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chrisr29
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Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Chichester

Post Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:55 pm

Hi all. After almost a year of trying to turbo my LHD 325 ebay special I finally got it running over the weekend! Fired up on the button....was well pleased!

The project was originally inspired by reading posts on here and then spotting a 2nd hand log type manifold complete with IHI turbo on ebay. It was claimed to be from a Turbo Technics kit developed for the 323 but this turned out not to be the case as it transpired that TT never made a kit for this car.

Anyway, pic below of the ebay kit loosely bolted in place:

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Wanting to crack on with things I thought I'd build the rest of the system up and THEN send the turbo off for a pre-emetive refurb....big mistake! Turns out there was wear on the shaft (piston ring groove was shot) and due to the age of the thing (must have been a good 20 years) the parts wear unobtainable....bugger!

Long story short I ended up buying a new T3 stage 2 Cossie spec jobbie supposedly good for 300bhp. Jobs-a-gooden I thought....untill it arrives and is WAY too big to fit the log manifold!

Did a bit of surfing and came accross 666 fabricatoins who make a reasonably priced adapter that fits the original cast manifolds...result! Took a couple of weeks to arrive but fits a treat, although I had to substitue a mixture of hex head and sockett head bolts in place of the original studs and nuts to get the thing to fit. Pic below:

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Pretty much everything else I had from the original build, just needed a couple of extra silicone bends to connect the new turbo up.

Had decided to use a BEGI fmu for fuelling purposes rather than stand alone, the theory being that I should be able to set it up on my own without having to resort to costly mapping sessions on a rolling road. Time will tell with this yet as there's still a few things to do before it's road ready.

Pics below of the build so far:

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Still need to make a heat shield to go between header tank and turbo plus relocate the coil.

Ran the hose for the air filter through the hole for the air-con dryer...the air filter sits quite nicely at the front of the inner wing, hopefully should be well enough protected from the elements by the under tray and wheel arch liner:

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The intercooler was another ebay special....seems pretty well made for the money:

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Had to relocate the oil filter due to manifold....used Mocal bits to mount on the o/s/f chassis rail:

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Being a bit of a lazy git and not wanting to remove the sump I decided to route the oil drain around the front of the engine and into the oil level sender hole:

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Don't envisage any probs as there's a good 10 inch drop and the oil flows nicely when tested.

Pic below of the feed to the throttle body, bov and fmu:

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Have left the std injectors in for the moment, will be changed for larger one's once cars been MOT'd. Still have the exhaust to sort....bought a second hand stainless Saphire Cossy system of ebay, need to mod it to fit. The down pipe almost fitted straight on, just had to extend it a couple of inches bofore the mounting flange. Also had a boss welded on for wide band sensor. Used the Innovative one along with the dash mounted gauge. also fitted boost and oil presure gauges:

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Prior to this I did overhaul the head and fit a new gaskett along with non-stretch bolts.
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fowler
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Post Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:06 pm

good project fella looks like it will go well when finished
EX A-Tech Workshop bitch !!!
325i Turbo touring (Aka Project Fridge)
gone but not forgotten
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chrisr29
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Post Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:16 pm

Thanks. I'll update on here as it progresses. Just need to sort the exhaust, get the body work back on, insure it and take for an MOT. I geuss the tricky tuning work will start then. Runs ok in the work shop though....albeit rather noisely with just the down pipe!. Had it up to temp, no leaks or overheating etc.

Cheers, Chris.
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fowler
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Location: New Addington/Croydon

Post Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:20 pm

just finishing my turbo conversion but ona RHD LHD looks so much easier
EX A-Tech Workshop bitch !!!
325i Turbo touring (Aka Project Fridge)
gone but not forgotten
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chrisr29
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Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 11:00 pm
Location: Chichester

Post Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:25 pm

yeah, lack of steering linkage where you want to run the down pipe makes a huge difference.

How long before you're on the road? What are you doing re insurance?