ZenitramNaes build thread, MegaSquirt content

[So Live]

Thank you! I do it for anyone else trying to accomplish the same thing. I spent a lot of time searching for the info needed for this build. I'll be happy if it helps at least someone!

I bought the manifold off a friend, I actually think it's the knock off one and not a genuine Otis one. I'll have to double check. Only have a 7psi spring in it now, I'm sure I could help you more once I actually get it tuned with MS controlling the electronic boost controller.

I hear that but I think it'd still be useful to see the boost curve without the boost controller, just to see how the turbo responds without any help. Actually better to see before and then after of spring vs with the controller .

No worries on the manifold, really just curious to see if it was a non-divided turbo flange.

I agree with BleedsBlue on the french, something about clean silver lights on these things (and e30s) makes me happy.

Cheers!

Edit: Also those terminals are gorgeous, great site too with some smart audio/electronics install solutions. Thanks for that.

[tschultz]

Hey Sean,

Do you have any megasquirt/tuning updates?
Such as details for cold start warm up enrichment, accel enrich, ego control settings or images of you fuel/ignition map?

I have a custom tunerstudio dash but do like seeing what settings are important to other megasquirt users...



I also found a program called virtual dyno that supposedly lets you take a datalog and then approximate your WHP after entering details for your car.

[ZenitramNaes]

Haven't really been working on the car. New house I'm renting doesn't have a garage. Since working at my friends auto shop the last thing I wanted to do when I got off was to work on my car. So I have a old little Honda CB175 I've been working on and fixing up, distracting me from the BMW.

Anyway, decide to take a swing at the breaking up I was experiencing in high rpms and in higher boost. Regapped the plugs from .027 down to .018 and that problem is completely gone. So glad it was something that simple , all the turbo stuff does add about an hour to spark plug labor though. Not fun.

Inching towards finishing this up.

Hey Sean,

Do you have any megasquirt/tuning updates?
Such as details for cold start warm up enrichment, accel enrich, ego control settings or images of you fuel/ignition map?

I have a custom tunerstudio dash but do like seeing what settings are important to other megasquirt users...



I also found a program called virtual dyno that supposedly lets you take a datalog and then approximate your WHP after entering details for your car.

Hey man, no updates on that end. Go ahead and pm and I can share some screen shots of what all my settings look like.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[ZenitramNaes]

Finally tracked down that voltage issue I was having. Was seeing a large loss of voltage at the battery and I suspect this what was also causing me to keep burning through alternators. Every time I replaced an alternator or the voltage regulator I'd still see no more than 13.2V , the problem would persist and was more of a temporary solution.
After replacing the sub harness that feeds from the alternator to the starter I'm seeing 13,9V consistently at both locations.




Took it out to wash it, still having an issue where the MS isn't grounding out the fan but I can easier bypass that by manually grounding the wire if needed.



After the wash I drove it around and it was driving great for 20-30 minutes. Was driving it hard and ended up blowing out the T4 gasket that sits between the turbo and exhaust manifold. It was one of the cheap Chinese gaskets that came with the manifold, will order a nice metal ringed one from Turbo Labs or somewhere equivalent

[BleedsBlue]

Because booooooooooost

[ZenitramNaes]

Okay may be worse than I though. While I was kind of skeptical that gasket could cause the hesitation in seeing, I've seen weirder things. It was leaking anyway so might as well replace it.





Still acting up. I know I have spark on all wires. Noticed it was running real rich and vacuum was bouncing. I'm gonna check plugs and compression maybe this weekend. Hoping it's nothing internal, but we will see.

[katit2]

Noticed it was running real rich and vacuum was bouncing. I'm gonna check plugs and compression maybe this weekend. Hoping it's nothing internal, but we will see.

Is this hesitation that happens under boost? Car would accelerate normal and when it comes on boost you would have hesitation? If so, it's one of the ignition coils.

[ZenitramNaes]

Is this hesitation that happens under boost? Car would accelerate normal and when it comes on boost you would have hesitation? If so, it's one of the ignition coils.

No, it will do it at idle or when you try to drive. Just sounds like massive break up of ignition or a specific cylinder that is misfiring.

I'm sure I'll figure it out then I take everything apart this weekend.

