yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

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yaygasm
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yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

At the beginning of the summer I picked up this cool little low n' slow machine:

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If you're thinking you've seen this car before, you're right! With some internet sluething I found this cars old build log on this site: viewtopic.php?t=18573&postdays=0&postor ... 5a74bc06f8

So I guess I'll start with some background on myself and the car. I'm Matt, a 19 year old electrical engineering student from New Jersey and long time 80s car fan. I've always had my eyes on an e21/28/24 so when the opportunity to get one came I jumped on it.

The car is a Euro 1986 635csi that at one point in its life was brought here from Germany. It's had a fair amount of work done on it from the air suspension and e34 540i front brakes to the green plastidip paint job, but I plan on doing some more and sorting a few things out. M30B34, 5-speed, 3.45 limited slip diff... the usual. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

We start off with the previous owner's (MattRabbit) pre-plastidip pics

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This picture really shows the sagging bumpers, but they were a quick fix. Somehow the rear one got bent so I just straightened it out and in the front the wrong size bolts were used.

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Here it is in 4x4 mode

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I started peeling off the plastidip. Oddly relaxing. The paint underneath is in rough shape though so it's going to need a respray at some point.

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The fun begins.

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I'll be running megasquirt so the MAF was one of the first things to go

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Got the head off so I can put in a fresh m88 gasket and some ARP studs, looking to run around 15 lbs of boost

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yucky

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started cleaning off the mating surface

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It didn't take long for me to get bored of cleaning, so I put in a new water pump

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and started figuring out where I could put this bad boy

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Hopefully I can fit an aux fan in there

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sheared exhaust manifold stud :(

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ending up having to drill and tap it, not fun

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slapped on the TCD manifold and started mocking up an angle adapter for the turbo

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and did a quick test fit

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As I was poking around the inside I realized that there were no bolts holding down the rear seats, so I took them out and figured that it was a good time to start the interior work. I was greeted by this mess:

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Also found some new parts under the seats

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I ripped out the carpets and found that the foam underneath was moist despite sitting in my garage for a few weeks. That went into the trash along with the nasty carpet. There was also a good deal of surface rust, so I went at it with a wire brush and decided to roll on some truck bed liner for a durable finish.

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I don't anticipate these seats lasting long

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Upon further inspection of the cam I found that the lobes for cylinder one were very worn and decided to replace the cam. I managed to get it out with four c-clamps and some patience.

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Im guessing that the oil squirter bar thing got clogged at one point in time and caused this. Somehow the rocker arm was still okay.

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While I was in there I figured I would replace the valve seals

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Picked up a b35 cam

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Did a quick valve adjustment

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and put the head back on.

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Started to see what I could do with the intercooler piping

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Decided to try something new with the idle control valve so I took the original intake boot and cut it

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squeezed in a piece of intercooler piping

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And now I have a spot for the ICV close to its stock location

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Just got the exhaust parts today, going to be running one cat and 3" all the way back.
Last edited by yaygasm on Fri Jul 25, 2014 10:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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tschultz
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Post by tschultz »

I am a fan of this.

I also like that you are removing the green plasti-dip. Make it look proper and make it perform like a proper shark should!
http://www.Drive4Corners.com
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'79 635CSi Revival
'80 635CSi
'83 633CSi Callaway Turbo continued as 1988 535is Turbo
SOLD: '81 635CSi/A
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Finally6
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Post by Finally6 »

Nice work so far, keep posting pictures!!
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Spasso
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Post by Spasso »

Fun to watch the progress. I wish I could devote more time on mine.
Keep up the good work.
Nice to see a resurrection.
Shipper 01
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Post by Shipper 01 »

love the detail. Great write up.
mitchcornacchia

excellent write up

Post by mitchcornacchia »

I want more!!! great work
GazM3
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Post by GazM3 »

Yes nice write up.

I'm surprised more LHD shark owners don't turbocharge their engines.
If I was doing so if probably make the effort and swap the throttle body over to the other side to make it look neater with the piping.

What turbo are you using ?
BMW’s
84 E24 M635csi
90 E34 M5 3.6
94 E34 540i/6 SC E85
97 E36 M3 euro SC U/C
97 Z3 2.8 widebody

OTHERS
11 Audi S5 3.0 SC
19 VW Amarok V6
yaygasm
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Post by yaygasm »

Thanks everybody!
GazM3 wrote:If I was doing so if probably make the effort and swap the throttle body over to the other side to make it look neater with the piping.

What turbo are you using ?
That would definitely be ideal, but this being my first project I didn't want to bite off more than I can chew, maybe for phase two I'll do it Alpina-style.

