Well I've been documenting my slow progress over on xoutpost.com and neglected to make a thread over here till I got further along. I purchased this X5 back in January 2016 with hopes to get to the project sooner vs later but we are finally getting the ball rolling. I purchased the car online as a repo with mechanical damage. I figured the timing chain guides finally crapped the bed and the person didn't want to continue to pay on the loan. When the car arrived it only had a broken rear driveshaft!!! I considered fixing it for $100 and driving the car but I knew the whole purpose of my buying the SUV was to swap it and also create mounts to help other shade tree mechanics such as myself build their own LSX5's. When I created the swap kit for the E39 540 I quickly found out the price of building the e39 can get expensive by the time you buy the custom exhaust manifolds, car intake manifolds, front dress, M5 diff and of course the overpriced T-56 thanks to other restomodders.

On the contrary the X5 engine bay is enormous and can swallow anything you throw at it. My goal was to be able to buy a complete 6.0/4L80e pullout from a Silverado/Sierra 2wd or Express Van and be able to literally drop it right into the E53 chassis with no modifications. Stock Front Dress, Stock Intake Manifold, Stock Oilpan, Stock Headers etc. I removed the engine from the 4.6is and sold it for $3000 on eBay meaning I had literally $0 into the chassis with the Transmission and Transfer case still left for profit towards the build.

Once we finally dropped the engine in we are able to clear the front subframe and even the front sway bar with no modification at all! My specific build will be a RWD Cammed LQ4 317 Heads 4L80e, Transgo HD Kit, Circle D Budget Converter and a S475/S480 Turbo setup. I will continue to update the thread and look forward to breaking necks in this thing next spring!




















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Latest update.


The transmission crossmember has been made for the 4l80e. Also found a nice set of factory headers from GM that will be a direct bolt in to work for NA Builds if anyone decides to tackle this project once I'm done with mine. Hot side on the turbo is next then intercooler plumbing.

 

 

The early 99-00 LQ4 6.0s came with Iron Heads...

 

No **** sherlock. The point is WHY

 

most likely $$$ as in significantly cheaper than aluminum head 6.0

 

Nice!!! What are you going to do for gauges, use the factory ones?

Stampede.

 

Factory Gauges will be used. I have a set of 317 heads I'll be putting on once everything has been mocked up.

 

Looks like a blast. With that big heavy chassis and large wheel wells, it shouldn't have a problem hooking up and being a highway monster...

 

I am running the same exact engine right now with the cast iron heads. From what I have read they are the same head as far as casting and flow. Would be nice to save some weight though with the aluminum.

 

Turbo is on and downpipe has been started. We were able to squeeze a 3.5" downpipe in which was great news. With the 76mmPrecision Turbo and the 6.0 it should light pretty quick and not have awful boost lag. Any input on exhaust tip setup in the back? I was thinking about putting 2 tips in the middle like Fluid Motor Union's Offroad X5. Or I could run stock 4.6is tips for a sleeper look.

 

Very cool! These are the reason I chose my rear tire size......

 

I always loved the "turndown" style stock tips of this generation X5. You could always do cutouts underneath for more loud factor.

 

 

Updated Downpipe pictures.

 

duyum! welding looks boobies! think ill be keeping mine wrapped.

 

Hotside is done. On to the intercooler and charge pipes. Picked up a low mileage rear differential out of a 2008 BMW M5 with a 3.62 LSD and the factory M5 rear axles. The cases seem very similar outside of the car and we will be finding a way to get that to work in the back of the SAV as well beefing up any weak structural parts of the rear subframe so we don't have any tears. If the M5 diff is a direct bolt it would make the perfect gearing upgrade for any future DIY LSX X5 swappers.



























Also in reference to the exhaust we thought about using ECS Tunings 3" Vacuum Exhaust Cut-Outs right before the 4.6is mufflers with custom piping to the cutouts and make it so that once the X5 gets into boost it opens the valve to cause no power restriction but around town out of boost it will have to go through the mufflers. We aren't dead set on this but we are considering it as an option at this point.

 

Sloppy Mechanics picked up a significant amount of power with the cutouts in a boosted application, should work well for you. Where are you planning on running the wastegate dump? Screamer pipe or recirc?

 

Hella nice work man. Do you think it is possible to keep the AWD with the swap?

 

Anything is possible with enough time and money but not worth it in my opinion. Especially with the power levels I will be running. It would just break more stuff on a regular basis. It has 315's on the back stock so traction shouldn't be an issue once the LSD and the correct tire/rim combo is put together.