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Hello all! My names Jacob and I’m finally here to introduce and make a thread on my 525i turbo build!
It started out in 2019 when I money shifted the stock m50 and bent all the exhaust valves. I had just manual swapped it 6ish months prior and out 10k fun miles and went to vintage and all that good stuff.
When I blew the motor I knew I had the option of a quick rebuild and get the car back on the road, or go balls deep and build something fun and just go crazy with it, so I clearly picked the latter.
For the basics of the motor, I bought a m52b28 as upgrade because of the larger displacement. It’s currently got the 2.8 crank, forged K1 rods, and Wiseco 84.5mm 8:1CR pistons. I still have a stock m50 head, valvetrain, cams. On that turbo in the picture at 20psi, the engine made about 350hp and 450ftlbs of torque according the adjustments from the heartbreaker dyno.
As far as the rest of the car, it’s still running a zf310 with a S3.15 medium case. It holds that power level just fine and would happily take more, but want more so will be upgrading in the long run.
The exhaust is some of my favorite stuff too, had a local shop weld up a nice titanium 3” all the way back, with a very cool and convenient downpipe to give the AC connections some space. Sounds good and blows a lot of air, and will be good for any power goals coming in the future.
I tore the head off because I had originally put in a MLS headgasket, which was dumb, as it dropped the compression ratio even further and was a little leaky even though I tried my best to seal it. I got a cutring headgasket and got that on, and had a check of the internals after a couple thousand miles of break in and hooning. All looked well and I was happy to have no leaks and some compression back.
As far as anything after that, I just drove it and enjoyed it. Quick with a small turbo and low spool times, but died up too because of the size. It’s definitely a good street car and a fun power level with all the torque hitting hard down low.
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2021/2022 UPDATE!:
January 2021, red turbo sedan went down. Spun out at a shitty pavement change, while I was also spinning tires in the wet, blame myself a bit for it, but as soon as the back end went out there was nothing I could do.
Got a big storage unit with a friend at the time, but I now currently rent the whole unit. Started to tear it down and get it ready for V2.0!
The only real damage I was able to find from the accident was the broken motor mount arm. The rest of the driveline was still in good shape, thank goodness. Motor mount arms are easy and cheap to come by!
Went and picked up this decent ‘95 shell from a friend down in austin who used the factory m50tu/g250 to swap his m50nv/4l30e wagon. Got it for $150!! What a steal! Car sat for ages in a storage lot after the owner died, so the interior definitely got roasted here in the TX heat, but it’s a good base to start with! Even with my resistance to getting a white car..
I have been slowly working on transferring everything over to this new shell, the whole rear end from the red car is now in the white one, dropped the subframe with the diff and then raised it into the white one. Definitely will want to take the diff out next time. But kept it easy with not having to move over all the poly diff and subframe bushings, and the m5 rear swaybar. The front subframe was essentially the same process, dropped the old subframe and suspension, but just transferred the suspension, didn’t want to have to drop the steering box and mess with that. Have the moosehead thrust arms and E31 lowers, along with my RD front sway bar. Bought the e9x 335 brake upgrade and did some shaving to make them clear 17” style 5/19’s since I’m nuts, but I was planning on stepping them up to 18” and widening the rear quite a bit so I can fit some grip in the rear. Might have to buy a new driver side caliper, but we’ll see.
I also bought some nice, proper coilovers for V2.0, as I had some old style BC’s that rode like shit. Need to get these coils welded up and then that’ll be about it for suspension! Ah, but I do need to do the m5 slide bearings in the RTA’s.
More engine and power train updates coming soon! Want to have V2.0 on the road for TexFest 2022 in October!
Not enough sauce, turn up the boost!
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Glad you posted on here, about time!
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Glad to see you finally posting on here, even if it’s almost three years late. This car is one of the coolest garage builds I’ve seen, piloted by a guy who may not know how to do everything, but is always willing to say “let’s figure it out”. Long live the turbo m5x
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Another FB friend, welcome. Your brake caliper shave is incredibly hairy lol.
Single Stage
Glad to see you on here. Quite the up-to-speed post. Look forward to seeing the progress with the new shell.
1990 Alpine 535i/5 - BC Coilovers, LSD, M5 Swaybars, 540 Brakes, A/C Mods, Sport Seats
1986 Alpine 528e - 500k+ miles daily driver
1992 Island 525i/5
1988 Alpine/Indigo 735i/5
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Lol, yeah, might get another caliper and not play that game, but we’ll see. I won’t use them anywhere near as hard as you will, but still, rather be safe than sorryOriginally Posted by circuit.heart
Not enough sauce, turn up the boost!
