M30 turbo engine top mount test fit.

[daniels635turbo]

So I have finally got the saab 9-3 convertible back on the road to enjoy the rest of the East Coast summer. This means I can start fit testing the manifold and turbo set up for my 635 turbo !!!

I am using my trusty 400,000 mile engine as the fit mule while the beasty turbo engine is being put together in SC. I am using an old cast iron BAE manifold purchased from someone at this site (has the red s38 mega turbo'd M5)



With out the turbo on top it looks ok. But... fitting an external w/g meant either tapping the cast manifold (I didn't feel like weakening this twenty five year old dinosaur) or mounting a spacer and fitting said w/g to this.

Anyone with a good eye will notice that the bolt pattern is T4 but the center aperture is T3 ? go figure !!! I discovered the BAE turbo systems manifold was actually a casting from a company they brought "Rajay turbo's" !! Now these turbo's have this peculiar T4 bolt pattern with the T3 aperture.

So I brought a cast T4 to T3 adapter and welded a cast pipe into it to keep the thermodynamics of the metals similar. (anyone properly welding cast knows what I mean) I went for a T3 to best match the aperture, the turbo I have for now is a T70 0.7 A/R turbine and .85 on the exhaust.



The fit on the firewall side is very tight and has no room for the w/g so my buddy Jim welded a 3 inch v band down pipe and we ran the w/g out the other side.



The w/g is an old 38mm turbonetics delgate. Its gonna be dumped to the atmosphere for test and tune.



As the picture shows there is access issues for the oil filler. Will the cam cover sit in the opposite direction ?
I have a heat blanket for the turbo and plenty of wrap for the manifold and exhaust.

Only minor structural work will be needed to fit this safely as the clearance below shows.



Here's a look at the car before work started. Its a Kiwi accent (New Zealand)



and a sexy rear end.



Will keep y'all posted with developments

[turbo325ii]

This shark should have a mean BITE! Looks good so far!

This should give you some inspiration: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1524677

[daniels635turbo]

That is nuts for a stock bottom end ! There seems to be less and less M30 stuff around, dont know why there are a truck load of these engines around.

[BadM535i]

Wow that turbo is sitting pretty high and close to the firewall. Interested to see this setup finished.

[daniels635turbo]

[josephmotors]

Nicely done.

[daniels635turbo]

Well, not to happy with the W/g set up yet. Will be plumbing it down closer to the exhaust manifold back into the three inch down pipe. Trialing some different things with the MAF. Have to move it further away from the turbo to stabilise the air flow ... no fancy hot wires on this old girl.
You'll see there is no intercooling or BOV.... its just rolling at the moment, that being said it goes pretty good for "cave man" set up.
Most of this has been dead reckoning, seat of the pants, how it sounds smells and feels. It is a load of fun and an excellent change from a sterile professional work environment. Will post updates as it comes along.

[YellowBed]

Nice. what are you tuning with?

[daniels635turbo]

Tuning ? Its all stock 1986 e24 635........ The only thing I did was put the Kenne Bell Blue FMU on down line from the stock BMW one on the fuel rail. When we first hooked the turbo to the intake manifold it was sputtering and wouldnt do anything over 3 k rpm.
I understand these stock injectors can flow 185cc/min (not alot). A little calculation needed to be done to get the actual fuel pressure on the car. The equation looks like this: 50% static FP + (8 x boost psi)=fuel pressure. I have the Blue FMU which is 8psi fuel increase for every pound of boost... so at 8lb of boost thats about 100lb fuel pressure. The 8lb spring in the old school delgate w/g opens on time to keep it form going lean (indirectly).
So not suprisingly the FMU supplies enough fuel to feed the turbo. Im guessing now ... but I think the stock computer keeps the air/fuel at 14:1. and the car pulls strong now through the rev range. Tail pipe isn't sooted up or white and the plugs look good so for now its ok.
There apparently is some formula to get the stock AFM running properly with the turbo, something like 10 inches distance for each inch diameter of the compressor opening. So im moving the AFM to the other side with 3 inch aluminum intake pipe and a silicone 90.
Waiting for a heat jacket for the turbine housing and plug wire thermal jackets as its getting a bit hotter on the exhaust side now... also have to rig up a catch can venting system, air/water intercooling, BOV ....... just happy its running now so I can get the stuff fitted and tested for the BALLS OUT engine $1500.00 short of being finished.

[daniels635turbo]

and early W/G set up ......



Discovered to much vacuum to run the BOV , (crappy idle and mega rich off throttle) so will be shimming the spring for now.

Runs pretty good with 8lb boost, and a nice sound with a three inch pipe out under the passenger !!! More fab work and set up stuff to do before putting in the built engine.

Im a boost addict now.......

