Project M42-TURBO

[appletree]

Right as am sure some of you will know i've been thinking of either doing an engine conversion or building a 2.1ltr m42 like tim_s

well i've started the ball rolling now, i bought a spare M42 from JC-BM on hear.

hear it is


Its covered 90k and was running fin until it the car bas broke for spares

i got

engine
box
ecu
coil pack
h/t leads
loom

all for Ԛ£220 (jason's a top bloke and even delivered the engine his self after a courier let him down and he knew i needed it ASAP)

so far i,ve only stripped the engine partly to have a look at it as i don't want to strip it fully untill all the other parts have been source, made and bought so i didn't leave the internals open to the elements.







I recently went to meet up with tim_s and have a go in his 2.1 and i dont want to say to much about his car but it deffinatly made my mind up that thats the way i want to GO!!!

I'am still not completly sure of the specs for getting the 2/ 2.1ltr as there are a fem different ways of getting there but once i decide i will let you all know.

[tim_s]

nice one! come on dude, get it stripped down properly! no point waiting for parts, you need to check out the condition of everything - from where it is you can't check anything properly really: oil pump, water channels, valves, pistons, crank etc...
engine looks ok from what you can see though, is well leaky at the front, that profile gasket between the two timing cases looks fubar'd, crank seal and oil filter housing gaskets look naffed (worth changing the pressure switch and gasket in there when doing the engine) and head is a little bit stained from irregular oil changes but not too bad, but cams look pretty good.
pm'd you back btw, hope it helps

[Pal318is]

I'll be watching this, with interest...looking good so far

I have a engine sitting at home to, have started to strip it, inlet all off, alternator and stuff like that. Is is it ok for me to take the whole thing apart?? It won't go stale will it ??

Sorry for the Q.

Thanks

Pal

[jmc330i]

This is what we need, more people doing stuff to make their cars better/faster etc etc and you 4pot boys need all the help you can get

Seriously though, nice project
Will be good to see what the M42 is capable of with the right work done, and with a couple of you doing the same kind of thing, it shouldnt be long before we see some good results

[E30Mark]

I have a complete M42 engine sitting behind my garage still, looks a litte sad now, if anyone wants any spares from it let me know!

P.S i ran it with low / no oil pressure to needless to say it's a tad knackered!

[appletree]

the pictures dont realy do it that much justice as is was in a darkish workshop and the only light is the flash

As for the leaks and gaskets an stuff this i my to buy list so far

Engine parts

Con rod bolts
M44 crank
Custom pistons
Oil pump
Water Pump
Cam shafts
Block bored out
Valve stem oil seals
Head flowed
H/T leads
Spark plugs
Cam Chain/tensioner
Flywheel lightened

Gaskets

Head gasket set
Sump gasket
Cam cover Gasket
Timing case Gasket
Inlet Gasket
Exhaust Gasket
Down pipe gasket

Cooling

Coolant
Oil Cooler
Oil cooler piping
Thermostat
Electric Fan
Fan Thermostat

Miscellaneous

Exhaust wrap
Oil Filter
VHT paint
S/S screws
Engine mounts
M44 belts
Oil
Hoses
M44 pulleys

just started gettin gthe prices togeather an they arnt to bad

gonna try and use as may genuine bmw or better parts i can find

[benjy]

Now that is a shopping/christmas list!!

[appletree]

christmas list, yes! hope santas got a GSF account and is VAt rejestered

[appletree]

Bit of an up date. change of plan!

After a few long chats with ANT i have decided to go down the turbo route manily as the costs envolved are quite simular to the 2.1 and the end result of the turbo route should be a car thats drivable and that you don't have to spank round to 7500rpm to get max power but still be alot of fun, also the power/Ԛ£Ã”šÃ‚£Ãƒ”šÃ‚£Ãƒ”šÃ‚£ is likly to be better from the turbo route and there is more room for improvement in time to come/when i get board.

The power figure i have as my goal is 200/210 RWHP which Ant and i think will be quite easily achevable with out to much head ache.

At the moment i am gathering the parts to geather for the conversion.
so far i need to get

Turbo t3- probably go out and get a recon unit to make sure it gonna be a good one.
Intercooler-volvo from the scrapers
manifold- me and my dad are gonna have a go at making one.
Decomp plate and non stretch head bolts to lower the CR from 10:1 to 8:1

[hammoj28]

This is gonna be ace! Always thought a turbo IS would be a little screamer!

[appletree]

Hopefully it will be a good project and return some good results.

biggest problem id gonna be the manifold deisgn but i think ive come up with a rough idea i'll post sum pics up later once ive scetched them out and you can all give me your opion on the design

[rips318is]

hey bud, i'd like to see the pic's of your desgin on the manifold? im looking into doing a turbo conversion on my IS too. but dont know were to start. what are the parts i need to do a turbo converstion?

regards

rips

[appletree]

think am gonna be using

megasquirt
t3 turbo from a 2wd cossie
740/940 volvo intercooler
decomp plate
diy exhaust
various other bits robbed from scrap cars

[keggy]

how much will this roughly set u bak mate. thinkin of doin this aswell

[appletree]

depends how much you wanna spend realy?

you could get a scrap yard turbo and hope for the best and pay Ԛ£70 or a fully reconditiond unit a Ԛ£400+ atleast
same with Mega Squirt you could buy the kit and tune it your self or get ANT or another tuner to do it you've also got to think about all the little bits your gonna need that all ad up.

i would say probably Ԛ£2250-2800 for a good reliable set up that looks something like it was ment to be there but you could get the price down if you did it all DIY as the manifold would be a bigish chunk.

