Ironfreak

I figured this site would be a great place to post this for your enjoyment as it seems the LS motors love to contaminate all makes and models! Not to mention the Bavarian boys can be a picky bunch and I get shunned quite often for even thinking about putting anything but an IL6 back in the car.

The day I brought my $1000 99.576% rust free monster home.



I have always been a fan of swaps, and I'll get it out now, this wasn't originally going to be a LS motor swap, rather a 302. but after a buddy talked sense into me about cost, reliability and power potential it just made sense to come over to the dark side!

A list of everything I have done so far, and what is still to come.

• Car was fully stripped to nothing
• all under coating was removed
• minor rust areas repaired
• entire chassis, front to back, top to bottom, inside and out was stitch welded
• sunroof and hvac removed
• spare tire holder removed
• rebuilt M3 steering rack installed, 2.8 LTL
• Full 5-lug conversion from 98 M3
• Custom built coilovers front and rear using Koni externally adjustable shocks and Ground Control coilover equipment
• Ground Control Race camber plates
• solid Eyeball CAB's
• Poly everything bushings
• M3 brakes
• Manual brake conversion
• Modified rear subframe for camber and toe adjustment

I think that's everything I have done so far, here are things yet to come.

• Full roll cage (finishing up the bender in the next week hopefully)
• LSD & half shaft rebuild
• LM4, LM7 OR L33 LS motor ( have a couple combinations, not sure on which setup yet)
• Transmission - TH350 with full manual/engine braking valve body, T5, or 4L60/80E (weight and budget are a factor here. 6spd would be nice, super heavy.)
• Custom exhaust - by me
• fiberglass hood (possibly roof skin)
• paint
• wheels

Now a picture story of some of the Done aspects of the car.

First part to come off the car


4 hours later......





Stripped all the sound tar inside


Ground the seams


Started to Stitch weld




Pulled the wiring harness


First roll on the rotisserie I built



Started to strip the undercoat



Front jack points were the only really rust part, fixed that.



Made rear shock tower reinforcements



More stitching.....




Ok you get the idea, onto suspension. On the left is a gutted M3 shock, on the right is the same housing on it's way to be a coilover. you have to remove the perches.


All cleaned up.


Sleeve stops welded on


The goods!



All assembled and painted


New 5-lug setup on!


Loaded up and moving to new shop!


Say Hi to my grandma!!


New home!!


New toys!



Slip roll, notcher, bead roller and edge crimper!


And....so I can install the cage! I am build an exact copy of this air/hydraulic tube bender!



So there you have it, a very abbreviated version of the build so far. Not a whole lot of LS action yet....none actually but it'll happen very soon. Here are my thoughts on motors. Few reasons I thought LM4 4.8 over LM7 5.3. The 4.8 uses flat top pistons, the lm7 uses dish. With the addition of 243 heads I would bump the CR into the 10 range. It would essentially be the same setup as the L33 without the stroke. No matter what motor I get the following will happen:

• 243 or 799 heads (if I don't get an L33)
• Trurion upgrade
• valve springs
• cam (timing chain, ooil pump ect)
• intake
• exhaust
• Ported TB

Hope you guys enjoyed. PLEASE feel free to give me feedback and thoughts, especially on motor setup. When it comes to picking one this is my priority list.

• Cost (budget, full time student, yeah I waited a long time to go back. Married.....no further explination needed)
• reliability (want it to run strong with a mild build without hickups)
• weight ratio (aiming for 50/50 distribution, if you know bmw's all the older ones used IL6 that were very heavy)
• power/torque (while this is the funnest part, after looking at what its going into, you'll realize its not going to take much to turn it into a death trap. further disclaimer: the car is getting a cage next month)

Thanks for looking!

Ironfreak

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

Just wow! Good luck with the project, looks like a great start so far!

Thumper28

iTrader: (4)

I'm excited to watch this one progress. Looks like it's going to be a quality swap. Good luck.

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

very cool, great lightweight platform to start with. subscribed.

and remember...SCREW THE PURISTS!

vazfx16

Very nice. This will be wicked.

Ironfreak

Thanks guys!! Let me know if you have any questions, this was hyper-abbreviated. Also, input on motor would be most appreciated!

merim123

iTrader: (11)

curious to see how that tube bender works out for you, i've researched that one and some guys have complained about complexity to put it together.

great car to start with!

Ironfreak

I'll put it this way, if you don't have access to milling equipment don't waste your time. I bought all the additional bushings and hardened shafts, so from a budget stand points, it not, I'll have roughly the same amount as a Pro-tools bender. BUT, its all perfectly true, and air/hydraulic rather then ratchet style. I have been in steel fabrication for a while and have used several styles of benders. I picked this specifically because it bends vertically, not horizontally. That is one less thing to worry about when you're trying to bend a cage by yourself. I'm pretty excited about it. I should have some updates this weekend. I have to get get two new bottles of gas before welding can start......