[FastrTHNu]

I see Your in Philadelphia. I'd love to check this thing out sometime.

Looks good!

[Brody @ Miller]

You can't have an atmospheric blow off valve when your metering device is on the intake side of the turbo.

[bluejeansonfire]

You can't have an atmospheric blow off valve when your metering device is on the intake side of the turbo.

i guess 'you shouldn't', but some of the TRM draw-through guys and most sr20 guys totally do it and embrace a nice rich spike

[daniels635turbo]

i guess 'you shouldn't', but some of the TRM draw-through guys and most sr20 guys totally do it and embrace a nice rich spike

Yes thanks Brody I know, I know .... funnily enough the guy helping me put it together runs an sr20 drag car.
This exercise is primarily to check clearances and iron out gremlins for my forged internals 8.3:1 engine.

By the way Brody.... how did that e34 ex Dinan car turn out ?

[Brody @ Miller]

The dyno graph posted in the thread is how it left, the owner has posted his reviews etc too. It did leave "half finished" so to speak as the owner couldn't afford to resolve the HG issue before he picked it up. He will be fixing his head gasket and upgrading his cam before summer.

I didn't mean to sound like an ass with my previous post, i just didn't know what else to say. You'd be scared with the amount of phone support I provide for people that really shouldn't be near a car!

[daniels635turbo]

I see Your in Philadelphia. I'd love to check this thing out sometime.

Looks good!

Sure, that'd be arange'able........ will be tooling around with the car on New Years day here in Philly. Pvt message me and we'll work it out.

The dyno graph posted in the thread is how it left, the owner has posted his reviews etc too. I did leave "half finished" so to speak as the owner couldn't afford to resolve the HG issue before he picked it up. He will be fixing his head gasket and upgrading his cam before summer.

I didn't mean to sound like an ass with my previous post, i just didn't know what else to say. You'd be scared with the amount of phone support I provide for people that really shouldn't be near a car!

I can only imagine .....

You know I use this site to get any feedback I can, so no problem.

I left my peugeot race car, two brothers, my BMW junkie dad and track time most weekends in New Zealand to come over here, so semi blogging this build is "theraputic" and I appreciate any feed back and/or interest.

Did you notice the oil cap at the other end of the cam cover ? Turbo clearance.....

[thespeedfactory]

How long does it take to change/clean your sparkplugs?

If you are interested, I have a 4" MAF and splitsecond piggyback for sale. I ran it on my first two builds before I went standalone. Got me to 20ish psi with 35# injectors and no fuel cut.

[daniels635turbo]

Can remove all plugs without to much hassel ...... Yes.. interested in the piggy back set up.

Let me know.

[thespeedfactory]

Recirculate the BOV, ditch the AFM for a MAF kit, ditch the 8:1 FMU for a 1:1, install an intercooler, then push to 12-15 psi. You can run it on stock timing no problem. I did it for 2 years.

[DUDMD]

If you're stuck on not getting an intercooler, you should at least consider a water/meth injection kit that sprays meth/water to reduce knock from the high IAT you'll be getting in higher boost.

Also, your stock fuel pump will not like the 100+ psi that the FMU will increase the fuel pressure to. You should get at least a walbro 255l HP pump if you're decided on the FMU.

[daniels635turbo]

Ok BOV is being recirculated as we speak. Working on keeping the under hood temps down and replacing melted parts from the initial run. Had a tranny leak onto the RF caliper which was not helpful either.
Will be running air to water inter cooling once the block is finished on the forged engine and its all together.
Other jobs needed aswell are the diff mount and H&R springs over the bilstiens. It is freeking cold in the barn and the kero heater goes through a ton of gas, also have to get the flat 3 inch exhaust transitions bolted up and fab a muffler that'll fit.......

[thespeedfactory]

What rear are you using?

[daniels635turbo]

The original one. I think 3.46 final drive ratio. I know im gonna need a decent diff for the getrag 5 speed not in the car yet. I quite like the low rev at cruising. Not to fussed about drag eta's.

[daniels635turbo]

Well.. have the car running with the heat protection mostly sorted, clearances are good, but i will have to add some more insulation on the inside of the hood and fire wall. The down pipe runs pretty close to cylinder 6 and about 3 inches from the fire wall. Have some good insulating boots for the plugwires, so thank goodness nothing melted for the run from Hershey to Philadelphia. Got a couple strong acceleration runs in upto 130mph, and she is pulling strong over 4500 rpm, over 6000 it goes nuts. Real happy with the conservative set up, and will start on the air to water intercooling before summer and the balls out forged engine !!!!

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

and the car has 500lb of parts on board... including me

[IMG][/IMG]

[daniels635turbo]

Any old school guru's with some new school know how ? Whats the best head gasket to run ?
How much to O ring the block ? and why?