Long time no post, but this time it is because I've been busy driving and enjoying the thing ;)
Its state is still rough and far from it being half decent and presentable, but fact it is been on the road this whole summer meant a lot of fun and gave opportunity for me to continue its development by my own.
Car completed its stay with Yordan after receiving a final assembly of his 3D printed intake in carbon filled nylon. It totally surpassed my expectations on appearance:
This certainly is not a flashy carbon fiber intake like the stunning one from Daniel of
https://www.elementperformance.co.uk/ but at the same time has a functional appeal in my eyes and 6 months later looks exactly the same and feels strong and durable.
Car got tuned and unfortunately, but not unexpectedly the power rating is far from anything inspiring:
Max power comes at only 6000rpm and is ~ 163hp at the wheels (less than the 320si stock rating, yes) with quite an early and flat torque curve (183NM @ 3800rpm). Most likely this means the runners are too long and we plan a change in the trumpets only hoping this will shift the torque curve further right as well as the max power past 7000rpm.
So the dyno results were a disappointment, but hey car is drivable and quite pleasant with current torque curve so we moved per plan focusing on driving it and proving reliability and fixing any issues.
Biggest immediate issue I needed to resolve was the interference of the closely fitted engine against everything in the bay. The stock m20 rubber mounts were to soft allowing for dings into the engine bay at the exhaust manifold side and into the rack as the pan is quite tightly wrapped around it in pursuit of the lowest engine position possible. I shaved that pointy thing off the rack;
and did several tests adding shims under the right mount to eliminate the manifold touching the frame rail only to find out that the movement the stock mounts allow is too much for the tight fit I have everywhere at this point. I did a research on stiffer mounts and went through two iterations:
The first set I tried is at the top of the picture. It is stiffer rubber, but the design allows near zero side flex and a very limited vertical play resulting in zero interference problems, but results in very strong engine vibrations and noise transfer to the cabin. Probably great for track, but unbearable on the road.
Second set I tried is at the bottom and it is again of harder rubber but with the OEM design. These reduced noise and vibrations to much much bearable levels, but still do not allow any interference in the bay so I stick to them, but am looking at reducing noise inside further through interior dampening, etc and might also try adding back the original engine shock:
Need to figure out the mounting point at the engine side, but I suspect this shock will be too soft to remove the much harder vibrations compared to the OEM mounts. Will post further on that...
Many small fixes were of course done as well like changing thermostat, fixing some oil leaks and what not. Worth mentioning change of the diff to a 3.73 ratio LSD and new half shafts was the second big improvement on the car after the engine shocks as rattle from rear end was significant and with the 4.44 ratio diff my cruise mode was 5500rpm @ 140kmh
Oh did I mention the gold foil
That engine sits looow:
On the interior side I am experimenting on the seating. I love sitting very low and find the Recaro LS worse in this aspect than the sport seats, but they are too high to my taste as well tbh. I have thrown in a filthy Recaro Speed borrowed from a friend mounted directly through cheap aftermarket rails with no space to the floor to even mount the rails leaver:
Love this low position, but I am not sure that is a seat that looks and fits well in a sedan. It suits coupes much better for sure:
The reclining control knob also hits the b pillar, but good thing is it can relocate to the inner side and there is enough space for it against the tunnel. Still feels/looks odd though. Any suggestions on the seating are welcomed.
I also lowered the steering wheel and with the new position the 370mm wheel feels too big so I borrowed a 350mm Momo from Yordan that feels just in place:
Car did some decent mileage this summer (can't tell how much as my odo is jammed...) including a 600km trip around the mountains in the summer heat. No signs yet of the expected engine block issue, but that is an inevitable destiny so I will be in a rebuild and next stage improvements prep for sure. So far it is a great ride and is coming closer and closer to my ultimate goal. I do need to squeeze out of it some decent top end power and I am sure this will happen too. Balance feels exceptionally good. I haven't put it on scales so far and I need to check and fix alignment still, but the light front is there and is what kept me in the 4pot camp for sure. Induction noise is great, but that stock heavy flywheel needs to go.
Random pics:
I should have probably gotten a black oil cooler:
) essentially making the linkage I had useless... With the m40 and the 6 speed I've been using an unmodified base out of a 4pot e90 diesel with a slightly shortened linkage rod. Now that base turned out shorter than required and I brought to Yordan a e90 4pot petrol linkage which is much longer than the diesel on but mates better to the gearbox as it is the linkage for that gearbox while the diesel one is used with the GS6-37dz. Anyhow he shortened the damn thing only to discover yet another issue - one he assembled the whole thing the gear leaver hanged some 15 degrees towards the right seat indicating that there is something wrong with the engine and gearbox position. After some thinkering we agreed that my engine mounts are putting the engine slightly to the left and making the whole assembly twist leftwise thus pushing the lever base slightly rightwise causing the observed lever tilt to the right:
