Our little garage team has been working on a turbo build of our own. I'm glad we're only looking at DM and NASA GTS as we'd have been crushed to see what Jon Holder and the Evosport team are deploying. I don't think we'll be ready for Cal Speedway, but we will be at the track at least one day to say "Hello" and check out the cars.

Here are some pics. We did a Coil on Plug conversion and you can see that we also have a crack build team of our own.

That looks great!!!

And could you post more info about the turbo, manifold, and coil on plug swap if you can.

Thanks and can't wait to see it running.

is the engine an m42?

is the engine an m42?

Sure looks like it... only with a big, snail-shaped tumor on top. :eek: :D

SOOO COOOL!!

Love it! Thanks for the pictures!! I love your "crack team" - he looks like he's gonna be trouble when he gets a little older - "hey, can I borrow the keys to the turbo racecar??"

Awesome job!

Sure looks like it... only with a big, snail-shaped tumor on top. :eek: :D

[ Ahnold Voice ] It's naaaht a tu-mah~~ [ / Ahnold Voice ]

:lol :lol :lol :D

Thanks for all the kind words. Some of the info is the "secret sauce" but you can tell it's a Garrett GT on what started as an M42. The manifold is by Jon at http://www.666fabrication.com/

The Coil on Plug conversion uses M54 coils along with a custom mounting plate we had machined. You have to trim one of the coils but the kit has come together nicely. We went this way for 2 reasons; the turbo need to be where the coil packs were, and we got the motor without coils so it was cheaper than buying new coils and spark plug wires.

The car no longer has a key so I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

This motor would be a nice addition to an E36, but we've got the E30 chassis with a great Evosport cage so we'll run what we brung.

We've touched all the other systems in the car including adding an oil cooler, upgraded fuel pump and replacing the ECU. It's going to need brakes before we're done (you suppose?) and the end is in sight but seeing as how there is still the day job thing it's tough to get it all ready. Aside from some delays at the machine shop it's coming along.

A dry sump, improved head, and custom intake plenum are version 2.0.

some nice builds going on right now

Cool.

Whats your plan for suspension/tires?

It's builds like this that make me so aware of how screwed we are in the Mini S.:mad

Thanks for all the kind words. Some of the info is the "secret sauce" but you can tell it's a Garrett GT on what started as an M42. The manifold is by Jon at http://www.666fabrication.com/

The Coil on Plug conversion uses M54 coils along with a custom mounting plate we had machined. You have to trim one of the coils but the kit has come together nicely. We went this way for 2 reasons; the turbo need to be where the coil packs were, and we got the motor without coils so it was cheaper than buying new coils and spark plug wires.

The car no longer has a key so I'm not sure if that's good or bad.

This motor would be a nice addition to an E36, but we've got the E30 chassis with a great Evosport cage so we'll run what we brung.

We've touched all the other systems in the car including adding an oil cooler, upgraded fuel pump and replacing the ECU. It's going to need brakes before we're done (you suppose?) and the end is in sight but seeing as how there is still the day job thing it's tough to get it all ready. Aside from some delays at the machine shop it's coming along.

Couple things...did you guys do anything special for the secret sauce...stroking/boring? Dont need the details...as I know what fits and what doesnt already...just curious.

Also...any word on when the kit for COP will be done?

Glad to see some serious turbo dev going on the M42...should answer some questions for me in the future. Nice to see the power you are putting down.

It's got a GC suspension with Ireland bars and Koni's. All the bushings have been done. We've got a few sets of 15" K1's with Toyo's. We're going to see how we do with this setup and try to keep the unsprung weight down.

...did you guys do anything special for the secret sauce...stroking/boring?

Also...any word on when the kit for COP will be done?


The answer on the secret sauce is "yes" and we will be within the DM limit with the FI multiplier.

The COP kit is done, and I have a spare plate that has not been powder coated. I've not test fit them on an E36 or Z3 but I don't know of a reason they would not fit.

PM me if you need one.

Rob,

Nice post.

Lets not give out any secret sauce.

Don't let anyone know that we are using one of those Tornado's in the intake to save gas!!!

Paul Q

Can you share how did you get that engine looking so pretty?
Gracias.
Chris

I expect we'll be in the power range of some of the built S14's. This project is evolutionary. And the thing I'm most concerned about is can we put enough rubber on the track. As our first outings will be test and tune we plan to try and figure that out.

We're weekend warriors who do a significant majority of the work ourselves in the garage at home, so we don't expect to field the perfect or complete club racer right out of the box.