It's a gt35 Garrett copy, .69 A/R. Got it for free, will run it until it dies, which judging from what I've read probably won't be very long. I actually have two Garrett gt28s off an old Nissan 300zx, but I'm not sure I want to go down that rabbit hole just yet.

Managed to squeeze the original aux fan in there

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The low speed resistor was shot (no continuity) so I'll need to replace it

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Pulled the exhaust and got started on the downpipe today.

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Borris says "why did you buy so many exhaust bends?"

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I used some leftover intercooler piping to start mocking up the down pipe.

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All tacked up

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Satisfied with how it fits

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Still have to put in a bung for the wideband and figure out what I'm doing with the wastegate piping, but otherwise am happy with today's progress.
///Moe
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Post by ///Moe »

Looking good! :-)
E24 635CSiA 85' (garage queen)
E24 628CSiA 83' (turbo/manual?)
E23 745i 82' (turbo project)
E23 728i 86' (745i project)
E23 728i 79' (part's car) [x]
E28 525i 81' (part's car) [x]
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Ozibimmer
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Post by Ozibimmer »

Fantastic write up and thanks for showing us your build.
Please keep us posted.
_________________________
77 E3 3.0SI
77 E24 633CSi
78 E23 728i
79 E24 633CSi
80 E24 635CSi
82 E24 635csi Race Car Build (Schnitzer Replica) viewtopic.php?t=21792
82 E28 JPS (1 of 2 Ever Built)
85 E30 JPS
yaygasm
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Post by yaygasm »

Thanks, I learn so much reading through build logs I figure its time to start giving back.

So over the past few days I got the rest of the exhaust done. There were a few things I had to think about when I was doing it, the 3" exhaust will hang lower than the original (I think 1.75") pipes so I needed to keep the everything as close to the car as possible. When the air was let out of the suspension the old exhaust was on the ground and I'm expecting the same with the new one. If I drop the car to the ground after driving around I don't want a hot exhaust touching anything important, so I had to keep that in mind too.

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It's like an exhaust loading bar

a mig is my (borrowed) weapon of choice

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I screwed a piece of wood to my table to make doing angles easier

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and then test fit, cut, tacked, repeat until everything was together

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Wish I had a lift, crawling under the car while holding the exhaust up and measuring and marking was a challenge

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Last thing to do was to put on some hangers

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...and done

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I know these welds may not look like much to you gurus out there, but for my first time welding I'm pretty happy with how they came out.

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I have the wastegate dump all figured out but when I went to take the down pipe off I couldn't turn the nut on the v-band clamp... and I didn't even tighten it when I put it on! I don't know whats wrong, it almost feels like a piece of thread broke off inside the nut. I tried forcing the nut to turn but the clamp just bends. I dribbled some lubricant on it and its soaking right now. I'd rather not have to cut the clamp off and buy a new one so if anybody has any ideas...
GazM3
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Post by GazM3 »

Wow.
I'm glad I'm not your neighbour.

Thant exhausts is going to be super LOUD
BMW’s
84 E24 M635csi
90 E34 M5 3.6
94 E34 540i/6 SC E85
97 E36 M3 euro SC U/C
97 Z3 2.8 widebody

OTHERS
11 Audi S5 3.0 SC
19 VW Amarok V6
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sansouci
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Post by sansouci »

Awsome skills: keep at it.
Is this a summer project?
Sansouci
84 E24 633Csi Auto, Bronzit/PearlBeige 6997510
93 E32 740il M60 Auto, Alpenweis/Ultramarine
60 528i M30 5-speed Green/Beige (crushed)
71 240Z 4-speed White/Blue (rusty & sold)
65 396 Chevelle 4-speed, Marina Blue/Black (stolen)
yaygasm
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Post by yaygasm »

GazM3 wrote:Wow.
I'm glad I'm not your neighbour.

That exhaust is going to be super LOUD
You bet it is! Around here they call me the 'property value dropper'
sansouci wrote:Is this a summer project?
It started as a summer project, but everything gets put on hold when I go back to school in two weeks, and I think there's more than two weeks of work left to do. I'm just hoping to at least be able to start it up before I leave.

Not much today, just finished the down pipe and ordered some clamps so I can be done with the exhaust and move onto the electronics. I picked up a piece of flex wastegate piping. It didn't fit...

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so I cut off one of the ends

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welded it all up

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and made sure everything fits together.