[ZenitramNaes]

Having a fence put in today so had to move the car this morning. Wasn't gonna mess with it today but I noticed a nice streak of dead grass leading up to my car to where I parked it earlier.

Turns out one of the hoses was spewing gas leading out of the fuel filter.

Took 20 minutes to fix, hoping that was my issue I started it up but it was still running funny.

Well now this makes me more worried than before, if it was leaking that much fuel when I was driving it under boost, it no doubt hit some lean numbers. I never saw anything to be worried about however, so maybe it was a new leak that developed over the last month or two.

Already dirty I figured I'd go ahead and check compression.



Valve cover off.



Both rocker arms snapped on #4.

I'm in the middle of building and restoring an old Honda motorcycle, so I think after I'm done with the bike the e34 is gonna get a nice new cam, HD rockers and duel valve springs as well as a port I suppose.

Haven't really messed with too much head stuff so I'm open to suggestions. A friend of mine just opened a machine shop in town so I'm sure that's gonna help a lot.

[BleedsBlue]

Poop!

[atl530i]

That sucks.

[ZenitramNaes]

Yeah it sucks but it's alright. Minimum I'm throwing in an other MLS head gasket, ARP studs, and HD rocket arms and all the little bits I'll change out while I'm in there.

I was thinking about maybe upgrading the cam while the head is out but I think I'll leave that for some other time. I am playing with the idea of dual valve springs though, but without a more aggressive cam, would they even be beneficial?

[darknezz7]

Im interested in what happened to this. I will be following a similar route. Have a wh1e with 150,000 mi just begging to be put on.

The rocker arms on the original engine on my 535is broke a few months after i brought it, right after i put a chip and reved it up imagine that. They really are the weak point on this motor. Its bullt now arp studs, 284 cam, ie hd rockers and ready for boost.

You still working on this?

[Hofmeister]

Im interested in what happened to this. I will be following a similar route. Have a wh1e with 150,000 mi just begging to be put on.

The rocker arms on the original engine on my 535is broke a few months after i brought it, right after i put a chip and reved it up imagine that. They really are the weak point on this motor. Its bullt now arp studs, 284 cam, ie hd rockers and ready for boost.

You still working on this?

id love to hear updates too, as ive got a feeling we live very close now.

[E38740iMD]

his Car is still in the same condition with the broken Rocker(s)

[ZenitramNaes]

Alright, I'm back and making some huge progress!

My current lease is up in about a month, that means I gotta get this car running and moved to the new place across town!

Removed the head in September, only took about four hours...



Cleaned up



Rad copper headgasket they don't make anymore



Everything waiting to go back in.





Fast forward to recently, got the head back from my friends shop, he did a great job. Valve job, new stem seals, resurface, and installed the HD rockers and collar shafts.



Ordered Arp studs and 93mm bore .080 Cometic gasket

Gapped the collar shafts to .010-.012 and loctited the little bolts.



I might get a lot of shit for this, but when I was putting the whole setup together it was only supposed to be temporary, but instead I ran it for 3 years without issue. Due to clearance issues, I couldn't get this last nut only the turbo manifold so I just ran it without one. Expected a little exhaust leak but I never felt one or heard one, so I just left it. Due to the head being out this time, I figured now would be the best time to get this to work. I ordered a step-stud m10x1.5 to what I believe is an m8x1.25. Worked perfect, was able to get some stock gaskets on there as well as the turbo manifold. (Cleaned up the mating surfaces before mounting gaskets)







Essentially where I'm at now. Going to go find some M10x1.50 copper nuts for the exhaust studs tomorrow and if all goes well with have the head back on with the first two torques.

Wish me luck.

[E38740iMD]

glad your getting to it.! in for updates!

[ZenitramNaes]

Okay, so where to begin.

Got the head back on, set timing, got the torques all set. Also added wires to the banjo bolts.







All back together, this is the point where the starter wasn't engaging. So I ordered a new one after I try to get it working, was in a hurry so just ordered to be safe. Once I started putting in the new one I realized I had forgot to attach the smaller wiring to the under side of the solenoid instead of the prong on top. Whoops. I think I strethed this whole rocer arrm repair about 250 due to lack of motivation and about 2 days or work. Not a big deal, a new starter isn't gonna hurt anything. Sounds way better than the one too, bonus.
Comparison




Got it running and started up and made it to the new house with one or two days to spare, mission accomplished.

