My slow car finally gets less-slo, aka some turbos and new things

[V8bait]

Howdy y'all, been lurking here a while. Haven't done anything interesting in a few days so figured I'd post some things.


As you may know, I have a 13-year-old that is a severe alcoholic. It all started when she was a baby by sneaking small amounts of alcohol into her “premium” formula. At the time, I thought it was the best way to keep her safe, the government even encouraged it. But they never tell you about the addiction. By the time she was 3, all she wanted was alcohol, first in mixed drinks, then straight up. In all honesty don't think she's drank anything under 140 proof in 10 years. Now, I will admit I share blame for all of this as she was my responsibility and I enabled her for years, carrying around large jugs of alcohol in case she ran out, funneling them into her like a sorority girl after rush. Yes, I am a monster. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with turbocirrhosis last year which progressed to the point of needing transplant. The fading clearcoat of her bonnet was the first sign, followed by symptoms of generalized weakness and shortness of breath, inability to perform, and decreased appetite. Some would say, she was on her last wastegate. Luckily a certain blessed soul came to her rescue with the new vital organ(s) to heal her. This is her story:

First post useless banter.

Second post actual build.

Major specs:
2007 E92 335i 6mt (early build)
Stock engine w/ 120k miles
Turner 60A engine mounts
RevShift green trans mounts
Motiv SSP twin disc clutch
VTT GCv2 turbos
VTT aluminum outlets
NTK O2 sensors
VRSF downpipes
VRSF 7" FMIC
VRSF chargepipe with TiAL BOV
BMP aluminum OEM style intake manfiold
BMP 750cc injectors
BMP bucketless LPFP solution - dual pumps
PR large diameter relocate turbo inlets
PR drop in aftermarket fuel filter/regulator assembly
PR fuel line with AN fittings all around
Custom catch can curtesy @Aaron
Custom block cooling mods
Custom driver weight increase mods
MHD only, tuning by @V8bait if he ever responds back to me


Once upon a stock engine bay and missing tow-hook cover, a 335i gets a JB4

Two years later we add another mod or two for fun

2013 was flash tuning, happy as can be

Out of rhymes. And also this table is for a DSM I think that somehow made it into my gallery. But in all reality 2013 was the year flash tuning kinda went mainstream. TunerPro be slappin'. Yeet.


2014, HID's on fleek, dyno lookin' pretty sad but still had the highest power of the group despite the slipping clutch (also, SAE bitches).

2014 was also a time when real men didn't throw away their MSD80 for a younger, blonder MSD81

2015 this happened so she got mostly ignored for a few years

Ok enough of this I'll post some of my recent build next. I was just getting all nostalgic transferring the pictures. I promise there might be some unique things going on some may find interesting but most will simply not find.

 

[doublespaces]

From the wording of the title it sounds like you got some hybrids. Gotta show that ZX6R whose boss!

What do those trap, 130?

 

[V8bait]

So I'll post some now and revisit it later.

No build is complete without friends @Aaron assembling (questionable) quality harbor-freight Chinesium tools.

As for turbo's, I can hear the haters in the background but ball-bearing CHRA GTX clones sounded fun with the beautiful pinnacle outlets (not pictured and no longer available for the peasants). Unfortunately they weren't ready in time for my build so they will have to go on the next project. No ball-bearing MMP build on my car.

Instead and due to the unforeseen logistical issues above, I reached out to @Tonyturbo and he came in clutch with a set of GC's just when I thought my girl was going to die on the operating table with her heart out. Quite literally, figuratively speaking. Seriously, below that rugged online persona lies a man who is as invested seeing my girl live again, and is thoughtful enough to include a small package of gummy's with turbskies!

But really, thanks for scrambling the order together guys. I think I gave him like a days notice on Sunday and had them across the entire continental US on Tuesday. Props.

Garage is definitely sterile. Literally moved into the house and started pulling the motor the next night. I'm sure my neighbors love me!

TBC...

