M30 Turbo update thread ****RUNNING

[Toby_Unna]

it's better you're a long way away mate, for your sake. otherwise u will have to spend the rest of your life mapping the MS

everything Mark posts at the moment scares me!

clocking NPs, already been playing with the positioning and it's bolted so i can turn the compressor housing by hand

hugging engine it will have to be mate, as you say. biggest problem in my experience is things vibrating against the body when the engine moves under load, so near engine and away from car is the way

just been drawing plans for the mani flanges. if i had enough steel i'd be making the log section right now!

[Kos]

you could tuck th turbo below the manifold, alpina style. that the way i'm keeping mine(still using the alpina log manifold)

[Toby_Unna]

yeah most LHD conversions put it underneath at the back, easier downpipe routing I guess. If i'm making a custom manifold though i think above is a better position

[Turbo-Brown]

Certainly makes draining the oil easier. My front turbo has only got about an inch or so of fall to the sump from it's drain.

Doesn't seem to be a problem, but it's not been worked very hard yet so we'll see.

Just out of interest Toby, how are you planning to retain the studs for the turbo in the manifold?

[Toby_Unna]

yes i was wondering who'd ask that first!

i think, as the turbo needs to sit a couple of inches upward of and at 30 or so degrees to the topside of the log body, i'll use the t3 flange joined to the body by a thick walled rectangular stub, and hopefully be able to get a spanner in to put nuts on the back, or weld them on if that's impossible.

I've kept the log body square to the cylinder head to simplify making and welding the flange-body stubs.

have thought of one problem. turbo is twin entry. is it worth trying to put a divider in the log between 1-3 and 4-6? will the turbo work ok otherwise?

about to ring GAP about the flanges Alex so I'll let you know how i get on

[Turbo-Brown]

Guess you could use little studs with a nut on each end so that if one gets buggered up, it can be replaced easily?

Found a bit of correspondence from GAP yesterday, the guy I spoke to was called Frank Nasmith. He will probably have no idea who I am though, but it's a place to start

[glenn]

toby,
i was wondering about the weight of that turbo, and the weight of the down-pipe,
will it need extra support, by way of a type of damper?
looking at the pics, i couldn't see where the front engine lift bracket fits,
could maybe fix some kind of support to the engine mounting bolts, underneath the manifold.
only if you think it needs extra support , of course.

[Toby_Unna]

Found some girders at the breaker today so i started to make a manifold

using cast manifold flanges from the original manifolds to begin with until i get some made. will need a little bulge where the turbo is to sit it upward and at an angle, but pretty pleased so far. there's just room for my downpipe which is a relief!
might make the stubs shorter than what's on there now. the body is final, but everything else is just testing!

[gareth]

hehe! that's overengineering at it's best!

your E30 now has one more chassis rail than any other!

[glenn]

at this early stage of manifold fabrication toby,
would it not be worth making the stubs join the 'girder' at an angle,? so as to aid flow.
the exhaust ports look to be oval shaped, so the stubs hitting them at an angle wouldn't be a problem.
i have to say it again mate, this project is awesome, i love it!

ps, thanks for the pm, i've read it a couple of times now.

[Toby_Unna]

little progress recently, but i've had a good day today

no manifold flanges yet but i made some mock ups to allow me to make the manifold. when i get the flanges i can just weld on and job done.

it's just tacked together for now, needs to come apart for internal smoothing and I need to put the wastegate flange on the underside, but i'm pretty pleased. all made from 3mm steel











final turbo position.



also sorted the throttle linkage, i think this looks pretty trick!





other small jobs done including TPS bracket, boot mount battery cable installed, motronic loom replaced by simple loom to run warning lights and temp gauge independantly of the MS setup.

downpipe time tomorrow

[Andy335Touring]

Nice work mate, won't be long now

[Ant]

Nice work Mate !

[gareth]

that looks the business!

maybe you can make me one while you're at it!!!

[Turbo-Brown]

Wahey! Class Toby!

Just a thought, but I reckon you could put a divider in the manifold so that the cyl's 1-3 and 4-6 both feed into half the turbo each.

Absolutely no idea if it'd gain anything, but might give the gasses a bit more direction towards the turbo perhaps

[glenn]

awesome mate.
that thing is going to be a weapon

[Karan]

awesome work toby ju8st saw this now!!!

having just bought a turdbo car i can only dream of what a turbo in an e30 would be like!!! awesome
!!

[Toby_Unna]

cheers all

made up a downpipe today from my rs turbo exhaust! went easier than expected, i've managed to get loads of clearance to everything

it's looking like there's a small chance this might actually get finished one day now!



nice curve around the steering joint!



rough looking TPS bracket



couple more manifold pics





next step is put the wastegate in, upside down at the front underside of the manifold, sort out a pipe to join it to the downpipe, put the o2 sensor bung on the downpipe, get some stainless wire to weld the downpipe up with.

where can i get the flanges to make an unboltable joint to go between downpipe and the rest of the system? it's all 2.5" piping.

