E30 M3 needed more power, bolt on a Turbo!

[215m3]

Back in 2005 I had a garage queen 215bhp model. Too good to track, so found a 195 model a track at cracking price and a deal was done.

Out went the leather interior, off with the split rim BBS’s. In went Sparco seats and steering wheel. On with some Prodrive 4 pot Alcon brakes and Compomotive 16” alloys. I then wanted more power so Grp A speced head from Moufang and Carbon airbox with alpha N. It now produce 240 bhp and increased the Rev limit to 7800. The engine just loved to rev to 7800!

I found some Grp N Bilstien coilovers with GC caster and camber top mounts and once fitted had the car dropped off to get corner weighed. Later that day I received a phone call, but was not great news. The garage found 2 good size holes under the fuse box and near the tunnel. They’re set the car up but did not charge me, which was nice of them. The car was already booked in for a trackday, so planned to complete the event and then get the rot fixed.

So in 2006 I decided to strip down the car to address the rust and improve the power by adding a turbo,

I will add the progress shortly.

[215m3]

So my car start as this when purchased in 2005





She had some rare genuine parts, Evo2 front splitter and rear lower spoiler and 2 piece manifold. As well as a bolt in cage and BBS 16" split rims.

She was then stripped, bigger brakes from Prodrive added and lighter wheels.







Out went the interior, along with the bolt in rear cage.

In went Sparco Corsa and Evo seat with belts. I should have kept the cage in and was silly not too.



All the sound deadening was removed, Not the nicest of jobs





A Moufag Grp A speced head was added, along with the Carbon Airbox and Alpha N system. As well as 48mm TB's











Slotted Camsahft sprockets



She dynode at 234bhp



Then came some Bilstein Grp N coilovers with Ground Control top mounts for caster and camber.









When these were fitted this is when the hole was spotted, well 2 in fact. So she had one last outing before she was stripped for the rust repair.







The rear panel needed replacing, but had 2 in stock



The scuttle also was replaced.



Not the best photo of one section of baulkhead replaced





I had the fuel filler cap removed at the same time



Replaced rear panel



Then the poor girl sat like this for a while

[steve_k]

looks good so far, keep the updates coming.

[215m3]

So the car was booked in for a cage to FIA spec. As the car had a sunroof this needed to be removed and there are 3 options, to use a replacement panel and bond it in, a new roof skin or a thin sheet and tack weld in and then filled with fibreglass. So this was removed. I went with the thin sheet of metal as the best cost option as I didn't want the aperture of the sunroof exposed with a fill in bonded panel. Later pictures will show how it turned out.

[martauto]

What a project !!!
Keep it going please.

Mart.

[215m3]

What a project !!!
Keep it going please.

Mart.

Thanks, the car is 90% complete so will try and add more each day.

[215m3]

The car sat for a while until I could find a place to get the car media basted near me.

In the meantime I sold off the Grp A head, carbon Airbox and Alpha N kit, the 48 TB's, 2 piece exhaust manifold and exhaust system. I had purchased a standard head and sourced from the US a Garrett GT3076R turbo, Tail 38mm wastegate, Custom JE low compression pistons, ARP head bolt studs, composite head gasket and Delphi 650cc injectors. All for the princely sum of £1200 - Bargin!

The engine was sent off and bored to 2.4ltr and the crank etc was all balanced.

[215m3]

In early 2010 the shell was sent for blasting. It has a few small holes on it's return, but was pleasantly surprised at how few holes there were.

Before











When collecting the car, I was advised some of the underseal would not budge, so was left on. This was fine with me as the cars life with me will always be track focused and not concourse restoration.

After









Some holes in this panel, but you can see the car was seem welded at the same time as the cage fitted.







That's it for the moment.

[215m3]

Cage pictures. Not in sequence but did not upload and save. The specification was to be FIA approved, 8 point welded. I did not go for the rear diff pickup or internal diagonal. Chromoly tubing was used.







This picture also shows the sunroof deletion. I did not have the budget for a new roof skin and as said did not want a dummy plate.

[215m3]

Next up I purchased a fibreglass bonnet and a pair of Sport Evo fibreglass wings. They come without holes etc, so I then went about the task of fitting them, along with the bonnet and front lower headlight panel.