We're also treating it as a learning experience, so the research and development phase has brought satisfaction all it's own.

Finally we're both technology sales guys, not engineers or mechanics but we've adopted "Make it safe, make it last, make it fast" as our mantra. We have not spent the prize money or quit our day jobs yet so this is all for fun.

Impressive Rob!! Definitely looking forward to your guys' project as it develops...

Looks like a very interesting project. That exhaust manifold is beautiful!

LOL....I know the "secret sauce"! :D

The St. Louis BMW club made a field trip down to Metric Mechanic last weekend and Jim Rowe was telling a few of us on the side about this setup. He had an s14 and an M42 block side by side. I'd almost be willing to bet the M42 with turbo weighs about the same as a s14.

Damon in STL

This is not a MM engine, but there are only a few ways to get from here to there. I don't have much insight into the weight differences, but I was able to carry the short block around the shop by myself. Not something I'd try with a 6 cylinder. I've never worked on an S14.

Can you share how did you get that engine looking so pretty?


The block was painted while at the machine shop. The valve cover and intake were powder coated, and rest was elbow grease and a parts washer. Here's what it looked like before I started.

Very cool man. I am sure this will be a real monster. What other sorts of cars are common competitors in the aforementioned classes? Hopefully you will be winning some M42 respect!

That COP plate sure looks aaaaaawfully familiar.....lol you didnt happen to use the drawings I posted up on M42Club did you? It would be sweet to know that people are actually using them! They sure clean things up under the hood huh?

The motor looks great.

That COP plate sure looks aaaaaawfully familiar.....lol you didnt happen to use the drawings I posted up on M42Club did you? It would be sweet to know that people are actually using them! They sure clean things up under the hood huh?

The Class is any BMW block and chassis up to 2.9L for NA so there is a broad mix. I think most are either S14 or M52 based engines.

I'm the guy who ran with the group buy on the M42 club boards. I think the machine shop has another 10 plates ready, I just need to complete the kits and make them available.

Well, be sure to give the S14'ers a run for their money!

Good work on the group buy. I sure as hell did not have time to produce too many myself. So, even without AC or the coil packs, does the turbo fit? It looks like you'd need a hole in the hood!

I've plumbed 20-30 cars for dry sumps. I was tactfully told by a refinery engineer that I wasn't doing it very well. He's in charge of pushing fluids through a refinery and minimum resistance is very important. Avoid 90 degree fittings altogether and use as few 45's as possible. Do the lifting close to the pump.
Tank to pressure-in.
Pressure out to filter.
Filter to air/water intercooler.
Intercooler to engine.

I was sceptical of the oil to water intercoolers because the oil is only cooled to water temp. All I can say is that they work and are a proven method. Even NASCAR uses them for superspeedway races.
182450
http://www.pitstopusa.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=2627
Not a lot more than a really good oil/air cooler.

So, even without AC or the coil packs, does the turbo fit? It looks like you'd need a hole in the hood!

Sure looks like it. The engine isn't tilted on the stand. If you look at the intake manifold the flat on top is almost exactly in line to the tangent of the compressor housing.

So, even without AC or the coil packs, does the turbo fit? It looks like you'd need a hole in the hood!

The engine is in place and the hood does fit. I have to pay some special attention to the plumbing for the coolant and oil supply but we were able to button the engine compartment up. It's not actually ready for that as I have some cooling lines to figure out but we're making progress and we were very relieved to see that everything does fit.

Rob - very cool indeed! I'm anxious to see this thing running (I think!). :stickoutt

Stop by & say hello at Cal Speedway (big black truck, big red dog, little red e30).

whaddaya pay your pit crew with, oreos and gummi bears?
/gone in sixty seconds.

looks friggin sick.

any new updates??? very interested in these m42 turbo motors :evil2

Matty...don't get any carzy ideas ;) Actually, get very crazy ideas, than put the next thing before that in your car haha

The car is at the fabricator's getting the intake and exhaust plumbed while I'm out of town for business. I plan to get to the dyno the week after next and if the car is ready, to the track shortly there after.

Rob, what DME are you running?

Tec3R with a custom harness and tuning from Vic Sias.

Ah. Should be a blast. There's been tons of turbo stuff for M50's and I'm really not sure why there hasn't been anything for M42... they're just baby M50's. :dunno

Well it started and idled last night! It was a bit late for the neighbors so I didn't run it long. There are a few wiring issues to sort out and I need to finish up the vacuum plumbing. Unfortunatly there are too many little things to sort to make it to BW this weekend. :(

No BW...:( Well, she's alive...and after resolving your minor issues you'll be all sorted!!

any update?

