# Another e39 528i turbo attempt



## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

WOO! first post.
Anyway, I have a 2000 528i and have gotten the idea of turbocharging it stuck in my head. I have spent a considerable amount of time researching this possibility, and have encountered a lot of.... resistance. The classic "buy the m5/540" line is not what I'm looking for. I am not doing this because it is the easiest or most cost effective or most practical method to get a high performance e39, I'm doing it because I want to and all I ask is that people respect that. I have done enough research that I have a plan starting to come together, I just need a few questions answered. First: my car is showing classic signs of blown vanos o rings. I want to know if it is practical to replace to o rings or if I should just unplug the vanos unit. Why or why not? what effect will vanos have on performance in a turbo car. Replacing the o rings isn't a huge deal, as I will need to replace the injectors and spark plugs, which brings me to my next question: where can I find spark plugs that are a few steps cooler for my car? I will admit that i have not searched all that hard for this one, but a quick answer (or a long one, it doesn't matter to me) would help me a lot. My last question just popped into my head, and I could probably figure it out for myself but I'm already typing this so here goes: what are the specs on the stock fuel pump(s)? any miscellaneous links or tips would be greatly appreciated. Also feel free to correct me if I am misinformed about anything. Thanks in advance!


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## WQY3699 (Aug 5, 2012)

Planning to go down the turbo-charged route as well and I've started doing some research. Mind sharing some of the resources found?


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

I wish I could help but I don't have a lot of links so to speak, just information I've gathered. My plans as far as air fuel is the apexi safc, which I have heard will work for our cars at least in the short term. Timing is still a gray area, which is one of the reasons I started this thread. In the long term a thicker head gasket to lower compression would be needed to prevent detonation, especially at higher boost. The stock injectors are 21 lbs per hour, so I plan on running 39lb per hour injectors (similar to 42 lb but half the price). This is about the upper limit possible with the safc because it only allows for 50% compensation, but it would still allow for around 400hp which is more than I plan on running (at least in the short term). as far as turbos the gt3582r has a near perfect compressor map for the application. This isn't going to be a super fancy setup because if lack of funds, but I plan on upgrading slowly as the paychecks come in. There are still some kinks in my plan to iron out but I'm finally starting to see it all come together. If there's anything I skipped over I can certainly try to help, and if anyone would like to call me an idiot feel free just explain your reasoning.


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## WQY3699 (Aug 5, 2012)

Here's something which may tickle your fancy if you want to go for high HP output. Found this site from the US which offers some solutions with regards to lowering compression, increasing displacement for turbo builds for the M52 model engines.

http://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac---m50--m52-frankenstein-stroker-turbo-build-kit-p2549.aspx

http://store.vacmotorsports.com/vac---turbo-camshaft-sets-m50-m52-s50-s52-p1433.aspx

And of course most important of all... ECU & fueling

http://store.vacmotorsports.com/miller----turbo-tuning-package-for-all-m50--m52--s50--s52-engines-p2603.aspx

It's not an end to end thing and it looks like its gonna cost about US$7,000 without the turbo, intercooler, oil cooler and related pipings.

If you're in the US, you may want to give these guys a ring. They've done some kits for E36 328i. They may be able to shed some light.

http://www.icsperformance.com/

I'm still looking for solutions for the mounting of the long shaft, the long shaft itself and other related components and i would think some parts would definitely need to be upgraded in order to withstand a maximum 500WHP.

Looking to achieve about 2x the current HP output while maintaining as much reliability as possible. Thats about as far as i've gotten so far... not in the planning phase yet am still researching the opportunity.


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

the e36s are far easier to turbo, which is why there are many turbo e36s and extremely few e39 turbos. The e36s were obd1 which allows things like the war chip to exist. It isn't that easy with obd2, and people generally end up with a stand alone ecu. As far as all the high horsepower goodies, i personally am not going that far (yet). For now Im just trying to get a running turbocharged car, and move from there.


