Please excuse me, I'm new to cars - E24 Turbo Build

[TurboShark]

Well hello everybody, I'm Paul, a 21 year old college kid that has been building rock crawlers for the past 3 years. I sold my pride and joy after building it for three years looking for something new to build. I happened to be friends with a buddy who has an amazingly clean E28. He's actually been featured on Stanceworks, Riley Stair is his name. Anyway, I always loved his car and the lines on the older BMW's. I wanted something that wasn't seen on the road often. I decided on an E24, and started scouring craigslist.

I picked up an 1985 635CSi with 112k on the clock. Odometer still worked, dash has one small crack in it. Most of the 24's are autos, and I wouldn't settle for that, and I ended up finding a 5 speed. Very clean interior. Outside is ok. Paint is in bad condition, especially on the top of the car. It has been resprayed, and the one thing to cheap out on is clear coat, AMIRITE?

Anyways, I fell in love with the car. Handles great even with stock suspension. It's pretty fast for me, but the fastest automobile I have owned was my 04 quad cab 5.7 hemi Dodge Ram, so that doesn't say much. I always have wanted to go fast, so that's why I picked this thing up. After only a week of driving it, I decided to tear it down for a turbo.

I started in August 2010 building a 1987 Suzuki Samurai. I ended up building it longer than I ever actually got to wheel it, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of learning fabrication and building it. I taught myself how to weld and fabricate. I linked the front and rear suspension, built an entire cage, engine swapped it, stretched it 6" in the front, 12" in the rear, and a lot more. I learned a lot. I picked up another project about 4 months ago, a 1987 4Runner that I solid axle swapped, put on 35s, and other small things. Here's a few pics of the rigs for those that care:













On to the E24..

Towing it home



Even has the dealership option radar detector. Doesn't work, but looks awesome!







Owner replaced the "comfort" seats with the E24 sport seats. I'm going to end up dying them to match the rest of the interior.



Build Plans:

H1C turbo (Same as HX35 but larger exhaust housing)
30lb Bosch injectors
TCD timing chip
BEGi FMU
eBay 38mm wastegate
Tial 50mm BOV
Flipped manifolds
eBay intercooler

Ground Control suspension (they are only about 20 minutes from me)
BBS Style 5's

So far this is where I am..

Welded up the internal wastegate on the H1C



And started on a VERY crude beginning to a manifold





Like I said in the title, this is my first car (besides my '70 VW Baja Bug) and my first turbo build. I barely knew anything about turbo systems before I purchased the BMW so I have been doing a lot of research on forums about stuff, but I definitely am still a novice on this stuff so if there is anything I need to know, or any constructive criticism please let me know.

[theseeker411]

HELL YES! Stoked to see more e24s here! Looks like yours is in super clean shape too. Leatherique is what most of the old school e24/e28 guys use to dye interior parts. Not cheap, but worth it.

I've been meaning to turbo ODB for a while now, and I would say take the time to learn MegaSquirt and use that as your engine management instead of the TCD chip. I know Todd at TCD makes a quality product, but for maximum tuneability, MS is hard to beat, IMO. Also allows you to get rid of the barn door AFM and upgrade to a MAF sensor. If you're taking the time to build a nice turbo system, I'd look into upgrading to a M30B35 head (bigger valves and lower comp for more boost), and a nice re-ground cam from Ireland Engineering. Good luck with the build man, these cars can be incredible headaches but they're worth it. Mostly.

[TurboShark]

Thanks man, it's pretty damn clean from what I'm used to. And glad to see some useful information already, I'll look into it. I've read through your build and every other 24's build on here and yeah there definitely needs to be more!

I agree with you, although MegaSquirt has me running because of the complexity and the wiring part of it. I know it wouldn't be that hard once I dive into it, but for now I'm going to start small and work my way up. I'm weird and build my projects in stages. Lose a lot of money that way but I always end up doing everything correctly in the end. I've heard of the b35 head swap, and the IE cam swap sounds good. I will end up doing an MLS head gasket and ARP head studs if I decide to turn the boost way up.

