1994 BMW 530 e34 Touring (wagon) LS1 Swap
#‎BMWLS1Swap

Hello Everyone,
Thank for the opportunity to share my swap. It is a 1994 BMW 530 e34 Touring (wagon). I have been lurking here for years, gathering information and learn. Now, after all these years I have begun my swap.
Let me quickly give the reasons for doing the swap:
1. I want more power
2. My trans went out, and the price of a trans repair was the same price of an LS1 and 4l60e together
3. I like making things
4. I like the Touring body
5. The results will be wonderful and useful (dog, kids and family friendly)

I have read some great build threads here, but I am afraid that mine won't be such a great read. I don't think I have it in me to work on the car then write about it after or during, so I will do the best I can. I think I would rather answer questions more so than just write. I'm in the early stages of the swap so not much big action has happened yet.
Thanks again and I hope this helps people in the future, because people have helped me in the past.

What is going into my build:
-1999 LS1
-Trans 4l60E
-4.10 LSD BMW Diff
-2 into one exhaust (Why: Space and cost. It will be a 2.5 dual into 3.5 single with the a custom narrow angle merger)
-Headers: I am not sure yet. This will be based on space and time. I may build a custom set of headers or may use some form of stock manifold
-GTO oil pan (I may modify the oil pan and the cross member, but I have not decided yet)
-Dual electric fans
-AC
-Power steering
-Cold air intake with a possible ram air setup (air coming through the bumper into custom housing. I have to figure out how to deal with water in the housing though)
-DIY stand alone harness

 

LS1 stand-alone harness tagged, and wires accounted for:

 

Stripping int down:

 

Getting ready to pull thee m60:

 

looking great, subscribed!

i always take the camera out to the garage with me, and snap a few as i go. i would go nuts if i tried to document every single thing i did, but when i upload pictures later, it's easy to write about it as the pictures jog your memory.

 

Great advice. Camera will be by my side.

I had to deal with the fact the my garage is short and I need to roll the car back to pull the engine out -- not enough space the the hoist in front of the car. BUT, my driveway has a mega steep slope. It is gradual at the door of the garage, but still great enough to cause and problem if I rolled that car back. If roll it back I won't be able to push the car back into the garage. The solution I came up with were two shallow angle ramps. I have seen folks use things like these to get low race cars on to trailer, so I figure I would give it a shot.




This extends my garage by 3 feet, which does not sound like a lot, but it will gain the needed space to pop the BMW M60 and the pop the LS1 in.

 

Worked on getting the BMW M60 motor out today. Used the ramps to get more space in the garage. The weather was nice today in Seattle


Time to start yanking:


The BMW exhaust manifold kept getting hooked on the steering box. So I had to remove part of the passenger-side manifold to get a bit more room in order to clear the steering box:
You can kinda see the interference.


Here she comes.


The seed from which an LS1 will sprout.

 

Awesome project! I sold my turbo E34 to build my LSX 427 E39 touring. Looking forward to seeing this progress.

 

Awesome progress! See, getting the old turd out isn’t that bad.

What are you doing with the old M60? Selling it to recoup cost I assume?
What are you doing for mounts? Premade kit? I wonder if the E34 V8 subframe is different from E39 V8 subframe.

 

I would like to sell the M60, but not even sure how to find a buyer or deal with the shipping of it. How did get a buyer for yours? I don't want to deal with Craiglist.

I am going to fab up mounts and I am planning to modify the crossmember to accept the GTO oil pan. It will be similar to what the 240sx guys are doing, but with a bit more structural support. I don't know how similar the E34 and the E39 crossmembers are. I will take a look at you thread see if I can see difference. What I see with the E34 is a bunch of things in the way in a rear-pan set up. There is a sway bar, steering arm, tubular cross member, and the square-section stamped steel crossmember.
If you have closeups of you crossmember area please share, because that is a good question. We may be able to help each other solve problems.

 

Swagon, I know who you are. I have lurked for years. I think I touched base with you a while back with some of my questions. Your current project is on another level of wonderful.

-V

 

Craigslist is always a hassle, but if going through a bit of hassle means selling the engine for money that can be spent towards getting you car on the road, it’s worth it (to me at least).

Automotive forums are honestly your best bet. I sold my engine to a guy whose motor blew after a rebuild, and my trans (6 speed) to a guy who had his transmission go out on him as well.

See my thread for pictures of the engine bay with no motor in it. Crossmember is easily visible along with all the other crap (steering linkage, etc).

You may want to consider modifying the GTO pan to fit. I took a chunk out of mine and recently “tested” the capacity by filling it with carefully measured cups of water on my kitchen table. It took about 5 quarts for it to reach the “full” mark on a stock GTO dipstick. Keep in mind this is not including the oil storage that’s in the oil filter, oil lines, and of course all the passages inside the engine (oil galleys). I would bet that I could get another quart in there, maybe half.

 

If you don't want to mod the pan, you could look into the pan I got from Autokraft..

 

Can that pan be mounted as a front sump and rear sump config?

With his V8 subframe he’s going to need a front sump pan. On your sissy I-6 subframe (<3) you use a rear sump pan, but if that pan can’t be rotated, he can’t use it. If it can, all he needs is a different pickup tube and he’d be able to retain both lots of oil capacity and stock uncut subframe.

 

Great question. I assumed he needed rear sump.

 

IN YOUR FACE!



No really, can you run the pan either way? Because it’d be nice (depending on price) to use it for either application, 6 or 8 cyl frame.

 

Thanks
I looked into that pan, but I was under the impression that it was a rear sump and not a front sump. Based your build thread, I went the Autokraft site and didn't see a front sump pan.

Do you happen to know the part number on the front sump pan?

Thanks
-V

 

I have not totally ruled out mod'ing my pan, but the cross member looks really easy to do on the v8 E34.
I looked at pictures of yours and I would not mess with that crossmember
Looks pretty sophisticated
I will post some diagrams of what I am going to do to mine to get some thoughts and suggestions.

 

Here is the E34 Crossmember


Here is the crossmember with the pan sitting on it


Here is how I will notch and reinforce the crossmember. Front notch will be framed in with plate. Rear will have rectangular tubing and plate reinforcing the crossmember to add torsional rigidity as was as flex rigidity.

 

interesting car for this swap! want to see it finished!