White Turbo M3 Finally Complete

[wgknestrick]

Car started out as a "good bones" car with very low miles/68K, (but an R title) purchased in MD. Car was extremely dirty inside and out with tented headliner, sagging glovebox, shot drag radials, Porsche brakes, TT stage 2 kit

Here is the original Craigslist add:

Craigslist Add.jpg


Then pour on the Interior parts (just a few of a huge list):

Interior:
Lseat covers F+R
Personal Grinta Steering Wheel with custom BMW E30 horn
All new Kicker speakers + RF amp
AEM Eboost + wideband O2 gauges in RallyRoad cluster
Alpine ilx-f259 HU
Weathertech Mats
Restored headliner (no more tent), A pillars, C pillars (removed tacky gauge pillar), rear deck (bye bye purple)
Rebuilt sun roof mech (OMG difficult)
Rebuilt glove box
Full "seat out" shampoo of carpets

Final Interior:

[wgknestrick]

Engine unfortunately didn't survive long after replacing the old TT stage 2 turbo kit with a modern Steedspeed and EFR 8474 Black turbo. Oil pump gear fell off of all things to kill it.

After long and hard decision, decided to keep the car and had Bimmer Performance Center build a M50 hybrid engine to handle whatever that turbo could throw at it.

Tuned on E70 by Nick G at CES. Made 643whp at 22psi.

[wgknestrick]

Some pictures of the exterior

Video of dyno run at CES in their Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGrMslZJ...on_share_sheet

[GG///M3]

Fancy

[Eric93se]

Looks good! Need pics of the turbo'd engine bay

Yup when these engines get beat on and get real hot expect that oil pump but to come off!

- - - Updated - - -

Who sells the seat covers?

[pbonsalb]

Great results! 500 lbs rwtq at 3800 is responsive. If I had E85 locally available I would consider it. Boost looks well controlled. What size exhaust, what wastegate(s), and what is the turbine AR?

[h82crash]

Very nice! Congratulations. I wish I had access to E85. I moved 3 years ago. Went back to visit family and the local gas station where I used to fill up now has E85, after I moved away. BTW, the moderator should be moving this any.... second.... now....

[wgknestrick]

Great results! 500 lbs rwtq at 3800 is responsive. If I had E85 locally available I would consider it. Boost looks well controlled. What size exhaust, what wastegate(s), and what is the turbine AR?

Exhaust is 3"-3.5" with 2 mufflers. Wastegate is TurboSmart 45mm Hypergate. Turbine is the standard EFR twinscroll, 1.05AR.

I don't think you can go wrong with this turbo as it just has everything and sits between a 8473 and 9174. Responsiveness, very good top end and just seems well matched to a 3.0L I6. It was even better back when I had 3.2ls of the S52 instead of the M50 hybrid. I just couldn't run enough boost to get into the high efficiency area of the map on a stock engine. Now I can . Car is out of injector with 80lb injectors though. I can't see how you can want more HP as it is starting to spin tires in 5th now that it's cold out.

As far as E85 (it's basically E70-E72 according to my E meter), Sheetz is supporting this car and has it at every station here in Raleigh. I just fear the day they stop carrying it as there are only 2 other stations that seem to carry it in my area. NEVER, EVER ask for an E85 tune as you can only get true E85 as a race gas. The government really needs to step up on the regulation of the stuff as they can legally sell you anywhere between E50 and E85.....WTF?

I'm still fighting some nagging demons with the new engine though and have some annoying valvetrain noise on engines rundowns/rev drops after shifting. Bimmer Performance Center claims that these cams just make that noise, but I think something is wrong in the Vanos. They "tightened" something up in the Vanos which lessoned the noise, but it seems to be back again. I have the VAC turbo cams and would love anyone else to chime in on how they sound, or provide some video of their VAC cammed car reving. I am pretty sure I have hydraulic lifters, but will have to check the build list again.

Bill

[pbonsalb]

Interesting. With an S52 running a 1.05 8374 on an open old Steedspeed with TS45 WG, I could not control boost. It would push past 22 no matter the spring, so I had to keep the rpm down to limit creep. This was with a 3.5 downpipe and exhaust. I have heard that a 3.0 downpipe controls boost much better due to the added backpressure.

I now run the newer twinscroll Steedspeed and a 0.92 IWG 9180 with a TS45 on the manifold. With the internal and external WG combined, there is no problem controlling boost. CES has run a 1.45 9180 with just an external gate and a 3.5-4.0 DP and can go as low as about 18 psi. I have not tried the big turbine housing.

[wgknestrick]

Interesting. With an S52 running a 1.05 8374 on an open old Steedspeed with TS45 WG, I could not control boost. It would push past 22 no matter the spring, so I had to keep the rpm down to limit creep. This was with a 3.5 downpipe and exhaust. I have heard that a 3.0 downpipe controls boost much better due to the added backpressure.

I now run the newer twinscroll Steedspeed and a 0.92 IWG 9180 with a TS45 on the manifold. With the internal and external WG combined, there is no problem controlling boost. CES has run a 1.45 9180 with just an external gate and a 3.5-4.0 DP and can go as low as about 18 psi. I have not tried the big turbine housing.

