Car of the Month

May/June 2007

Marcus Malteus’s Awesome one-off Twin-Turbocharged M3 Engine Space-Framed 02 (Phew!)

Awesome is a word too often used these days, but this has to be the top echelon of an 02.

We bumped into Marcus’s creation on the Bavaria Tour in Southern Germany in 2006 for the big 40 year 02 celebrations. I had plenty of images of Marcus’s 02, but it’s taken a while to get it translated into English, so if you are sitting comfortably I’ll begin;

Marcus brought his 02 over 10 years ago, back then it was a messily 1600 full of rust & only cost a few hundred pounds even with a broken gearbox.

Now here’s the big clue; Marcus used to work for Koenigsegg & wanted to push the boundaries of car building morphing an 02 into this creation you see before you. This in fact is Marcus’s second go at the ultimate conversion of an 02, he now works for BSR Tuning in Malmo, a supplier of performance enhancing parts for a variety of modern cars, Marcus’s plan was to stuff as much technology as humanly possible into his 02.

At the heart of this version No.2 is an S14 (M3 E30 engine to you & me) balanced engine with not one, but two Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHT) 15T Turbo-chargers that breath via custom made BSR air filters, with stock 9.5:1 pistons & fabricated alloy sump so that it can be tilted enough to provide clearance.

The head of course is polished, ported & using Kohler camshafts, & all this breathes through a custom made carbon air filter box.

The exhaust system of course is polished stainless steel custom fabricated with twin-turbo manifold then exiting via a non-silenced side exhaust. In order to keep the inlet cool, Marcus cut down a truck intercooler & the radiator from a Volvo T4 unit complete with twin cooling fans, but they don’t fit under this 02’s bonnet. No this had to be redesigned to fit in the only other logical place – the boot with vents cut into the roof feeding cold air via large hoses to the radiator.

Engine management is controlled with a Nira i3 engine management system featuring full data logging, anti-lag & even launch control. It needs two exhaust gas probes & a Motec lambda sensor allowing Marcus to tune his S14 with a closed loop-system. Therefore, effectively mapping itself. When I met Marcus he claimed it had 400Bhp but as of yet this has to be tested on a rolling road.

Getting the S14 to fit into the 02 Marcus had to remove the firewall bulkhead, plus completely new suspension setup & brackets. “This meant chopping off most of the inner wings & chassis rails (shriek), then re-fabricating tubular wrap-around space-frame front end. According to Marcus the only original part is the bit under the rear seats, everything else had to be re-engineered completely in a tubular frame. He had to re-fabricate new engine mounts, suspension pick-up points & all the ancillary mountings. The only other problem was how to fit all the body panels.

“The solution was simple”, he laugh’s. The front panels are fitted using aircraft style Dzus fasteners, so in minutes the front is naked. It can even be driven minus the front panels, which is an un-nerving site.

The transmission has to be capable of handling all that horse power, so he opted for a Getrag 262 from the 635Csi, then a modified M5 E28 propshaft to an original Tii LSD rear axle. Alloys are Compomotive split rims connected to E21 half-shafts. Bilstein Shocks all round with custom made springs, alloy adjustable front top mounts which allow for adjustments to the camber & castor.

Steering is a modified Opel Astra steering rack that connects to the repositioned 02 steering column. Wait for it………………………… brakes are standard Tii (gulp) although with beefed-up racing pads, braided hoses & a Wilwood bias pedal box.

The interior is a brush with Suede & carbon fibre panels displaying the Nira ECU readout & VDO Gauges.

Two Imola bucket seats keep you firmly in place once inside this pocket rocket, full hardness strap you in nice & tight, with a six-point full roll cage. Lightweight carbon fibre door panels, alloy checker plate floor pan, with fibreglass doors & plexiglass windows keep this 02 nice & light.

Specifications:
Engine:
2320cc four cylinder, 16 valve S14, with balanced bottom end, Kohler camshafts, ported & polished cylinder head with three angle valve seats. Custom alloy sump from 635Csi, twin BSR air filters, twin Mitsubishi 15T Turbochargers running 0.6 bar of boost, 50 mm dump valve. M3 oil cooler, Volvo ignition coil pack, three Bosch fuel pumps (two 044 & one 040), 3” custom made exhaust system with side exit, twin Volvo T4 cooling fans, & boot mounted Volvo T4 modified radiator with quad air feeds from custom NACA ducts.

Exterior:
Modified Rieger MkIII Golf front bumper, Evo-2 bonnet scoops, Zender M3 arches, Modified MkIII Golf side skirts, Malagutti door mirrors, Modified M3 rear bumper, Modified rear wing, E30 single wiper, carbon fibre B-posts, Xenon headlights & resprayed in VW Reflex silver.

Interior:
Cobra Imola bucket seats with 3-point Luke harnesses, modified Suede E46 dashboard, carbon fibre panels throughout, custom 6-point roll cage painted Volvo laser blue, Sparco two-spoke steering wheel, VDO gauges, E30 rear view mirror with map light, aero-spec wiring loom with carbon fibre fuse box, LCD Nira ECU display, Bluetooth data logging system with pocket PC, boot mounted battery & fuel tank.

“2010 A Space Odyssey”, no not the film, but this is a date you need to remember as Marcus’s Series III 02 will be launched. Personally we can’t wait & hope to have it featured as a COTM of course.

Phew! I need to sit down now.

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