M42 Turbo? whats involved and what parts are needed?

[Dave_M3]

Yeah, as long as you got a 318iS engine that didn't have a cracked head, you can make it more or less a brand new engine when its out on a stand.

If I was turboing an M42, I'd start with a bare block anyway and build a solid engine that'll take reasonable boost and will be 100% reliable.
Even your own engine would need a minor strip down to make it reliable.

[polsta]

ok thanks dave, appriciate the advice and info

so if i sourced an engine for say £150 from here , said to a mate- i wanna turbo this up- how much labour time and parts, would it need just on that before it was ready to start thinking about turbo ?

and- how much just roughly, for all turbo parts -

then, how much labour time to get that all ready in a state to put in the car ? (any extra parts needed ?) ie uprated breaks and what not ?

then - how much labour time, to get it from there, to when i was driving it on the road loving it ?

tbh , sounds like it would be a lot ?

[eta]

No one can asnswer how much labour as it depends on how quickly your mate works and what issues he comes up against. Parts list will depend on what you aim for. Also costs will depend on what engine you rebuild.

You know you will need 2k-4K so my advice is save £2k and then start working out what you will need. While you are saving it may pay to read maxiumium boost by Cork Bell. It's a good beginners book on turbo engine conversions and will answer many questions.

[Dave_M3]

agreed on "maximum boost" Very good read


It really depends on how far you can see yourself wanting to go...

If you think you'll be happy with 200bhp, you could probably do the whole lot for 1500 and have it reliable to a good M42 with minimal work but when it comes to turbos... people rarely are happy with x amount of power and always want to move onto x+1 if its a case of just winding up the boost or a bigger turbo and some injectors if the engine is good for it


I could see an M42 turbo with 4-500bhp costing the 2-4K on parts alone really but what a car it would be!


As the car won't be any heavier, you won't necessarily need much bigger brakes other than decent pads, discs and good hydraulic system if you have abit of sense if its only a road-car but if you intend on pushing the car hard or doing some track-days, a set of 4pots on the front from Keri on here would be perfect.

[polsta]

ok thanks fellas, if i read the bpook it will probably be gobledegook to me, as i not got a clue about engines at all

mate who would do it, is a good mechanic and gets on with the job, hes done a fair bit of turbop work on his cossies n stuff, although not too sure if hes ever done a turbo conversion ona non turb engine , would that be a factor ?

is there for instance- anyone on here who could do the lot for 1500 all in say ? what would it need to get to say 2220/250 bhp ? 2k ? dont wanna go mad, but im thinking if i did- its beter to go a bit more if its not mega more ££, than wishing i had done after, the moneys not a problem as its there already,ive been saving up for months with my next move in mind, realisticly i thik- next march , is when i have 3 full years driving, the is will be off the road soon as winter kicks in, so it would b a winter job while cars off the road from dec-march , plenty of time for it to be fully done and not need the car

also- what would insurance be like ? a nightmare to insure ? would classic companies insure it still ?

the decidign factor will be when my escorts done, the engine sswap on that is this weekend,was supposed to be the one just gone but he couldnt do it, plan is-get that all sorted, then mot and tax it for this summer and drive it around for a bit - then either decide to keep it, or sell it- if i sell it, il keep the is engine as is,, and buy another car and the is will be the daily, if i keep it- then il boost up the is either turbo or conversion

[chu346]

Check insurance first before doing any mods!

I could turbo an engine for £1500 with new parts, but that is without labour.

If you bought second hand parts you may be able to get the parts and get it fitted for £1500 too.

[polsta]

so how much would labour be ? your not a major distance, ie- if i dropped of an m42 engine i sourced from a breaker/got it delivered to you - how much to tubo it with parts ? then to fit it in the car once done ? to achieve say 220/250 sort of bhp

all in cost for cash ? (roughly)

[eta]

You may not now have a clue about engines but we where all the same once. I would take the time to read and understand engines and turbo systems. Give yourself some credit instead of throwing money at the "problem". I think when embarking on projects like this it is good to have the knowledge to choose the parts you need to accomplish your goals with advice where necessary even if you cannot do the fitting yourself. It's a bit more rewarding that way.

Also if you have been driving for only 3 year next march I think your insurance might be a shock as mentioned already. My insurance on a old E28 with a 2.7i is a yearly shock to me and I have 7 years NCD and have been drving for nearly 16 years. It cost me nearly £600 this year for 20,000 miles.

[Dave_M3]

yeah, when the insurance company hears "turbo" and "conversion" they will be probably be doodling alot of zeros while on the phone to them no matter what else they are being told


I'd still try get as much knowledge on the matter as eta has said.

your mechanic or somebody else may be doing it and you might not need to know the intake from the exhaust side of a turbo as they'll know what to do to turbo the car but knowing about engines and what has been undertaken on your car would prove very useful if something ever went wrong afterwards so you'll spot it before it becomes a much bigger problem.


To be honest, there's nothing worse than working on a car for somebody that hasn't a clue about engines and if they don't I'm always worried that they'll blow it up...

I rebuilt an engine for somebody before after they expected it to drive to the nearest garage with 500ml of water they had in a bottle after a coolant pipe burst which was bad enough but once I gave the car back to them, they drove the shite out of it without giving it time to run in properly and they blew a con-rod out through the block

On the other hand, cars that I've fixed little problems that the owner has spotted before they made a total mess of things have been a much more pleasant experience




Even if somebody else can take care of the whole lot for you and it never gives an once of trouble afterwards, knowing abit about whats involved in the turbo conversions and what was done to yours will be good at the pub carpark as your mates will be impressed by thinking you did it all yourself or had a big part in it

[polsta]

im not that clueless i can and fully service my own engine- went from not knowing how, with thanks to people on here and reading up- to doing oil and filter changes, fuel filter changes, full colllant system flush and bleed (impressed myself there) etc

il give it plenty of thought and reading and ponder insurance- i will be 33 when next spring comes round ,which has helped with insurance, having licesce 2 years it cost me 240 the is and 200 for a discovery, so 440 the pair i was very pleased with, concidering the is cost me 500 odd alone last year, not sur what way il go, idealy i want a really nice tech 1 sport, but seems like a lot to replace my is with one and say 2k , for basicly that little bit extra power, skirts and valances

[chu346]

so how much would labour be ? your not a major distance, ie- if i dropped of an m42 engine i sourced from a breaker/got it delivered to you - how much to tubo it with parts ? then to fit it in the car once done ? to achieve say 220/250 sort of bhp

all in cost for cash ? (roughly)

I'd be looking at £500-£1000 depending on what exactly needs doing. I would want the car to build the parts around like the mainfold and exhaust.

IMO it's not worth building an engine first then dropping it in at this level.

[Tonyy93]

ahhh i so wanna turbo mine now im going to get sorted and get this done! anyone now were i can buy most of the gear from the same place?

cheers tony