To turbo or not to turbo?

[spddmn713]

Does anyone know how much RELIABLE power you can get out of a M30 motor? How much can you get from an NA built motor? How much from a turbo motor? I am not talking about the max amount of power, I would like to know how much street reliable power can be made. I am trying to figure out which way I want to go with this motor. Thanks!

[bimmerd00d]

597.

[Incantation]

i would like to know this as well. as it stands i am waiting for TCD to finish their intercooled turbo setup and will probably get that. you can check out their site at http://www.turbochargingdynamics.com . i've emailed them and they are.. brief at best with their replies, but maybe if you call them you can get more info out of them

and please let me know what you find.. i definitely intend to have a turbo or sc on my car by summer

[AllanS]

You really need to speak to Todd from TCD on the phone- he'll talk your ear off, despite how short his email responses are. If you can't get ahold of him right away, leave a message.

I've been driving around for about a month now, with first 5psi, and now 10psi. Once I got it running properly, there weren't any other issues to speak of. Well, my exhaust fell off once, but that's a different issue altogether. At 10psi, intercooled, 300rwhp wouldn't be outlandish.

[632 Regal]

Allen, does that thing really kick ass now? Should pull like a locomotive on the freeway, whats the 60-80 times at now compared to before???

[AllanS]

It's kinda scary Jeff... I thought it was a LOT faster when I first got it up and running, and then I realized that I only had a 5psi spring in the wastegate. Now it's at 10psi, and the afr is tuned correctly to boot :D

I was out on a local highway (684) this afternoon, and at 80mph, 5th gear, around 3k rpm, it just rocks. Instant boost, instant power, it's great. 80-100, no problem, and great turbo response.

[Incantation]

have you got any pics/videos of your car? i would love to see more of it..

are you running an intercooler and if so where did u squeeze it? lol

[AllanS]

http://www.stewartperformance.com/files/turbo/11.jpg
The intercooler sits where the washer fluid bottle used to be. The bottle has been shortened and now sits below it. I have yet to duct the ic away from the rest of the engine compartment and remove a headlight- it's been too cold for me to worry about it.

there's a bunch of other pics here. (http://www.stewartperformance.com/turbo.html)

[Craig]

It's absolutely worth it and I can't say enough good things about Todd and John at TCD.

Here is my car at 8psi, non intercooled. Completely stock engine and electronics (except for their chip) and 180,000 miles.

http://www.535i.net/random/BMW/turbo/TCD_kit/dyno.jpg

[bahnstormer]

todd in reply to my email

You mention 11psi intercooled, and what type
of power can I expect at the wheels?
We recently made 283rwhp at 8psi non intercooled do expect about 335rwhp at 11psi intercooled.

however he hasn't yet answered my question
as to how much power the stock m30 clutch will hold
heheheh almost as important as asking how much the
engine will make...

[AllanS]

I'm still using the stock clutch, and haven't felt any slipping. Time will tell how consistent it will be, of course.

[Craig]

Stock clutch here too, I'm sure I'll be changing it eventually.

[bahnstormer]

oh wow, good to hear...

@ craig, how long did the install take?

@ allanS, how long did the parts finding/fabricating/installing take?

[Incantation]

Nice

[Craig]

You could take a long weekend to install, though I broke it down into several days. Maybe 15 hours total, but we weren't hurrying and it could have been done faster. Plus, I installed a 3" exhaust at the same time which added some time to it.

[bahnstormer]

awesome thanks craig, how abotu you allan?

[AllanS]

It took the expanse of about a month, but I was in Italy for a week in the middle, so maybe 3 weeks from start to finish, with a couple hours every weeknight and a good 12-20 every weekend. I messed up on the lower tubing (from the turbo to the intercooler) and had to recreate the piece, which took a few days to get more tubing, and I rebuilt the exhaust to add a resonator to it.

The exhaust was the most difficult, since I had to cut a piece, get under the car and try it out, mark it, cut it again, then weld it, then get under the car again, etc. etc. and it was 3" so it took longer to cut, and longer to weld.

Getting the old manifold and exhaust off took an afternoon, but the ac lines complicated getting the new one in place with the turbo attached, the only way I could get it on (without removing header studs, which were frozen) was to cut the lines. I'll probably get new ones put in mid spring, but I never really used it much anyways.

[Jon K]

Why turbo when you can supercharge :D

[JAlfredPrufrock]

Why turbo when you can supercharge :D

That's like saying why have sex when you can masterbate... am I right guys?

[Paul in NZ]

a suercharger would be cool but ismore difficult and takes more space

[Jon K]

That's like saying why have sex when you can masterbate... am I right guys?


No I don't believe your analogy makes any sense what-so-ever

[spddmn713]

Great analogy!

[Jon K]

Am I the only one asking, "Who the f*ck are these people?" anymore? Haha who are these new posters.... and why do they bring masturbation into forced induction conversations? Sigh, hello dtmpower.net, I didn't know you changed your domain name... ... ...

[Craig]

In addition the only superchargers for the M30 are about twice as much as a turbo.

[JAlfredPrufrock]

Am I the only one asking, "Who the f*ck are these people?" anymore? Haha who are these new posters.... and why do they bring masturbation into forced induction conversations? Sigh, hello dtmpower.net, I didn't know you changed your domain name... ... ...

I bow down to your Dec 2003 reg date "Urine Machine."

[Jon K]

In addition the only superchargers for the M30 are about twice as much as a turbo.


but no manifold, piping (unless intercooled), exhaust, etc etc work...


installs yourself.

[Craig]

You mean the supercharger?

I installed the turbo myself. Took about 15 hours, and that was going slow. It wasn't hard.

[bahnstormer]

the main thing against superchargin is the power loss....its not efficient.
also having basically full boost right off idle isn't appealing to me, since
that is more stress on the drivetrain

[Jon K]

You mean the supercharger?

I installed the turbo myself. Took about 15 hours, and that was going slow. It wasn't hard.

Intercooled?

[Craig]

Intercooled?

Not yet, working on it.