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Leak testing will happen once I figure out how to do that with the tools I have, but first I'm going to assemble the megasquirt so I can start messing around with it.
yaygasm
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

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So its been about about 4 years... school, work, other projects, family and friends... time flies! It's funny how a summer project turns into a 4 year saga. Seems as if I underestimate the work I need to do and overestimate my free time. Anyway, I figure its time for an update. I had to dig deep into my old harddrives to get some of these pictures so I apologize if its a bit sporadic.

So I last left off working on the exhaust. Didn't manage to finish it before school started back up. Fast forward a year, finished up the exhaust and started setting up the megasquirt according to the guide on mye28. Even though this guide is almost 10 years old, it's a must-read for anybody trying to put megasquirt on their m30. I don't have pictures of this, but I gutted the old ECU box and used it to create an adapter to plug the engine harness into the megasquirt. Then with my dad at the wheel and me on the laptop we did a bit of street tuning and... street tuning is hard! I ended up getting the tune about 75% of the way there and then letting tunerstudio's autotune feature dial in the rest of the fuel map. I ended up just copying the timing map from the mye28 guide. I'm sure if I brought it to a professional tuner with a dyno they could have squeezed some more power out of it but I was having a blast driving around regardless.

I ended up daily driving the e24 for a while (barring snow on the ground) and took it on frequent ~200 mile road trips with no problems...

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...until I busted a rocker arm. I really should have been more careful about beating on the car while it was so far away from home. Ended up having to trailer it home and brought my trusty subaru back to school with me.

The b34 in the car was getting old and tired. Compression was low and inconsistent, even after the head rebuild, and I certainly wasn't doing it any favors. I picked up an unknown mile m30b35 and started the rebuild process in my dorm room.

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I had a really tough time getting it down the stairs, but once it was in my room I started taking it apart.

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As always, life gets in the way and I didn't even finish disassembly before it was time to go home again.

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If you're thinking of trying something like this to hold the crank while you undo the crank nut, dont do it! I bent the bracket I was anchoring to.

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Don't do this either! I ended up snapping my 1/2 inch ratchet.

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Thank you craftsman warranty...

I ended up using some scrap metal and a cheap torque multiplier to get the crank nut off.

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This worked a lot better than I expected, and a $40 dollar torque multiplier is cheaper than an impact gun if you're in a pinch.

I pulled the old engine and transmission out of the car. Took the head off first to make it easier for me.

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Got the new engine back from the machine shop. Got the head skimmed and block decked in preparation for the MLS gasket.

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Gave the block a quick spray of high temp black paint...

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...and put the crankshaft back in. Engine wasn't very worn, didnt have to go up a size for neither the main bearings nor the rod bearings. Upgraded to ARP main studs and rod bolts, wasn't too much more money than new stock hardware, and I like the fact that they're reusable. Not trying to build a 500hp monster, just something I can reliably beat on.

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A quick check of the endplay, put the pistons back in, and the bottom end was done.

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I didn't take pictures of the pistons, but I gapped the first ring to .018" - .020" and the second to .026" - .028". Just a couple thousandths over stock.
yaygasm
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

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A freshly cut head is so pretty.

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Gave the valves a quick lap and reassembled the head.

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I put in some rocker locks because I don't really trust the springs that hold the rocker arms in place...

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Sandwhiched an MLS gasket in between the head and the block and started bolting accessories on.

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I'm using a koala motorworks adapter for the passenger side engine mount.

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I decided to keep the m30b34 oil filter housing because it has ports for an oil cooler. If you use this style oil filter housing (filter points down) instead of the b35 housing (filter points up), the driver's side koala motorsports mount won't fit. Their adapter attaches underneath the filter housing. I had to make an adapter that picks up existing threads towards the rear of the engine.

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A keen eye will also see that I have the b34 oil pan on the b35 block. Although this bolts up, the b35 block needs a b35 oil pan in order to pick up all the bolts that attach to the transmission bellhousing. On the b34 there's a seprate piece that goes over the oil pan that attaches to both the block and the transmission, and this piece does not bolt up to the b35. Figured this one out the hard way...

I never liked the snaking intake piping that I was on the engine so i flipped the throttle body to the other side of the intake. Started by drilling a big hole towards the top of the manifold so the throttle body doesn't interfere with the ABS module.

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Then I sent it to the machine shop to cut the mating surface flat. I used bolts threaded from the inside of the manifold instead of studs to attach to the throttle body as this part of the manifold is kinda thin.

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Made a quick bracket and block off plate so I can use a generic throttle cable. Had to do a bit of measuring to ensure that the range of the gas pedal allowed me to go from closed to wide open throttle.

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The block of plate is also a convenient place to put the IAT sensor and any extra vacuum ports if you need them.

