LQ4/T56 into 2001 BMW 540i
09-22-2014, 09:04 AM
#382
visited the track Friday, had a great time.
Leisurely ride
Crisp, cool fall evening. I wanna say it was in the high 50s
First pass of the evening. I basically sidestepped the clutch at around 2000 rpm - this usually results in the least amount of wheelspin but some significant wheel hop. Once it hooks up it takes a second to come up into the powerband of the cam which kills my 60'
2nd pass, gave it a lot more revs (3200ish?) and slipped the clutch a bit. Still hopped but not as bad. Best pass yet since the motor swap. Back in June I ran 13.5 @ 111 in 95F ambient with 3.62 gears and a 27.25" tall tire, trapping at the top of 3rd! Since then I put shorter tires on it (25.7" tall) and swapped gears. I was expecting the gear swap from 3.62 to 3.91 to make it spin even more off the line and kill my trap speed but it looks like the motor doesn't need to be spun to the moon to make power - the shift to 4th picked up a few mph. Not fast by modern car standards but fun enough for an old boat
I'm sure we can make some improvements here
Nothing broke, home in 1 piece
Leisurely ride
Crisp, cool fall evening. I wanna say it was in the high 50s
First pass of the evening. I basically sidestepped the clutch at around 2000 rpm - this usually results in the least amount of wheelspin but some significant wheel hop. Once it hooks up it takes a second to come up into the powerband of the cam which kills my 60'
2nd pass, gave it a lot more revs (3200ish?) and slipped the clutch a bit. Still hopped but not as bad. Best pass yet since the motor swap. Back in June I ran 13.5 @ 111 in 95F ambient with 3.62 gears and a 27.25" tall tire, trapping at the top of 3rd! Since then I put shorter tires on it (25.7" tall) and swapped gears. I was expecting the gear swap from 3.62 to 3.91 to make it spin even more off the line and kill my trap speed but it looks like the motor doesn't need to be spun to the moon to make power - the shift to 4th picked up a few mph. Not fast by modern car standards but fun enough for an old boat
I'm sure we can make some improvements here
Nothing broke, home in 1 piece
10-01-2014, 08:19 AM
#385
I finished reassembling the coilovers last night. Sure enough, I had somehow accidentally assembled the driver's side rear wrong the first time, placing the load bearing washer underneath the mount rather than on top. The mount had its brains beat in by the concentrated force and failed spectacularly. Brain fart I guess, but oh well. The symptoms were total lack of damping and that wheel bouncing so hard on large bumps that the wheel would leave the pavement (verified by GoPro under the car).
The brain fart washer:
This is supposed to be one pressed in piece, haha. Fell apart when removing from the unibody.
Permanently deformed on top from being smashed around
I took a quick peek at the driveshaft support bearing and it's pretty beat up as well. Since there's nothing stopping the shaft moving front to back, the soft rubber of the bearing has to hold the whole damn shaft...so, even with the quart of Window Weld that I gooped on there, it still separated. I'll have to throw some pics up when I remove it.
Also picked up a new daily. Originally this was supposed to be a winter only vehicle and sit during the summer, but I need a car that can haul stuff year round so I upped my budget a bit and found this locally. '09 Outback XT Limited with a fairly rare 5 speed.
The brain fart washer:
This is supposed to be one pressed in piece, haha. Fell apart when removing from the unibody.
Permanently deformed on top from being smashed around
I took a quick peek at the driveshaft support bearing and it's pretty beat up as well. Since there's nothing stopping the shaft moving front to back, the soft rubber of the bearing has to hold the whole damn shaft...so, even with the quart of Window Weld that I gooped on there, it still separated. I'll have to throw some pics up when I remove it.
Also picked up a new daily. Originally this was supposed to be a winter only vehicle and sit during the summer, but I need a car that can haul stuff year round so I upped my budget a bit and found this locally. '09 Outback XT Limited with a fairly rare 5 speed.
10-01-2014, 11:03 AM
#386
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Huh, didn't even know those were available with the 5MT that late. I would've assumed they went away when Subaru stopped offering the Legacy turbo wagon with a stick in 2006.
