbo it's imparative to choose the correct A/R... so I want to see how yours is spooling. I'll try to make the comparison to the T04 turbine. I have to compare the sizes, but I'm thinking my choice of .81 A/R on a T04 might be too large. Also do you feel the T3 turbine is adequate for our engines? I'm surprized that people choose a T3/T4 setup for an M3. This is usually reserved for a low-displacement engine (obviously with a lower A/R). Do we really not have enough exhaust to spool a bigger sucker?

A lot also has to do with your compressor A/R, now that I think about it... which is on your setup what?

Thanks a lot,

Boris

Dirty picture from this morning. Damned hood still won't open. I ordered a set of "locking - low profile" hood pins from JEGS. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow.

Pop out the driver's front turn signal. That should get you access to the hood release cable.

Went for a ride in the ANIMAL last night I must say the car is simply wicked a total sleeper, EMC your the man great job, we have to hit the freeway this weekend with our cars so you can really apprciate turbo.

EMC,

Just curious, how much do those SRT-10 Intercoolers cost each?

Not sure, I bought cores from the factory directly. I don't even know if I was supposed to be able to do that. Really, a tube/fin intercooler isn't much different than a bar/plate. Mine's a tube/fin and it works pretty good. ;)

I ended up using the "body shop" trick to get the hood off. You pop out the kidney grille and bust the freakin' plastic part of the hood latch out with a big pry bar. Then, everything is much easier to see and get at. I guess needed new latches anyways...

Mikea,

Is your car up and running fine or do you still need to install a better clutch?

congrats on the new power.... and finally opening up the hood:)

I guess I wont need the motor mount anymore. I just went with my mechanic and he made me one but for $$$:az: :mad:

So I stayed late for nothing Jon? :( just kidding....We have 4 motor mounts almost ready to go. I think that I have takers for all of them, but if someone wants one, just let me know. Mark (my welder) is wanting money so we can finish up his turbo gsxr. I can't wait to ride it! Hmmm...not sure if he even would let me.

Eric, PM me about the motor mount! :)

So did you piece together your own turbo kit?

Yes, the only thing I bought specifically for a bmw was the AA Manifold....even that piece I had to machine the wastegate port for.
I've got the car pretty well dialed in now. It runs a tad rich at idle with the 55lb injectors, but everywhere else it seems pretty good. We still need to take it to the dyno and maybe put a little timing back in it.

Right now I have no compaints at all!

damn i need to do this

Originally posted by EMC
Yes, the only thing I bought specifically for a bmw was the AA Manifold....even that piece I had to machine the wastegate port for.
I've got the car pretty well dialed in now. It runs a tad rich at idle with the 55lb injectors, but everywhere else it seems pretty good. We still need to take it to the dyno and maybe put a little timing back in it.

Right now I have no compaints at all!

Holy sh!t, 55lb injectors?? How much power do you expect to push out of that thing? 55lbs is good for over 500rwhp on our cars! If you plan on that much power, you might want to keep that 1.06 A/R; I wouldn't go smaller!

Boris

So maybe I missed this but do you have an estimated cost to put this all together?

I've got a buddy doing basically the exact some thing as you at the moment.

Okay...so I do have one complaint. My clutch now slips at 4K rpms. I've got a couple hundred miles on the turbo so far. I haven't done any drag starts or burn outs (on purpose).

I need to swap out the clutch and flywheel with the new unit before dyno numbers can be obtained. I just took a fellow bimmerforums member for a ride and it was hard to get an idea of how fast the car could be. I'm pretty sure he was still impressed. :D

I'd say that the 1.06 is about perfect for a 3.2 liter. I had thought about trying a .82 this spring, but now I'm not going to bother. I make full boost boost around 3500/4000 rpms. Thats good enough for me. The car stays very civil on the road until I mash the throttle. To be in 5th gear on the highway and have the clutch slip from a 90 mph roll is pretty impressive. Of course, I'd rather be putting that power to the ground.

For parts, shipping, and sales tax, I have less than $7K into the whole thing. Full stainless mandrel bent exhaust with two magniflow mufflers, greddy gauges, turbo timer, profec a boost controller (not yet used), TEC3 plug-n-play, T04S turbo, AA exhaust manifold, polished aluminum piping, 4 layer silicone hoses, all stainless T-bolt clamps, greddy bov, intercooler, and a very pricey but well worth it Tial 46mm wastegate.

What isn't included in the price is the major $$ in tools I have in my garage and more $$ in work I can get done from trading favors on a GSXR kit I've designed.

Without jumping the gun too much, I will say that a deal may be worked out to sell some DIY parts through a well respected BF Supporting Vendor. They will take much of the headache and time out of building your own kit. So if some DIY'ers can wait a few more weeks, I'll let everyone know what might be available. ;)

EMC... well, I wouldn't worry too much about the 3500-4k RPM boost, that'll drop somewhat if you install that EBC! Let me know what the drop is when you install it!

Boris

what's the ETA for dyno sheets?:devillook

I'm going to try and get the clutch in this week or next weekend. Then I should at least get baseline dyno numbers within a few days of that...even if I can't get the calibrator to show up.

http://www.rallyroad.net/images/turbo332ic.jpg

what are you going for? M5 bits?

Eric,

Sexy picture... if you wanted to put your brake ducts back in, do you have an option to do so or will the IC pipe be in the way? I can't quite tell from that picture.

Thanks,

Boris

that car is sikk

$$ on it all?

did you buy a kit or peice it together?

Originally posted by 95MMM
that car is sikk

$$ on it all?

did you buy a kit or peice it together?

Do you read???? :dunno

I'm putting in a Dinan lightweight flywheel with a M5 sachs sport clutch.

Brake ducts are out for good. It's not a track car, so I don't care too much about them. Even my race car doesn't have them and the brakes still work wonderfully.

I'll throw some pictures out on the "Bimmer Rides and Body Stylin' " Forum....not bad for a car with 170,000 on the body.

Originally posted by Bill
Do you read???? :dunno


sorry, i just read the first and last post