Custom M44 Eaton Supercharger Build-- Long Overdue
 

Hey guys, I have been a long time member on Bimmerforums.com, but there is a lack of enthusiasm for anything non-6 cylinder+ car mods.

Anyway, I have had my Ti since 2008 and have always loved the drive, but eventually the need for more power got to me. Unfortunately I cannot afford to buy a 3000$ supercharger kit, which although a great kit does not have an intercooler, and i have never been interested in turbos all that much.

So my long dream was to modify the M44 to accept the Mercedes Eaton M62 and make it intercooled. The biggest problem with this is the M44 Intake Manifold. The K2 kit uses the lower half of the M44 manifold, and personally i never liked that concept.

I ended up using the Late 80's Early 90's M42 Intake Manifold from an E30. With some wire relocation, vacuum relocation and modification to the firewall/cabin airfilter cover it fits just fine. You do have to use the E30 M42 Valve Cover for the PCV port to fit with the Manifold.
Attachment 15493

I decided if I was going to do all this work, I may as well rebuild the engine while im at it.:biggrin:
Attachment 15494
Attachment 15495
Attachment 15496

Continued......
 

The build went as planned, small port job, and general cleaning, changing all bolts and seals. Also had the head machined (very slightly), did the valve lap and porting myself. To get the Valve springs off, i just cut and welded an old socket onto a C clamp Works great!:wink:
Attachment 15501

The E30 Valve Cover lacks the "Cam Oil Sprayer" system that the M44 has, but with a drill, Aluminum welding rods, tap set, bolts and a spare M44 valve cover, you can modify the E30 to fit all of the M44 Valve Cover Guts.
Attachment 15502
Attachment 15503
Attachment 15504
Attachment 15505
Attachment 15506

I also changed out the Thermostat (which was completely stuck inside). Also is it just me or are the removal bolts on these thermostats completely useless?:confused:

A few extra pics of the Lap job and Head Port job.
Attachment 15509
Attachment 15507
Attachment 15508
Attachment 15510
Attachment 15511

A little paint makes it all look better!
Attachment 15512
Attachment 15513
Attachment 15514
Attachment 15515

Now that the engine is all fresh and clean, I was able to start the design for the Supercharger

Now that the manifold is figured out, I had to decide on a bracket design. The final design came out to be a piece of plate steel floating on a Unistrut Rail which involves the use of 2 pieces of Unistrut welded together and bolted to the existing M44 intake manifold bracket (unused with the E30 manifold). This rail sits on the Alternator. This will allow me to adjust the Supercharger to ease any belt problems. The pictures only show, the rail.
Attachment 15516
Attachment 15517
Attachment 15518
Attachment 15519

Now that the rail is in place i started the fabrication of the plate that the Supercharger will fit on. One of the hardest parts of this project was deciding on a belt tensioner design. I ended up using the tensioner from a Nissan Quest, because its all self contained and no bigger than 6 inches long for the whole assembly. So it was welded to the Supercharger Plate.
Attachment 15520
Attachment 15521
Attachment 15522
Attachment 15523
Attachment 15524

In between days i rebuilt the SuperCharger.

For Fuel uses, i am using the BEGI/Cartech RRFPR. Identical to the one in the DASC kit. For injectors i am using 20 pound Bosch Ford/volvo injectors, any standard Bosch injector will fit in the E30 Intake manifold/fuel rail. I plan on getting a piggyback + bigger injectors down the road, but this will work fine for now.
Attachment 15525
Attachment 15526
I added 2 other brackets to the supercharger just to ensure durability and 0% movement once adjusted to the correct location according to where the belt lays. For the main bracket i used a steel turnbuckle, attached to the front supercharger bolt, this allows me to adjust in a different axis. and for the other i used a piece of strip steel and attached it to the rear supercharger bolt and connected it to the intake manifold.
Attachment 15527
Attachment 15528
Also had to change the stock radiator hose to a flexible universal hose, and pulled it out of the way using HVAC strapping strip. I originally attached it to fan shroud but, i didn't feel entirely safe trusting the fan shroud to hold such a vital hose in place, so i put a bolt in the front clip, all of which should be covered up with the plastic panel cover when finished.

