Ultra-Budget turbo 1987 BMW 325is build

Let me start this off by saying I know my welding is terrible. I'm learning cut me some slack ;). Also this is a ultra low-budget build and far from being finished.

I wanted something I could autocross and it kind of evolved into being a turbo project. At this point it is a version 1 hobble-it-together-for-cheap proof of concept. I always had the intention to pull it apart and re-do some of my welding/fabrication once I had a better idea of what I'm doing. I pretty much just roughed this whole project out to see if I could do it. Now that it is up and working it's time to do some improvements.

So currently I am running 5PSI on a TD04 knock-off with a rebuilt core. The motor is the stock 2.5L m20 with stock injectors and Megasquirt 1 running mstweak. The intercooler and wastegate are both ebay crap. There are no good angles of this car in current form. It's definitely a beater.

Im running a spartan wideband o2 from 14point7. If you need a wideband and have a guage/megasquirt already I would recommend this one. It's very accurate and was a good deal at $105. The stock manifold is cast steel which I was able to flip upside down and weld into the turbo manifold. Super ugly but it's air tight and has held up so far. But seriously I would not do this again the ports are offset because the bolt holes are not symmetrical. I ended up having to weld the bolt holes closed and redrill to make it line up correctly.
Turbo installed in the car. for the first time. Cheap ebay intercooler and some brackets I threw together. I had to remake the turbo drain 3 times. I started off with 1/4inch copper tubing and flare connectors. That was way to small, this is the 3rd version with 1" black tubing welded to a plate that mates with the turbo drain. That drain tube threads into this 1" flex pipe. I think it was designed for hot water heaters. Notice the JB weld on the pan. This is the main reason i want to pull the engine and transmission. I'm going to weld up another pan which would be easier with the engine upside down out of the car.

My tach would not play nice with megasquirt so I bought a 2" pod tach just for the time being. It was like $18 online. The EGT and Boost are hotglued in the cluster I didn't have time to make mounts i wanted to drive it! Engine bay put back together almost drivable at this point.

So it works and is pretty fun at 5psi. Now it's time to pull it all apart pull the motor out and do some major cleanup and improvement. (like un-plastidipping it)

I have a waterpump, thermostat and tie rod ends coming from pelican, and some metric blue cap bolts from McMaster. I'm pulling the motor this weekend ill post a bunch more pictures when its out.

Looks rough, but sounds like fun! I love beater projects (I have one myself)! Good luck!

thanks, love your z project btw. I've wanted a 240 or 280 for forever. They are hard to come by here.

Today's progress. Tore out my dash to remove my leaking heater core. Didn't go as smoothly as i'd like. Old plastic likes to disintegrate. didn't realise how blurry this one was

Bonus! was able to remove one piece of the original harness. Only like 200 more feet of wiring to cleanup. While I was in there I pulled out the trip computer and what I can only guess is the cruise control module. Dash out and all vents poked out. Replaced the tach with another unit and removed the MPG gauge. I'll have to cut out a plate to cover the opening before i'm all done. Quick and dirty gauge and switch panels. Attached via hotglue. I'll make some L brackets eventually. Or maybe not. Function over form is the theme of this build.

Just pulled the motor. It was less painful than I thought it would be. I was able to do it solo in about 2 hours.

I dig it!

thanks! I have been looking at turbo setups and it just occured to me how important an expansion after the turbo is. I have a 2" downpipe whereas a stock audi tt 2.5 has a 3" and an expansion that looks like 4-5".

that's probably why my setup doesn't want to spool very easily. That and the non ball bearing tubo sitting on a log manifold. Ill have to think about how I want to fix this.