My 535is Turbo Buildup Thread! - update 11/26//09

babisbabou · Post by **babisbabou** » Aug 16, 2008 2:51 AM

That is cool

By the way have you done a dyno run, or race another car to check out how fast is your ride BBR?

Post by **Brad D.** » Aug 18, 2008 5:04 PM

Well, I haven't run the car at the dragstrip yet. I have a few more things to do to the car before I take it out (mostly suspension related). I haven't "officially" run any cars but I do know that I let my friend with a 92 NSX drive my car and he was thoroughly convinced that my car was considerably faster. Hopefully some dyno numbers will be forthcoming in a few months and some dragstrip times in the fall when the weather cools off.

babisbabou · Post by **babisbabou** » Aug 19, 2008 5:51 AM

I wish you the best from my heart!

Well will testing Opel Astra 4door 1,6lt turbo (195 at flywheel on a MAHA dyno and 1290kilograms) when my car boosts it feels more strong than the Opel in not only my opinion but my friend's too, he said "Wow It is considerably stronger than mine" he said, the car was at 0,3 overboost, his was 1,3bar

, so i guess my car has climbed over 220 HP at flywheel, (185 stock)
but that is all just theory, until it is ready and road tested with the Opel

Post by **Brad D.** » Aug 19, 2008 9:45 AM

It's always nice to have a "neutral party" drive or ride in your car. It is so easy to become jaded with your power level that the car may not seem as fast to you anymore. A new user typically does not have the same issue and will be a clearer judge of how the car feels. With that being said, it's still not a replacement for dyno numbers or track times.

babisbabou · Post by **babisbabou** » Aug 19, 2008 10:07 AM

Big Bronze Rim wrote:It's always nice to have a "neutral party" drive or ride in your car. It is so easy to become jaded with your power level that the car may not seem as fast to you anymore. A new user typically does not have the same issue and will be a clearer judge of how the car feels. With that being said, it's still not a replacement for dyno numbers or track times.

Indeed those 2 things you mentioned are true!

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Aug 22, 2008 1:33 AM

AHA! no MAF. hmm so a super cheesy BOV with duck call attached is totally possible?

Post by **Brad D.** » Aug 22, 2008 8:03 AM

alijonny wrote:AHA! no MAF. hmm so a super cheesy BOV with duck call attached is totally possible?

Totally doable.

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Sep 06, 2008 1:05 AM

i think i'm being jacked around with the weld-els. I went to columbia pipe and supply co and they wanted $12.50/ elbow. but I think it was because I asked for 4 and their minimum purchase is $50. assholes...

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Sep 06, 2008 1:05 AM

by the way, would there be any benefit to getting 45* els? or just cut down the 90* thanks!

Post by **Brad D.** » Sep 06, 2008 1:25 AM

I didn't bother with 45s, I just cut them down. IIRC the 90s were cheaper than 45s. Are you building a full mani or an adapter?

atle28e · Post by **atle28e** » Sep 25, 2008 8:23 PM

Big Bronze Rim wrote:
alijonny wrote:AHA! no MAF. hmm so a super cheesy BOV with duck call attached is totally possible?
Totally doable.

Doable? It's brilliant

Post by **Brad D.** » Sep 26, 2008 1:12 AM

atle28e wrote:
Big Bronze Rim wrote:
alijonny wrote:AHA! no MAF. hmm so a super cheesy BOV with duck call attached is totally possible?
Totally doable.
Doable? It's brilliant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Qul7MiImk
Mildly amusing but damn that would get annoying.

777665 · Post by **777665** » Sep 26, 2008 8:31 PM

i also want to turbo my 535isn but was told that id have to change alot of the internals of my engine because of its high compression is that correct i want to buy the parts this winter so it will be done by spring i have no idea how to do this what i need etc moses

Post by **Brad D.** » Sep 26, 2008 10:18 PM

777665 wrote:i also want to turbo my 535isn but was told that id have to change uhhlott of the internals of my engine because of its high compression is that correct i want to buy the parts this winter so it will be done by spring i have no idea how to do this what i need etc moses

Start by reading the FAQ. And no, the compression isn't too high. It's actually fairly low, at 8:1. My m30b35 is 9:1 which is still not too high for FI. Turboing your car isn't something you want to jump into without first educating yourself as best you can on the subject.