[215m3]

Once the body panels were all correct she was booked in for paint. Before being painted I purchased white Rustoleum paint to paint the underside and wheel arches. The intention for the cat from the day I purchased her was to be driven on track, so as long as the underside gets protection of some degree, this would be good enough for me. She will never be left out in the rain, except when on trips. So 3 coats of this on the underside, wheel arches and rear panel up to the rear bumper line.







The door went on a diet. No need for window mechanisms, just the door latches remain.



Now off to paint

[215m3]

Off to paint. The sunroof needing finishing and the paint shop, 335 Automotive Restorations Peterborough did a fantastic job. I decided to go for white rather then keep her black. I chose Ford Frozen white over Alpine white as it is a brighter white. I don't have a picture of the car after painted of the sunroof only one before being filled.





Here is a small shot of the roof section once painted. I think tey did an excellent job



So a the paint shop.







Back from the paint shop.

[215m3]

So now the task of rebuilding starts. I have a theme of mainly white, with red and green parts. So many of the underside I have painted in red, or left black. Internally I have just left black, but with some CF panels.

Over the years of this slow project I have purchased parts when they have become available.

Rear diff cooler kit
CF DTM wing mirrors from Marcus
DTM Gear lever from Marcus
Larger front CF wing but using a fibreglass front undertray
Sport Evo wheel arch and brake duct panel
I managed to trade with an old colleague for Porsche GT3 replica CF seats
AP 6 with custom hats and 350mm discs and 4 pot brake calipers custom rear hats with AP 297mm discs.
Whiteline front and rear anti roll bar kit
Alloy fuel cell for the spare wheel to my spec, with alloy swirl pot
2 Bosch fuel pump
1 fuel pump lifer for the tank.
Aeroquip fixings and pipework - free off a Radial race car
635 oil cooler - from stock
Custom exhaust manifold for the turbo
Custom radiator with pusher fan by JC Fabweld in Wellingborough
Custom side exhaust by them as well.
Ceramic and heat coating of manifold, turbo housing and exhaust
Bonrath mono wiper
Fibreglass rear bootlid
Aluminium flywheel
CF door cards, bonnet pins and clutch and release bearing - Vink Motorsport
Wilwood pedal box for brake and clutch
Quick release steering wheel boss
Sabelt 350mm steering wheel
Polycarbonate windows
Heated front screen - heater matrix removed

Now all this lot needs to be put back on, so here we go!! (I will no doubt have forgotten some parts)

[215m3]

So while the bodywork was being attended to and there were down times I had the front and rear axles cleaned and repainted red. The Bilstein's cleaned and painted read.

All the following parts were stripped and bead/media blasted before painting













The rear diff with the larger Z3 cover. This was before I purchased a diff cooler kit tat popped up for sale.

[215m3]

The Brakes. I fitted a baulk head mounted brake and clutch pedal kit from Wilwood. This decision was made after the car was painted, so had to get this section repainted. With some guidance from Uwe in the welding department I managed to get a panel welded. It also meant the steering shaft bracket had to be adjusted along with the throttle pedal changed to make longer as this fouled the clutch pedal. A longer throttle cable has been made, but could have gone down a fly-by-wire setup.

From this



to this



to this



Finally this



From the inside the pedals and additional strengthening support to the cage

[steve_k]

WOW now thats an update.

good idea with the rustoleum on the underside, i did the same on my sport, incl in the inner wings,
should be good for a few more years.

[215m3]

Front brakes.

I was fortunate enough to stumble across these 6 pot AP's.





I got to know the director at Radical Precision Engineering and they allowed me to make parts on their CNC machines. They made the Caliper carriers for the front setup.

Disc size is 350x32mm grooved and Carbone Lorraine pads, but I can't remember the grade.

Wheel studs fitted all-round too.

[215m3]

The rears were more complicated. I wanted to retain the handbrake drum and managed to source a rear group buy kit being made, but specifically for one size of AP discs, vented 297mm if memory serves me correct, but expensive. A pair of Ap 4 pots, but had the AP face machined off. The adaptors needing machining to get them to fit too. Same Carbone Lorriane pads.



New shoes





Test fitting with the rear discs plate against the caliper







Some of the backing plate removed and the caliper bracket was machined as well







New studs to match the front

[215m3]

The rear driveshafts were just cleaned and fitted. As the car will run more power I thought the best option is to see how they get on. No point rebuilding them if I need to replace them.

