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Hi everyone I’m currently in the middle of a ls swap in my e36 m3. The top of the water pump belt tensioner gets in the way of my intake piping because of where my coolant expansion tank is mounted. so I want to relocate it. I couldn’t find any easy kits so does anyone have any ideas? (Fbody accessories). Also no a/c at the moment but maybe in the future.
AC isn't going to make this any easier. I'm pretty sure there's not clearance down low for the compressor. It'll hit the "frame" down there. And any high mount AC bracket you get is going to have tensioner, possibly an idler pulley, and the AC pulley (with the clutch hanging out in front of it) in your way.
How much clearance is there above the radiator? Can you fab up something like the Corvette or F body "over the radiator" duct? Otherwise, to misquote someone famous from ~150 years ago, "Go left young man."
Last edited by Racer-X-; Aug 14, 2022 at 09:24 AM.
AC isn't going to make this any easier. I'm pretty sure there's not clearance down low for the compressor. It'll hit the "frame" down there. And any high mount AC bracket you get is going to have tensioner, possibly an idler pulley, and the AC pulley (with the clutch hanging out in front of it) in your way.
How much clearance is there above the radiator? Can you fab up something like the Corvette or F body "over the radiator" duct? Otherwise, to misquote someone famous from ~150 years ago, "Go left young man."
compressor should fit that’s not where my issue is but that’s for later as my oil filter is mounted where it goes. I would love to go left but my upper radiator hose is in the way so now it seems like making that tensioner go away or relocation my expansion tank are the best options. If there’s nothing on that tensioner then expansion tank relocate it is.
AC isn't going to make this any easier. I'm pretty sure there's not clearance down low for the compressor. It'll hit the "frame" down there. And any high mount AC bracket you get is going to have tensioner, possibly an idler pulley, and the AC pulley (with the clutch hanging out in front of it) in your way.
How much clearance is there above the radiator? Can you fab up something like the Corvette or F body "over the radiator" duct? Otherwise, to misquote someone famous from ~150 years ago, "Go left young man."
I’ve seen a few swaps with over the radiator done so I can look into that I just need new silicone boots and to see if the maf will even fit there
compressor should fit that’s not where my issue is but that’s for later as my oil filter is mounted where it goes. I would love to go left but my upper radiator hose is in the way so now it seems like making that tensioner go away or relocation my expansion tank are the best options. If there’s nothing on that tensioner then expansion tank relocate it is.
A quick Internet search for "BMW E36 LS swap" and a click on the "images" tab shows lots of lefties, a few righties and even fewer up over the middle.
This one should look familiar. Same logos as on your silicone elbow hose. Maybe same oil filter location. But it does have a different radiator. Leftie
Very clean and well done. Leftie
Leftie
Leftie
Leftie with weird filter
Leftie
Rightie turbo with leftie boost pipe to throttle body
Rightie
Front and center
Front and center to supercharger. Not sure I'd copy this one. WTH is that white toilet seal doing on the right side of the grill? Not impressed with the oil cooler either.
Just some ideas for you.
PS. Sometimes I wish the Internet was as helpful with my projects as it is with others. Searching for images for "1947 DeSoto LS Swap" or even "DeSoto LS swap" gets almost nothing.
A quick Internet search for "BMW E36 LS swap" and a click on the "images" tab shows lots of lefties, a few righties and even fewer up over the middle.
This one should look familiar. Same logos as on your silicone elbow hose. Maybe same oil filter location. But it does have a different radiator. Leftie
Very clean and well done. Leftie
Leftie
Leftie
Leftie with weird filter
Leftie
Rightie turbo with leftie boost pipe to throttle body
Rightie
Front and center
Front and center to supercharger. Not sure I'd copy this one. WTH is that white toilet seal doing on the right side of the grill? Not impressed with the oil cooler either.
Just some ideas for you.
PS. Sometimes I wish the Internet was as helpful with my projects as it is with others. Searching for images for "1947 DeSoto LS Swap" or even "DeSoto LS swap" gets almost nothing.
thank you for the inspiration. When I get home from work I’m going to try to get “creative” with my radiator piping to see if I can get it to go left. The righty you posted uses the same rad hose kit I’m using and you can see how it curves up in the the worst possible spot to put a 4 inch intake over, But it seems like he somehow got that pulley out of the way on the right side to free up room I wish I could see his accessory drive setup. My abs pump is located right where most of the “lefty” guys put their filter so looks like I’m gonna need to use my thinking hat. I’ll post more pics of my setup when I’m home. The first lefty with the sikky stickers is what I would like to do but the radiators with outlet/inlet on the right side (that fit easily) cost 1,500 + (
The first lefty with the sikky stickers is what I would like to do but the radiators with outlet/inlet on the right side (that fit easily) cost 1,500 + (
That price is insane for a radiator? Is it gold plated? Or is that a "genuine BMW" that bolts in with no work?
If this is a drag racer or autocross car, I'd stick a "Scirocco" style all aluminum radiator in it. You'd have to put a bulkhead in the radiator space and make a smaller opening for the radiator. The core on those is about 13" high by about 22" wide. A good one is about 3" thick with "dual" 1" or dual 1¼" core (each core is about as thick as an old fashioned "2 row" core. You'd have plenty of room above that for a round pipe straight out the front for your intake.
If it's going to be a street driven car with air conditioning, I'd probably try to fit one of Be Cool's "Bone Yard LS Swap" radiators. All aluminum, and the one that would be a snug fit would be 26.5" wide and 17" high. If you want to test, make a rectangle out of 2x4 lumber and see if that can fill the hole. Those radiators are also 3 inches deep, with dual 1" cores. You'll need a shrouded fan (or two) behind it. You'd have to do some fabricating to mount that, but the radiator is under $300, and you can do a lot of fabricating and still come out way under your $1500 price.
Both of the radiators I mentioned are 2 pass cross flow units, with the inlet on the top right, the outlet on the bottom right, and the filler neck/cap on top of the left side tank.
Neither of those have transmission coolers in them, so if you've got a 4L60E (or other automatic) behind your LS, you'd need a good sized cooler in front of the radiator (behind the AC condenser when you add that).
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Fbody water pump mounted tensioner relocation 
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