autophile

At the pace I'm going, you'll be done by the time I get my heads ported.

Thanks in advance for all the wiring info - this is a part that I'm dreading!

bursty

so effin cool. I love the E34 body style. An LSx BMW swap might very well be my next project.

Schitzo

iTrader: (6)

you are not kidding around are ya! great pace, keep up the updates.

quick question. Do you have a rough estimate of the distance from the motor mount location to the shifter hole on the car? Thanks

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

Thanks, some days are a lot better than others. The heat is coming back, but I got an early start & gt the car pushed outside & degreased/pressure washed the rest of the engine bay & the PS pump/AC comp before Church. It looks a lot better, and I think the car weighs like 5 pounds less w/o all that grime . The seller told me about the brake reservoir leaking, and I see where the fluid has been going- onto a frame rail, the paint washed right off. Fortunately there was no rust. I picked up some white Rustoleum and will touch this up.

I will not have any measurable data for the motor mount to shifter location until my GTO motor mount brackets get here. The BMW uses circular cushion mounts that are much smaller in diameter than the C5 ones I tried in the Supra. They also mount at the front of the crossmember. The 34" I mesured was from the BMW bellhousing while it was installed back to the center of the shifter hole. I had to weld an offset (back & to one side) for the shifter in the Supra and even at that it was still like 1" too far forward.

I'm debating picking up a foam replica engine ($350) for fitment since this is another fab the parts yourself setup. I wish I had done so in the Supra. I will be placing a parts order @ Summit soon and may do so then.

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

I got the truck stuff stripped off the motor (intake, harness, water pump, manifolds, and oil pan) and dropped it into the engine bay. It seems like there is more room front to back than expected, which is good. I then put several sets of exhaust manifolds on (I have C5, F-body, and the truck ones). I faced each to the front since I am looking at a forward mounted turbo. The C5 & truck ones on the driver side hits the PS gear assembly, I don't see a way around that. The F-body passenger side hits the AC lines & sits on top of the frame rail. By the nature of these manifolds, I don't see them working in my configuration. There is also going to be an issue with the brake booster and ABS unit. A member here is getting me info on using the 540i (V8 BMW with the same body) booster, which is supposed to provide a lot more room.

Pics:


























It is great the motor can sit back so far for balance & also the shifter. This will in turn cause problems for the AC compressor since the mounting arms will have to be about where it would go. I will have to look at alternate mounting possibilities.

Some of he pics above had the OEM radiator & my Lincoln fan set in place and the crank pulley is from the truck motor. The C5 pulley will be closer to the block.

As far as the accessories, I think it will be a lot easier to use the GM parts and plumb them into the BMW system. I have AC brazing tools and can make hoses, so the compressor won't be a factor. It looks like I will need to re-route the AC lines away from the exhaust anyway.

The PS pump will only need one line, and I suspect I can re-use the banjo bolt on the gear.

The BMW alternator uses a duct to blow fresh air on the rear of the unit. It does have a fan, but I don't know if removing the duct would have adverse consequences on the unit, so I will stick with a GM unit, no wiring change needed since it is a 1 control wire alternator.

Steve VanS

iTrader: (1)

Take a look at Sanderson block hugger headers (CC1-LS1 and LS-150) We used them in our E30 swap and they fit into that little chassis like magic...! We thought about cut & modify C5 headers, but the GM parts stick straight down, instead of inwards toward the block. Looks like the stock headers you are using also go down & not inwards much. The Sanderson headers would probably clear the ball-screw steering box with room to spare.

See http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...=699289&page=4

for pics of our header instal

Garret & Steve almost finished with E30-LS1 aka 357is

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

I used those on my Supra, like this project one side fit really well and the other... had to reduce it down to a 2" pipe to get clearance past the motor mount. Not good for performance. Depending on how the Mustang parts work out, I may consider this for the Supra as well, since it still has the turbo stuff like the adjustable FPR, oil pan drain fitting, and FMIC with brackets.