And glad to know I can't use the Miller MAF without going to MegaSquirt, that was actually going to be one of my questions for everybody. My buddy told me theres an AFM mod you can do to the flapper door? This is totally a project to me, so I'm taking my time trying to do everything correct the first time because I know once I start driving it I won't want to stop and work on it!

[theseeker411]

Oh no you can totally do the Miller MAF with their WAR chip, if you want to go that route. Drop in and go with no MS headaches. The appeal of the MS system is it's complete freedom to tune everything, which is also the downside cause the learning curve for it is basically a ski jump. If you're not chasing crazy HP numbers but want good air flow, then the Miller system is the way to go. MS will sell you a complete drop in, ready to run system, but it's a good bit more than the build it yourself kit. I actually haven't heard of the AFM mod to the flapper door, so I don't have any input there. The mutual agreement on the e24 boards (bigcoupe.com and bimmerforums e24 section are great resources) is that the head is the weak point in the M30, because they were designed in the '60s and flow like utter shit.

[TurboShark]

So far what the manifold looks like. Pretty much done just have to fully weld everything.







Also got the injectors installed, and started sorting out the piping for the intercooler.

[magnumleigh]

I have great expectations for this judging on your past form. Your previous projects are savage - just look at the 4runner staring the E24 down in that photo! Well done man, bookmarked

[TurboShark]

Thanks man. I definitely can't keep anything the same for long. That's how the Samurai got to be so extreme. For anybody at all interested in the Samurai the build thread is here.

[TurboShark]

Small update. Got the rising rate fuel pressure regulator installed and mounted. Valve cover back on, wastegate bolted up. Intercooler is halfway mounted. I also started on the not fun process of taking the pan off. I got the oil filter housing off today as well. I'm hoping to be done with everything and can take it to the exhaust shop within the next week or so. I'll keep it updated.





I'm so stoked to have this turbo situation buttoned up so I can start on the suspension and wheels. Definitely looking forward to that part of the build.

[BenVAG]

sub'd, this has mad potential!

[TurboShark]

Update time, got a lot done in the past week.

First time working on a BMW, and an M30 for that matter. Holy shit it was such a pain in the ass to get the pan off. But I did and got my 12AN return bung tig'd on by a buddy. Also got the oil filter housing tapped for the feed line.





Opened up the DME and put in the timing chip from TCD



Biggest thing was I got the entire exhaust done by a guy my buddy knows. He hooked it up and did a great job. Entire downpipe is all mandrel bent. 2.5" all the way back, no cats, and a single Magnaflow glasspack type muffler. It's going to be loouuuddd







Also got the hardest part of the intercooler plumbing done. Had to figure out the puzzle of mounting the AFM, and not getting in the way of where the wastegate is going. Was tricky but it's done.



I made the mounting plate for the intercooler, so just have to weld supports to the bumper for it. Getting my new Tial wastegate tomorrow (fleabay wastegate ended up not being what I needed). Oil lines are done, getting the v band flange tig'd on to one of the intercooler pipes tomorrow for the blow off valve. I should be driving it by the weekend if everything goes right.

[dubs&boost]

This is ridiculously awesome!! Seemed like quite the easy switch for you!

[mrg7243]

Awesome. I like the simplicity of how the 80s cars can be turboed. Just all a bunch of trickery.

[TurboShark]

This is ridiculously awesome!! Seemed like quite the easy switch for you!

Thanks man. When you boil it down its all just a drivetrain and a body. I'm selling my 4Runner right now actually to fund this build a little more, and in the mean time I'm going to build another crawler slowly.

Awesome. I like the simplicity of how the 80s cars can be turboed. Just all a bunch of trickery.

Yeah they are pretty easy, although to be completely honest I thought it was going to be easier when I first started. I couldn't imagine trying to turbo a new car with all the computer stuff involved.

[MommysLittleMonster]

Love it. Looking forward to video!

[zedsdead]

Damn son you wasted no time. This thing went from rockcrawler to turbo BMW in three scrolls.

Good on ya. Carry on.