10-01-2014, 12:11 PM
#387
I knew that if I was going to buy an OBXT I'd hold out for the 5 speed. After searching for months without luck, I said screw it and reluctantly looked at some 3.0R models with the automatic 5 speed. Then this popped up and my turbo-boner (turboner?) came back 
10-13-2014, 08:50 AM
#389
so, decided to try something new in the name of science and research (who am I kidding...). Leaving my neighborhood at around 10mph, I give her a lot of revs and sidestep the clutch - with the end of the season nearing and my tires nearly dead, I wanted to really get every last mile out of them. The usual wheel hop comes around, and I get one loud violent bang - then we stopped spinning tires Initial thoughts are broken diff, trans, or axles.
Pushed her back home and she sat for a week before I decided to get off my *** and see what was going on
Which lead to this unpleasant job. Replacing axles is seriously such a pain on these.
I have to snap some pictures, but the autopsy of the failed axle shows a broken roller bearing cage. The axle definitely didn't break as a result of too much torque, but moreso the severe wheel hop that put too much stress on the inner CV joint. My guess is that the huge stress on the CV joint while bouncing up and down broke the bearing cage, which seized that CV, which then put huge stress on the shaft and then snapped it.
The good news (other than the fact that nothing else broke) is that I have been wanting to test a theory for a while now in order to cure the wheel hop. Apparently OEMs such as GM have used axles with different diameters in IRS applications in order to prevent wheel hop - so this was a great opportunity to try that out. 1 junkyard M5 axle later and I was back in business. Didn't get a chance to actually test the wheel hop theory yet but the good news is that there are no ill effects in running one 540i axle and one M5 axle, bolted to an M5 diff, using 1 M5 diff flange and 1 E34 540i diff flange (what a mouthful)
Technician117 came to the rescue with some hardware and we were up and running.
Everything held together long enough to do some runs against friends - beat a bolt-on E46 M3 and a new Jeep SRT-8.
Initial thoughts are broken diff, trans, or axles. Pushed her back home and she sat for a week before I decided to get off my *** and see what was going on
Which lead to this unpleasant job. Replacing axles is seriously such a pain on these.
I have to snap some pictures, but the autopsy of the failed axle shows a broken roller bearing cage. The axle definitely didn't break as a result of too much torque, but moreso the severe wheel hop that put too much stress on the inner CV joint. My guess is that the huge stress on the CV joint while bouncing up and down broke the bearing cage, which seized that CV, which then put huge stress on the shaft and then snapped it.
The good news (other than the fact that nothing else broke) is that I have been wanting to test a theory for a while now in order to cure the wheel hop. Apparently OEMs such as GM have used axles with different diameters in IRS applications in order to prevent wheel hop - so this was a great opportunity to try that out. 1 junkyard M5 axle later and I was back in business. Didn't get a chance to actually test the wheel hop theory yet but the good news is that there are no ill effects in running one 540i axle and one M5 axle, bolted to an M5 diff, using 1 M5 diff flange and 1 E34 540i diff flange (what a mouthful)
Technician117 came to the rescue with some hardware and we were up and running.
Everything held together long enough to do some runs against friends - beat a bolt-on E46 M3 and a new Jeep SRT-8.
10-13-2014, 11:13 AM
#390
Nicely done. The V's have plenty of wheel hop and the different sized axle shafts do help, but it's been discovered that the give in the subframe bushings allows for most of it. I think I recall you saying you wouldn't care for the added harshness, and I don't blame you. My front diff bushing is poly which was the most needed piece. My motor mounts are poly and I hate the vibrations they allow when operating the clutch. With the price of 275 19" rear tires, wheel hop, and a fragile aluminum cased differential I avoid spinning the tires. 
11-12-2014, 02:22 PM
#391
another summer on the books. Turned in the plates for storage today at the DMV.
Note the bent front plate - those touchless carwashes in Columbus are not touchless!
Sit-rep:
Now have a bit over 15K on the swap, no issues at all other than what I personally broke.
Needs rear tires (understatement)
Needs alignment. Hasn't had one since before I owned it, and I've done a TON of suspension maintenance since then
One of the front M-Parallels has a bend/crack on the inside lip (pothole damage at speed). The upside to running reps is that I can buy 5 new wheels for less than what it would cost to refinish some OEM wheels.
I bought detailing supplies (buffer, chemicals, pads, etc) a few months back and will be undertaking a slow, tedious paint correction over the winter, learning as I go. The plan is a full wash/claybar/wash/correct/polish/finish/wash/wax treatment. Despite a fresh respray just a year ago on both front fenders, hood, and bumper, I already have some clearcoat swirling on the hood - poor washing technique by me. Besides that the only big project I have for this winter is to install AC - have parts sitting on the bench.