I see no problem with the Mustang turbo header on the passenger side, especially once I re-route the AC lines. As you have encountered on the 3 series, the big clearance issue is the driver side with the booster, ABS, and PS gear. I went to a manual rack on my RX7, don't know if this was ever offered for the E34. The Mustang driver side seems to stick out a lot, but I would be cutting the flange off & putting a GM flange on, so I could shorten the tubes as needed.

It looks like if I keep the motor a little higher, I will have a lot more exhaust clearance. I don't see hood clearance issues at this point, but you can never tell until you get all the goodies in place. I really need to do the mock up with a trans & oil pan in place. I have additional concerns after seeing the motor in the rear position about pan/crossmember clearance.

I couldn't get all the pics to load on the BMW page, but it looks like you are just about done, great job on that shoehorn project!

sar

this slightly reminds me of the volvo ls1 wagon that was done a while back

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

I looked over the DME connector on my car, and made up a table showing the wire position numbers on the connector and the wire info by pin number (color & function) per the shop manual I downloaded. This is for the DME version 3.3.1 in my '94. The place I bought a manual from sent me the wrong book, so color codes are my best guess- some may be backwards, on the small wires it is hard to tell which color is the stripe.

BK= Black
BL= Blue
BR= Brown
GR= Green
GY= Gray
LTGR= Light green
OR= Orange
PPL= Purple
R= Red
W= White
Y= Yellow

Example: BR/OR is a brown wire w/ orange stripe.

DLC= Data link connector
IAT= Intake air temp
MAF= Mass air flow
TPS= Throttle position sensor

CUT indicates this wire was cut when I went through the harness trimming sensors that would not be reused. Not all wires listed will be used, the key ones such as SES, tach, and AC are noted in another post here.

Vacant means there is nothing there from the factory.

The car had two coolant temp sensors in the block- one for the PCM and one for the gauge. The one for the DME was cut since the DME was being removed. Interestingly, the car has no oil pressure gauge but it does have a sender in the block. There are a lot of similarities between this setup & the GM wiring.

Justin @ EAD Performance

iTrader: (33)

What exactly is contacting the brake booster, is it the head/valve cover or are you referring to the manifolds you were trying to use? In a couple of the pictures it doesn't look like the motor is centered left to right, could just be the pictures. A V8 brake booster setup would definitely help out quite a bit in your case since your doing a turbo setup as well. I can't remember for the life of me where the ABS unit is in a V8 e34, I didn't think it was in the same spot as the I6 cars. I'll have to dig up some pictures of my '95 540i.

BTW: Great thread, one of these days I would love to do the same swap, I'm just waiting for the right car. I had a '95 540i M sport, but I couldn't justify swapping the motor at the time.

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

The motor was basically swinging from the hoist, just wanted to get an idea how it would sit.

It looked like the valve cover would be real close to the booster, but if I raise the motor this will not be an issue but the header more than likely will be.

I would like to avoid moving the ABS unit if possible, but if not and there is a factory setup this would be helpful. I'll have to look for some underhood pics of some 540s.

I just ordered the Mustang headers today, the vendor is highly rated on the Mustang forums and he is willing to weld them up and send them to me w/o the flanges. This will take 2-3 weeks so it will be a while unitl I get them.

Derek357i has been real helpful with info on the 540 parts, I never realized (but it makes a lot of sense) that they used larger radiators. I've contacted some JYs about getting all the 540 parts I need in one shot to save on shipping. I dinged up the condenser pulling the BMW motor- it is not leaking, but since I am looking at redoing the compressor & hoses I might as well change it out. I'm still on the fence about the clutch MC since I do not have one at all. The used pedal assembly I got has the rod end on it. I'm thinking about buying a Tilton/US Brake unit and connecting this end to the rod on it, and then redrilling the pedal bracket to accept the aftermarket bolt pattern.

Thanks for any help.

rao

iTrader: (18)

What's the Bore of the stock clutch MC? If it is like the E36 and E30 ones (and I bet that it is) then it will be 3/4" and it will work fine with the T56. That would be my first choice.

Derek 357i

iTrader: (1)

I just sent you some pics of the remote brake booster/mc assy used on the 540.