 

[V8bait]

From the wording of the title it sounds like you got some hybrids. Gotta show that ZX6R whose boss!

What do those trap, 130?

I dunno, I've been to the track with it but not that kind of track. I know it keeps up with most 600-700hp cars for a while but more power than that, or at high speeds it falls behind.

 

[NoGuru]

Noice!

 

[Aaron]

This car is the reason I bought a 335. I was blown away by how great it ran FBO. Simply couldn't believe how he gapitalized on an SS Camaro, yet it still idled smoothly, was comfortable, good MPG, and an overall really nice car. My Dad still can't believe how quick these cars are, while you can hold a quiet conversation while cruising at 80.

The bikes are strong of course, but the aero is a disaster once you get far into the triple digits. So while the ZX6 will comfortably run a mid 10 second 1/4mi, a stock base model Vette would run out higher up top.

 

[V8bait]

@Aaron yeah these cars are still great bang for your buck, back then they were impressively capable and comfortable at the same time.

Updated first post with most of the build specs.

Anyway, a few other little pieces here. MTL gear oil for the 6mt is a big improvement to the factory fill. Turner engine mounts 60A, Revshift trans mounts and some of the fuel line in the back. I'll go into more depth in the fuel system later.

So here's the reason you need to watch the mounts, this is my power steering pulley. It obviously has contacted my subframe, luckily it never shredded the belt. I checked it less than 6 months ago and it was fine, these things can happen fast. The Turner mounts above raise the motor slightly to reduce the risk of this happening. Also, ECS sells an alluminum PS pulley that helps prevent this from happening again.

Alluminum pulley on bottom

GC manifolds being separated from the turbos help a lot for install.

Black car, wanted black coils. Some people love the blue, some don't. The good news is you can paint them whatever color you want. I went with high-temp chemical resistant paint, it did require some time in the oven but finish turned out pretty good! Made these first release coils look fresh. Of course, right after I did this PR started selling black versions!

Apologies for the low quality images.

 

[Asbjorn]

Thanks alot for writing this build thread. I want to paint my PR coils as well.

If you want a bit less NVH, you can consider installing only one engine mount (turbo side) and keep the other side stock. On the IS models that side is upgraded over lower powered N54. You will still need to increase idle to around 900rpm though. I have used the same trick with my transmission mounts and like it alot (DCT though).

I would also recommend heat shielding everything around and near the GC manifolds. I had a vacuum canister and a silicone hose melt due to getting too close.



Stole this idea from Hydra (who has a better and more reflective ss product):



I made a similar shield between the oil pan and down pipes which made no difference whatsoever.

 

[Torgus]

Wouldn't you want the plastic pulley so it breaks away? I feel like a stronger pulley material only means the force would be transmitted to where you don't want it. I know aluminum is soft but the plastic I would think would be the better material.

You can bend the subframe in that area but I think with solid mounts you should be fine.

 

[d8rknight]

this was great entertainment. #sleeperclub

 

[Chris@VargasTurboTech]

Looks awesome!

 

[Jake@MHD]

Love the first post lol. Glad to see you finally back to working on this thing!

 

[Panzerfaust]

I'm incredibly jealous of the MMP GTX turbos, if you feel like donating them to a good cause I'll PM you my address I plan on being the quickest twins car in the 1/4 and although I haven't maxed out my 1Ks yet (hoping my VAC stage 2 head and long duration/high lift Cat Cams will help there) the 54mm BB MMPs are something already towards the top of my wishlist.

Just a heads up for when/if you do install them, it takes some extra work getting the Pinnacle outlets to fit with the 1Ks due to the significantly larger turbine housings. I was told by both vendors they wont fit, but they do - dont go hammering sections to try to get them to fit like I've seen some do before giving up, the install is worth it.

 

[Blaster3500]

Looks like a fun build. All it needs to be complete is a RFP tune!

 

[langsbr]

I thought our trans used ATF. Is there something better with the redline mtl over using redline d4 atf?I have the atf but have been lazy about swapping it.

