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1. MAPP torch. 2. Oxy Acetylene. 3. MIG Weld nut to the stud.
AND / Reverse threaded drill bit if broken off flush after heat treatment 1 or 2.
Doug
Awesome. Thank you. I'll have something to work on while I wait for the new oil pan, intake, water pump, relocation brackets etc. Ouch, I just spent about twice as much as I bought the donor truck for.
What he said except I squirt them while they are hot with PB Blaster. Smokes some but it will wick around the stuck-rusty threads, Get a BFH and a center punch and give it a good whack that will also help free it up..Good looking project! Good luck, Bill
Watching as well. I don't think there has been another E60 swap due to the fore mentioned computers.
Will be interesting to see how the electronics of this swap goes. I'm sure there a few E60 530 owners that are interested in how this goes too.
Good luck
Thank you. Yeah, I think that most people know better than to do a swap in a car that relies this heavily on the Control Area Network (CANbus). Getting the engine in and running is going to be the easy part. Getting the gauges and ac to work is going to be a different story. If all else fails I can always do a set of aftermarket gauges. I'm pretty sure that my stock gauge cluster will be lit up like a Christmas tree. I'll have to see what I can do once I get to that phase in the project.
I guess it's time for an update since packages have begun to arrive at my door. I received the bracket relocation kit a couple of days ago and have started to install it. Turns out that I need a camaro water pump and power steering pump to make it fit. I got the water pump but I still need to pick up a power steering pump.
I really like how it keeps the alternator up on top where you can get at it if it ever goes out or has trouble.
I decided to go with the F-body oil pan since the measurements of the pan matched pretty well with the measurements that I took (let's hope mine are accurate).
This iron block 5.3 is getting some pretty nice upgrades.
For now I'm resisting the temptation to cam it since the current plan is to go with a bigger engine once I get everything up and running.
Awesome! and i cant believe those cars are that cheap! Keep up the good work! You'll figure it out!
Thank you. The car did have a bad engine when I bought it. But the guy that I bought it from was really cool and gave me a good deal on it. To put things in perspective, I paid $3,700 for the silver car with a bad transmission (pictured earlier in the thread). I'm still deciding whether to part it out or put the good engine and trans in it and see if it runs and drives.
I would put the good engine/trans in the other car and see what you get. Could have two nice rides out of this deal...it will be worth more running too.
I would put the good engine/trans in the other car and see what you get. Could have two nice rides out of this deal...it will be worth more running too.
Yeah. Once I get the GMW 5.3i (my nickname for the car, although that could change to "GMW 6.0i") done then I'll look at putting the silver car back together.
Update time. I spent way too long getting the engine sitting in the car like I wanted it to. Today my big accomplishment was getting the transmission mount made. It is the first mount I have ever made from scratch and it's far from perfect, but It works and I'm almost proud of it.
Pardon the splotchy flux welding. My little 125 amp welder did better than I though it would at penetrating the 3/16 steel. It is tweaked because I have no way to heat up steel enough to do decent bends. This was the product of me welling on it with a 2 lb sledge and a vice.
Here are some pics of the bracket installed.
I wish I had a lift so I could take some better pictures from under the car.
This new oil pan doesn't even come down to the level of the crossmember. Nice and tidy. Looks like I'll be able to reinstall the stock BMW skid plate.
This should allow the hood to close just fine.
In other news, I decided to just go ahead and order the Hooker manifolds and stop messing with exhaust that doesn't quite fit. Yeah, this extreme budget build is quickly turning into an "extremely large budget" build. Also, what do you guys think about going with the stock 545i exhaust (after the gm headers of course) for now? It is dual 2 inch, which joins to single 3 inch and exits through a single muffler.
Just a heads up - the DEFCON hacking conference taking place next week after BlackHat is going to have two sessions on CAN bus hacking. I can't say how much you'd learn but the guy presenting last year seemed pretty knowledgable and worked for a company producing software to take apart the protocol on the wire. Was interesting to see guys wandering around with ecu and dashboards bolted to boards with ignition switches and power supplies lol. Anyway, I don't think you'll find this kind of too often and it's not THAT far from you if you're interested. Will be held in the Ballys/Paris hotel and obviously there's lots of other things going on too if computers are your thing
Just a heads up - the DEFCON hacking conference taking place next week after BlackHat is going to have two sessions on CAN bus hacking. I can't say how much you'd learn but the guy presenting last year seemed pretty knowledgable and worked for a company producing software to take apart the protocol on the wire. Was interesting to see guys wandering around with ecu and dashboards bolted to boards with ignition switches and power supplies lol. Anyway, I don't think you'll find this kind of too often and it's not THAT far from you if you're interested. Will be held in the Ballys/Paris hotel and obviously there's lots of other things going on too if computers are your thing
Thanks for the heads up. I will be at another conference next week learning how to teach a new kind of math curriculum but I would love to get a hold of one of these guys. I would pay good money for something that would allow my gm ecm to talk to my gauge cluster, heating/ac system etc.
Thanks for the heads up. I will be at another conference next week learning how to teach a new kind of math curriculum but I would love to get a hold of one of these guys. I would pay good money for something that would allow my gm ecm to talk to my gauge cluster, heating/ac system etc.
This is moving along nicely. Good move just getting manifolds that fit rather than hacking up stuff you already had, it will save you a lot of time and aggravation in the long run. My vote is stock exhaust.
Also, hold off on the cam and any performance upgrades. You will have your hands full with the CAN integration.
Hey LQ4-E39. I ran across your thread a few times while trying to sponge up as much info on BMW engine swaps as I could. Nice work. I don't envy the amount of time and effort that goes into building mounts for those things. I'm about to start designing the mounts for my car. The engine bay is nice and roomy and it looks pretty straight forward, but I won't know for sure how they're going to turn out until I get out there and do it. Hopefully I'll have at least the driver's side finished up by today.
I had a chance to design the driver's side mount today. I used a slightly heavier gauge steel and I'm a little concerned that my little 115v welder was right on the ragged edge of not penetrating like it should. I'll be watching the mounts closely for stress cracks or anything that could spell trouble. Splotchy little bugger.
One trick I do when welding on thick material with my small MIG is take a MAP gas torch and pre-heat the area where I will start the weld. The extra 100 degrees or so can make a big difference. Most of the time this is just enough to enable the MIG to keep a better puddle of molten metal. I would also suggest you slow your wire speed down just a teensy bit and swirl the wire in arcs or circles a bit. All of this is doing the same thing - more energy into the thicker metal for longer time to get the weld puddle bigger and wetter.
One trick I do when welding on thick material with my small MIG is take a MAP gas torch and pre-heat the area where I will start the weld. The extra 100 degrees or so can make a big difference. Most of the time this is just enough to enable the MIG to keep a better puddle of molten metal. I would also suggest you slow your wire speed down just a teensy bit and swirl the wire in arcs or circles a bit. All of this is doing the same thing - more energy into the thicker metal for longer time to get the weld puddle bigger and wetter.
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking the exact same thing after staring at the pictures and seeing how the bead was stacking up on itself. I'm thinking that I'll box the rear of the mount in some more for extra piece of mind before building the passenger mount. And I'll pull out the propane torch to hopefully get a couple hundred extra degrees on it. Thanks again.
07-18-2016, 07:14 PM
. Getting the engine in and running is going to be the easy part. Getting the gauges and ac to work is going to be a different story. If all else fails I can always do a set of aftermarket gauges. I'm pretty sure that my stock gauge cluster will be lit up like a Christmas tree. I'll have to see what I can do once I get to that phase in the project. 