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My man, with the In N Out cup right there out in the open!
Glad to see you over in these parts, Jacob.
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Glad to be here! Definitely a better way to keep track than Instagram or anything, I’ll get more details in too!
Not enough sauce, turn up the boost!
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Finally, after 1 year and 3 agonizing months, the red shell is finally stripped. Nothing left to be picked, and it’s ready to go. Just need to find someone to haul it away, trying not to pay for it, but seems I might have to.
White car also saw the sun for the first time in forever, even if it was just a mobile storage platform
Set the new turbo up on its pedestal for a little bit of motivation. Got the new wrist pins in from Perry, hopefully should have it ready to go soon! Having the red car out will have a weight off my chest and motivation to get this heap running!
Old BMW's FTW
Can't wait to see that white car together, it'll be lovely I'm sure.
1995 525i 5-speed - Thread
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Well, progress happened sooner than I thought! “Called out” today, I went in for a couple hours at work but wasn’t feeling it and took a mental health day. Boy was that worth it, got a lot done, and I cleared my head at the same time! Go me!
Got both my motors into a fairly clear corner of my shop/unit, and had plenty space to work on them. Was a good first step!
Started undressing the turbo motor, new valve cover (from Brian Ma, thanks!!), intake manifold, fuel rail and FPR off and out of the way.
Everything still looks pretty good in there!
Got all the timing parts out of the way, yes maybe the vanos unit is dangling from the solenoid wire…
All head stud hardware out of the way, almost ready for removal!
A quick vertical lift and over onto the ready platform next to you and it’s easy as pie!
Everything looked pretty good inside too, no weird burn patterns or marks, just needs more boost!!
EXTRA:
This is what a motor mount arm is supposed to look like VS you basically get rearended at a stop by someone doing 60ish MPH. Sheared cleeeean off.. thank goodness I had another.
Then I went and cleaned a bunch of the brackets at work with our VERY nice industrial parts washer… so shiny!!
MORE UPDATES SOON!!
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Did all your exhaust-side stuff actually survive? I imagine that was a large chunk of the money spend.
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So the tip didn’t, neither did the mounts on the muffler. Where the mount was welded to the side of the muffler, it ripped the side steel on it. Pretty easy to get welded back up and have the tips cut off. They made a real distinct whistle sound that was interesting, but kind of annoying? So I’m not too hurt about losing them. Want to go with just a 3” down turn anyways. But the whole exhaust was probably about $1200. Full titanium with all the pie cuts for the downpipe/wastegate recirculating back in. Lot of labor, but material was wasn’t so bad.
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UPDATE 05/08/22
Been a little bit, but started some new medication and it’s been helping out a lot and I have the motivation again. This weekend got quite a bit done!
Finally got the new Yellowspeeds put together (way nicer than the old BC setup I had) after getting them welded via [mention]e34 kurtis [/mention]‘s friend who also welds all the stuff for the AZ E34 group. Went out and visited them and unintentionally bought the blue s52 wagon, so a lot of the progress on the turbo build has been on hold while I financially recover from that lol.
Got the coilovers on and height set. It’s a good height for now, but the front is maxxed out on low, not sure if the strut is just suuuuuper long or what? But hopefully with the extra 500lbs of engine and transmission, it’ll drop a little more.
My favorite bits in the front end, other than the new coils and the adjustable swaybar endlinks that come with them. Racing Dynamics front sway bar and the raporski X-Brace. Both a little scuffed from the accident, but hit the x-brace with some black rattle can paint I had in the shop, the sway bar will have to be. But finally got everything tightened up and the car is ready for the engine! Just have to torque the LCA’s once the engine is loading the suspension.
The whole interior is a mess, but got the pedals in and the clutch hydraulics ran, got the knee panel put on and it looks more like an e34! Need to vacuum it out and attempt to use my lil carpet extractor and see what it can do, hopefully it doesn’t need new carpet, but if it does I’ll probably try and add some B-Quiet sound deadening, make the car nice and enjoyable.
Looking over the whole car, I keep finding little things I need, assorted trim bits and bushings, hoses and brackets for the engine accessories. It’s always a little annoying, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
Now, onto the motor! I’ve put a little work into it, but I still need to send the head to the machine shop, and I’ve been lazy on that.
Got the .220 wall wrist pins in, ready for the new turbo and hopefully new cams, ready to take the new power level! Still want to check the gaps on the rings, and maybe regap a little wider, but we’ll have to see on that.