Sweet man thanks for posting lots of pics

Thanks JohnBoy! I have to keep reminding myself to take photos of my progress on small parts and pieces.

Continued:
Heres the start of the intercooler pipes, the inlet to the supercharger i ended up using the stock mercedes manifold......modified of course, i chopped it short ground it down and stuck some RTV silicone around it and squeezed on a 90 degree silicone connector. I also drilled a hole in the back of the manifold for the Bypass valve to reroute idle air to the Intake Manifold.
Attachment 15529
This is an overview of the engine bay with *Most everything hooked up.
Attachment 15530
Here's a close up of the Manifold inlet, it is connected to the cold side of the Intercooler. The Bypass valve air comes in the connection on top.....(yes thats a pvc hose, i am still looking for a 1" rubber hose....
Attachment 15531
The picture sucks, but you might be able to see it.

Next was the Supercharger outlet that routes boosted air to the intercooler. I have this pipe pointing toward the passenger headlight, and the hood still closes! :tongue:
Attachment 15532

Attachment 15533

Attachment 15534

Attachment 15535

Attachment 15536

I made this from a Stainless steel Commercial Electrical 2.5" conduit cut at an angle and welded to a 1/4" Stainless piece of plate steel.....what a pain to grind without ruining the integrity of the gasket surface. I have painted it since the last photo.

I plan on running the Throttle body behind the driver headlight. The stock Throttle cable does not fit, so i had to use an aftermarket JEG's unit, 48" and had all the hardware for $25. Easy to install, just remove the old cable and remove the firewall plug. The Jegs unit has a threaded pipe that the cable goes through and clamps the firewall with nuts.
Attachment 15537

Attachment 15538

Attachment 15539

Attachment 15540

Then i had to lengthen the wiring for all of the sensors <MAF, TPS and ICV> I added an extra foot just in case, because it would suck if i had to modify a design and rewire the harness again......

Thats about as far as i am now, I have the intercooler installed, and i installed a vacuum manifold to clean up all those hoses. I do have to weld a custom pipe to connect the intercooler to the intercooler pipes (the pipe kit i bought did not have the materials to make the turns i had to have.

I'm very impressed. The roots style SC really heat up the charge air. Intercooling will net you some big HP gains. I have not seen a 318 with intercooling except one that was water cooled. Totally rad build dude

Thanks! I have been dreaming it up for the longest time, and finally got around to doing the work, i should be able to start her up by next weekend. Its actually been a running joke in my family......:frown:

Anyway Really excited, cant wait to take it for a spin. .:cool:

This cars been begging to get on the road,
I rebuilt the whole suspension system about 2 years ago, and its been sitting for around 1.5 years, due to a bad Catalytic Converter and muffler.

Heres whats under the car now though:

ZHP 3 point Steering Rack
Relocated Steering Resevoir
AKG poly Diff mount
AKG poly Control arm Mounts
Energy Suspension poly Sway Mounts
328ci motor mounts
Rogue Engineering Tranny mounts
All links/balls new Lemforder
Bimmerbum Urethane trailing arm mounts
new cat
new o2 sensors
homemade Magnaflow muffler -resonator

And a brand new Stage 2 Clutch and 15 pound M3 Cromoly flywheel

I also redid the sound system, deadmatted the whole car, and about to paint after i'm finished with the Supercharger.

Like i said, it needs to be driven, it seems like all i do is work on it....and not drive it.

I think your stage 2 clutch most likely will slip. I don't want to pitch parts on your build thread but I have a Spec Stage 5 kit. Billet Alum flywheel at 9#, Stage 5 disk and pressure plate. Here is a run on my car with a Stage 3 clutch, You can see in the video the clutch totally blows out the complete run.


Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FIM8sBtjss

Make sure you turn up the volume so you can here the boost slam this 2.1L stroker motor :biggrin: