Budget homemade ghetto rear mount turbo build // E36 S50 vert //

[acbx]

Hello all, thought I'd introduce my build here. Backstory, ever since I supercharged my car on the m50 & the s50, I was still dreaming of bov noises. Not just that there wasn't much headroom to my powerdyne unit, and while it worked excellent, lets just say I guess we all want what we don't have. Plus I got beat by my friends homemade turbo v6 camry, with my s50 and powerdyne at 6psi and his at 8psi with a slipping clutch, needless to say I wasn't really pleased anymore.. haha

When I blew the s50 a few months ago I decided to sell the sc so I can focus on the turbo build, plus I was strapped for cash, going to college full time and what not. I was going to go topmount but along the way I was following a user on IG from New Zealand who did a rear mount turbo for his drift E36 sedan, I asked him many questions, and he gladly responded, if it wasn't for him I honestly wouldn't even attempt this. His whole remote mount setup is waaaaay cleaner than mine. At first he even had a self contained oil system for the turbo. His reasoning for doing it was that his vehicle was RHD, mine wasn't..... but why not? I wanted to keep the a/c because it was a daily and my only car plus I live in the south, I didn't have to touch the stock manifold, and honestly the whole thing is a quick bolt on, apart from cutting the spare tire well. haha

I was able to buy the tial wg, mishimoto intercooler, cxracing t3t04e, hks bov, ic piping all for $200 from a friend.
Used nickg tuning package for $700 I think
oil pump - $90
oil lines - $80
arp studs and mls - $400
2" ebay intercooler piping kit - $80
misc stuff - $$$
=less than $2k

Here's the outcome, just took this pic tonight, warning you now it looks pretty homemade.. harbor freight welder haha but it works.
cKv1Glq.jpg
Had to cut the whole center piece out of my ac schnitzer valence to get the small ic to fit with stock aux fan, but whatever it works!
IRxSc6R.jpg
A lot still has to be done, small downpipe is temporary, I want to get another turbo so I kind of just want to wait on that. Thinking holset. Honestly might need smaller exhaust piping from midpipe to the turbo manifold in the rear. currently its a 3", leaks on my friends welds for the turbo mani need to patched. Maybe need better WG placement. Redo inter cooler piping someday , since right now it's running under the subframe. Had to raise the car an inch, but it works for the meantime.. Also delete that canister in the trunk, if anyone knows how let me know! I've seen conflicting results online.

So far its been working good, have done 200 miles on this setup so far now that I got the maf working. Right now just having issues with slow spool and not so smooth part throttle. Love how the car sounds now though! And still have A/C!!

One of my theories on the slow spool is that since the wg vacuum source is on the compressor side of the turbo, its seeing 3 psi way before the tb sees 3 psi at the front, so the wg opens up and the front never sees that 3psi, and boost drops from all the piping and ic. I'm thinking I should take the source for the wg from the front at the intake manifold. Thoughts? This is how the other E36 rear mount turbo guy has setup. He makes full boost - 15psi at 4500 rpm with a hx35 turbo.

I currently have a a turbosmart mbc on it maxed out, 3psi wg spring and im seeing 4 psi at 3rd, 2.5 psi in 2nd gear. I hit full boost at around 4.5k rpm. I have a turbo blanket on the way and exhaust wrap so hopefully that will help with spool. If you guys have any recommendations let me know. Maybe I just need to put a stiffer spring in the wg and just see what happens as well. Plan is when this is all done and the turbo setup is all buttoned up is to build a metal floor on top of all that so that the trunk can be usable again, after all, this is a daily driver. I never had a spare tire anyways.

So specs so far
e36vert w/ hardtop w/ flares + other uninteresting stuff
s50 with .140 mls and arp studs
stock headers, to single 3" no cats.
whole cooling system redone
nickg tuning, 42lb injectors, blow thru maf
aem wideband, bosch boost gauge
Mishimoto intercooler from a scion tc kit
cxracing t3t04e turbo
tial wg
rep? hks bov
2" ic piping from turbo to bov, to 2.25 to ic to maf to tb.

Let me know your thoughts, criticisms, whatever. Any input helps! Thanks!

[zemaestro]

Your shear will to overcome adversity is appreciated. However, I think you should just move the damn turbo to an underhood location.

[somebody5788]

Ive driven an E36 with a hole in the trunk. Not something I'll ever repeat.

[acbx]

Your shear will to overcome adversity is appreciated. However, I think you should just move the damn turbo to an underhood location

haha, maybe one day. I would love to go top mount. Have been eyeing rapidspools new manifold. But for now, this setup works.

[geargrinder]

Weird. Hard to see on such an easy "proven platform" why you'd wrestle w the mess of rear mounts. That's usually a last resort for cats where fitment otherwise is impossible. But your car is so common a build for a normal setup.... Meh, don't get it.

[rajicase]

Weird. Hard to see on such an easy "proven platform" why you'd wrestle w the mess of rear mounts. That's usually a last resort for cats where fitment otherwise is impossible. But your car is so common a build for a normal setup.... Meh, don't get it.

Same...

[acbx]

True, like the F-bodys, very common for rear mount setups. Honestly, it really wasn't that hard. Most difficult part was probably the welding and piping, and that was tedious more than anything. I think it's the fact that I am close friends with people who had to make their own manifolds (v6 camry & a sonata) that may have influenced my decision.

My car also didn't have any downtime, start to finish. Being my daily, that was kind of critical. The only time I hit sort of a hiccup was when I had troubles with my MAF connector. I haven't seen many people with actual photographs of top mount turbo e36s with a/c, maybe one?.. a lot of them just get rid of it all together. I live in Texas, A/C is sort of a must. haha

Yes you can make brackets to mount the a/c compressor lower, or use a Z3 compressor, and bend / or make custom a/c lines, delete the aux fan, etc. but I didn't really want to deal with doing all that. With this, I didn't have to modify much, and accessibility is great. Hell, I didn't even have to cut the spare tire well really, all of this could have fit where the muffler used to sit, since there is such a biiig open space in there. But I was like whatever, I wanted to do a center exhaust anyway since I've had the car so the spare trunk was going to be cut regardless.

Although sometimes now the daily and a/c excuse is becoming a moot point because I've been looking into getting another car as a daily.

[SamGrant951]

can you post a picture during the daytime or with a flash? I can't see shit

[tptrsn]

Did anything come of this?