And something fun
Note the bent front plate - those touchless carwashes in Columbus are not touchless!
Sit-rep:
Now have a bit over 15K on the swap, no issues at all other than what I personally broke.
Needs rear tires (understatement)
Needs alignment. Hasn't had one since before I owned it, and I've done a TON of suspension maintenance since then
One of the front M-Parallels has a bend/crack on the inside lip (pothole damage at speed). The upside to running reps is that I can buy 5 new wheels for less than what it would cost to refinish some OEM wheels.
I bought detailing supplies (buffer, chemicals, pads, etc) a few months back and will be undertaking a slow, tedious paint correction over the winter, learning as I go. The plan is a full wash/claybar/wash/correct/polish/finish/wash/wax treatment. Despite a fresh respray just a year ago on both front fenders, hood, and bumper, I already have some clearcoat swirling on the hood - poor washing technique by me. Besides that the only big project I have for this winter is to install AC - have parts sitting on the bench.
And something fun
11-22-2014, 03:32 PM
#394
Car Throttle featured my build:
http://www.carthrottle.com/german-cl...ampaign=buffer
People would think I killed a bunch of puppies judging from the comments on their FB page
http://www.carthrottle.com/german-cl...ampaign=buffer
People would think I killed a bunch of puppies judging from the comments on their FB page
11-25-2014, 07:54 AM
#397
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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11-27-2014, 10:42 AM
#398
I dig the bottle opener too. Mounted on the dash in the policemans view would be funny. He'd be like "WTF" LOL
01-01-2015, 10:40 PM
#399
Traditional Buffalo Subaru hooning
naturally, need to take apart a working car
My buddy Tim graciously donated a spare ambient temp sensor, which had been broken since before when I bought the car in '11
The mantra I had always held while building the car was "get it on the road, work out the bugs, and enjoy it". Safe to say most of the bugs are worked out so it was time to turn some attention to the generally ratty engine bay. I removed all the front accesory drive parts and started to refinish them. The whole setup definitely had a junkyard Joe Dirt feel to it. All parts were scrubbed, soaked in a degreaser, cleaned and dried, and then silver engine enameled + clearcoated
LS6 Intake manifold and throttle body disassembled, painted
during paint process- thankfully dried without the gloss finish, but retained the metallic. The paint is a dark gray metallic Rustoleum. I took a gamble on it as I didn't know how it would come out but it looks great.
Engine covers, even after a cleaning, were still faded and stained 10 year old parts, so they got paint too. Still tossing around ideas for a final scheme
only the finest downdraft ventilated paint booth
All this started because I wanted to mount the condenser to begin putting together AC, but the OEM power steering cooler was in the way. So I chucked that guy in the trash and bought a nicer finned Derale unit, which can be mounted out of the way. Removed the pump to change up the lines and realized the bracket looked like junk, so it was a snowball effect from there.
naturally, need to take apart a working car
My buddy Tim graciously donated a spare ambient temp sensor, which had been broken since before when I bought the car in '11
The mantra I had always held while building the car was "get it on the road, work out the bugs, and enjoy it". Safe to say most of the bugs are worked out so it was time to turn some attention to the generally ratty engine bay. I removed all the front accesory drive parts and started to refinish them. The whole setup definitely had a junkyard Joe Dirt feel to it. All parts were scrubbed, soaked in a degreaser, cleaned and dried, and then silver engine enameled + clearcoated
LS6 Intake manifold and throttle body disassembled, painted
during paint process- thankfully dried without the gloss finish, but retained the metallic. The paint is a dark gray metallic Rustoleum. I took a gamble on it as I didn't know how it would come out but it looks great.
Engine covers, even after a cleaning, were still faded and stained 10 year old parts, so they got paint too. Still tossing around ideas for a final scheme
only the finest downdraft ventilated paint booth
All this started because I wanted to mount the condenser to begin putting together AC, but the OEM power steering cooler was in the way. So I chucked that guy in the trash and bought a nicer finned Derale unit, which can be mounted out of the way. Removed the pump to change up the lines and realized the bracket looked like junk, so it was a snowball effect from there.
