Turbo noob

[bobbin1982]

Ok i dont know exactly how a turbo works or is set up...
I would like to turbo my 2.5 sometime in the future and was wondering if anyone can give me some pointers?..
Do holes need to be drilled into the engine anywhere or is it just a bolt on thing..
And i heard the 325 engine can withstand 500bhp without blowing.. obviously i wont be wanting that much power though
Do i need strengthend piston rings or conrods or anything?..

Please be clear as im a D.I.Y mechanic lol


Thanks ,Andy

[E30BeemerLad]

If I was going turbo on a M20 I would look at starting from scratch and building another engine up with all new seals & gaskets etc.

For sensible power, i.e around the 300 mark, I reckon you'd get away with stock internals all day long, just an uprated headgasket and some ARP head bolts.

Exhaust manifold is the pain as far as "off the shelf" is concerned as most of the ebay type stuff you see is generally made for LHD cars. ALso, you are into stand alone engine management like Megasquirt etc.

Without kidding yourself, I'd say you'd be into £3-£5K to do a decent job of turboing the car by the time all the little bits & pieces are added and you've also checked that suspension & brakes etc are in good order. I reckon I'd want more than just an uprated set of discs & pads on the front too.

Essentially, the figure you probably have in your mind can more than likely be doubled and then some

[bobbin1982]

ok then the turbo idea is out the window
i guess supercharge is around the same?


Thanks, Andy

[Saga]

ok then the turbo idea is out the window
i guess supercharge is around the same?


Thanks, Andy

The same or more, depending on how you do it. At the risk of being corrected, there's a lot more support out there for turbo setups, e.g. you can buy turbo manifolds off e-bay all day (albeit Chinese shitemetal ones).

If you can scour scrappies and have a lot of mechanical nous, the cheapest way to more power as I understand it is a swap to an M30 B35, M50 or M52.

[ross2009]

to be perfectly honest if you really havent got a clue wot ya doing as in not knowing about turbos id suggest either paying some 1 to do it for ya eg ant at a-tec which aint cheap or just put a bigger engine in
im half way through building a turbo lump for my 325i got nearly everything for it megasquirt turbo renewed bottom end etc etc
but ive been messing around with engines and turbos etc for like years if u aint got a clue its a lot to take in for a noob
not sayin your not a compitant machanic just its alot to do if ya dont know wot ya doing

[Ilkorin]

Been looking at this for a while now - I'm working on the megasquirt side of things at the moment and that's a huge learning curve in itself. The key is to do loads and loads of research and it seems to be a very well-documented mod (particularly on e30tech).

If time is on your side, I'd say get reading and really get to know what a turbo is all about. Bad tuning kills boosted cars, so make sure you either know what you're doing with the mapping or get someone who does to sort that out...

Oh and as far as I can see, it's not a cheap thing to do....

[BornToBeE30]

In relations to what has been talked about, i have a small quick question.

I have bought a complete turbo kit, I know how to fit it and have a very substantial knowlegde of how they are installed and work.

The only problem i have with the M20 Build, is i'm not not sure where to put the turbo oil feed and drain, i also just dont want to go cutting and drilling into the side of the pan, block or crank casings without prior to knowint the best places to have the feeds and drains run too an from.


I know its a fair bit to ask, but can anyone help, and if by helping, use diagrams or photographs to point out direct points on images just so i can be certain to as to what it is I need to do.

Cheers.

[ross2009]

Alot of people use the oil prssure switch oil output with a t piece to feed your turbo and your oil pressure swith that's wot I've done on mine but I'm doing away with the oil pressure swith and I'm going to put a oil pressure gauge instead
as for the return the sump is prob the best place to put it but just make it as high as u can so your above the oil level
bearing in min when the engines running it does suck up quite abit which drop the level anyway sorry can't put no pics up as I'm only on my iPhone but if u give me your email addy I'll send u some pics of how I've done it if it will help

[BornToBeE30]

Email addy send in PM.
Cheers mate.