E30 Zone

I have contacted a few arp suppliers now and they all say
"arp do not do a kit for the e30"

i have located a kit in america but didnt really want the hassel of buy overseas.

so my question is where can i get an e30 m2 arp stud kit??

While i'm in the asking questions mood, does anyone know where i can get an MLS head gasket.

thank you

for what reason would you want an mls gasket for the m20? just curious as we can all advise better if its necessary then.

arp would probably be the first port of call for arp bolts for the m20, give them a ring and ask about uk stockists.

There are no stockists, the M20 arp´s are made from other studs.

The need for MLS gasket would be for a early M20B25 engine destined for some good boosting.
Saves buying pistons.

Later ones do not need it.

iv just had a thought, i was thinking rod bolts, and your thinking head bolts.

which bolts are you thinking of replacing with arps?


and i havent heard of the mls gasket being required on the early engine but not on the later, whats the reason for that? just curious.

Early engines had a higher c/r something like 9.7 and the later engines are 8.8

I'm after arp head studs, i have got a part number which will then require cutting down but i'd rather find the ones that fit straight in.

As for the head gasket i was looking on a few forums and it seems the mls gaskets are better for turbo conversions.

Maybe i have it wrong, if any one would like to steer me in the right direction?

Vac motorsport sell the studs you want.
http://store.vacmotorsports.com/arp--ra ... -p114.aspx

MLS are good if you want to drop the compression, if you don't need to you would be ok with the normal BMW gasket. You could o-ring the block if you wanted.

What kind of power are you after?

Do you have a early or late M20?

an mls should raise the compression over a normal fibre gasket as they are generally thinner. they will also tighten the squish clearance.

so im a little confused as to your above post.

You can buy a MLS that is thicker, as an easier way of dropping the compression.

ahh good point, i was thinking of normal ones which are about 0.5mm with fiber ones being 1.7mm

chu346 wrote:You can buy a MLS that is thicker, as an easier way of dropping the compression.

Decomp plate

Got a 3mm one here

or split a 3 layer mls and put the decomp plate in the centre as the middle sheet.

Correct me if I am wrong guys, but ARP is a US based company? Seen that ARP's are readily available from 'over the pond'...

Never had any hassle buying from the US so long as you are prepared to wait a few days for the items to arrive...



Cheers,
Mikey_Boy

cheers chu346 for the link.

I have the later engine.

The story is,
a mate of mine bought one of these cheapy ebay turbo kits and had it sat in his garage for the last couple of years. I did a trade for my old m5 back boxes and my skills in welding for said kit.

I have an H reg touring and an E reg coupe both m20 2.5.

i have dropped bigger engines in e30's but neva had a play with turbos.

Basicly i'm completely new to this and just picking up info as i go.

My 1st idea is to run an amal valve (like on a cozzie) so it controls the boost to about 9 psi.
get the standard ecu mapped ( which ive been told is easily possible.) sort the compression out off i go.

i have recenly sold my E36 track car so i have a few quid to spend on this. plus i have had a welded diff with a 4.45 ratio for ages, just been waitin to put it into something. coupled with the turbo it should be good fun.

HairyScreech wrote:or split a 3 layer mls and put the decomp plate in the centre as the middle sheet.

My decomp plate came with them already attached,and with it being 3mm thick, it means you don't have to remove quite so much material from the piston crown

Vac arp's are i believe form us pinto ones, and is there other alternatives such as the metric blues

Jason

So do i have this right, there is no way round machining the pistons??

decomp plate or use low comp face lift pistons.


aand dave that ones ~3mm to drop a silvertop zetec to 8.1:1. been run up to 100 Deg water temp and held just fine, hasnt been tried in anger under boost yet but i see no reason for trouble.

12.9 grade non stretch bolts are available over here, you just need to think out of the box a little, something I did a few years back. Happy to source if anyone wants a set, many sets have been used and abused on the zone, doesn't stop HG failures tho, everything has a limit.

HairyScreech wrote:decomp plate or use low comp face lift pistons.


aand dave that ones ~3mm to drop a silvertop zetec to 8.1:1. been run up to 100 Deg water temp and held just fine, hasnt been tried in anger under boost yet but i see no reason for trouble.

I'm sorry for being a pain aris but i'm really confused now ( doesnt take much)

If i have a face lift engine (non chrome bumper) do i need a de comp plate??

No

if you have an early engine the advice seems to be to lower the compression from the stock high 9s low 10s.
this would be done either by forged pistons, relived head chambers, later 8.8:1 pistons or a mls gasket/decomp plate <- (though its a dirty solution as it will foul up the chamber design, but thats a different story. )

if your using a facelift engine then they are already 8.8:1, which is fine for turbo.

tbh the prefacelift is fine for turbo with good management with egt, knock sensing and ecu boost control. i think the new evos are well over 10:1 cr srandard and they dnt mind a bit of boost up em.

the 9.7:1 engine can be boosted sure, but not the same power level as a 8.8:1 engine can.

the decomp plate maybe "dirty" but it works and works a treat. 466lbs@1.1bar@4k on my M20B28 is proof of that.

nothing wrong with quick and dirty, that zetec turbo i mention above is dick and quirty, these things are tough compared to other engines so you can get away with it.

its just a shame the simple solution of moving the head up leaves a less than ideal combustion chamber, otherwise i expect theres a touch more power to go before det sets in.

have you tried making mods to the chamber to lower the compression on anything gunni? theres plenty of meat there to work with, relieving some around the far side of the inlet valve should give a useable cc increase and not increase the detonation tendency as much as a slack squish band.
it also saves some of the messing that moving the head up involves.

i think the one i hemi'd out went from 41 to 46cc. now if that was a 10:1 engine then that knocks it down to 8.9:1, so were talking a full point of compression at the extreme end. (although i think going that far would piss up the squish more than the decomp.)

I haven´t seen the benefit when fitting a MLS is so easy.

also on the 2.8 I ran I was never deting while boosting and it was running 20+ degrees.