'88 E30

KaiserRolls

Got some more done last night. Finalized the fan bracket (stock e36 AC condenser fan). Just simple flaststock with some hardware. Not crazy cool but will get the job done and make it so I don’t have to destroy my radiator with those ziptie-Ish fan things.

I cleaned it up and sprayed it black

Sits about 1/4” away from the radiator, should work well enough.

Got the rad hoses in and trimmed. Remember the top hose I just took a stock e36 hose, swapped ends and trimmed some fat. Fits like a glove bottom is a stock e36 silicone one trimmed up to work in the e30

finger width in between the top of the belt and the bottom of the coolant hose. Hopefully that’s enough haha.

My belt routing is a tad different, so it take a different angle on the PS pump. Had to ditch the lock washer and sand down the head of the bolt for some belt clearance. When I turned it over by hand before, it walked the belt one rib because it made contact.

Intake tube routing is finalized & tightened. Ordered a new filter at lunch that’s a bit smaller so it can work in the spot I need it to.

Also ordered a patch kit for this, VF wanted $225 for a replacement piece. I’m going to try some 3M stuff for the hell of it and see if it’ll work. Kind of bummed I have to use it, but the lack of room wouldn’t let me use my other coupler I had made. Oh well, so is the life of a project car.

Belt I ended up with for future reference

I hope someone finds any of this info useful, but no one really supercharges a 24v anymore, let alone in an e30 haha.

GunMetalGrey

I always enjoy these updates! Especially as you get closer to finishing it!
As for your last statement, it has been something I've been thinking about doing for awhile!

Keep it coming, looks like you're real close!

Boris3

Sanding down the bolt head for added clearance...nicely done!

KaiserRolls

Well the 3M stuff didn’t really pan out, as expected. Returning that stuff tomorrow.

However I remembered I had a plastic welder collecting dust so I figured why not give it a go. Worst thing that happens is I can’t fix it & buy a new one (avoiding at all costs)

What follows is the progression of my frugality.

Swiss cheesed (4 holes total)

2 done, these were the smaller ones and were pretty easy to fill

I used aluminum foil held on with duct tape as backing for the larger holes

All done. I let it harden up a bit, then went back and took care of any low and thin spots

I tried pushing and poking at it to see if I could crack it or separate it & I could not. We’ll see how long it lasts

$225 saved.

Jdesign

Damn that looks like it filled up well. Did you have to use a filler material? I would have used Plexus epoxy to fill them but there are obviously many ways to get the job done. Do you have any plans of mimicking the texture so it is consistent? Awesome progress!

KaiserRolls

Jdesign said:

Damn that looks like it filled up well. Did you have to use a filler material? I would have used Plexus epoxy to fill them but there are obviously many ways to get the job done. Do you have any plans of mimicking the texture so it is consistent? Awesome progress!

Just used the stuff that came in the box from harbor freight. Assuming it’s some type of polypro.

Epoxy would’ve probably worked as well.

I thought about sanding it & doing all that beautification. But I’m not any good at that so I’ll probably just leave it for now

jc43089

KaiserRolls said:

Just used the stuff that came in the box from harbor freight. Assuming it’s some type of polypro.

Epoxy would’ve probably worked as well.

I thought about sanding it & doing all that beautification. But I’m not any good at that so I’ll probably just leave it for now

Enough boost should smooth it out, just send it!

suspenceful

Hopefully it's strong enough. I would hate for pieces of that to break and get sucked into your motor.

Good progress!

jc43089

suspenceful said:

Hopefully it's strong enough. I would hate for pieces of that to break and get sucked into your motor.

Good progress!

It shouldn't see much/any vacuum, it is upstream from the throttle body so it should be between atmospheric pressure and full boost. To be extra safe I would recommend full throttle at all times so any pieces are blown out rather than in.

m42b32

jc43089 said:

To be extra safe I would recommend full throttle at all times so any pieces are blown out rather than in.

Solid advice right there

KaiserRolls

suspenceful said:

Hopefully it's strong enough. I would hate for pieces of that to break and get sucked into your motor.

Good progress!

As others have said, would be blown out 9/10 times.

Also the way the plastic is laid over it, if it were to delaminate from that pipe, it wouldn’t fit thru the hole.

My OCD will make me check it after every drive though I’m sure

Earl

There's no way that could really fail. I guarantee the pipe is made out of a thermoplastic elastomer or a thermoset plastic. The plastic welding would have reached high enough temperatures for the filler rod to melt to the existing material instead of just puddling on like a patch. Not to mention that you wont be pulling near enough vacuum to cause it to collapse inward even if it was somewhat thin.

KaiserRolls

Brought it into work today and asked some plastic process engineers. They all said it’ll be good.

At least now I have people to blame if it does fail

KaiserRolls

Front end is back together. Hoses are routed & headlight covers are on. Filter is also in, still need to figure out a splash shield for it.

Sensing a theme with this car where clearance is measure by fingers. This has two fingers of clearance. It’ll be fine though

B C

Critical but necessary questions:

have you installed the SC tune/chip yet?
have you ever removed a subframe?!?

KaiserRolls

Snap said:

Critical but necessary questions:

have you installed the SC tune/chip yet?

have you ever removed a subframe?!?

Still need to put the red413 in, remove the silver413, install GIAC tune for 7lb pulley

KaiserRolls

Got to this point last night & realized my intake manifold is absolutely smashing my heater core pipe. Gr8

Need to remove all this crap so I can get the intake off so I can bend the heater core some more & find a 90° bend and some fittings to get this away from the intake as much as possible

Jdesign

Your heater core should be metal tubes. If so you can easily do what I did at the expense of $0. I removed the ends of the heater core from inside under the dash, and chopped them down about 1-2". this way the bend of the coolant hose happens right at the firewall vs. 2" out as shown in your last picture. Only downfall is that the hose clamps for the coolant lines are now under your dash rather than in the engine bay.

KaiserRolls

That’s a really good idea. But I won’t be doing that. Sounds like way more work than I want to do to be honest haha

straight6pwr

curious to see what you do there. my spider hose exploded at that spot, the intake was touching and most likely wore a hole in the hose. i was considering modifying the rubber firewall grommet to allow pushing the hoses downward.

nice progress!

WIBIMMERS

'88 E30