[Ant]

I gave up looking for bolt together flanges Toby, went for a flared sleeve type joint in the end, takes up far less room too dude.

If you have access to an oxy/acet set then you can DIY one using two pieces of same bore pipe, a cutting wheel and a large hammer, heat the lower and use the other pipe as the former, keep the "female" pipe just off cherry and you'll find it easy enough mate.

Stainless may complicate things a little, does like to shrink when heated

Good progress fella !

you sorted the VR condition jumpers yet ?

[Toby_Unna]

already have the bits to do that from the rest of the system mate

if it worked for you it's fine by me!

haven't been near the megasquirt unfortunately!

[buster]

looking really good there toby !!
Well done m8

[Toby_Unna]

Couple more quick snaps now it's light, few more bits bolted on and oil feed trial fitted to check length

[Jon_Bmw]

Hey toby looking good, you suddenly seem to do a whole load really quickly. 2 Things, where are you getting your oil feed from, and I think you need to "clock" turbo some more to get that centre section with the oil feed at 12 o clock. It looks just a little bit to close to 2 o clock, and i'm not sure you'll get the right flow through the turbo. Any one else think the same?ant?alex?mark? or is it just me.

[Toby_Unna]

Jon, it will be done mate. the bearing section's loose so it can be turned by hand at the mo. 1 good thing about having a new turbo

feed is coming from the press switch tapping in the cylinder head, at the rear/inlet side on the m30

[Jon_Bmw]

Jon, it will be done mate. the bearing section's loose so it can be turned by hand at the mo. 1 good thing about having a new turbo

feed is coming from the press switch tapping in the cylinder head, at the rear/inlet side on the m30

Its coming for the same place then, just located somewhere else on the m30, good work.

I didn't think you'd overlook the oil feed pipe, but was just making sure. I tell you what i bet its nice having a loose centre section that spins easy. Mine was adament that it wasn't going to come apart, I nearly shit meself when i had to tap it with a hammer and it came off. I was half expecting to see mangled turbine blades

Have you sorted the return yet for the oil feed or is that on the to do list.

Awesome project, its going to fly.

[gareth]

once you've sorted exactly what you need regards the oil feed, give earls (www.earls.co.uk) a shout and you can probably get the exact right hose made up, in just one bit! (is yours several brake lines?)

[Toby_Unna]

um, yeah my oil feed is made from brake lines and Audi fuel lines at the moment

anyway...

downpipe done bar some seam welding. now with wastegate merge flange (which i'm putting some slots in to make a sliding joint)





installed, and with weld stub inserted. i'm going to weld the rest of the system to this stub.





blow off valve tacked in place on inlet.



loving the sunshine and daylight til 5

[Andy335Touring]

That down pipe looks like a very nice fit !

You will be up and running soon

[gareth]

it almost looks easier to get that lot in than a standard manifold! the area of my exhaust near the rear wishbone bush is sooooo tight, as is the clearance between the column and the downpipes! you've got loads of room with that single pipe! all a lot more compact.

gotta be done soon!

[Toby_Unna]

I agree totally Gareth, the standard M30 downpipes are a right pain! Andy and I both had issues between exhaust and steering column.

to be honest i think just starting from scatch is what makes it easier.

anyway, holes put in sump for oil return now. (by which i mean front subframe dropped while supporting engine, sump removed, drilled, cleaned up, put back on, subframe refitted... all by the roadside, in the freezing cold, and finishing in the dark )

what a bloody pain just to drill three holes!

[glenn]

i have to agree, the down-pipe looks and
liking the new sig toby, a hint of what lurks beneath!
very

[bigkev]

i take my hat off to you toby i can't even go outside to wash my friggin car never mind fit a turbo.what do the neighbours think about it all, better be carefull you dont get an ASBO for OFFENSIVELY LARGE TURBO USAGE

[E30BeemerLad]

Man on a mission, I bow to your engineering talents sir

That bonnet is gonna get freaky hot surely?

[will325is]

he can get a stainless gaurd for it pretty easy i expect there will still be quite a gap from turbine side as its smaller then compressor side and further back.

[Toby_Unna]

As Will says there's quite a lot of distance between the exhaust housing and the bonnet, i've seen e30 turbos mounted higher than mine.

bit scary removing the old exhaust studs from the head to put new ones on yesterday, i only put these in a year ago but they were all totally seized and wouldn't budge with my stud extractor and a 25cm bar (as long as i dared!)

luckily welding a nut to each on full power was enough to break the corrosion seal and none sheared. can't put into words how much i hate jammed exhaust studs

anyway wastegate's tacked into position under the manifold, and oil return's trial fitted and looks good

critical thing now is to get the exhaust manifold flanges cut, which worryingly means finding a CAD package and then learning how to use it