Other good news is the rod bearings look pretty mint! I was worried I’d have to rebearing the engine since the old turbo drain and turbo itself leaked so damn much, didn’t know if it’d run them dry or not. Glad to see they all still looked good! Just a little more work and the engine should be all set!
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Not Sam
Very cool.
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UPDATE 5/16:
Hopefully I’ll have an update every weekend until it’s done??? How exciting!
Got the bushings for throttle cable and the pedal bar, they had all disappeared. It still amazes me how well e34’s can drive without the pedal bushings, and then you put new ones in and it drives even better?? It’s fantastic, absolutely love this chassis!
Went through and recapped all the rings. Have the top ring set at .022” and the bottom at .025”. I’m thinking that it’ll be fine for 700ish, and it won’t be a horribly big deal since I won’t ever be constantly holding this car at limiter and getting it way hot.
Unfortunately snapped the 2nd ring on cylinder 5, so had to run to summit to get another set of rings, but I ended up buy two sets, just to be safe.
What a cylinder ring is supposed to look like vs never should look like lol
Also redid the oil pump nut safety wire, when I first built it, I was down half a hand so it was a bit more of a struggle to do something like that. All good now!
Bottom end is reassembled!
-.220 wall upgraded wrist pins
-confirmed/adjusted ring gap
-retorqued rod bolts
-redid oil pump nut
Now all that’s left is really the head? Not sure what to do about it though. I would like a NV head for the bigger valves and better flow, but my head is good and been gone through. Might buy some of the super tech dual valve springs off a friend? Might just run it stock as it is. The stock M50 valvetrain will love life no matter what, so I’m not too worried. Still need to find bigger cams, but hopefully soon this engine is in! the! car!!
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UPDATE 05/22
Got the head torn down and ready for the machine shop! I’m so close to having this thing back on the road!
Perry’s lifter magnets are like magic, I love em, can’t go back to not having and using them when tearing down an m5x head
A barren head loaded in the car, and the turbo manifold inspected. Don’t see any cracking, which is good. The RSI’s had a slight tendency to crack but luck is on my side! The flange also needs to be milled flat, but that’s easy. The head was black around most of the exhaust ports, so I know it was leakin.
Got the blue car titled in TX last week and have been driving it since, I had kinda forgot I owned it but now it’s doin work and haulin parts!
Little before/after on the block, got the gasket off and wiped it down, used a carbide scraper to get any of the extra junk off, also a really handy tool.
Tried my hand at welding, not pretty. But functional. Welded up the hole where the mount ripped the side of the muffler, and then welded the mount back on! Yippee! Gotta practice now and actually get good!
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UPDATE 6/19
Been a minute, finally started getting hot out here the the great state of Texas and makes me not want to work in an unairconditioned shop.
Picked the head and manifold up from the machine shop, manifold was warped pretty bad and had to deck the head to reuse with new cutrings. Took it to the parts washer at work to get all the shavings out, ended up making a big scratch along the mating surface. Was in full panic mode for a couple hours thinking if I’ll have to source another head or if there was enough material left to redeck this one. Talked with Perry Hubbling and he told me that some finer grit sand paper and it’ll be fine with a composite gasket, so I did just that!
Little bit of RTV where it matters and then the head is on! It’s a lot easier without the cams and manifold lol
Was on a time crunch this night to get what I wanted done before the storage facility locks the gates for the night, so at 9:45 I got the hoist positioned, loaded, and engine dropped in the car before 10. Felt so good to finally have the engine back in it! Called it a night and went home ecstatic about the progress
Stopped by to drop some stuff off but just wanted to the throw the turbo on to see what it’d look like. And it looks huge! But so good at the same time
Got the cams dropped in and engine timed, but had to take the compressor cover off to get the exhaust cam tray in since it was easier than removing the whole turbo. Dropped the VCG and VC on and found a surprise waiting for me!
Oops! Forgot the cam cover… human error, not that big a deal but I put it back in just for the peace of mind.
Kinda hard to tell in this picture, but got most of the harness ran to its locations and mounted on the firewall. Plugged in what i could and called it a night for that weekend
Came back another random day to throw the downpipe on just for a morale boost, and it fought me a bit, the new rear flange on the turbo is about 1/4” longer than the old one on the old turbo so it doesn’t fit quite right… but got the waste gate plumbed, and then can tap the 3” v band flanges in the clamp and get them lined up. Not quite how I want it, so I’ll be looking into other flanges, but works for now with the flex pipe being there.