While we are at the back, the diff cooler was fitted.



The rear bracket has been changed on this



The pump is in the boot and will be in the fuel cell pictures later - found a picture

[215m3]

The steering

I am using the standard steering at the moment. The only upgrade is a metal guibo instead of the rubber one, made at Radial Precision Engineering













When the pedal box was fitted, the steering column shaft rubbed on the brake pedal. The answer was to move the shaft hole over slightly. A new plate was cut and the old sleeve reoved and welded into place. I was in my early days of welding here too.











New position

[215m3]

Fuel Cell and swirl pot.

I had a company make me a tank to fit in the spare wheel well. I did not go for an off the shelf version as I wanted it to be a little larger in capacity, so they made it taller, instead of being flush with the boot floor. It also has a fuel level sensor too, as well as a catch pot in the bottom. It also came foam filled too.









I then mounted the fuel pot on a piece of aluminium sheet and fitted 2 bosch fuel pumps.



Bolted to the floor wit rubber bushes to reduce vibration









All finished with the Facet lift pump, rollover line and filter



Fuel Filler cap.

[215m3]

Due to work commitments and little time to get any work done on the car I commissioned a small company to complete the rest of the build. They were recommended by a friend of mine and their main revenue is to build and maintain WRC cars. The car probably needed this level of expertise to finish her off. One last job for me to have done before the car went off was to have the exhaust and radiator made.

The exhaust, manifold and turbo housing have all been ceramic coated. As well as the housing and manifold had thermal coasting on the inside of the piping too.

As the car was running with the air filter on the opposite side I had the radiator moved over slightly so it left room if we decided to fit the air filter in a flipped position. (Not used in the end - you wil find out later what we have done)

So the manifold came from the US. Needed a small pipe mod so had to go back and then it finally fitted.



The manifold was very close to the front leg to, so the leg has been modified slightly.



This shows the modification on the left side.



JC Fabweld of Wellingborough then made the side exhaust system. The exhaust tip is from the days of the touring cars so decided to go with it. Not everyone's cup of tea.

[215m3]

The Engine

Started life as a 2.3 200 BHP model. I increased the power as previously mentioned, but craved more power. The next logical step was to Grp A spec. However back in 2007/8 this was £11k for the parts. When built it would be a high revving 320BHP engine. Would I get bored of 320 BHP, probably.

People started to add turbo's and 2 builds in Australia and the US got me interested and then hooked. There was also a UK S14 engine that produced good power in a mk2 Escort.

So I sold off the parts that made the 240BHP and purchased the parts for the engine to be converted to run a turbo. I was fortunate at the time as the exchange rate was 2 US$ to the GBP at the time. The following was purchased from Steve at Top End in the US: -

Garrett GT3076R A/R 0.82
Tial wastegate 38mm
Delphi 650cc injectors
BMW ARP head bolt set
Composite metal head gasket, standard thickness
JE 2618 94mm 8.21 compression

This cost my wallet £1200

The block was stripped as I had sold the head so it was shipped off for a bore and rebuild. A standard head as they have a great flow along with the 2.3 crank and rods. The rods are up to the job as they will safely rev to 7800 rpm, so limiting the engine to 7000 rpm should be well within the tolerance of them. A DTM replica oil pan from Conrad in NZ was acquired. Then the manifold. I also purchased an intercooler kit from VAC Motorsport back in 2014.









The gearbox has been left standard, but an uprated clutch, pressure plate and lighten flywheel have been added. The clutch parts came from Vink Motorsport. Polyurethane mounts have been added.



The thermostat has been removed to prevent water flow.

Inter cooler kit fitted well, apart from one section, but a replacement hose has been ordered.

This picture also shows the gap where the alloy pipe or silicone hose is too short. I am also not having a blow off valve. The engine chap has confirmed it will only reduce the life of the turbo by a small margin. I can live with that as the car will not be on full throttle everywhere.



The DTM oil pan







I had a 635CSi oil cooler, so this has been mounted on top of the intercooler.



I had the radiator relocated just in case we needed the space for the air filter, but have found a much better place. Most turbo filters I see are on the end of the turbo and in the engine bay. Behind the headlight there is space for a hose to get access to the panel. Underneath the panel was space, so we located the filter here. It is right behind the brake air duct. I had the EVO III panel and brake ducts, but the pipework for the inter cooler fouled the duct, hence the space for the air filter.



