Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

I have been intending to make a build thread for awhile now and just haven't had a chance to really get around to it till now. My dream car for some reason has always been an Alpine White E39, but always steered clear with their finicky issues and the beloved BMW Tax Compounded by the "M" tax. So I started thinking about what engine I could stuff in one. Saw a couple E36 Ls1 builds and then stumbled across a few E39s and fell in love with the idea. Then I set out to find a candidate for my build, and found a 97 Alpine white 528i with a cracked head, in excellent condition only thing it didn't have I wanted was sport seats, the suspension didn't matter to me as I will change that out anyway.

So on to the build, I will be building myself a Gmw 548 and will be doing the build as clean as my abilities will allow me to. Parts have been piling up and I will be pulling the stock 6 this weekend.

I originally bought a T56 LS1 out of a 2000 Fbody and decided shortly after if Im going to be building my dream car may as well go all the way. Decided to sell the LS1 keep the T56 and opt for an iron block 4.8 out of an 00 Tahoe, I come from a background full of Turbo 4 cylinders and Bmws. So I felt this route fit my personal likes best.

Now on to some pics, I will be posting progress specs etc of my build as I go a long, I have almost everything purchased now it just a matter of assembly and fabrication. The engine and heads come back from the machine shop next friday.


Plans for the build:
4.8 LR4 out of a 2000 Tahoe Freshened up new rings bearings and seals otherwise all stock rotating assembly.
LS1 Intake with the Truck TB
Ported Truck heads with Brian Tooley Dual springs and hardened Pushrods
Ls6 Oil pump
Arp head Studs
Arp Rod Bolts
Autokraft pan
Jesusfreak engine and tranny mounts

Turbo:
BW S372 1.10 AR
Flipped truck manifold collectors

Fuel:
Twin Bosch 044s
Aeromotive FPR
-8 Feed hoping to use stock bmw return
80# Injectors

Tuning:
Hp Tuners
LM1 Wideband

Drivetrain:
F body T56
Gto Shifter
Monster 6puck Clutch and flywheel
E34 M5 LSD with a machined rear diff cover to mount into e39 subframe.
540 axles
Driveline I have yet to figure out as I have the stock fbody aluminum driveline not sure if I should use that or the stock BMW either way I go it will be altered into a two piece.

Suspension and Brakes:
Schroeder straight sway with end links
H&R Touring cup progressive springs and struts
E60 545/550 front brakes having adapters machined.

Wheels and Tires:
TBD I want a nice simple staggered set of 18s with as wide as I can go in the rear.



Day I brought it home.



Home and sitting in my driveway, waiting for its transplant.






Power plant:


Undressed and nasty underneath



Going through the inside checking if bores out of round etc. The inside of the motor looked a lot better than the outside did. Bearings had a few shiny spots nothing major and the oil was a darker Amber color. Not bad for a junkyard motor with 140k.



Ported the heads, just a minor clean up of the castings and the valve floors.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

The parts keep piling in each day.





New custom cam from Martin @ Tick



Decided to go with a B&M ripshift and have a billet shifter plate machined, I have read less than desirable reviews on this shifter. I have it now and am hoping its because of flex as its not the best mounted piece. If not I will try another option. What are some of you other E39 guys using for your shifters?



More to come as progress is made, right now its been a lot of waiting on parts and machine work.

Tyler

gnx7

iTrader: (28)

Keep posting up the progress.

What HP is that turbo rated at?

Should be a nice sleeper.... only downfall of these cars is the weight. They are pigs.

SWAGON

Looking forward to the progress on this build. I recently finished my LSX 427 swap in an E39 touring and Clay 357i/M5hunter just finished his turbo LS1 E39 sedan. There are quite a few E39 LSx guys on here and on bimmerforums.

Clay's car has a T56 with GTO shifter and using Jesus Freaks mounts, the shifter lined up perfectly in the OEM hole on the E39.

In regards to the weight, both Clay and I have been surprised as well our cars hook up which I would imagine has to do with the weight. I am very happy with the feel of the car so far.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

There are quite a few 4 cylinder turbo guys in the 800-900 range with race gas and 30+ pounds of boost. Full race claims 750-1000 whp not sure how legit that is on a v8, everyone seems to run the larger BW turbos with the LS. I am eager to find out though, regardless I am sure it will be more than enough for what I am after. This whole project is just for a fun nice looking little toy, that will handle somewhat decent.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

Very familiar with both of your builds as well as Rao and Schitzo. I have been looking into swapping something into a bmw for about a year now, long time lurker. Have to say your Swagon build was the final straw that led me to where I am now. Wanted to go super clean with some good power under the go pedal.

vazfx16

Cool build

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

Was able to knock out a little fab work out tonight. Made a shifter plate for my GTO B&M shifter, I bought. It's actually a terrible design from B&M how they expect it to mount. So I made a plate and drilled two holes through the actual shifter on the front half, in hopes to minimize any flex while shifting hard.