Got the intake manifold on and everything under there connected, then got the injectors and coil packs connected, finally looking like a car!
Well… more issues with the turbo size… compressor housing had to be taken off to get the vanity cover on and then once the cover was on, the compressor housing can only be clocked so far until it starts leaning against the cover… so will most likely get a 90* welded on the compressor, best most compact way to make it fit between the engine and wheel well.
EXTRAS!
Got new wheel bearings in today and also got those installed, so now the suspension is finally complete! Thank goodness, glad that’s over with!
Then I got a tattoo of the red car cause why not? First car I bought, modified, crashed, loved. It’s what started my car addiction and will always be remembered!
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Tbh the turbo location makes me wary - things do flex and move around under load and that's why BMW factory clearances between parts are pretty generous. Ever put any thought into bringing the turbo farther forward and lower (below the top of the valve cover)? It'd make maintenance easier and you're just trading longer exhaust length for shorter boost pipe length.
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I have, there’s another RSI manifold for e30’s that bring the turbo further forward, but doesn’t bring it lower, and it’ll have hood clearance issues I think. There’s plenty clearance between things in the engine bay probably about 1/4”-1/2” between things once the 90* gets welded on the compressor housing and it’ll get clocked and fits. Still having trouble on deciding which way to mount the intercooler, inlet/outlet on the top vs on the bottom. The intercooler piping will probably be the most problematic, as it was in the past for me
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UPDATE 11/26/22
It’s been a while since I’ve updated this! Figured I should catch it up! In short the car is ready, and it just needs the driveshaft! It runs and holds temp just fine. Some fine tuning is needed but we’ll get there eventually.
Figure I’ll start with some more engine work. Figured I’d clean up the bay some. Ordered a shorter oil line so this long one isn’t everywhere and ugly. Also got the strut brace on and it clears everything, which was a pleasant surprise!
Up next! Fuel system! Picked up a 750il fuel tank for that extra capacity, just like in the red car. Had to clean it out as it had been sitting full of some rancid crap for quite a while. Had to mount it with some threaded rods and nuts instead of bolts since the stock 525i straps and just a tad bit too short.
Since the original fuel tank was all rusty, another reason for getting the 750il tank, I also just avoided running the stock hardlines this time and went with full -6 AN from the tank to the fuel rail.
Made a quick little temp sensor adapter to finally go to the GM IAT since the factory m50 shit the bed in the manifold. Super happy it works! And the ecu seemed to automatically adjust to the GM sensor and it reads all correctly!
As for the cooling system and intercooler now being packed in the engine bay… genuinely didn’t know if it would all fit, but I did get it to. Juuuuuust barely. Cut the snout off the water pump to fit it all and am running a big puller fan where the fan clutch went and decent pusher where the aux fan went. Trimmed the radiator hoses a little bit so the turns wouldn’t be at a sharp angle, and had to make a little bracket on the passenger side to hold the bottom of the radiator. The driver side foot sits on the frame rail.
Made some custom brackets for the intercooler to hold it from the top, nothing on the bottom. It holds pretty well and with the inlets/outlets being at the bottom the intercooler piping holds it fairly still. Lots of couplers on the hot side which I’m not a fan of but once the car is running and driving and I can put it through it’s paces I’ll get some proper charge pipes made.
As for the trans.. what a pain. Broke an ear off the mount on my old ZF, broke an ear off the shift arm slot on my euro ZF. Had the ear on the euro ZF welded on… but the bellhousing is about at a 20 degree difference, which is annoying so now I have to figure out what it actually is. Just threw the original ZF with the broken mount ear in and got a plate on top to help hold it. Replaced the input shaft bushing, have the Turner Motorsport rear poly shift bushing and a e60 short shifter. The old clutch was toast.. whoops, was planning on reusing it but that was not an option.
A SMALL PSA, DONT USE BRASS PIVOT PINS!!
Got my Mac boost solenoid mounted and vacuum lines ran
Got my oil drain routed from the turbo, fits way better with the relocation on the pan. But we’ll see how long this hose lasts… the biggest issue on the red car was the oil drain hose, it would always find a way to leak, it was also lower in the pan and 10AN. This is now higher in the pan and 12AN, so hoping it solves that issue.
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Holy mushroomed pivot pin, batman. Glad to see this update man, I hope all is well
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Did you use the same selector rod with those two very different-looking selector shaft U-joints?
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I did. Throw is still good and it doesn’t interfere with anything. The new one was for a 6spd I picked up but decided to throw it on this since it’s going in a car before the 6spd is
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