Z Fever

My company is called Z-Fever, Inc and we have been building custom cars for over 23 years now. We have a very good friend of Z-Fever's who owns a BMW 325i with 40k miles on it. He asked us if we could install a turbo kit in his car. After doing some research we didn't find a real viable solution out there that was currently produced. There were a few kits that were listed but when we contacted the company's that sold them we found that the kit was ONLY for the M3 and did not fit the 325i.

So we decided to build from scratch......
Here is the build, I hope you like it!

Here is the stock engine just as we got started with the dismantle process:

Be sure to note the a/c lines that run along side the passenger side of the engine. We will have to re-make all of these and move them slightly.


We purchased the components prior to the build after doing a bit of research we decided to go with a Garrett GT30R w/ a .62 a/r. This would give the car mad spool up and great acceleration. Our goal is only a 100whp increase over stock. The car dyno'd at 148whp stock.
We then purchased a set of 555cc denso injectors, a Tial 38mm external wastegate w/ 6psi spring, and a 24x12x3 intercooler.
We have all the aluminum tube, stainless tube, U-bends, flanges, couplers, etc... that are necessary to build the kit in stock already.

We sarted by removing the factory exhaust manifold and installing the new one. We replaced all the factory exhaust studs and nuts when doing this.


Then we made the hot pipe going from turbo to the intercooler area. We would have to mount the intercooler first. So, we removed the bumper cover, installed the intercooler. Made brackets to hold it firmly, and re-installed the bumper cover:


Now, we started making the intercooler piping.... starting with the hot side. The turbo sits very low and we wanted to maintain the ground clearance so we kept the piping nice and tight to the body..





Then we made the cold side piping....




Then we had to supply oil to and from the turbo. We found an oil adapter on line that bolts to oil filter housing by removing the stock oil pressure sender and uses a banjo bolt to attach it. It was a very nice piece and works well. We then made a custom stainless braided oil supply line and ran it under the upper valve cover top plate so it isn't seen easily and looks factory.


Then for the return we used an STS Turbo oil scavenge pump to draw the oil away from the turbo. We removed the oil pan and welded a -8 fitting to it for the return. Because of the height of the turbo there wasn't enough distance for it to gravity feed back to the pan...



Then we added a by-pass valve to reduce turbo compressor surge:



We now installed the Tial 38mm wastegate. We had to add the flange to the exhaust manifold because where it was "supposed" to go in the casting there was NO way it would fit. So, we welded in a flange and moved it where it made the most sense:


Then we made the air intake tube that feeds air to the turbo. It is made from T-304 stainless. We also had to make a custom R-side engine mount because the turbo inlet sits facing the stock aluminum engine mount. Our intake tube goes "through" the new mount we made. There is ZERO vibration and it works perfectly!!!!



Now that the kit is 100% fabricated we removed EVERYTHING, sent the aluminum piping out to be powder coated in a satin black finish and we sent all the heated components out to be black ceramic coated (thanks Marcus at Sharp Customs for always doing a great job and getting them done quickly for us 813-391-4682). We ceramic coated the turbo exhaust housing, the turbo manifold, and the stainless intake piping because it runs next to the turbo manifold.
We also swapped out ALL the couplers to black silicon. While we were at it we blacked out the intercooler as well and then reinstalled all the parts.
This is how they looked when re-installed....








Then we finished it off by making a 100% custom T304 stainless 3" exhaust system. Here are a few pics of the system we made. It utilizes a custom downpipe with all the O2 sensors installed, a 3" resonator to keep noise down, all stainless flanges, a single 3" inlet w/ dual 2.5" outlet tuned stainless muffler, and dual 3" double wall tips to keep that stock but upgraded look. It sounds amazing and not loud but deep.






The last thing we did was move the windshield washer bottle into this empty cavity. It normally sits in front of the passenger strut tower but now the air intake filter is there.


Then we moved onto the dyno and tuned it. She made 268whp at 6psi. Drive-ability is excellent and the customer was extremely happy with the finished product.
I hope you like it.
Let us know what you think.
Doug