m50 turbo? cheapest route

[newt]

whats the cheapest route to turboing an m50tub25

im not bothered by power gains, just want to get a starting point for turbo e30

idealy id like to bolt a turbo on and some bigger injectors and off i go, but i know it wont be this simple, ive been thinking about turbos for a while now, and after reading this months issue of pbmw im keen for a turbo,

Would happily sell the R1 if i can get enough power out of the m50 for it to be equally fun

[Andy325i]

I'm not here to p*iss on your fireworks, but failing to prepare is prepairing to fail.

How much power do you want?

Standard internals are good, but to a point. Pretty soon you will be wanting a full rebuild, then you have to decide how far you want/need to go:

H rods

Forged pistons

ARP bolts

Decent exhaust header

Bigger turbo

it goes on and on....

On the positive side an M50 is a great choice to start with if your going down the turbo route

Making an E30 as fast as an R1 is going to take serious power/ and lightening of the car

Gunni is well clued up in these matters

Andy

[newt]

i understand its not walk in the park, im not after matching the R1's performance, just something that is gunna put a smile on my face like the R1 does,

tbh, if i could turbo the m50 and have 275bhp at a cost under a grand id be happy, as it then gives me a turbo'd m50 to work with,

i cant afford to shell out for stand alone fuel systems and forged internals all at once, so im after getting a turbo fitted and a drivable car, then do these bits as and when i have the money, if this makes sense,

[Andy325i]

yes totally makes sence

Have a word with gunni.

An M52B28 would make you grin

Andy

[DanThe]

Gunni reckons you can reliably bump these up to 300hp without problems using a reasonably sized turbo and standard management

[newt]

Gunni reckons you can reliably bump these up to 300hp without problems using a reasonably sized turbo and standard management

im liking this!, is gunni his username on here? may have to give him a pm,

Adam

[fowler]

you can run approx a bar of boost through an a bog std M20 without many issues.
I have done a an M20B27 turbo and its not cheap... IF it was cheap and easy everyone would be doing it its cost approx10K to fully make the car handle the power.
if you go faster you need to be bale to handle it and stop it it is very expensive.
I would say just go get a Holset from some where with an ebay manifold with the required manifold strengthing bar to the iner wing and a relativly cheap ecu squirt or something similar
Or on the other hand you could just buy all my running gear... SEE WEBSITE fastbimmer.co.uk under project fridge for all work that needs to be carried out
which is for sale PM for details
BUT you cannot doit for less than 3-4K for a smallish boost set-up unless you can do it all yourself.
many have tried and failed trust me i have seen some of the epic failures
Hope that helps

[Aston-AKA-Ash]

I think you misread, he was asking about M50 turbo.

The article in PBMW this month had e30 cab with M50B25 turbo, engine totally standard internally except ARP head bolts and ringed headgasket. Running 440ish bhp.

From that i'd assume its safe to say that 350bhp should be fine with decent headgasket and some ARP hardware. This would obviously need management upgrading but it's cheap enough and a few options.

[DanThe]

12v FTL

Twin cam is where its at

[newt]

yeah ive been reading the pbmw mag over and over, he was aiming for 350wbhp and ended up with 480wbhp!!! WIN

i figured i could probs run 5 maybe 6 psi with just uprated injectors, would this work?

[Rav335uk]

12v FTL

Twin cam is where its at

That made me laugh

Here's a 12v turbo, and apperently it's his daily after he changes the tyres over
[youtube][/youtube]

[xr666]

that is one quick car

[newt]

if a 12v turbo is like that then imagine a 24v turbo

[DanThe]

Rav your in the wrong section for 12v losers!

[Ilkorin]

Cheap and boost really don't go together... If you're looking to sort things out yourself and not pay for dyno mapping, I'd really recommend getting the stock M50 running on standalone (megasquirt or otherwise) before you even touch turbo parts.

My touring is my first attempt at running MS and it's taken me a year to get it to where it is, and it's still far from OEM standard (although I'm starting to see improvements in fuel economy). There are a lot of pitfalls with engine management, but cheap out here and your engine WILL go bang once you add the boost.

[Aston-AKA-Ash]

I intend to dive into the deep end with my E30 once i've finished my mk4 escort project.

Will be looking for a 325i sport as an ideal base. Running it as it is for a bit while i collect all the parts needed to swap to M50B25, same as in the mag which must be fate with it being in this month as i've been planning and researching for a couple months now. I'll build it up as best i can on the stand then swap complete turbo setup into car. Complete with full ARP hardware

I've already got a T3 turbo and will/do have plenty knowledge about ECU's from my current project. I'll be after a non-vanos engine ideally for simplicity and if this chaps engine is 480whp standard i'd be over the moon with 350. ECU i'll use will be able to control vanos anyway if needs be so i haven't ruled that out.

If it breaks i'll repair it. If it lasts well as it is, i'll then consider pistons and rods and upgrade if i decide i NEED more power.

[Rav335uk]

Rav your in the wrong section for 12v losers!

you mentioned it first, thoguht I would Correct you