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yaygasm
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

With the engine assmbled, I moved on to the transmission. I replaced the front, rear, and selector seals.

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The old clutch was pretty much wrecked.

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Switched to a sprung 5 puck clutch from california clutches. Took about 2 months to get to me, but it was a good price and it seems to be doing well so far.

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Bolted the transmission back up, and the whole deal was ready to get put back into the car.

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A load leveler is invaluable if you're going to one-man this job...

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But it slid in almost as easily as the old one came out.

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yaygasm
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

One thing that always bugged me about this car was the wiring. At some point in time, somebody rewired the fuel pump using speaker wire! Speaker wire! Between that, a shoddy aftermarket speaker system, some strange alarm system, splices in the harness going to nowhere, and a mess of wires going to things that were either broken or taken out... it was in rough shape. It wasn't an easy decision to rewire the entire car, but for the sake of my future sanity, thats what I did. With the stuff I was planning on changing, its just less of a headache to make something new rather than modify an existing system.

So I started by making my own gauge cluster. I'm using a rasberry pi to interface with the megasquirt to give me my engine gauges (RPM, temperatures, AFR...) to avoid having to buy all new gauges. $70 screen, $20 raspberry pi, and the ability to put anything on the screen... it was a no-brianer. This also gives me the ability to tune without a laptop. The raspberry pi boots into tunerstudio on startup and I keep a keyboard in the back if I want to do some on the fly tuning.

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I made a box for the switches, fuses, and relays. This keeps everything centralized, which will make future troubleshoting much easier, at least for me. Its way easier to troubleshoot something you've designed!

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I had to put the battery in the back to make room for intake piping.

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I also had to relocate the power steering reservoir.

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As well as the coolant reservoir. I ended up using a resorvoir from an e34 and mounting it where it would have been in an e34.

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And here it is as it sits right now. I still need to put some conduit around the new wires and do some tidying up and tuning, but its almost there. it runs well and suprisinlgy enough that ebay turbo is holding up. Still a ton of fun, even with the weird looks I get from people for driving around with no hood or front bumper!

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I'm off to school again for now, but when I come back it'll get a proper dyno tune by somebody who knows more about tuning than me, and then I'll see about making the whole car look less... like a hooptie. Thanks for reading.
ldc
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by ldc »

NICE work. I wish I had the skill to DIY like this.
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Jono B good
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by Jono B good »

Wow quality craftsmanship man wow just... WOW! There is a place for you in the Mad Max hall of fame plus you're up there with turbo yoda (Mighty Car Mods) in my books mate! Thanks for sharing all your great work.

Cheers from Canukistan AKA Canada
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tschultz
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by tschultz »

Great update and exellent job with the wiring and dashlayout.

I have a tunerstudio dash that I personally like for tuning.
This was last summer but I use one still very similar:
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Curious what you use...
http://www.Drive4Corners.com
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'79 635CSi Revival
'80 635CSi
'83 633CSi Callaway Turbo continued as 1988 535is Turbo
SOLD: '81 635CSi/A
yaygasm
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Location: NYC, USA

Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by yaygasm »

Thank you for the nice comments, I remember watching mighty car mods back before I even had a license...!

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The downside of having the raspberry pi in the dash is that it makes it hard to take out, and if I ever want to fiddle with MS stuff I need to be physically in the car. I think If I were to do it again I would put the pi in a more easily accessible place. So the picture is kind of bad because its difficult to take screenshots... but oh well! I have my dash set up more like a typical dash, but I might switch it up because gauges take up a lot of space and screen real estate is valuable. When I turn EGO correction on I'll need to find a spot for that too. I like your setup with the AFR graph though, I might have to try that out. How did you like working with the tunerstudio dash designer? It took me 2 hours to make my simple dash...
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by tschultz »

It pretty easy once you try it... I could attach my dash design to give you a starting point to download and play with the different gauge layouts and warnings, colors etc. This website won't let me attach, so email me [email protected] if you want it.

Having a starting point with the layout of gauges makes it a lot quicker! I have fiddled with it a bunch over the last year and a half, but only little tweaks such as Idle PWM% and injector pulse width to know what the engine is doing at any one moment. Of course I need my laptop hooked up to preview it.
http://www.Drive4Corners.com
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'79 635CSi Revival
'80 635CSi
'83 633CSi Callaway Turbo continued as 1988 535is Turbo
SOLD: '81 635CSi/A
Pod
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Re: yaygasm's '86 635CSi Euro + Turbo

Post by Pod »

Absolutely amazing thread. I've not seen it before, but read it through all in one go - probably the best way to see how your project progressed. Keep up the good work!
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