[keggy]

very tempted now

[appletree]

This is the kind of design i had in mind for the manifold. imagin this manifold turned upside down so the exhaust out let would be behind the front drivers side head light but with a trubo flange insted of and exhaust one. obviuosly it would be the same but you get the idea shape it would be. then youd have to move the washer bottle and the coil pack.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=11&fg=50

[vjlax18]

Is that manifold from an M10? Will that bolt up to an M42? I'm looking at doing the exact same project on my 318is.

[e21Jason]

hi

m10 manifolds will mot bolt up to an m42, and the port shapes on an m40 are wrong

Jason

[tim_s]

yup, just to clarify: M40 exhaust ports are well out, M10 bore spacing is wrong

[appletree]

If you read it i said it was just a rough IDEA i am gonna make a custom one to fit the m42 but using that kind of design the four outlets joining to one long tube and then to the turbo flange rather than trying to twist and turn the 4 individual tube to get them to a decent place in the engine bay.

hope that clears it up

[vjlax18]

Cool, thx

[Ant]

I'd flip the standard unit over and remake the collector guys, should be easy enough , we made the M40 manifold from a flipped M50 unit

[vjlax18]

I have all sorts of M50/2 manifolds sitting around.

[Martin347]

You mention in your shoping list an oil cooler. Where are you planning to take the feed/return pipes from?
Cheers, Martin.

[e21Jason]

Hi

How about m40 pistions instead of a decomp plate, and use a MLS gasket. I also have a m24 inlet manifolds, & exhuast manifold if you nee soemhing to mod.

Jaso

[keggy]

how hard would m40 pistons be to fit to it? straight fit? wot will thi slower the comp ratio by

[CraigG]

i was thinking of either, flipping the standard manifold over, and remaking the collector, or buying a 200SX manifold or similar, and getting a new flange cut and welded on to fit the M42 head? but i dunno if there would be much space for that. id be very interested to see how you drop the compression. i dont fancy a spacer plate, but if it works it works i guess. still abit dodgey running 2 headgaskets under boost :S also, how good is megasquirt? i know its cheap, but im miles away from anyone that can map it, would i be better getting some proper managment and get it done at a rolling road?

[appletree]

You do map Megasquirt on a rolling road. also there are alot of other people yousing M/S and its used on a lot of different apliocations and is being developed all the time.

unfutaly this project is no longer goniong ahead ....... mainly becouse i have bought a supercharger instead, i got it pritty cheep off a mate and i couldn't realy leave it there so i am doin this conversion instead. am just waiting to get a few more bits togeather and then i'am going to start a thread up on it with pics and progress.

[Omi]

Haven't spotted this thread until now...

I'm also looking to do an M42 turbo conversion in time for next year's Scumball.

Want to get the budget down as far as I can, because it's Scumball!!

Come on guys, gimme your thoughts. I need either a mint M42 or one that needs a rebuild, as my engine is just a smidge tired. I need a spare exhaust manifold to make up a flipped mani and weld a flange on/

I've looked into this quite heavily before and spoke to JL Pistons in the states. They'll make a set of M42 forged pistons delivered for about £400, dropping the CR to 8:1 whilst not needing to piss about with sandwich plates. £600 for a half-decent engine rebuild. £400 for the turbo, £400 for MS?

Then the nuts and bolts, intercooler, oil cooler if necessary... Paying Ant a fortune for the actual build and mapping.

I'm getting a bit disheartened by the whole thing at the minute, so any thoughts, ideas or freebies anyone can come up with would be refreshing.

Remember, we're on a charity run... Looking at a TV SERIES next year, so sponsorship in exchange for cheapies and freebies is an option.

Come on folks, cheer me up?

[Martin347]

Omi, you also mention about an oil cooler but i'm really interested in how you guys are thinking of plumbing this in! The only way I have found of doing it is buying a new plate (for where the oil filter housing usually bolts on) from the states and using a remote filter and this is not cheap!!!! If you know of a cheaper way, i'd be really interested.
Cheers, Martin.

[WillG]

you get a handling and tax charge on JE pistons btw omi think mine came to about £70 but that was for 6, so you can probly expect to pay £50 more then what JE quote for the pistons and the shipping to UK. I think your looking at more like £650-700 to get MS itself ready built then have it fitted and mapped. what about leaving pistons, they are forged anyway i think. spend the money on management or a better turbo

[tim_s]

Martin, you can get an aftermarket oil filter cap with the fittings for an oil cooler tapped into it; or make your own.

[CraigG]

he needs the pistons to drop compression, not to add strenght, trying to blow an engine like the M42 with a normal sized turbo, or a charger needs lowercompression. it can be done using a large hotside, then you can run the standard compression, and the overlap would lower the compression enough to run a fair bit of boost higher in the range, however, this means you have alot of lag, and to be honest, thats what i want to get rid of in my IS...

[conrod]

Here is one I prepared earlier!.......................
motec ECU, 8:1 J&E's, flipped/modified Mosselmann manifold, Cossie 2wd intercooler, T3 turbo. makes around 300hp at 20lbs.
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g196/ ... 57_IMG.jpg