M30 swap for my Olive Drab Vert! by RagtopE30

10 minute(s) of a 219 minute read

Today I realized that I never posted pics of the completed engine bay set up. SO.... here you go! Keep in mind the intake manifold is temporary.

Yes MAP for now. I need to get a variable TPS rather than the stock closed throttle and WOT TPS before we can tune with it. The stock TPS made Mega Squirt angry. What are you using?

5-16-2014

For those of you who are following this thread for inspiration or knowledge let me put something out there. If you are lucky enough for Otis (Good&Tight) to share his knowledge with you take it as gospel truth and don't let anyone tell you different not even a hot shot machinist. 

After running the car for almost a week with the turbo installed I have noticed a "hiccup" at 12 psi at WOT. At first I thought it was my timing being slightly off but then I also had a couple of overheating situations where I lost a lot of coolant out of the overflow tank. I had to admit to myself that I had a head gasket issue. So I tore into it this evening to confirm. ONCE AGAIN, Otis's advise is the gospel truth!!!!!!!! 

You can see where the exhaust pushed through from two cylinders under the head gasket. There was only one that leaked above the head gasket.

And the underside of the head. ONCE AGAIN OTIS IS THE TURBO M30 GOD!!!

5-21-2014

Yes sir. I got her back up and running yesterday. I drove her home very lightly and I will drive her back to the shop today. Once she has cooled down I will do one last torque on the studs. Then I have an appointment tomorrow evening at the dyno and I have acquired a boost controller so I will either blow my engine or I will show up to the vintage with some pretty good numbers.

No the head was completely gone through at the time of assembly. The hg did great while I was running NA. The leak only showed up when boost above 10psi happened. Otis recommended separating the individual layers of the Mls hg and coating each side with copper sealant spray. Then to step torque the head studs with multiple passes per value with a resting time in between each pass. All of that was ignored and the machinist said it was unnecessary, which it was for a NA application but boost is a different animal

Ok I got the car running yesterday and spent about an hour bleeding the coolant system. Yes I had the front of the car up in the air, the closed hood was at chest height on me. I got all the air out that I could and drove the car home, a very easy 12 miles. I then drove it back to the shop first thing this morning and went about my business. I should mention that I bled the system well enough that even at operating temp the upper radiator hose had plenty of give to it compared to the balloon about to burst feel that you get with air in the system. 

At the end of the day I pulled the valve cover and did one last pass on the head studs with the Snap-On torque wrench and they were all at 90ft-lb. I then buttoned her back up and took her out for a good hard run with several pulls at full boost and WOT. The previous two 12 mile drives were kept under 3k rpm and in vacuum. After pushing her hard I checked the upper radiator hose and it was tight as in pressurized. I cracked open the bleeder screw and only a very little bit of air came out mixed with coolant. I then cracked open the top plug on the radiator and I got some air but as soon as I lifted the reservoir I got coolant. I did not feel any hiccups during the drive and I hope it is just a little bit of air that found it's way up when the engine/water pump turned at higher rpms. I then drove her home with a couple good pulls and the radiator hose seems to be appropriately pliable. Comments?

Secondly, I have noticed a big difference in the engine after redoing the head gasket and changing the oil to a thicker 20w-50. It seems to be turning much more freely even at start up the starter spins faster. 

Also my boost is consistent. Before at full boost my gauge was reading 12-14 psi but my waste gate spring is a 0.8bar or just at 11.6psi. Now the boost gauge is reading a very consistent 11.5 every time I allow it to build. 

The engine feels like it is more stable. I know that is a weird way to describe it but the engine feels smoother and once it gets out of warm up enrichment it wants to rev super fast. 

Lastly I noticed that I am getting much more blow by coming out of the valve cover. The hose that used to return to the intake is now vented to the atmosphere and before the head gasket redo I may have gotten a little steam but not much else from it. Now I am getting what I would expect, hot oil steam and smoke but not smoke in a bad way (I don't think anyways). 

I hope that it is fixed and holds up because I have an appointment with the dyno/tuner tomorrow evening and we will dial it in and see what kind of power she is making. And if all goes well we will turn the boost controller up to around 18psi. I am stoked.

IF YOU SEE ANY RED FLAGS IN MY OBSERVATIONS ABOVE PLEASE SPEAK UP NOW!!! I would rather postpone my dyno death day and drive her gently to the Vintage than blow her up on the dyno and not make the Vintage. OTIS? Jim?

No because I didn't over heat it severely.

5-23-2014

I thought I would be able to do both the Vintage and post good numbers. 

Numbers: (I will post the dyno sheet when he emails it to me)

414whp and 427 ft-lbs at 4600ish rpm on 12psi

Then 

440whp and 479 ft-lbs at 4600ish rpm at 14.5psi

AND THEN

This morning I had to get my car towed to my shop due to over heating again. 

I pulled the head today with the help of some friends and the MLS headgasket resembled a piece of cooked bacon. I said screw it at this point I dont have time to order a new head gasket and make it to the Vintage within 24hrs. So we cleaned each layer and tried to reseal it with copper spray. We check the head for visible cracks and then reassembled. I have to say my friends helped me pull off an incredible feat, head gasket job done in 3 hours. Once the coolant system was filled and bleed as much as possible we took it for a drive and didnt even make it a mile before the coolant system was pressurized and spewing coolant out of the coolant tank. I bled the system again hoping against hope that it just had a little air in it. NOPE the head gasket is still allowing exhaust into the coolant. 

So I will not be at the Vintage this year..... SUCKS!!!! Feels like I did all this work for naught. Needless to say this has been a pretty disappointing day.

I am still running the factory fuel pump and when I post the graph you will see where it looks as if the fuel pump just can't give anymore. At the top of the rpm range and at full power the afr's on the last pull went from 11.3 to a 12.8 which. Or ally wouldn't be a problem but the tuner believes that the fuel pump starved the engine just enough so the timing no longer worked and shit happened. 

All I know is that I am going to get another cometic and spray it from the get go. Then I will over torque the studs to 105ft/lbs and I will keep the boost at or under 14psi. I also will be having the head checked before reinstallation. Not to mention new fuel pumps, that's right dual walboros! Then I should be good