What happens when you think you've finished making a fast, reliable track car? Human nature takes over, that's what. Yep, I'm getting bored. Or being stupid. Or both. Call it winter madness, but the 'stupid increase power' phase started just after I finished the
last fast lap of 2013
Initially it was Plan A: A wild dream of selling the poor BMW for enough money to build another Mazda MX-5 Mk1 turbo track car. My 220hp MX-5 was pretty damn rapid, I miss that acceleration in my life.
Put a banging donk on it, and all that
This concept was quickly knocked on the head when I eventually misjudged a wintery skid session (video with skidding and NSFW reactions to conditions
here
) and hit some guardrail. It was only a kiss, but combined with the Bambi'd front bumper and panel, the car seems to need more spending on the cosmetics than it would make by selling it. When I think about the thousands and thousands of euros of bits residing in that tatty shell... no. She's not for sale. That's a stupid plan!
So then came the second plan, and I hope that the simple act of writing it down might aid my recovery from it.
Plan B: Turbocharge the 328i.
Now, I've got 'form' for this. I'm not going in blind. I DIY turbo'd my MX-5 and enjoyed the results for a few years, until I sold it for that cursed RX-8. I love a good turbo, and I love a 'bad' turbo even more. Laaaag, BOOOOOST, YES! Way more exciting than an M3 motor, and there's a ready supply of 328i motors around to replace the ones that detonate.
Coming back faster in '14? Or just less dented?
I figured out the mechanical side of mounting a turbo pretty quickly, nearly all with off the shelf parts. Hell, I even found a whole GT3071R turbo, injectors, M52 manifold, thicker gasket and ARP bolts on my boss's shelf here at Rent4Ring. Oil cooler from an M3 (using the M3 oil filter housing). Big ally rad off the shelf from Driftworks in the UK. The next obstacle would be software. Either getting the Siemens ECU remapped by a pro or remapping it myself with a lot of work, a
Galletto 1260 OBD reader
opensource software
But having mapped the MX-5 myself, I'd prefer to get another Megasquirt ECU built to my specs. However the technical hurdles of controlling the VANOS on the 328i seem pretty big.
So even better would be to ditch the alloy M52 2.8 and replace it with an old-school steel M50 2.5, solving the double VANOS issue and using a stronger block to boot.
Actually, now I've written all that down, it does look like a lot of hard work. Also the number at the bottom of my turbo_the_e36.xls spreadsheet is almost as much as I've spent so far on the whole car.
Thank goodness that's over. I think...
Vid here
Fact sheet
Car: 1997 BMW 328i SE
Run by: Dale Lomas
Bought: September 2012
Purchase price: £950
Last month at a glance: Did some nice laps on a very quiet Nordschleife, crashed a little bit, fantasised about turbochargers
Action photos by Dennis Noten