Ironfreak

Pick up a lil something on friday.....



Note the Miller welder cover in the background........Feed motor took a crap right in the middle of building the pipe bender.....

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

Oh no that sucks. I think those pipe benders would be cool to build. How much do you think you are saving after buying the bender forms for the various size pipe?

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

very cool, is the motor iron or aluminum? displacement?

SWAGON

Love a good rotisserie build! Looking forward to seeing this one progress.

Ironfreak

really not saving any at all, but that wasn't my reason for building it. The Pro-tools benders are nice, but.......they are a mechanical style bender, and they bend horizontally. I've been using a benders for quite a while and bending horizontally can be a real pain if you don't have a feeder system, especially by yourself. This bender is going to be air over hydraulic using an 8 ton ram. and it will bend vertically. This way I can build a valve into the feed line that's hand operated so I can move around away from the bender while it's in motion. with cages your bends are fairly simple (within reason) and bending vertically means once its square it stays square. It'll just take some hassle out of doing things myself. All said and done, I have about $600 into the bender:

• die
• material
• machined bushing kit
• hardened shafts
• 8 ton ram

And.....I got the machine work done for free. So that give you an idea of the cost. To say building your own is cheaper, well its not. but they quality is what you put into it, and the features are way better then the standard bends that sell for that price.

I ended up with an LM7 5.3L iron block. Not exactly what I wanted but I can make it work. It was a stupid good deal. The guy was building it for his 1988 chevy truck, then the motor took a crap and he needed something running. I picked up:

• Full harness
• ECU
• block with new main, thrust and crank bearings
• two sets of heads
• two full intake setups (TB, rails, injectors ect.)
• all accesories
• oil pan and covers

All for a whopping $400.

Plans for the motor are:

• Quick hone while the block is apart
• find some flat top 4.8L pistons
• new oil pump, timing chain set
• LS6 hot cam
• LS7 lifters
• Rocker upgrade (possible new rockers, have a lead on some comp cams)
• push rods
• either 243 heads, or I have a set of 317 I'd mill down to the 243cc specs
• and either an ls1 or ls6 intake depending on the deals I can find.

Looking for a high CR motor this time around. I have some big injectors and a turbo I'd like to use but I might put together a different motor for that.

Thanks, that rotisserie worked out real slick! my buddies car is actually on it right now. for $100 in materials it was WELL worth the day it took to put it together and mount it. I couldn't imagine crawling around on the floor grinding that crap and stitch welding.

Pop N Wood

iTrader: (1)

Beautiful car and build. You obviously know what you are doing. Should be a world beater by the time it is done.

I understand budgets but with everything you will have into this wouldn't an aluminum 6:0 or even 6.2 L motor be a better choice? Much more upside than a 5.3 and would start with better heads and possibly more usable accesories than a truck motor.

Ironfreak

Yes it would be a better option, and it's not completely out of the picture. I have 3 phases going forward in building the car. While the 5.3 iron block isn't the optimal motor it'll satisfy the first phase of my build. I have radically changed the car so much from its stock state I need to create a new baseline if you will. my plan is to get the car setup for an LS series motor and tranny. and get it rolling.

once I can tune and tweak everything from the motor to the suspension I'll start phase two next fall. This will include but not limited too full M3 wide body kit, paint and larger tires. With the stock body and the new M3 suspension I can only fit about a 225 section width tire, and that's with a SERIOUS roll and pull on the fenders. besides straight slicks I'll have enough challenge keeping it straight at a weight of 2500lbs. (targeted)

Phase three will consist of the motor I want, possibly FI, and a conversion to a solid axle. As long as I'm on this earth over the next two years this should be the tentative plan.

Ironfreak

Got the motor all tore down this weekend, ran a ball hone through the cylinders and got the rotating assembly all put back together.

I also got about 90% of the bender finished, unfortunately some of the very large holes I had to have drilled for me were wrong not allowing me to install the bushings. I'll get this fixed next weekend.

I also am about done with the chassis work in the engine bay, I have to get a different radiator to fit the LS motor then I can finish the core support quick disconnect.

I'll throw up some pictures later on.

Ironfreak

Small update, I spent some time this weekend finishing the bender!



Works good, heres a little video. Pardon the view, didn't realize I needed to flip the phone.


I also finished up the engine bay area for the most part, need to modify the shock towers a bit but I can do that later. We measured up the car and I will be ordering pipe to do 2 full cages in the e30s and possible a rollbar in a new 135is.

Video and updates to come soon.

Sarg

iTrader: (6)

Nice!

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

Ironfreak, very nice build. I need your garage .

You mentioned getting a couple sets of heads in your deal. What kind? Would you be interested in trading off a set?

Ironfreak

I have a set of 706 and 862's. Let me know what you have.