Thursday 28th November 2013

BMW 328i (E36): PH Fleet

The last lap of the Nurburgring has been driven for 2013, plotting for 2014 starts

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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 and some 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.

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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

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Previous reports:
Dale's RX-8 dies, BMW bought in replacement
What doesn't kill a car makes it stronger ... hopefully
Dale splashes out on suspension...
...and then gets some track tyres too!
E36 takes on E30 (and a deer)
Two old Beemers battle it out on the Nordschleife
328i mixes it with the big boys at VLN practice
One year on Dale's Beemer has come on a long way

Action photos by Dennis Noten

[Clark3y]

You underestimate the simplicity of it. There is NO space for a turbo in a RHD E36, requires an awful lot of fabrication work to make it work and even then there are problems. If you are serious about it, use a LHD shell.

[Dave Hedgehog]

top skills

[vsonix]

sorry if I've missed it in an earlier article but what engine mods have already been done on the car? The engine note in the video sounds very different from my 328i - it screeches whereas mine is more of a hollow, barking howl. Or is that just the effect of the GoPro mic?

[motorhole]

Forget the turbo, for the amount of time and money you would spend dicking about trying to build a reliable turbocharged M5x, it might be worth considering an ally block LS V8. Plenty of guys in the US have put these in E36s so there is lots of information available - can even buy off-the-shelf conversion kits if you feel like spending a bit more (Vorshlag, iirc).

The basic 5.7 litre will make 330-390 bhp all day long (depending on what version you get) and drivetrain weight is only around 15 kgs over the M52. But balance should be better as weight is closer to the centre of the car - engine is more compact in both length and height.

Increase power to 400-420bhp for a 6-litre LS2.

If I had the money, I'd be putting one of these in my E30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1DqjkkCeSA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVZ0duq5Bh8&lis...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F5JA8jDCw4

[CedricN]

Don't know how its over there, but here in Sweden its VERY common with turbo BMWs. Everything you want to do have been done hundred of times. Although RHD could be problematic, haven't seen how those look. Seems to be shed loads of power "easily" achieved

Only been behind one myself at one time, 420WHP in a 2 l BMW six, E85, unopened engine. Although in a 1000kg racing Ascona. That was pretty fast...

[caracal924]

In SA there are plenty Turbo BMWs, all RHD. Problem is solvable - I've seen more difficult projects pulled of by Thurteen Worx in Cape Town with less of a budget. Parts seem do-able and I'd recommend getting a Gotech Programmable system from SA.
Because of your BMW I stopped playing with Porsches and bought my first BMW - don't give up now!!!

[jamespink]

Supercharger is an interesting route, I know there is a 650BHP E46 M3. Featured in the BMW owners club a while back. His starting problem was solved by fitting two sets of injectors. Beast!

[BBS-LM]

Could you not put an E36 M3 lump in there, and have done with it?

[Dale Lomas]

I've seen SO many M3 lumps blow up, and they're 2500 euro a pop over here. Doesn't really interest me. They're really only 280 to 290hp anyway. I'm probably at 220 right now.

[Terror Factor]

Turbo e36 is the way to go! I'm planning to get one as a weekend car, once I get my turbo mx-5 parted out

It's THE cheapest way to get big reliable power.

KDFi might be an interesting alternative to megasquirt. It's basically a prebuilt MS, but it's unlicensed, so it gets frowned upon in the MS community. But it's plug and play for many BMW engines (inclu M50 and M52), and it only costs 500 euro. It even uses the MS software.

Better to go for the M50, as the iron block can handle big boost better. Doesn't seem to much of a worry if staying below ~400 hp. The M50 can handle 500+ (engine) hp with just a thicker headgasket and arp head bolts. And they seem to handle it well!

Exhaust manifold is the only issue, afaik there's no on the shelf part for rhd cars. There are many for lhd tho'. But it's definitely doable, there are multiple turbo e36's in the uk.

I'd prefer the lighter weight (and better styled imo) body of the mx-5, but there are no cheap options for big power. I am definitely looking forward to this if you'd go on with it. I wonder what someone who can drive, thinks of it Also great that you can make the comparison with a turbo mx-5, as I have(/had, blew the engine by upping the boost way too much) one.

If you'd sell the beemer, you may contact me, I might be interested because of the proper suspension

[Output Flange]

Dale Lomas said:

I've seen SO many M3 lumps blow up, and they're 2500 euro a pop over here. Doesn't really interest me. They're really only 280 to 290hp anyway. I'm probably at 220 right now.