Being a DOHC motor, you will find that the 540i engine is physically a lot larger than the LS1, and with the engine bay originally holding an inline six, there is plenty of room to the front and back.

But as you mentioned, getting the shifter to line up will be one of the requirements. The front drop pan you will have to use will be the limiting factor as to how far back you can go if you switch to 540 brake gear.

Great Progress, gets my mind going about my 525i which just lost its trans. Maybe it needs an LS1/T56, but something tells me that the 540i/6speed would never feel the same again.

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

It is 3/4" according to what I have read on the parts listings. I was not sure of the stroke, and didn't want to have everything back together and not have enough fluid displacement to operate the slave cyl. If yours works OK*, then that is all I need to know & will use the stock one w/ fittings for some -3 or -4 hose.

* I've seen your builds, we're not worthy!

rao

iTrader: (18)

hardly.

All I know for sure is that the stock MC works on the E36. It should work on your given the bore.

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

I got the pics, thanks a lot. I will upload & post them here for reference. What an unusual setup. There is a lot of extra hardware running to it up front. From my first look at them, it seems like I may be robbing Peter to pay Paul... more room at the back and less up front where I will be running the driver header and crossover pipe. Do you think it would be possible to just bolt the 540 booster in the stock 525 location? It looks to be smaller in diameter.

I was really surprised how much room I had IF it could sit at the rear of the bay. The GTO pan I'm getting has a crack, so if need be it can be modded some and welded if extra clearance is needed (always a 100% possibility on swaps ).

Thanks, I'd be doing a lot better if it would cool off again and these *^&%^$ love bugs would go away! I'd love to help you out w/ a trans if you were not so far away, haven't listed my old one FS on any of the BMW forums yet. It looks like I'll do better parting the M50 motor than selling it intact.

EDIT
Here are Derek's 540 booster pics:

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

I have some down time now while I'm waiting for some parts to arrive, so I've been looking at the shifter and clutch parts. The illustration for the E34 shifter shows a rod attached to it at the bottom. Looks like the setback was also too far for their own transmission.

EDIT- It appears the T56 shifter will line up OK with the hole, so no BMW parts are needed here other than boots.

It turns out the clutch master is a lot cheaper at a BMW/Porsche specialty place than my usual parts house, so I will be ordering it there as well as the other parts such as the grommets and fittings.

I noted there is a reservoir shown on the E34 parts diagram, but none is used since the cylinder is fed from the brake reservoir. If I end up moving the brake MC, this will not work. I looked up the clutch parts for a few other models and found the '94 530i uses the reservoir. I will order this as well so that I can have an independent reservoir for the clutch.

EDIT- The 530 reservoir & bracket fit fine, one of the grommets is not available.

On a good note, I'm selling off the parts I don't need from the L33 at bargain-basement prices . So far I have offset $250 of the $850 purchase price. If I can unload the BMW motor & trans I may well end up in the plus column here (yeah right, mod cars for positive cash flow ).

Now, about that driveshaft...

Schitzo

iTrader: (6)

I could be wrong but I think the guys doing the E30 swap used a flange from JTR Flange

A drive shaft shop can easily machine a flange that will allow you to adapt a non BMW drive shaft on your swap.

Have you considered the Mcleod slik shifter...(I think thats what they call it. ) it can offset the shifter rod position 4' back.

Great job keeping the thread updated.

dmenheere

Here's some pics of the how the shifter and transmission are connected





I got these pics from

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/tech...t_Bushings.htm

The set-up for all bmw's is the same as far as I know.

hth,

Dave Menheere

Great project! Can't wait to see it finished.

V8 Supra Builder

iTrader: (37)

Thanks for the links & pics guys. I am ordering parts from Pelican, guess I didn't make it that far into their website. I figured the shifter had to be something like that.

EDIT- Cleaning up the thread, deleteing useless info. The stock T56 shifter appears to fit OK.

I like to keep the stock shifters in my swaps, but it can make it tricky when you take the car to be aligned. I had to tell the tech on the RX7 that the shift pattern was different. On the Supra, the TKO has the same pattern, so the stock **** was fine for it.