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Hey first off just want to say this thread is awesome and has been very helpful for me in my build. I was curious if you were using truck accessories, water pump, alternator, crank pulley etc. I have a stock 5.3 I am looking to swap into an e36, bought relocation mounts for the alternator and the power steering pump with an fbody power steering pump and pulley. I just didn’t know if the truck accessories will stick to far out in order to get a radiator and fan in?
thanks!
@PDuff Hey sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Been crazy busy.
I used a LS2 water pump. The LS2 water pump has the inlet on the correct side as to not conflict with the power steering pump or the routing of the belt. The truck water pumps have odd necks on them and it makes it difficult to route the upper radiator hose.
I made a custom power steering pump bracket so everything lined up (see below). Don't mind the surface rust I need to pull the bracket and paint it.
Between the face of my water pump pulley and the radiator fan is approx. 3" (see below).
The alternator is mounted with a ICT Billet Low mount alternator bracket. I did not use the idler pulley that came with the kit. The alternator is a GM truck alternator.
If I was to do it all again I would just buy a complete accessory package instead of piecing everything together. I probably spent more money on brackets and junk like that then I would have if I just bought everything together.
Also another quick update. I have painted the car and have almost everything put back together. I learned a ton painting the car myself. The paint job is a solid 20 footer, but when you get close it is not great. I will probably sand and respray it at a later date, but for now I am happy to have it all one color.
I have taken the car on a couple hour long drives, and it is an absolute blast to drive. The power is there no matter what gear or RPM you are at. Next I need to get a full alignment and finish the tuning off. I will try and post some videos the next time I go out.
Hey thanks for the response on the accessories! I am now curious about the rear end that you went with and how the gearing is? I’m torn between the 3.23LSD or the 3.91LSD rear end, which one did you go with and how is it at Highway speeds vs. city driving?? Car looks great!
My rear end is 3.15 LSD out of an M3. I have not taken the car on the interstate. I have gone through all the gears and have been up to 100mph. I plan to do some more driving shortly, and I will try to get some more videos. I will say this, first gear is very short and second through 4th go pretty fast. If I am cruising I spend most of my time in 5th or 6th gear. The engine makes plenty of torque so even at 2000 rpms doing 50 or 60mph the cars starts to pull when you push the gas.
Also I would probably still be piecing this car together if it wasn't for @Michael Yount . He is a true wealth of knowledge, and I can't thank him enough!
As with all homegrown swaps, the owner did the heavy lifting I assure you-nice work Andrew.
Rule of thumb - for a car with 24-26” OD tires and LS V8 torque - you usually don’t need overall torque multiplication in first gear to be more than 10:1; you could probably live with 8.5 or 9:1 just fine. So multiply 1st gear ratio in the CD009 tranny times the rear end ratio and what you get. I think first gear is 3.78:1 in the CD009’s. Divide that into 10 and you get a 2.65 rear gear. So with gears in the 3.15-3.55 range you’re talking overall multiplication of 11.9 -13.4. Makes first gear incredibly short. Hence my “ go for the longest rear gear you can” comment earlier.
Quick update. Things have been slow going with the addition of our second daughter, and having to pull the transmission to shim the slave cylinder. While I had the transmission out I decided to design and make a new trans brace. The one I was using was a T56 brace from CX Racing which I had to cut and make work with the CD009. The new one I designed by 3D scanning the bottom of the E36, and then cutting everything out on my plasma table. Everything fits perfect, and there is a ton of adjustment now.
(Don't mind the missing nut I was one short haha).
Now I can start getting everything put back together. I plan to redo the previous Y pipe and Cerakote the headers instead of using that itchy exhaust wrap.
had my first autocross since sorting out my ls e36 last we…, I was .4 sec behind the 2018 m3 in my group.
I was 2.5 sec behind a fully gutted race prep race tire trailered e36.
this is a 50 second course
my car is on 7 yr all season tires w stock suspension and I discovered bent aftermarket rear lwr arms…, so I’ve got a pile of parts on order to beat my ax comp…
remote res coil overs, caster camber plates, refresh brakes, and some ps4’s….and an aggressive alignment
Nice! What is your shifter position like inside? I bought the short shifter from Collins but it still did not line up close enough to keep my stock interior. I am going to have to do something to make it look better with the hole cut in the transmission tunnel.
@PDuff I have the short shifter from Collins as well. I like the placement, and the shifter has some adjustability built in to set it up how you like it. I however made the top of my trans tunnel removable which mean I could line the opening up with the new shifter location.
@one4torque I am looking forward to getting the car on the track. Before I pulled the transmission the car felt amazing on the back roads. Torque in every gear and the pull coming out of turns is addictive. Can't wait to have everything back together.
Andrew - fyi, I just custom fit a new bush to the tailshaft housing of my tranny and installed a brand new custom aluminum driveshaft with new yokes on both ends and new joints. Oh man, what a difference! Transformed the car -- which if I may say so myself -- was pretty danged nice before. So -- pay attention to those driveline parts. They can make a huge difference - in either direction.
@Michael Yount Thanks for the advice! I have a new poly bushing on the trans mount. I had the drive shaft made last year and everything has less than 100 miles on it. I would like to at some point go to a aluminum drive shaft, but I will utilize the steel one for the time being. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
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Truck accessories? 