The car runs and sounds great. I can't get my build team to pull those late night or round the clock builds due to their homework and cartoon schedule.

I'm working on taking care of the little details, bleeding the cooling system, and tracking down one oil leak. I'll try and post a video of the car running.

Rob - any chance of you making it to the NASA event at BW on 6/9-10? The Pantera Club is going to be there the following weekend too, I'm not sure which of the two I'll be at (or maybe both).

We'd love to get there, but personal and family committments have kept us from finishing up. Here is the promised video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4UXrEPQMUg

The exhaust is a 3" side exit pipe.

sick!

Very Cool!! Now - come out and play!

Can't wait to see some more footage soon! Great looking car :drink1

updates? numbers?

Was getting it ready for the dyno and noticed a problem with the subframe bushings. Then had 2 weeks of vacation so more time down the drain. I'll keep you all posted as I'm eager to put down some numbers and get it on the track too.

Well after many months of delays we finally made it to the dyno tonight. Running just of the spring on the wastegate we put down almost 300 ft/lbs and 283rwhp on a Dyno Dynamics at 15lbs of boost. There is tuning still to be done and some last minute things to button up, but we expect to be at Willow on Sunday for the HPDE's as a shakedown cruise!

NICE!! Congrats! Come on by and say HI on Sunday!! I want to come over and take a look at it!! We will be in the big Evosport Rig - usually parked in Turn 1.

Thanks. It's almost embarassing compared to your build, but given our more limited means, experience, and the fact that we designed and built it in my garage, both Paul and I are proud non-the-less.

I also forgot to plug both Vic Sias for his ECU and tuning, as well as Jon at 666 Fabrication for his manifold.

I love it!! It's great!!!! I am looking forward to seeing it - nothing to be embarassed about at all!

Well after many months of delays we finally made it to the dyno tonight. Running just of the spring on the wastegate we put down almost 300 ft/lbs and 283rwhp on a Dyno Dynamics at 15lbs of boost. There is tuning still to be done and some last minute things to button up, but we expect to be at Willow on Sunday for the HPDE's as a shakedown cruise!

What was the RPM Band like? Did you try to test or tune out any lag on the Dynodyn?

Goodluck with the project, looks like you are well on your way.

:redspot for doing it yourself! I'm building 99.9% of my car at home too.

damn, nice numbers!

Rob, I'd love to see the dyno graphs if you have them.

Im interested in the dyno too, cant wait to hear how the car works out.

Any more pics?

Here is a graph and a pic of the new front end.

On a dyno dynamics! Very nice. I was expecting the powerband to be laggier from the looks of the turbo size under the hood.. looks can be deceiving. Good work, let's see lots and lots of in-car vids.. Axis of Oversteer style. :)

OT: The Axis' vids are the best track vids I've seen around here.. if only they had some turbo cars to play with. :)

Not bad, but definitely needs tuning, or turbo work. That power band might be hard to drive, especially if you short shift on a track here it would help.

If you can get the torque flatter for another 1500rpm or so you should be in good shape, but its a bit tight in that picture...definitely a good start.

Not bad, but definitely needs tuning, or turbo work. That power band might be hard to drive, especially if you short shift on a track here it would help.

If you can get the torque flatter for another 1500rpm or so you should be in good shape, but its a bit tight in that picture...definitely a good start.

We know there is more work to be done. We spent 4 hours working and tuning it last night and had to address the typical problems from Mr. Murphy (laptop died, loose wire on the O2 sensor) as well as what grew to be a pretty significant vacuum leak because the throttle body attachment worked it's way loose. We also need to tune with the EBC so we can implement a "push to pass" feature.

Given the time and money poured into this, I was happy we drove it both on and OFF the dyno. I had visions of it blowing up on the first run!

Careful with the "push to pass" button, I do believe it is Illegal.

Otherwise, sounds awesome, keep us posted!

Careful with the "push to pass" button, I do believe it is Illegal.

Otherwise, sounds awesome, keep us posted!

Even in Mod?

I'm in a rush right now (hockey game) but I'll find the rule later.

I'm pretty sure its in there somewhere, it might nt be explicitly stated, like most things, but it is carried over I believe. Something to the affect of having the ability to change mapping while driving from the cockpit...kind of like the cockpit adjustable swaybar rule.