The turbo is water cooled, but as the turbo sits quite high, the old header tank was too low. An alloy one was made to sit as high as we could get in the engine bay and high enough to prevent air locks. The clutch reservoir needed to be relocated.

[215m3]

Grp A replica gear lever using magnesium for the body. Supplied by Marcus

[215m3]

Seats

I was planning to use my Sparco Corsa seat, but these are in my other trackcar E34 M5.

A friend of mine purchased a Mk3 Golf VR6 Highline as a trackcar and came with a pair of Porsche replica GT3 RS seats. he did not like them, so a deal was done. They have a carbon fibre body with black faux leather, which I will change the material in the future. For now they will do. Also a set of Sabelt 3" 6 point harnesses.

A little digression. The Golf my friend purchased as a half prepared trackcar, had the shoulder harnesses straps attached to the seat frame behind the seat fixing, which in turn was mounted to the floor!! I did advise him of this, but he sold the car.

They are not fixed in as yet







Seat rails

[steve_k]

this thread just gets better,

there's been a fair few quid spent thats for certain.

[215m3]

The Dashboard and electrical system

Pretty much everything has been removed from the dashboard, I was planning to run an analogue rev counter with digital 2 line display panels, but 13 years has passed and technology has moved forward.

I will now run a system using Can Bus so everything on the wiring side is simplified, and so is the dash. The dash has been flocked and all the gaps filled. The dash display is mounted on the steering column. In the centre is a key pad with 16 buttons (not enough) so are in the process of adding 8 buttons to the steering wheel.

The keypad in the dash mount also has 2 rotary dials, one for traction and one for boost.

The system runs without any fuses or relays and has 2 control boxes. This make fault finding more simple as the system will light up if a fault appears. So if the lights are green - all good. Again as the system is Can Bus, the wiring from the ECU to the dash display and the control boxes are just 2 wires. It will probably also save quite a bit of weight out of the wiring loom.





The window aperture has been painted black to reduce glare



The display, but not the correct steering wheel. This display will be able to be programed to show what information I require.





The keypad - this will house switches for the wipers/washer, fuel pumps, heated screen, hazard, rear fog light etc. They will have light emblems when programed.

The 2 dials for the traction and boost on top. Angled out so they can be reached when in the seat



The 16 channel control box. This picture is from another build, but you get the idea of the lights.



The rear control box in situ

[215m3]

this thread just gets better,

there's been a fair few quid spent thats for certain.

Thanks Steve

Fortunately, many of the parts were purchased sometime ago. The DTM pan from Conrad cost me £300 and they now retail at £1200. I suppose that’s what happens when a project takes this long. Plus helps spread the cost out.

[215m3]

Staying with the interior I purchased from Vink Motorsport front and rear door cards. I had to have some CF on the car as I think it is a great material. Not only because it is light, but because it looks great too!



I prefer these full door card trims, rather than the smaller items that cover the inner section

[215m3]

Staying with carbon fibre, the door mirrors, I had to have a set of these. Again another Marcus purchase about 12 years ago! Yes a pain to use on the roads, but they look the part! They will stay exposed as they fit in with the black trim.

[215m3]

Yet another purchase from Marcus, this time the carbon fibre EVO 3 front splitter, but the larger version. The front tray is a fibreglass copy. The bumper has been opened up slightly for better airflow to the intercooler. I purchased a new bumper as the old one would have taken quite a bit of prep with the holes from the EVO 2 splitter.

I like both front splitters but feel the Sport Evo is better suited and can be adjusted. I am not a fan of the EVO 2 and 3 together.

[215m3]

The rear boot lid is a fibreglass part from Moseley Motorsport, with another a Marcus part, the lightened spoiler and Carbon Fibre lip. Completely removeable and the rear pins are from Vink Motorsport.

[215m3]

So as she stands these are the latest pictures. Windscreen is heated and smoked poly-carbonate side and rear windows. Compomotive TH2's 18" in style with the OZ Racing rims that are only available with a single centre nut and my pockets don't reach that far!









Just waiting on the wiring harness being designed and made, so will be a little quite for the next month or so.

Thanks for popping in and hope my build has had some sections of interest for you?

[215m3]

The car is finally finished. Just a few small tweeks required.

[DanThe]

This is the first time ive seen this thread, what a great build! Looking forward to some more info/photos