328ifun's M50 Turbo Build

[328iFun]

Hey all, my bad for not getting to this sooner, I've been busy with this project. Got it sanded down and painted it this week and yanked the engine and transmission this weekend. Picked up a ZF almost complete swap "kit" from a fellow member. Pretty happy with the paint and the body, no major dings or body related items bother me at this point so its time to move forward. Going to replace various engine seals and take care of the necessities (secure oil pump nut) and start figuring out what is and what isn't needed anymore while i've got it out. Head will be removed and dropped off at the machine shop, at that time ill more than likely go ahead and order the copper spacer/ cutring setup again for pump 93 (no E85 around here, sadly).

In between all of the above ill be ordering and consider turbo bits. Pretty sure I'm going to go bottom mount again, might go with all SPA stuff, seemed to work well last time. Be nice if I can find a few areas to save a little, maybe buy used




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[328iFun]

Still haven't decided on a tune yet. Might just go with Zach again, he was good to me last time. I have plenty of time to think about it

[328iFun]

Anyone ever done the ZF swap before? It seems pretty straightforward, only part I'm a little bit foggy on is the electrical stuff, the clutch switch which unless bypassed the car won't start. Are the plug for those things there somewhere? Do I need them?

I'd hate to get everything done on the car and have it not start because of the manual swap

[328iFun]

Cylinder Head off, waiting for Valve Stem Seals before sending it off for machining. And a lot of other stuff ordered!


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[328iFun]

So clean, so noice

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[328iFun]

Got the turbo feed connected and started cleaning the stock m50 up a little





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[328iFun]

Manifold tapped, used 1/4 male to 1/8 female fittings, tapped and epoxied

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[328iFun]

Got some manifold stuff today. Silicone hoses, boot, stuff expoxied so it doesn't leak and don't forget to cap the port under throttle body off. Goes to the fuel tank vent valve. I'd imagine it would not respond well to pressure





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[328iFun]

More goodies in


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[PiepPiep]

Still following!

Paintjob looks nice, especially for DIY

[328iFun]

Still following!

Paintjob looks nice, especially for DIY

Appreciate that! Agreed, not too bad for a dirty garage paint job. Hard to keep bugs and stuff away, especially at night. But I'm very pleased with it, haven't hit it with a wet and sand and buff yet either. BTW, paint prices are astronomical right now

- - - Updated - - -

Am I crazy for thinking this way? The timing cover requires gasket sealant on the cover for head gasket installs. Doesn't it make sense -- that if you are using a spacer, to install sealant on the cover directly and on top of the copper spacer? As the spacer is essentially meant to 'become' part of the block?

[et89]

Making quick progress! Nice!

(I need to start puting my M50 back together, with AC this time)

[328iFun]

What's going on ET, long time no speak. Why'd you have to tear your m50 down?

Thanks, just pretty much waiting on parts at this point. I sold my silver car awhile back, it's nice having the engine out of this one. It definitely makes it a bit easier to work on, this build should be more solid than the last

[328iFun]

Going with the SPA again

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[328iFun]

There she is

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[328iFun]

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[et89]

Big boy for a bottom mount!

I bought an M50NV to build to a M50B28 with forged pistons, and vanos.
My current M52 is an Alu block, which is still running great but I want a little bit more.
I am not confident in doing headstuds on the Alu block and risk pulling the threads, will do that when the M50B28 is finished.

[328iFun]

Big boy for a bottom mount!

I bought an M50NV to build to a M50B28 with forged pistons, and vanos.
My current M52 is an Alu block, which is still running great but I want a little bit more.
I am not confident in doing headstuds on the Alu block and risk pulling the threads, will do that when the M50B28 is finished.

I thought about going top mount. Doesn't really make sense to me, I guess it's neat to see the Turbo with the bonnet popped but not really any added benefits in my opinion. Heat and clearance can be definitely be issues, ones that I really don't want to deal with. Not really worth the hassle to show off to me, I'd rather have better performance, stock functionality that is proven to work, and being able to close the hood without cutting a hole in it or installing plastic vents sounds like a win to me!

Seems like we always want a little more, lol

[328iFun]

Going back to standalone, I've been putting more thought into running something like VEMS.

Someone with zero tuning experience; how long do you think it would take before one could drive their confidently without any major issues after installation?

Looks like most solutions come with a base tune so you can start the car at the very least. I'd like to learn how but I also don't want to have the car sitting for months at a time or feel the need to be conservative when driving it due lack of tunibility

[et89]

Yeah, I also think bottom mount is the way to go, at least for our street driven application, the e36 engine bay is pretty crammed as it is and adding a turbo doesn't help.
but to each there own. top mount has there perks as well.

define what you mean with no experience. I tought myself how to tune well enough to be confident in driving it on my own tune in a few months without having the car near.
I'm confident it could have been faster if I had the car to tinker on. not sure if you have insta, but send me a DM @elon_t and i'll send you some books/links etc. that helped me a lot.
if you have no insta, a DM on here is fine as well.

I am on a stock ECU tuned with romraider on MS41.3, but for the M50 I think i'll go with a link ecu.

[328iFun]

I guess no experience would be haven't tuned a car before.

Ill add you.

Got some more stuff done today. I can't believe I was able to install my headgasket with it in the car last go around, the way the engine is slanted it seems like it would be nearly impossible to keep everything lined up. Was def easier installing it with the engine out of the car. Still the most nerve-racking part none the less and I only had one alignment dowel this go around. I think I got it pretty good though. Ill start the next torque sequence tomorrow and the last the following day finishing at 85 ft lbs


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[328iFun]

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[328iFun]

Crazy how many little difference there are between the m50/m52... I like the steel valve cover but man its a pain to clean. Got the engine all timed nicely, still waiting on parts :-/

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[328iFun]

Airiflter fitted

Rally road arm > than this SPA one. Tolerances are minimal at best with the SPA

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[et89]

Making quick progress!
when do you want to have this finished?

Curious to hear how you like the 2.5 compared to the 2.8.