But I am not 100% sure, maybe someone here can help, it would be much appreciated, as I wanted to do this as well.

I've looked again and I don't see it. For BMW CCA the Prepared rules state in section 1. Engine: "Engine management systems other than the stock ECU are not allowed." but for Modified under Engine it says "Must retain a BMW OEM engine block and head. Schnitzer heads are allowed on M10 engines. All other changes, relocations, substitutions, alterations and modifications are free."

For that feature to be illegal then aftermarket ECU's would also have to be illegal in Mod. If aftermarket ECUs are allowed then it would be a rule just about impossible to verify given the features of the aftermarket ECU's today. The latitude given by the above rule for Mod seems pretty straight forward... Do what you want or can afford as long as it's a BMW block and tranny, subject to the class displacement limits and multipliers for FI.

At these HP levels, I don't see this car being a threat to any DM cars. That being said, our goal was to campaign a competitive DM car. We think we've got some headroom, but not enough to change the playing field, especially when you consider drive skill (of which I have none ;) )

I've looked again and I don't see it. For BMW CCA the Prepared rules state in section 1. Engine: "Engine management systems other than the stock ECU are not allowed." but for Modified under Engine it says "Must retain a BMW OEM engine block and head. Schnitzer heads are allowed on M10 engines. All other changes, relocations, substitutions, alterations and modifications are free."

For that feature to be illegal then aftermarket ECU's would also have to be illegal in Mod. If aftermarket ECUs are allowed then it would be a rule just about impossible to verify given the features of the aftermarket ECU's today. The latitude given by the above rule for Mod seems pretty straight forward... Do what you want or can afford as long as it's a BMW block and tranny, subject to the class displacement limits and multipliers for FI.

At these HP levels, I don't see this car being a threat to any DM cars. That being said, our goal was to campaign a competitive DM car. We think we've got some headroom, but not enough to change the playing field, especially when you consider drive skill (of which I have none ;) )


I think this might be a case of "it does not say its legal, therefore its not." Maybe there can be a clarification for 2008?

And when does HP determine if a car is going to be competitive :) I can name a bunch of cars that win overall and are not the most powerful out there.

What a cool build...

I'm not sure what a "push to pass" button really means. If its an adjustment to the DME's calibration for temporary only boost, it sounds perfectly legal in BMW CR mod to me....

However.... in NASA, I suspect that it would be highly frowned upon unless you ran a full dyno with that button depressed to rank the car with respect to power.... it would be an unfair advantage in classification to have two maps for the car...one you dyno to classify the car, and another you use to pass people with.....

Just my opinion... NOT an official ruling from CRAC or BMW or NASA.

With an electronic boost controller, the car could be setup to give more boost if a button were pressed or switch flipped. With some that would be intergrated into the ECU you would not even need a switch, you could simply tie boost into throttle position.

I agree with your opinions for both BMW CCA and NASA rules. By "unfair advantage" I think you mean cheating and I agree about that too (using one map for classification and a different one for the track). Not sure how NASA is going to handle it but I would disclose the HP & torque for whatever MAPs are in the car. Cheating would be very easy, but what's the point? Even if nobody ever found out, we would know. Based on the numbers we have today, we would run GTS4 and D Mod.

We really should have bought an E36 roller and dropped this motor into that car. We would not be struggeling with doing a 5 lug conversion and going to 17" wheels. That would be the perfect platform for this motor.

The "push to pass" would be illegal in NASA...I don't see anything that would make it illegal in BMW CCA Mod.

New proposed rules have a clause that sounds like it would make a push to pass button illegal as well....at least the way I intepret it.

A couple of updates... Last time out at Buttonwillow we had a problem with overboost (27psi) and have tracked the problem down to poor plumbing design from the WG back into the downpipe. We've changed that, upgraded to wider tires & wheels, installed the UUC BBK, and installed rear camber and toe adjustments.

The side pipe was nice, but too loud so we've gone to a rear exit exhaust and don't appear to have lost any power. It's still 3" straight back, but passes through a muffler to knock down the noise a little. It's also not right in the driver's ear.

Dyno tested today and the overboost problem appears fixed. We've improved the low-end boost, but are still running off the spring alone. Next step is to figure out the EBC portion of the build. We also seem to have a bad powersteering pump but aside from schedule conflicts with our real life and family, we should be able to make PIR.

What are the specs on your brake package? Dynalite since it weights less then a Superlite?