Does anyone know where I can find the GTO shifter bushing cup/offset? I can find the one for an F-body @gearbox.org but not the GTO.

BlueMagicSS

iTrader: (4)

NICE BUILD!!! I would love to have an LS E39... or an E30 for that matter.... Can't wait to see the rest of this build!

LQ4-E39

iTrader: (7)

Looks great. Clean Alpine is hard to come by.

I am using a custom shifter that I fabbed...just a length of 3/4" steel rod, bent 90*, and cut to length to your liking. Welded it to a steel block that bolts to the shifter stub on the stock F-Body shifter. Works great.

Why go with the E34 M5 diff over a bolt in E39 M5 unit? Besides cost?

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

Main reason honestly wasn't cost, this is a no short cut build for me if I could have found one I would have bought it. Secondly the 3.15 seemed a little tall for my liking and I didn't like my options for re gearing. Quite a few people have used the E34 diffs with minor fab work and had success, so I figured I'd give it a whirl as they aren't extinct like the M5. I opted to have a rear diff cover machined again just simply because I couldn't find an M5 one. I will go through this one when I get a chance and most likely add a 3rd clutch for the 40% lock up.

As for the shifter, my Tranny didn't come with a shifter, so I just bought a GTO one as I knew the offset would work in the E39. I did not know about the different shift lever offsets between the F-body and GTO or that the B&M mounts to the stock GTO shifter plate. Knowing what I know now I would have just bought an F-body and done exactly as you said, or something similar.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

Was able to get a little work done this evening pulling the stock pedal assembly, what a pain. It's a lot more difficult pulling it out when its not broken, like the one in the yard was that I pulled my pedals from. Are most people using an E39 master or something else?

Also when I un bolted the pedal assembly from the car, water came into the car like 10 oz or so, any ideas where the water could come from? Is there like a seal in between the firewall and brake booster? I doesn't look like there or feel like water had been inside the cab until I un bolted the assembly. Although the bracket does show some signs of moisture IE the clutch perch had rust on it and the aluminum bracket had white corrosion type (water) marks in a few areas of the backing plate. Could just be normal older aluminum marks as well, I am really unsure.

Jim_PA

iTrader: (9)

The air filter box pushes into the fender, I'm wondering if the drain path is clogged with leaves or something.

I put a tilton 77 series 7/8" MC on my stock pedal, utilizing the stock MC mounting holes and a piece of steel for mounting the tilton.

SWAGON

Maybe I missed it but why are you removing your pedal assembly? The auto pedal assembly has everything you need for a manual conversion. You just need a clutch pedal, the pins to keep it on and the bushings that go over the pedal shaft mount. You can just cut the brake pedal down and put a manual pedal boot on it. I also used the OEM master and lines and then converted to the GM line in the tunnel. I got the fitting from Jegs.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

I removed it because I couldn't figure out where the MC mounted in the bracket all of the BMW MC's look like this.
http://www.bavauto.com/assets/imglib500/21526773670.jpg

I couldn't see on my bracket where those two mounting holes were in the bracket to mount. After pulling out the assembly I found out the reason why was my MC looks like this.
http://www.autopartsapi.com/eEuropar...1526758827.jpg

Which until last night I wasn't aware there was a different version between E39s.

Additionally I bought the clutch and Brake pedal together since it was like 5 bucks, so I figured why not. I mounted the clutch pedal and the brake pedal in the car but it looked odd to me and I couldn't figure out why. I just assumed because there is little space to work around in there, I couldn't see what I was missing. So I could pull it investigate and figure out 1 why they looked off and 2 where those MC mounting points were I wasn't able to find. See below, also note the stock brake sensor was mounted over the missing MC bolt holes in a totally different spot then I had envisioned them. Which is ultimately why they were eluding me as I expected them to be Vertical holes not Horizontal. In the end though, I did exactly as you said and cut the stock big pedal down to the size of the little one. All is well and I now know the type of MC I need to source.

WTF right?


The sort of alignment I was expecting..



Lastly the missing MC mounting holes.

SWAGON

That's odd. I would have to look at mine to really see the difference. I remember I had a heck of a time figuring out where the MC went on mine. It didn't seem right at all until I actually got the MC.

Skunkedtsi

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, its so hard to see under there when its dark and your upside down and twisted. I would imagine yours doesn't look like that as almost every single E39 Mc I have seen has the mounting points on the side not the top like mine seems to. I sure hope this isn't a sign of other oddities to come that no one else has encountered or come across in their swaps. HAHA

Schitzo

iTrader: (6)

Cool build. I went with a GTO MGW shifter.


As for the pedal bracket, I ran into the very same issue. At some point in 1998 (or 1997) BMW changed the pedal bracket and the master cylinder. Not all the parts on the earlier bracket are interchangeable with the newer bracket.

LLave

iTrader: (3)

Nice looking build. Keep it up!

gnx7

iTrader: (28)

What accessories work on e39 LS swaps?

I have some truck accessories laying around....

SWagon used CTS-V ones.