1995 318ti supercharged project car

[mohaughn]

I got my rims and tires last week. I started a gallery for the car..

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/showpho...o=2546&cat=655

I like the rims, but the gaps over the wheels looks horrible. It really needs to come down about 1.5 inches.

[FATHER]

what size of wheels is it???

[mohaughn]

They are 215/45 YR17. Which is just +2 over stock. So my speedo and everything is still accurate.

At some point the car may need some more rubber in the back, but these tires should be good for now.

[ClubSport]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

Cali- I was actually talking to a Toyota service person today and they said the same thing. I checked the invoice and there is no mention of plug gaskets being replaced...

Looking at my bentley and haynes manual this only requires pulling off the plugs, the plastic tray around the plugs, and the cylinder head cover. I should then be able to get at this particular gasket right?

I don't have any of the tools to lock the cam at TDC so I've always been real hesitant to open up the engine. But if I can replace this gasket without needing to get into that level of depth in the engine, I'd be comfortable doing it.

I think you're confusing the valve cover gasket with the cylinder head gasket. The valve cover gasket is easy to get to, you don't have to lock the engine at TDC or anything like that. Just be careful not to strip out all the bolts going into soft aluminum. The gasket has one piece that goes around the outside rim, then a couple pieces that seal each spark plug hole. These are probably what's leaking on yours.

How is the progress on the MAF?

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by ClubSport

I think you're confusing the valve cover gasket with the cylinder head gasket. The valve cover gasket is easy to get to, you don't have to lock the engine at TDC or anything like that. Just be careful not to strip out all the bolts going into soft aluminum. The gasket has one piece that goes around the outside rim, then a couple pieces that seal each spark plug hole. These are probably what's leaking on yours.

How is the progress on the MAF?

If you can rotate the cams, it makes removing and installing the cover easier. If the cams are in the wrong spot, it will be hard to wedge the cover on, while keeping the gasket in place. You can easily rotate the motor by turning the key with the plugs out, or turning the crank pulley with a breaker bar.

[mohaughn]

clubsport- Thanks. I was just claryfing that I wouldn't need to mess with the cam or any of that to do the valve cover gasket and plug gaskets.

I've not done any performance upgrades to the engine just yet other than foggng the airbox and putting on magnecors. Unfortunately you really have to rely on custom tuning to get anything better than dasc power out of an M42. There are no out of the box ecu type upgrades. So I'm waiting to see what SEAM comes out with. I would prefer to end up with something that works really well and doesn't require a lot of back and forth to a dyno fixing tuning issues.

I'm waiting on brakes right now. Probably look at suspension, suspension reinforcements and bushings next. I'm planning on doing two or three autocross events and a two day track school in the next two or three months. So at this point having major power isn't as pressing as getting some experience with the car.

It still needs more umph though.. It is pretty hard to get these tires to spin.. Makes the clutch smell real nice.. hehe

[ClubSport]

Originally Posted by ClubSport

As far as cooling, mine would overheat lapping PPIR in 40 degree weather. That was the hardest I pushed it for an extended time. So I changed to Evans NPG-R coolant - a non water based coolant with a much higher boiling point - about 400deg. I've read the literature and the science is sound. It's a really good coolant but at $32 a gallon it ain't cheap. Installation is a pain too, because you have to completely flush the water out of your system. One of the biggest advantages is that because it boils so high, you can run a zero psi system, meaning you can never burst a hose. I haven't gutted my radiator cap to go zero psi yet, but I'm going to do it this summer. I wouldn't worry about another radiator setup. My overheating problem is gone.

Just as an update, I took the guts out of my radiator cap and ran with just the lid. It wouldn't overheat but there was some coolant dribble out of it because there's no seal anymore. Browsing on pelicanparts.com I found a 1.4 bar cap that fits the car, as opposed to the 2 bar stock cap. I assume that's absolute pressure, so in atmospheric terms thats 6psi vs 15. Should help the cooling system's durability and reduce the chance of a hose blowing out.

[318iS]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

I got my rims and tires last week. I started a gallery for the car..

http://www.318ti.org/gallery/showpho...o=2546&cat=655

I like the rims, but the gaps over the wheels looks horrible. It really needs to come down about 1.5 inches.

congrats on the project hope it works out well....


i just wanted to ask if your using the car for track/autocross why did you get bigger wheels ? ? ? adding weight and rotating mass and such.... ? ? ?

[mohaughn]

In the long run the car will get a big boost of power so bigger wheels are needed. I also have e46 M euro rotors on the car that will not fit on 15" wheels. Right now the wheels/rims I'm using are 3 pounds heavier per wheel. With the reduction in weight with ligher suspension components and lighter braking components the unsprung weight has probably gone done several pounds on the front wheels. The rotating mass is up slightly.

When I buy another set of wheels that will be dedicated to r-comps I plan on getting a rim that is in the 16-17 pound range which will be very similiar in weight to the stock wheels.

If this was strictly an autocross car I probably wouldn't have worried about bigger brakes and bigger wheels, but I really enjoy track days more than autocross. I just do the autocross to get more time out behind the wheel. At this point experience driving the car makes more of a difference than any upgrades.

[318iS]

alrite then mate