 

[V8bait]

Thanks alot for writing this build thread. I want to paint my PR coils as well.

If you want a bit less NVH, you can consider installing only one engine mount (turbo side) and keep the other side stock. On the IS models that side is upgraded over lower powered N54. You will still need to increase idle to around 900rpm though. I have used the same trick with my transmission mounts and like it alot (DCT though).

I would also recommend heat shielding everything around and near the GC manifolds. I had a vacuum canister and a silicone hose melt due to getting too close.

View attachment 33337

Stole this idea from Hydra (who has a better and more reflective ss product):

View attachment 33338

I made a similar shield between the oil pan and down pipes which made no difference whatsoever.

The problem I've had with NVH so far is mostly the gear chatter when accellerating from around 2500 to 3500 RPM. I don't mind the rest but man it's pretty intense. I think I'll try the trans mounts first if it starts to get to me. I think everything is pretty well isolated from the manifolds, I've seen countless issues with this related to singles especially with all the piping, but a shield isn't a bad idea if there's room.

Wouldn't you want the plastic pulley so it breaks away? I feel like a stronger pulley material only means the force would be transmitted to where you don't want it. I know aluminum is soft but the plastic I would think would be the better material.

You can bend the subframe in that area but I think with solid mounts you should be fine.

I've not seen this to be the case, the metal ones may bend or deform but the issue with the plastic ones is that they chip off, then they cut and shred the belt. The belt then gets ingested into the engine. I'd rather bend a pulley or even damage the PS pump than destroy the engine.

I thought our trans used ATF. Is there something better with the redline mtl over using redline d4 atf?I have the atf but have been lazy about swapping it.

You can use the Redline D4 ATF as well, it's a little thinner so would do better in the cold. I'm in Florida, and was previously in Texas, so I'm more concerned with heat and the MTL is a little thicker. If you're using either one I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[V8bait]

So some of these are just stock photos I apparently didn't take pics of everything. For fuel I have the BMP bucketless pump setup. I was the guy who has always been very against bucketless setups, but they challenged me to try it out, so I did. So far, so good. Things I like about this particular kit are the construction as it's very solid, and the fact it places the fuel sensor slightly higher so you don't run out of gas (hopefully) as often. There's a big thing for the DW pumps lately, but I didn't see a point. The Walboro pumps are cheap and readily available. Two of them will destroy a single DW pump for flow. So there 'ya go.

This feeds into the PR filter/regulator assembly. There's a pretty nice restriction on the OEM filter assembly, you can only take advantage of about 1.5 walboro's worth of fuel, and it can actually stress the pumps out before the regulator due to high pressure before the regulator exceeding the pump capacity (ever seen the top of the walboro's pop and leak? This is why). This thing accepts up to 3 LPFP's directly, has a large AN fitting out, a high flow replaceable filter, and built-in wiring for your pumps so you don't have to drill the bucket on the other side.

Most importantly, it uses the waste fuel from the regulator to drive the fuel transfer venturi, so you gain additional fuel just like going bucketless, I believe they rate it as 0.2GPM increase same as ditching the bucket. @PRECISION RACEWORKS would know. Putting both together is a pretty significant bump in potential fueling.

Downsides: Install. It's pretty difficult to plumb correctly, even for me. Ultimately it makes sense and the install instructions were good although one of my lines was a different color (I had replaced my old filter with a cheap ECS one). Also, getting it into the tank takes patience. Worth it? I'd say yes. It would be much easier to do a second time and take less than half the time, I spent around 4-5 hours installing it, mostly verifying routing of lines.

For fuel on the front end I went with PI. Like the bucketed vs bucketless debate, I have always been the person saying (screaming?) DI over PI. And I still do. But it's no longer "new" and there have been many developments addressing issues including the MHD safety that cuts coils in case of misfires. Overall, if you get a quality kit PI is a very reasonable option. I went with the BMP steel intake with integrated PI using their Bosch 750cc injectors. I've had excellent results with these injectors on people I've tuned. I liked this manifold because it utilizes factory gaskets and piping and doesn't have a squash plate. Also big for me was having the injectors properly positioned up top in the runners instead of underneath at angles. How much that matters is debatable, but being aluminum it reduces the chance I'll grenade the plastic factory manifold since I'm 6mt. The great assortment of vacuum options and ports was nice too. Quality was honestly better than I expected for the price. Not a DocRace piece of art but meets my goals and standards.