Getting a minimum of 300 from either flavour S50 is usually the work of a service. An S50 is £1500 over here. With the number of people going from the UK to the Ring, I'm sure delivery wouldn't be a problem.

I would suggest getting someone else to map your 328i though if you think it's got double VANOS.

[StuB]

I run a Vortech blower on my M52 Z3@ 7 psi for 280 bhp. Nice clean & easy install with the ESS kit.

[Terror Factor]

Oh, to add: M3 lump is a waste of money! Only ~300hp, and way too expensive if it blows up.
For the amount of an M3 lump, you'd have most of the parts for a turbo setup, if you shop around/have fabricating friends.

[320touring]

Why dont you build the m52 crank and pistons into an early non vanos 2.5 m50?

Best of both worlds as no vanos control issues, and the sturdiest block with the best bore/stroke

turbocharging could always be done via exhaust (backbox mounted turbos) or you could go the whole hog with this

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/mll-ps5720ct...

[Terror Factor]

320touring said:

Why dont you build the m52 crank and pistons into an early non vanos 2.5 m50?

Best of both worlds as no vanos control issues, and the sturdiest block with the best bore/stroke

turbocharging could always be done via exhaust (backbox mounted turbos) or you could go the whole hog with this

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/mll-ps5720ct...

That would be the ideal way, but it gets more expensive of course! Benefit is faster spool, but for power it doesn't matter much. Since it's for a racecar, it's not really an issue, he shouldn't fall out of the powerband anyway!

[Olivera]

Dale, does your 328i have an M50 manifold and remap? If not this is a good way of getting to ~220bhp.

The other modification I have done to my 328i is a 318i 3.62 diff conversion. This makes a huge difference, shortening all of the gears significantly, with 5th now topping out at ~135mph.

These two modifications make it very close in performance to an E36 M3 3.0.

[iloveboost]

I love the camera angle, hd quality, technical readouts and times on that video. That view looks great like the worlds most realistic racing game. Even the sound is ok for a little camera. Anyway I think if it's going to cost a small fortune to turbo the engine I'd ask around to see what slots in cheaply with not much hassle. Some engines must drop in relatively hassle free maybe the 3.0 M3 or the 540i? Otherwise change the diff for one with a higher final drive. Would give you more acceleration everywhere cheaply and easily with no reliability change.

[Auson]

Dale my thoughts would be M3 3.0 head with the cams independent throttlebodies and injectors, preferably without the MAF ( airbox like CSL ) M3 or tubular manifold race cats and exhaust. Lightweight single mass flywheel. I beleive you can also make 3 litres by using the E46 330 crankshaft as a stroker kit.
Look forward to seeing some 7 min BTG times

[320touring]

Terror Factor said:

320touring said:

Why dont you build the m52 crank and pistons into an early non vanos 2.5 m50?

Best of both worlds as no vanos control issues, and the sturdiest block with the best bore/stroke

turbocharging could always be done via exhaust (backbox mounted turbos) or you could go the whole hog with this

http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/mll-ps5720ct...

That would be the ideal way, but it gets more expensive of course! Benefit is faster spool, but for power it doesn't matter much. Since it's for a racecar, it's not really an issue, he shouldn't fall out of the powerband anyway!

I was only thinking rear mount turbos for ease of packaging..I know if you removed the backbox from q stock system it'd leave a good sized space, and there's plenty room to run booost up front

Re using the 3.0m3 head, I'd reckon either fit the whole lot, or research whether the head may keep the comp ratio too high for serious boost?

S5x are serious money with the mtax.

Like the idea of a 3.0 built into an m50 block,or you could go the whole hog and do a 3.2 alpina spec lump
Danthe has a build thread on one on the e30zone..

[Terror Factor]

320touring said:

I was only thinking rear mount turbos for ease of packaging..I know if you removed the backbox from q stock system it'd leave a good sized space, and there's plenty room to run booost up front

Re using the 3.0m3 head, I'd reckon either fit the whole lot, or research whether the head may keep the comp ratio too high for serious boost?

S5x are serious money with the mtax.

Like the idea of a 3.0 built into an m50 block,or you could go the whole hog and do a 3.2 alpina spec lump
Danthe has a build thread on one on the e30zone..

Lol, I was talking about the b28 crank in the m50. I wouldn't bother with rear mounted turbo's, it's not necessary.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Jackmcl/I...
and
http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g434/Jackmcl/1...

RHD E36 turbo, no problems at all! M3 head etc is a waste of money imo