Beau B

iTrader: (6)

what rear end are you going to use?

GR33N GoblinM6

iTrader: (14)

any update on this project?

Corner Worker

very nice man. I thought of doing a e36 as well. Good chassis balance, tons of aftermarket suspension parts available, and they look pretty frickin sweet. I am still on the fence about which car I want to build......keep us updated

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

The project has been moving kind of slow. Vacation, Birthdays, a tractor repair and a hard drive crash on my PC have all been taking my time. I did manage to get back at it. Here's what I've done

I've mounted the PCM, and OBDII connector, Grafted in the BMW body harness to the LS1 engine harness, Removed unused wires from the Engine harness. Added in a fuse block for some additional fuses to protect the LS1 engine harness. Made an adapter to the shifter to move it forward about 40mm so it will be back at the BMW factory location. I have all but a few wires connected.

The wiring took longer than I thought it would. Isn't really difficult but it does take time to do.


Oh as far as what rear end I am going to use it is the 3.9 LSD that it came with. Others have used it without much trouble. I don't plan on drag racing so I expect it will be fine.

ITSA6

iTrader: (8)

awesome swap subscribing now!

speedyhawk101

iTrader: (1)

Any updates?

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

I guess I haven't been keeping the thread up to date very well. Here's what's been done.

Mounted the corvette FPR and ran the lines back to the tank. I still need to finish the line from the FPR to the motor.

Welded on a bracket to hold the end of the hard clutch line and cut the F-body clutch line to length and installed a -4 connector on it. Pulled the motor again as finishing a few of the things I have left is easier with the motor out. Finished mounting the ABS actuator in it's new location. Just a little adjusting of the lines and it should be good to go.

With the motor out I couldn't resist and finished a few more wiring tasks. One being to shorten the wiring between the PCM and the engine. It had about 4-8" of slack. I could have doubled it over and left it but I knew it would bother me so I cut it out and soldered and shrink wraped all the wires back together. At the shorter length. I also moved the wiring from the rear part of the intake to on top of the intake so I'd have more room for and better access to the heater lines.

Lots of little things left to do.

rao

iTrader: (18)

Looking good

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

Latest update: I finished the fuel line to the front of the car. Then I moved to working on the heater lines.

I wanted to use some hard line instead of rubber line for the heater runs to keep the OD of the lines down and less worry about being close to the exhaust. I ended up going with copper pipe. I'm sure there was probably a better way out there but that's what I've done. I spent about a day cutting, fitting and soldering. After all that time I have what is in the pics. Looking at it now I think it turned out but took way to long. I still have to put in the pipes to attach to the engine but I need to load the engine back in the bay to do that.

Of course I'm getting the case of "while I'm at it". Since I had the driverside carpet up to weld the floor a bit and I want to weld on the floor of the passenger side a bit I decided to take the entire carpet out and wash it. Man was it dirty.

rao

iTrader: (18)

That's a lot of work you put into the heater hoses. Great location for the heater control valves. Mine ended up next to the radiator and the hoses have worked out well - I used some that had a 90 degree turn to keep them close to the firewall. So far so good at around 1,000 miles. My heater control valve did go out but a new one gave me the heat back.

Looks good

Steve VanS

iTrader: (1)

Just paint the copper black with engine paint.

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

Yes I really like the location for the valve. I worry about having to replace my heater valve as well. I'd like to take it apart and clean it but I figure I'd just break it so I'll use it as is till it breaks.

I should be finished with the heater lines tonight. Took way too much time. Rubber lines between the firewall and engine I think would have been just fine. Along the headers I'm liking having metal lines.

Oh. yah definately need to paint the tubes. Copper looks funny under the hood.

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

Another update:
I Loaded the engine back in the car. This time with BOTH headers on. I found the driverside header interfered with a ABS bracket so I cut the bracket off. I'll have to weld on a new one in a new location next time the engine is out.

I finished laying out and soldering the heater lines together. I've attached a few pictures of the lines now. I actually think it turned out pretty nice so long as it doesn't leak. Plenty of room to get at the side or top rear of the engine and no rubber too close to the exhaust. Just need to add some support brackets, paint and hose clamps.

I also finished the fuel line to the engine and plugged the wire harness in to the PCM. I am real tempted to give the engine a start just to make sure it works.

Need to finish the shifter closeout and a bunch of misc items. Pull the engine to clean the bay and tidy up some things. Oh and make the AC lines. Reinforce the diff mounts. Still plenty to do.

FirstGen

iTrader: (10)

Looks good!

I would have been a little concerned with the copper lines and solder. Solder melts at 360 degrees and with it being that close to the headers that would concern me. But I would think that a soft line would be in trouble at that temp also...

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

Thanks.

I think soft lines would be a problem as low and as close as I have them. Not worried about the solder. I know from experience that once there is fluid in the line getting the solder up to temp to melt is next to impossible. Even under direct flame. Been there done that on house plumbing. Even just a little water keeps it cool.

Steve VanS

iTrader: (1)

Just in case, use either reflective mat or aluminum flashing from Home Depot; cheap, easy to form, nice and shiny. We're using both in our swap -- ever look under the hood at an idling engine with cats at night: glowing red-hot from the headers to the cats....

Garret & Steve finishing E30-LS1

ponjohn

Awesome swap, great info.

What year BMW's would be a similiar swap to this?

JOhn

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

E36 BMW's or 3 series BMW's 1992-1999 would be a similar chassis.

Update. Got the Laptop and the PCM to talk to each other (OBDII Port). Finished the shifter closeout (I'll post pic later) and see link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1T4qxA7LEkI

blown ls1 bmw

Hi there Thaniel im doing a similar swap here in the uk. Did you use the standard bmw clutch master cylinder or have you had to source a different one regards ian..

Thaniel

iTrader: (2)

I'm using the BMW clutch master. I haven't had a chance to test how it works yet but I've seen other do the same. It should be ok.

Oh here's a pic of my shifter closeout. sorry Kind of blury. I took the F-body boot and removed the metal ring. Cut it down an welded into a shape to fit the BMW tunnel. I trimmed the rubber on the boot down as well. Threw in a few more pics for anyone that likes that sort of thing.