That brings me to where I'm at now. Just going back and doing things right where I just didn't have time when it was all apart because I waited to the last minute.
At the new house with a car port.

Powder coated the thermostat.

20200724_122457 by Sean Zenitram, on Flickr
20200730_173124 by Sean Zenitram, on Flickr

I didn't mention it before but I bought a new b34 manifold to try my hand at flipping the throttle again. My last placement was to low which caused the wire to rub on the runners. This is a picture of my second attempt and the hole through the runners and linkage on the TB match up perfectly. Also added two more vacuum ports underneath.


Actually got my plate welded instead of just a aluminum black and a gasket (worked fine, but this looks better and seals forever)


And I decided to fill the holes so I could drill and tap appropriate sizes. Before I had them nut and bolt, (head of in the manifold, nut on the outside) I never liked it this way, kinda of sketchy, so this will also be solved.


The manifold is getting painted the same color as the thermostat.

That's about where I am at now.


Super dirty from years of pollen, dirt and mold. Spent all day cleaning.




I have a lot of things on order including the RHD throttle cable, little parts here and there, and something I'm ESTATIC about. CAtuned is offering M30 E34 specific silicone coolant hoses with a lifetime warranty, first vender that I know of to do so. I'm due for new hoses so these came up just in time. I think it came up to just under $200 for all of them including new clamps. They are still in development and should be shipping out in about 5-6 weeks.

Things to still do:

Valve cover getting powder coated
turbo blanket
wrap the dump pipe
Experiment with LS TPS with adapter
Wondering best route to take to get AN fuel lines in the bay, Nuke rail? Diy weld AN fittings on stock fuel rail?

[ZenitramNaes]

Little update, FINALLY got my fan working again via mega squirt. I had it located in the relay 1 area, voltage was going in but not making it to the resistor. Bad trace or something of the like, moved it to relay 3 and works as it should.

I have the fans coming on at 180f with a hysteresis of 5.

[tschultz]

Keep the progress going!

[BleedsBlue]

He's BACK! So happy to see all this, Sean. I may have something interesting for you finally on your "race" door panel idea from way back when, stay tuned!

[ZenitramNaes]

YES. PLEASE. Was about to attempt to make my own. I'm also planning on picking up your m30 oil filter sandwhich plate. The previous owner had one made and I cannot for the life of me stop a small oil leak coming from that area. Plus, yours will offer me cooling possibilities in the future. That is whenever you get them back in stock.

[BleedsBlue]

Good reminder - I just added stock back in. We were waiting on more plugs. We still have the Adel Wiggins adaptors if you'd like, otherwise the barebones adaptor plate is available again.

I'll keep you posted on the door panels.

[ZenitramNaes]

An other day, an other project that goes completely off the rails. Figured I'd tackle these jacked up threads on the upper timing cover. not since I've owned the car had I ever had a bolt in this hole. Drilled out to 1/4' and tap with m6 helicoil tap and thread in the helicoil.




I got and lathered it up with RTV and slapped it back on to only realize one of the lower timing cover bolts were not tightening. Took off the upper timing case and cleaned it all off, chase the threads on the lower timing cover and I could get the bolt to thread in and tighten. So I lather it back up with some RTV and slap it back together. No dice. Take it back off, clean the RTV, try again. Drilled out and tap. Fixed. This was a BITCH because of the MLS in the way, but got it sorted.


NEXT I realize that two of the treads in the thermostat housing are fucked. These, at least one of them, might have been my fault. The others I take no responsibility for.




After math



All those threads fixed. Got a ton of little maintenance things I've been meaning to do from FCP Euro.



Replaced the rubber bushing in the brake booster.





All new bolts, washers, and bleed screw for the housing




Ordered new bushing and clip for pedal assembly, didn't realize I was missing BOTH so the other one is on order. Should feel SO much better once back together.



New bushing for the throttle cable side.



Cut in order to have AN fitting sit flush for catch can. That's off getting welded. Thinking wrinkle red for valve cover. Once welded and painted, all that can go back together and I can focus back on the intake manifold, new cooling hoses, catch can routing, fuel lines.

[ZenitramNaes]

AN fitting welded on and valve cover in the process of being stripped and cleaned and getting ready for some fresh wrinkle paint.