Post by **Brad D.** » Sep 27, 2008 12:09 AM

Just thought I'd throw up a little update on the car. About a month ago I upgraded my brakes to the 540i F/R setup. The stock brakes were in desperate need of replacing and just weren't up to the task of slowing down the car with all the new power. Front calipers were reman TRW units and the rears were used pulled off of a 740il. They were painted with Duplicolor caliper spray paint. I also addes a set of Speedbleeders. These are highly recommended! I upgraded to SS lines all around. Pads are Centric Posi-Quiet semi-mets (for those that don't know, Centric is owned by Stoptech) Rotors are drilled and slotted units from R1 Concepts. Very nice pieces, maybe not quite Brembo quality but nice nonetheless. They have a nice anti rust coating and over a month later not a lick of rust in site on the hat or vanes.
All I can say is that I am amazed by the performance of the brakes. Initial bite is fantastic and the pedal has a nice firm feel. Modulation is now much easier. I feel that the SS lines also contribute and are a great upgrade, even to a stock system. Overall stopping power is excellent, but I have no quantitative testing to report. The Centric pads are very nice and are very low dusting. The dust they do make is more of a silvery grey and is less noticealbe than "black" dust. I will give some more long term feedback on them as time passes.

The next upgrade was to the suspension. Having ridden in LJ's (Nebraska_e28) car with Spax springs and Bilstein sports, I knew that was the setup I wanted to go with. The ride is very firm but composed and easy to live with on a daily basis. I replaced the front swaybar endlinks and reinforced the sway bar mounting tabs on the strut tubes to prevent them from failing when I upgrade bars. I also repalced the rear dogbones. The car now handles the way I feel it should. It's more fitting to the rest of the performance of the car. I only have some pics of the components but will be getting so fresh full body shots of the car, hopefully this weekend.

Here are the plates I made to weld to the strut tube.

And here is current engine bay shot for good measure.

babisbabou · Post by **babisbabou** » Sep 27, 2008 6:02 AM

These new candy looks great

i hope you enjoy them a lot m8

Post by **Nebraska_e28** » Sep 30, 2008 10:22 AM

Looking good man!!! Keep it up, hopefully you can bring that beast out to 5erFest next year.

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Oct 10, 2008 12:20 PM

well, thanks to big bronze rim, I am doing what I claimed I wouldnt do. I am building my manifold. karma is great, and an employee from columbia pipe stopped by a couple days ago for exhaust and we worked something out for trade for 8 weld els. yeah!

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 10, 2008 12:25 PM

alijonny wrote:well, thanks to big bronze rim, I am doing what I claimed I wouldnt do. I am building my manifold. karma is great, and an employee from columbia pipe stopped by a couple days ago for exhaust and we worked something out for trade for 8 weld els. yeah!

Get to fabbin'!

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Oct 10, 2008 2:04 PM

lol where did you get the turbo flange and other associated flanges?

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 10, 2008 2:07 PM

I got my turbo flange from a local shop but ebay and lots of other sellers sell them cheap. For the triangle shaped 3 hole manifold flanges I made my own out of 1/2 plate. Wastegate flanges came with my WG, but can be bought separately.

Post by **Nebraska_e28** » Oct 10, 2008 2:13 PM

alijonny wrote:lol where did you get the turbo flange and other associated flanges?

I've also found most of them on ebay & the cartech site also.

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 10, 2008 5:45 PM

I did try to find a source for the manifold to downpipe flanges but to no luck which is why I ended up making my own. I contemplated having some made but it really wasn't worth it.

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Oct 10, 2008 10:51 PM

hmm maybe a trip to the local scrap yard is in order for a piece of plate steel. muhahaha!

Also, in the phase of mocking up the mani, did you already have your turbo? I'm trying to find a junk unit similar to what I'm going to have for mock up purposes until I gain enough bread to get the real deal...and get it running.

I scored some 3" mandrel bends for my exhaust via a later model GMC truck whose owner just needed dual exhaust. I gained one 90*elbow,two 45* elbows and one goofy 110* or whatever elbow. yeah!

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 10, 2008 11:10 PM

It is better if you have the turbo to mock everything up as available space disappears quite quickly and there is lots of stuff to cram under the hood. Hood clearance, downpipe and wastegate clearance are all things that are dependant on your turbo and it almost makes having it a necessity.
Nice score on the mandrel bends.

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 11, 2008 11:25 PM

Recently I had become curious what my car would sound like without a cat so I set out to remove it and replace it with a test pipe. Removal was no where as easy as I had anticipated it would be. I made the mistake of not flanging the connection and using u-bolt style clamps which cut into the metal and almost "swage" the two pieces of pipe together. This makes it hard to pull the pipes apart. I ended up having to cut a notch into the cat with a die grinder to get it off.
When I eneded up getting it out of the car I was greeted with a cat that sounded like a maraca. The brick is pretty much wasted being blown apart and melted. This is with about 8 months of driving and tuning. It definitely did not hold up well and had to have been costing be power. Looking through the matrix with a light shows a good portion of what was left is clogged. I cut a section of tubing to replace the cat and clamped it in place with Dynaflex Truseal clamps which are awesome. I haven't driven the car far yet with it out but the exhaust note is almost unchanged at idle but sounds so much raspier and has much more character than it did with the cat under load.