Yeah, the Steedspeed manifold could use a redesign as the wastegate requires some cylinders to backflow heavily just to reach it. The runner cross sections could stand to be increased as well as they neck down from what is even in the head, but it's probably the best we have. The red graph on the dyno sheet shows what it runs at wastegate pressure which is around 12psi, but I think it's an 8lb spring. My wastegate piping is very smooth with no sharp bends (no 90s) as well. Merges back into the exhaust at a Y....and 2 mufflers helps.

[importbanana]

e36 turbo but no engine bay turbo pics. pls pics. we want to see

[ZEKTI]

Gorgeous interior. How do you like driving it?

[QUiKSR20]

Car looks good, How hard was it to install the LSEAT Covers? I picked up a set of vaders ( dove ) and cant decide to get new covers or redye them.
Also did you dye the door panels or have an upholster match them? Looks great!

[pbonsalb]

I would replace the 20-25 year old seat foam as well. Sit in your passenger seat if it has rarely been used and you will fee the difference between 20-25 year old well used foam and 20-25 year old lightly used foam. New foam is even better, but just swapping seat bottoms alone helps.

[QUiKSR20]

I would replace the 20-25 year old seat foam as well. Sit in your passenger seat if it has rarely been used and you will fee the difference between 20-25 year old well used foam and 20-25 year old lightly used foam. New foam is even better, but just swapping seat bottoms alone helps.

Where can I get new seat bottoms?

My seats appear to be in similar condition but obviously they are not after 20 years..

IMG_0343.jpg

[pbonsalb]

I have not looked for them so I don’t know. I am leaning toward aftermarket seats to replace the Vaders in my E36M3. I did just buy a bottom for my E90M3 drivers seat and installed it and the difference was dramatic.

[wgknestrick]

Car looks good, How hard was it to install the LSEAT Covers? I picked up a set of vaders ( dove ) and cant decide to get new covers or redye them.
Also did you dye the door panels or have an upholster match them? Looks great!

Fronts are relatively easy-mid difficulty due to all the segments, but I highly recommend steaming the foam to restore the original shape due to their age. I used a garment steamer and they work well. You will also need a pneumatic stapler to finish the vader head rests. This is my 3rd interior I've put covers on and they aren't really difficult with the proper tools (hog ring pliers and a steamer). Just go slow and tackle a seat a day. Heavy use of steam on covers to relax the leather and ease wrinkles. LSeat front covers (5/10) are significantly better patterns than the rear (3/10). I had the door cards sprayed to match. I would not recommend doing this to the seats as it's not the most durable finish and I highly doubt it would hold up long term (especially if changing the color). Same color would not be as noticeable if any chips come off. The covers are tough to beat for $150/ea. The foam pops back up to almost new when hit with steam. It's amazing.

Lseat covers are cheap and it takes some skill and attention to detail to get them to look like this.

[importbanana]

I highly recommend steaming the foam to restore the original shape

How long does this solution last?

[wgknestrick]

e36 turbo but no engine bay turbo pics. pls pics. we want to see

Not much to see from up top. Looks pretty stock, especially with a shorty cone filter on turbo inlet.


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20200116_193708.jpg

[wgknestrick]

How long does this solution last?

My interior has been restored for about 3 years so far, and the foam seems to hold the original shape....until it starts to crumble (my cushions were still in relatively great shape, but YMMV). Fat previous owners, sitting outside, abuse, etc all are big factors. Mine were originally black so that helps keep the UV away from the foam and keep the foam from cracking. UV just destroys any polymer bonds over time. As long as your foam isn't crumbling, you are good. Tons of Youtube vids on seat cushion restoration. Not sure if DoveWhite seats are more prone to cushion deterioration or not though. More UV will certainly penetrate through a light color cushion. The Lseat covers are thinly foam backed so that helps cover any blemishes.

[importbanana]

interesting, i didn't quite understand until now that your turbo is at the bottom. Where did you get the excaust manifold from? do you know how much bigger the exhaust manifold is in inner diameter compared to original?

[pbonsalb]

He has a twinscroll steedspeed, sold by CES Motorsports. I don’t know the runner ID but it could be buried in a thread from 5 years ago when the manifold was being designed and produced. Could be 1.5 or 1.625 or possibly 1.75 at the most. Not much if any bigger than stock runners. But enough to support 1000 rwhp with the right turbo, motor and exhaust.

[importbanana]

I've thought about simply connecting the two headers to one tube on a m52b28 to have a bottom mount turbo. Only thing speaking against it would be the diameter will still be original. Would be cost effective.

[pbonsalb]

The runner size would not be an issue. It’s not what I would recommend, though. You will still need a wastegate and probably a scavenger pump because the turbo will hang too low to gravity drain. I am not sure how much of the stock header is double wall stainless, but that could complicate the welding. The older cast ones might be easier.

I think a few people kludged together a U shaped pipe to top mount the turbo. Again, not what I would recommend. There are cheap top and bottom mounts available these days.

[importbanana]

Sure, a cheap manifold will probably do the job better.

The wastegate would be after the turbo (or am i mistaken?), so that part of the exhaust system would need to be custom made anyway.

I just recently happened to take off two Audi K003 Turbos from an Audi S4 V6 and had my e36 on the lift with the exhaust disconnected at the headers due to a transmission drop, and out of curiosity i held the turbo to the tubes and with adapters they would sit high enough for the oil to drain by itself, and they fit in there pretty nice. Just thoughts.