Yes, these are the Dynalite calipers with the 12.19" rotors.

Sounds good Rob! Hope you make it to PIR!

That thing is going to fly, very nice

Cool. I would suggest getting larger uprights for your wing though, its not doing much at that height.

Did you guys have a straight side exhaust or was there a muffler integrated?

I'm running an m52 turbo with side exhaust, but am using a magnaflow muffler. I'm hoping it'll keep it tolerable.

Do you shift past 6000rpm?

Cool. I would suggest getting larger uprights for your wing though, its not doing much at that height.

Did you guys have a straight side exhaust or was there a muffler integrated?

I'm running an m52 turbo with side exhaust, but am using a magnaflow muffler. I'm hoping it'll keep it tolerable.

Do you shift past 6000rpm?


We do want to run larger uprights on the wing, but have not gotten to that yet. We did have a straight side exhaust without a muffler but it was very loud. We gone to a complete exhaust with a 3" straight through muffler from a 944 turbo.

We have redline set at 7200 and do shift past 6K.

Did you find it beneficial at all to rev that high? Judging from the dyno (assuming its still similar, and depending on gearing) you probably don't need to rev very high and take advantage of the torque curve.

HP peaks about 5600 and starts to fall off a bit over 6600 (we have a lot of head work to do ;) ). The redline on the ECU is set for 7200 but the shift lights on the dash rev up to 6800. With the changes to the exhaust plumbing we're getting almost 280 ft-lbs of torque starting around 3500 RPM so it's got a lot of grunt coming out of the corners. We're differential challenged so we know our next weakest link. We're planning on PIR next weekend so it will be interesting to see if we need to/can wind it out.

Keep in mind these are Dyno Dynamics numbers. We think the Dyno Jet numbers will be up to 15% higher. I've been meaning to get on Evosport's dyno but have not made time yet.

How is the area under the curve for it?

Definitely get on the diff, that's probably as is or more important than fine tuning the motor.

Diffsonline all the way!

Update...

We returned from PIR and had a great weekend.

We now have almost 30 hours on the motor with no oil or water comsuption, and power levels remain consistent. The oil analysis was good but we need to do another after PIR. Aside from a nut and bolt check, and tightening some clamps we only had to put gas in the tank and air in the tires. We put 200 track miles on the car over the 3 days. Water temps were about 180 and oil around 210 in practice and about 10 degrees warmer over race distances.

We focused on getting 3 good days in without incident while learning our race craft. We learned to better use all of our tools including the G2X GPS Data Logger, the ChaseCam video system, as well as the ECU logger, tire pyrometer, and of course pressure gauge. Paul pulled about 2.5 seconds off his best lap time over the weekend and narrowed the spread in lap times by 50% to deliver faster and more consistent performance.

Both days he finished mid-pack in DM and graduated from BMW CCA Rookie to Provisional. We know we can find more speed in the tires (running Toyo's at this point) and we did not make any setup changes as the car was neutral and we were trying to limit the number of variables we were trying to learn. In hindsight, we think that less bar on the rear would have helped on the oval but made the car a bit more challenging in the infield. That was a trade we would be willing to make.
Our major failuer of the weekend was a trailer tire blowout on the way to Phoenix, so we could not have been happier with the car and our experience. We planned our drive and drove our plan (to steal from the SCUBA community).

Now that we have a better handle on our racecraft and tools, setup will be the next area of learning.

We've finally gone through our first (and second) head gaskets, in the last few weeks. We had planned to take the 2 weekends prior to the GRM Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Buttonwillow to practice and tune, but instead ended up doing two head gaskets in two weeks.

Shame on me for not paying more attention to the ECU data log but the car has been running so well for so long that I took it for granted. I didn’t pay enough attention to the fact that we changed the fuel mix slightly, or that the weather was warmer than it had been, or that we had better boost control giving us more boost sooner.

The good news is that we figured out in time to make the GRM UTCC. We realized once we got there that we were seriously out gunned, but I think about every BMW CCA CR would have been... the fastest time in our class was something like a 1:47 and change on 13CW. The car did run a 2:01.379 with a brake booster issue so it's a pretty good time, none the less.

Thanks to Vic Sias for his quick response, Valley Engine for guidance and quick response, as well as the guys at Bullet for your input.

A VERY special thanks to Metrix Motorsport for partnering with us to provide a fantastic differential.

I was wondering why you weren't at the last club race at Willow. Glad to hear things are getting sorted out!