It's much worse even that it looks in the pics as it is has crumbled inside the matrix and it is hard to get it to show up in a pic.

Post by **Nebraska_e28** » Oct 11, 2008 11:41 PM

I'm suddenly reminded of the dyno session w/grsmonkey the other weekend when his cat fired an e28-to-air projectile out the rear!

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 12, 2008 12:03 AM

I don't recall a singular backfire that took it out but I know that I had gotten it to smell like sulfur a couple of times which is typically a result of running rich. I didn't get the dramatic cat destruction that Mike got, but I am glad it's gone.

Jays535is · Post by **Jays535is** » Oct 12, 2008 11:23 AM

I've seen the triangles for sale before. Heres some
http://frugalmechanic.com/auto-part/723 ... ust-flange

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 12, 2008 3:30 PM

It's cool that they are available but they definitely aren't cheap.

Jays535is · Post by **Jays535is** » Oct 12, 2008 5:28 PM

Big Bronze Rim wrote:It's cool that they are available but they definitely aren't cheap.

Yea i was shocked at the price!

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 13, 2008 5:24 PM

Well, I can say that after having driven the car today without a cat it sounds a little throatier under load but definitely not loud. It doesn't even come close to loud like a Tri-Flow on an NA car. Boost builds a few hundred rpm earlier and I would be willing to bet that post turbine EGTs are also down (I don't monitor them). It also feels like it revs much freer now.

Post by **Nebraska_e28** » Oct 13, 2008 5:28 PM

Big Bronze Rim wrote:Well, I can say that after having driven the car today without a cat it sounds a little throatier under load but definitely not loud. It doesn't even come close to loud like a Tri-Flow on an NA car. Boost builds a few hundred rpm earlier and I would be willing to bet that post turbine EGTs are also down (I don't monitor them). It also feels like it revs much freer now.

I can attest to the the triflow on a NA car, had this setup & got tired of it quick! Although I am quite curious how a triflow would sound on a FI ride. I'm sure it's even faster than before. Might be making another scoot down that way, will keep ya posted.

turbodan · Post by **turbodan** » Oct 13, 2008 6:08 PM

My favorite kind of exhaust clamp. I wub dem.

George · Post by **George** » Oct 13, 2008 6:14 PM

turbodan wrote:

My favorite kind of exhaust clamp. I wub dem.

I use 3 of those with the TCD exhaust

turbodan · Post by **turbodan** » Oct 13, 2008 6:52 PM

I have two. They're clamptastic.

M. Holtmeier · Post by **M. Holtmeier** » Oct 13, 2008 7:03 PM

Big Bronze Rim wrote:Well, I can say that after having driven the car today without a cat it sounds a little throatier under load but definitely not loud. It doesn't even come close to loud like a Tri-Flow on an NA car. Boost builds a few hundred rpm earlier and I would be willing to bet that post turbine EGTs are also down (I don't monitor them). It also feels like it revs much freer now.

Not surprisingly, my car felt the same once the cat. was gone too. As you stated there was no climactic failure, I wonder how many other cats. suffered this same demise and thier driver's are none the wiser. I think you're right on with the inclusion of tuning having an impact on the failure.

alijonny · Post by **alijonny** » Oct 13, 2008 8:20 PM

hey, before you go spending $30 on those 3 bolt flanges, I can get the same (or similar) flanges from one of my exhaust suppliers for less than $5 each depending on size. they are mild steel and are not coated with anything.

Post by **Brad D.** » Oct 13, 2008 10:24 PM

turbodan wrote:

My favorite kind of exhaust clamp. I wub dem.

Those are exactly what I am using now. They are great! So easy to use and easy to remove the exhaust when needed. I can't wait to get my car on the dyno in November. I need to get the car tuned to 10-12 psi so I get this compressor closer to the heart of its efficiency.

jbd5015 · Post by **jbd5015** » Oct 31, 2008 1:31 AM

Great thread!! Ive been pondering doing a turbo on my 83 6er for quite some time now. I looked at TCD and have talked to them a few times now, but it's really out of my price range. Im also very keen to do all the work on my own anyway.

Ive had a chat with George K about his experiences with megasquirt, and i think im going to do this as well. Ive got a spare ECU for my car and would love to be able to utilize it to build the new ECU. Ive also got a friend down here in Oz whose mechanic is very good at building one-off turbo set-ups. Dont know if youve ever seen Julian Seegers B7 replica 6er? He is running MoTec though which is much more expensive but is a cool system. Currently he is putting out around 515whp with 540lb/ft at the wheels too. After getting a ride in that car, id be happy with 1/2 that!!!

Anyway, keep up the good work, ill be learning more about metal fabricating in the next year or so, which would definitely help bring the costs down!!

cheers,

-Jeff

MyE28.com

MyE28.com

My 535is Turbo Buildup Thread! - update 11/26//09

Updates!