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## WQY3699 (Aug 5, 2012)

Try reading this forum discussion from last year. Some interesting points discussed.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1763644


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## JasonSC540ia (Aug 11, 2009)

Fuel pump and volume. The thing you want here is volume...not pressure. There are plunty of formula's out ther to help you figure it out. If I had to guess I would say your stock pump is in the area of 50-60gph. Not enough for a turbo application. Turbo's love there fuel. You could do a couple of things. One would be get 2 welbo 255lph pumps tie them together drop them in the tank, and "Y" them together. The false panel on the top of the tank can be drilled out, and larger line and fitting installed. You will also need a good fuel pressure gauge. After your set-up is complete you'll want to keep an eye on pressure as boost and revs increase. If at anytime the pressure starts to drop when revs are coming up, then that means you dont have enough volume.

You 6 cylinder guys are lucky. There are a $hit ton of piggyback ecu's you can use. One that comes to mind is the Greedy Emanage Ultimate. You have an airflow, ignition and fuel maps. You can compensate for larger injectors also. You just enter the stock size injectors, enter the new size and your done. It will automatically create an initial fuel map for you, that you can tweek. Iv tuned several Mitsu's with these and they are very straight foward. AEM also offers a piggyback that will work on 6 or 8's(this is the only one I can use). A bit more pricy at $1K vs $600 or so for the Emanage. You can also use a Emanage Blue(older version). You can get these for about $300, but you cannot retard timing with that one. Only advance.

Dont forget to get a good A/F ratio gauge, and EGT gauge when your tuning it. You want to stay below 1000 celsius. I always get an EGT gauge with a warning light and set to about 950C. anything over 1000C your running to lean/hot and you'll start to melt pistons.

Hope this helps and good luck.


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

my car came with 255 walbros stock and im fairly sure that the emanage wont work with bmw but it could be worth a try


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## JasonSC540ia (Aug 11, 2009)

1 walbro is not enough. 255lph = 63gph. Probably not much more then your stock pump...if any. You need upwards of 80+gph. For 400whp I would shoot for 100gph+ just to be on the safe side. Iv never tried an Emanage on a Bimmer. Iv heard tons of people say they wont work, SAFC's wont work, but nobody has ever said "yes...I did try it, and it did not work". I think everyone just assumes it wont. Kind of like the monkeys in the cage. The one monkey gets his a$$ kicked for trying to eat the banana, and none of the other monkeys know why there kicking his ass.


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

it cones with two, count em two 255 walbros stock and the safc has infact been used with sucess. the guy us a member in this forum hopefully he will speak up


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## JackEatsEmoKids (Apr 27, 2008)

Here is my thread from the bimmer forums. Good luck, hope it helps.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1736215


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## cpatti (Oct 16, 2012)

looking to turbo charge / super charge my 98 m3 what is a better option for this series


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## Millhouse77 (Oct 23, 2012)

In the mustang community, a single walbro 255 is enough to support a F/I'd 500rwhp. Unless the rails in the bimmer are rediculuously tiny (higher pressure), I'm not sure why it wouldn't be the same. Another thing used for forced induction applications is a boost a pump. In essence, it a voltage regulator for the fuel pump....boosting voltage only when necessary. I'm not sure how this would tie in witht he bimmers electronics, but it's worth looking into as they aren't terribly expensive.

Here is the boost a pump... http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...zYGQDQ&usg=AFQjCNFvmvvIP_RXjn9l_27vxgaafY3w-A

I'd recommend scouring http://www.theturboforums.com/forum.php for more information. While it used to be turbomustangs, there are quite a few non mustang projects to be found, as they are now more of a universal turbo DIY website.


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

I sorta let this thread die because i had to go back to school etc,. But I have been thinking of a few things. As far as oiling goes, could I return the oil from the turbo to the place on the dipstick tube where the ccv connects? I have already deleted my ccv and this would make life millions of times easier. Also where exactly would i tap into the oil for the fedd to the turbo? I know the housing would work but could I get a double banjo bolt and go from the vanos? Once again this would be a huge time saver. For anyone who's wondering, the odds are good this project will never actually happen. For me half the fun is figuring out how to make things work, the result is just the icing.


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## imp.the.dimp (Aug 4, 2012)

So after more research it turns out an emanage can and has been used on obdII m52 bmw's with sucess so I think I will try that


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