LS1 rebuild for e36 swap
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
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LS1 rebuild for e36 swap Hello all, I've been lurking around the forum for a while and registered recently. I'm planning on doing an LS1 swap into an E36 M3 next summer. (I'm starting school in the fall, and the runway is too short to pull this off in the near term) But, I wanted to get all my ducks in a row, start doing some parts purchasing, and hopefully have my engine finished and built by April, to allow for plenty of breathing room.
My plan currently is to be in the neighborhood of 500 crank hp, but I want this to be a low maintenance, reliable, daily driver. It will be going to a stock T56 and the stock rear diff (for now, the rear diff may get upgraded sooner than later, but first I want to get it running).
I'm thinking of getting a used LS1/T56, and rebuild it with a FAST 102 intake and throttle body, LS6 heads, and a custom cam (any and all recommendations accepted here)
Overall, I want the car to be fast and fun. I'm not optimizing for drag racing, I'd be more likely to spend time on a track hot lapping if anything.
Do you have any suggestions on what I should go for in the rotating assembly? From my understanding since I'm looking for low maintenance and reliable, I should get forged alloy pistons. (I'm leaning towards Wiseco Pistons, and I see they have full rotating assembly kits.)
Is the stock crank sufficient? (would an upgrade be cost-effective?)
As long as I'm going to all this trouble, should I consider a stroker kit?
(my initial reaction to shy away from a stroker is that I like the higher RPM that the M3 has currently)
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions, I know I still have a fair amount of homework to do yet.
My plan currently is to be in the neighborhood of 500 crank hp, but I want this to be a low maintenance, reliable, daily driver. It will be going to a stock T56 and the stock rear diff (for now, the rear diff may get upgraded sooner than later, but first I want to get it running).
I'm thinking of getting a used LS1/T56, and rebuild it with a FAST 102 intake and throttle body, LS6 heads, and a custom cam (any and all recommendations accepted here)
Overall, I want the car to be fast and fun. I'm not optimizing for drag racing, I'd be more likely to spend time on a track hot lapping if anything.
Do you have any suggestions on what I should go for in the rotating assembly? From my understanding since I'm looking for low maintenance and reliable, I should get forged alloy pistons. (I'm leaning towards Wiseco Pistons, and I see they have full rotating assembly kits.)
Is the stock crank sufficient? (would an upgrade be cost-effective?)
As long as I'm going to all this trouble, should I consider a stroker kit?
(my initial reaction to shy away from a stroker is that I like the higher RPM that the M3 has currently)
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions, I know I still have a fair amount of homework to do yet.
Last edited by denigod; Jun 21, 2012 at 11:57 AM.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
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Nothing? Well for starters, If I'm rebuilding an LS1 for 500 stock HP, does anyone have suggestions for rotating assembly kits that would be worth investigation? Or would it be better to just get individual parts?
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 714
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From: Tampa FL
The stock crank is fIne for your goals. The stock rods would work too but depending on how high you want to rev it it might be better to do the motor with an HBeam style rod. For a daily driver keep your cam reasonable and like the venerable TR224 and let it go at that.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
The stock crank is fIne for your goals. The stock rods would work too but depending on how high you want to rev it it might be better to do the motor with an HBeam style rod. For a daily driver keep your cam reasonable and like the venerable TR224 and let it go at that.
Thanks, these are great pointers, I'll look into those options.
For the intake, and my perf goals. I've heard that an LS6 intake may be sufficient and a FAST intake would be overkill. Is this a situation where the heads would be the bottleneck, or a case of 'every little bit helps'?