 

[V8bait]

Catch can was a custom project, designed by my engineer buddy @Aaron who helped with the build to provide adequate ventilation. It'll support more power than I'll be making and should do a better job than the typical small ones as far as flow. Factory was insufficient for factory power, and the little guys are kinda insufficient at high power depending on the setup. This is important because:

1) Smell, I hate the smell of VTA
2) Octane, oil kills it
3) Cleanliness, to keep the intercooler and piping clean
4) Karma, to balance any added emission from the down pipes in at least some small way
6) Giant aluminum cylinder, because if Tesla can make giant triangles why can't I have a giant cylinder

Don't worry about my 5th reason.

 

[Bmwfixerguy1]

So some of these are just stock photos I apparently didn't take pics of everything. For fuel I have the BMP bucketless pump setup. I was the guy who has always been very against bucketless setups, but they challenged me to try it out, so I did. So far, so good. Things I like about this particular kit are the construction as it's very solid, and the fact it places the fuel sensor slightly higher so you don't run out of gas (hopefully) as often. There's a big thing for the DW pumps lately, but I didn't see a point. The Walboro pumps are cheap and readily available. Two of them will destroy a single DW pump for flow. So there 'ya go.

View attachment 33447


This feeds into the PR filter/regulator assembly. There's a pretty nice restriction on the OEM filter assembly, you can only take advantage of about 1.5 walboro's worth of fuel, and it can actually stress the pumps out before the regulator due to high pressure before the regulator exceeding the pump capacity (ever seen the top of the walboro's pop and leak? This is why). This thing accepts up to 3 LPFP's directly, has a large AN fitting out, a high flow replaceable filter, and built-in wiring for your pumps so you don't have to drill the bucket on the other side.

Most importantly, it uses the waste fuel from the regulator to drive the fuel transfer venturi, so you gain additional fuel just like going bucketless, I believe they rate it as 0.2GPM increase same as ditching the bucket. @PRECISION RACEWORKS would know. Putting both together is a pretty significant bump in potential fueling.

Downsides: Install. It's pretty difficult to plumb correctly, even for me. Ultimately it makes sense and the install instructions were good although one of my lines was a different color (I had replaced my old filter with a cheap ECS one). Also, getting it into the tank takes patience. Worth it? I'd say yes. It would be much easier to do a second time and take less than half the time, I spent around 4-5 hours installing it, mostly verifying routing of lines.
View attachment 33448
View attachment 33449


For fuel on the front end I went with PI. Like the bucketed vs bucketless debate, I have always been the person saying (screaming?) DI over PI. And I still do. But it's no longer "new" and there have been many developments addressing issues including the MHD safety that cuts coils in case of misfires. Overall, if you get a quality kit PI is a very reasonable option. I went with the BMP steel intake with integrated PI using their Bosch 750cc injectors. I've had excellent results with these injectors on people I've tuned. I liked this manifold because it utilizes factory gaskets and piping and doesn't have a squash plate. Also big for me was having the injectors properly positioned up top in the runners instead of underneath at angles. How much that matters is debatable, but being aluminum it reduces the chance I'll grenade the plastic factory manifold since I'm 6mt. The great assortment of vacuum options and ports was nice too. Quality was honestly better than I expected for the price. Not a DocRace piece of art but meets my goals and standards.

View attachment 33450
View attachment 33452

Are you gonna be running PI and meth?

 

[V8bait]

Are you gonna be running PI and meth?

I'm just running PI, if I ever needed meth the intake has provisions for port meth or I could use the cp bungs instead, which honestly I'd probably do instead unless I was using it for more than cooling and safety.