BMW Touring build with SR20 power (UPDATE- 03/04/13)

[oldroydsr4]

Finally, some progress has occurred (but in the wrong direction) after some long and hard thinking I concluded that the Saab conversion wasn't the right direction for a fully reliable track toy. The thought of a 2.0 Omega box handling a mountain of torque and launching with sticky tires didn't fill me with confidence, I considered doing a T5 gearbox but your looking at £500 for an unknown and to be honest it just felt wrong.

So here are some pictures of the backwards work.

This is the first time the old girl has moved in over a year, it even looks like the sunlight hurts her eyes.



As you can imagine, my neighbors get a little fed up with my car shenanigans.



Engine out and ready for collection, a Saab nerd purchased the whole lot for his PPC £1000 challenge e30.



The question now is, What to put in it. Hopefully 3rd time lucky.

Suggestions welcome

I don't have an unlimited budget, so no dreamers with V10s etc and I want to go FI.

Currently, I'm costing up a Holset'd M50 or the good old Jap SR20det, due to the huge array of tuning parts available.

Either way, I'm now committed to getting this thing finished.

My first job prior to this is to sort out the engine bay. There are now redundant brackets and to be honest I'm not that pleased with the paint finish, therefore some smoothing, seam welding and maybe a engine bay colour change?.
What are your thoughts on the bay colour, was thinking a nogaro grey, anthracite, or a metallic black of some sort to match the wheel centres and cage

[Phill172]

As you can imagine, my neighbors get a little fed up with my car shenanigans.



How do you get away with that! My neighbours would have a hunt and burn me on a bonfire! They get shitty even if you get water on their car parking space from washing the car!!

I love how clean that engine bay is

[oldroydsr4]

My neighbours are pretty cool and I just get a bad look from the occasional snob (but most are either interested or too polite to moan)

What do you reckon regarding engine bay colour?

[Jhonno]

I'd leave it body coloured..

SR20DET for cheaps.

M50B25 otherwise. Imo. 6 pot FTW!

[oldroydsr4]

I'd leave it body coloured..

SR20DET for cheaps.

M50B25 otherwise. Imo. 6 pot FTW!

Cheers for the reply jon.

I reckon the sr20 can be done for about £2500 but realistically a well put together turbo m50 will be 4k+. Sure the sound will be awesome but the weight distribution will be worse (as will the total mass), and realistically do I need 400+bhp in a 1000kg , trailing armed e30? To be honest at the mo im leaning towards sr power.

On the bay colour, im pretty worried at getting a good colour match following the smoothing and prep.

[Theo]

realistically do I need 400+bhp in a 1000kg , trailing armed e30?

Yes!

P.S. if weak gearboxes aren't your thing then you may want to give the standard sr20 gearbox a wide berth.

[redcar]

this looks so cool!
what make are those green bushes you have used?

[redcar]

you would be surprised with what the sr20 weighs once its got all the gear on it with intercooler, etc.

i reckon the m52b28 is a lighter engine than the sr20 engine if both were to be compared running in the same e30.

[Phill172]

I know of a sr for sale at the moment!
Your lucky to have such nice neighbours!
Engine bay colour def have it as is just looks so clean!

[oldroydsr4]

Redcar - from my research a sr20 with transmission in approximately 200kg, however a m50 with transmission is 240kg ( wouldnt use the m52 due to block issues). Then consider the m50 will have the addition of a big holset and manifold , im guessing it would be another 15kg. On that basis the sr will be circa 65kg lighter, which isn't to be sniffed at.

Theo - Pm coming your way about wiring.

Phil - got any info on the sr? Can it be seen running and what spec.

[redcar]

sr20 is crazy fast

[Phill172]

Ill have info out to asap via pm

[Jhonno]

I'd leave it body coloured..

SR20DET for cheaps.

M50B25 otherwise. Imo. 6 pot FTW!

Cheers for the reply jon.

I reckon the sr20 can be done for about £2500 but realistically a well put together turbo m50 will be 4k+. Sure the sound will be awesome but the weight distribution will be worse (as will the total mass), and realistically do I need 400+bhp in a 1000kg , trailing armed e30? To be honest at the mo im leaning towards sr power.

On the bay colour, im pretty worried at getting a good colour match following the smoothing and prep.

Speak to Theo on SR20 costs and Gunni on turbo'ing an M50 costs..

300bhp wasn't enough for me..

SR power is cool, but fragile boxes as said.. Like what you were trying to avoid with the Saab lump!

[oldroydsr4]

I purchased a s15 sr20 that had previously been in a e30 and went from there.



While I was pulling together a plan for install I decided to get the perpex windows in. I've yet to do the tailgate / trunk windows but this will be done shortly.










Also sorted some new dampers.



Due to work commitments the e30 started to look like it would never get finished. My dad had just had his m3 track car built by CR Mtech and I decided to subcontract some of the welding / prep work to them to keep the ball rolling.

Seam weld engine bay
Remove brackets from bay and weld up hole where servo was.
Paint engine bay again ( never happy with the original finish)
Weld cage to a and b pillar
Install pedal box
Drop sr20 in using the mounts from Foxy's e30.

I'll let the pics do the talking.

Bay seam welded and smoothed ready


B pillar welded



A pillar welded



Tilton Pedal box installed using the original pedal box bracket as a basis and reservoirs in the engine bay.





The engine bay was then painted and motor dropped in.

Servo removed



This is how she sits today.






Still lots to do, including wiring loom, fuel lines / fuel system, brake lines, rear Perspex , oil cooler etc etc but I should be able to complete the build before the summer (finance and time dependent lol)

[winx]

Love this car! Good luck with keeping up the momentum

[oomz1975]

This is rude, nice work.

[oldroydsr4]

Cheers Guys,

Hopefully some more updates will be on there way.

Been messing around with swirl pots etc and spent a bloody fortune at Speed Flow.

[Theo]

awesome

[DaveyB]

Hurray the build is still alive!

[oldroydsr4]

Hurray the build is still alive!

Yep, considered breaking it so many times but I'm too far down the road to turn back now.

[toby]

Great update and good luck with keeping it rolling.

[Ant]

Uber !

nice update David !