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The "pex connectors" you refer to are actually Oetiker clamps and sold on Amazon and a few others. They're pretty inexpensive in bulk packaging.
One thing to note when buying in bulk, Oetiker clamps use the hose outer diameter for their measurement.
Looks like a fun project.
Right you are. I have been calling them pex connectors because they sell them along side the pex couplers at the home improvement store. Thanks for reading through the build. Sorry it's moving so slow right now.
Got an hour or two to spend with the car today. First off, this is what a car looks like after you leave it under a car port during a Utah winter.
And just for the heck of it, a shot of my dusty engine that is now sporting coil packs.
The fuel line connector and the number five coil wanted to occupy the same space, so I had to adjust it's attitude a little by tweaking the fuel line. This meant cutting through the support brace in order to give me enough leeway to make the adjustment.
I didn't feel too bad since this intake is most likely a temporary installment until I upgrade the exhaust and intake/fuel rail in the future after I am sure that this whole experiment is going to succeed.
Here is today's accomplishment. I decided to keep the stock air box and the elbows one coupler were all I needed to make it all the way to the throttle body. I'm running out of things to do before diving into the wiring.
The wiring will be a whole new project in itself, so I'm purposely stalling until I have bigger time blocks available during the summer.
I have bigger time blocks available during the summer.
But I protest! I'm considering picking up a 545i/6 with bad valve guides...and that pdf they got posted on bimmerfest makes owning an E60 in general sound like a complete nightmare. I'm considering buying it and running it until the engine fails all together and then swapping in an LS.
The mechanical part I got covered...but damn if I know how to wire it all up without the dash looking like a complete hack.
Soon enough I'll be posting progress on the wiring. Right now I am planning on tapping into a switched power source from the power outlet on the passenger side dash for the ecm. I'll try hard wiring the tach first, then if all else fails, I'll hit up Thaniel from Bimmerforums to see if he has a solution for the gauges. I keep hearing that the speedo runs right off of the abs sensors (no confirmation on that yet), but I'll find out before too long. Just gotta finish up one more class and I'll go crazy on it.
Alright, time to bring this thread back to life. My classes went well into the summer and then I got sidetracked on another project for about 3 weeks. Here are the results of my inability to stay focused on the BMW. https://www.newcaprice.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2201
...Yes, folks, I supercharged the Caprice...I had to. I couldn't just not supercharge it.
Anyway, I made some room in the ECM compartment of the BMW so that the much bigger 12200411 ecm could live in there and still fit under the ecm cover.
I'm not sure if I need the DME or that other little black box, but I'm keeping them in there for now just in case. The ECM will be secured before I finish up this build so it doesn't have to get jostled around while I drive the car. Here it is with the ECM cover on. Hopefully it all still fits with the wiring in place.
Here is the harness that I'm going to use in it's chevy truck form.
And finally, a picture of it laying over the engine. I have not decided on final routing and have not shortened any wires, but that will begin tomorrow.
I will be looking for sources for switched power under the hood, but will most likely take it from one of the accessory ports in the cabin. Constant power won't be a problem. Still working on a power source that's only live when the key is turned...Any suggestions on that would be appreciated.
I spent most of the day with the wiring harness on my kitchen table sorting through what I need and what I don't. But I have a question; These plugs come from the driver's side of the 4l60e transmission (truck version). How important are they? I know that on the larger plug, one of the wires powers the reverse lights. And the rest are things like Park/Neutral switch, neutral safety switch etc. But on the small plug there are things that I really have no idea what to do with like Transmission range signal A, B, C, and P. What are those and do I need them?
I found a cheap way to upgrade the intake on the ls2. I happened to have an LS3 intake laying around as a result of the project that I got sidetracked on. Since the LS2 has cathedral port heads and the LS3 intake has rectangular ports, I ordered in these adapter plates.
Here they are laying on the engine.
I did have to grind the little nubs on the intake down so that they would play nice with the adapter plates, but this was an easy mod.
Instead of buying longer bolts, I just lowered the posts by half an inch so I could bolt it all down again.
Now my engine looks way more beefy, which adds 75 horsepower. The throttle body being black adds another 80 hp and just because it looks cool, it puts on another 250 hp. Before I know it, this engine will be making more hp than it's even capable of
Speaking of Chuck Norris, it kind of looks like he visited my car. There are guts hanging everywhere. I'm making some very slow progress on the engine and trans harness.
Holy Crap, Thaniel just commented in my thread? You're famous in my book. I've read about a lot of your work in regards to getting the Gauge clusters working in BMW's with LS swaps. Have you had any experience with the E60's so far?
Hey dude, I can't wait till this build is done. The sweet engine builder taking on this build, he's my uncle. I can't wait to get a ride in that thing. He'll have the comfort of plush German interior, and the monstrous torque of a good old God bless American V-8. Good luck, can't wait till it's done.
That ride just might come this year. The sensors are all wired up, and the transmission harness is done. I am hoping to get all switched power wires (the pink ones) wired in and all grounds (the black ones) wired up tomorrow. If I can get that done and access the fuel pump relay and starter relay, she should crank over and hopefully fire. I might only be a week away from driving it around the block.
Okay, time to start kicking the CAN. I removed the glove box to reveal this. The light green box in the upper right is the fuel pump relay. And that thing in the lower left is my two year old son's finger.
If you remove the fuse panel itself, you get this.
There are four wires going into the relay. The two large diameter wires go straight to the fuel pump. The two smaller ones go to some module (at this point I don't even care which one). One is supposed to provide power when the car decides that it's okay, and one is supposed to provide ground when the car decides that it's okay. Well, the car decided that it wasn't okay, but that's alright because I decided that it was. I ran the small dark purple wire to ground, and the small pink/white wire to the fuel pump relay power wire in my ecm.
Here they are wired up. Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera does the best it can
And now for something that BMW did right. They left a nice sized portal that runs straight in to the under hood relay/module center so that people could rewire their cars as needed to make them reliable. Thanks BMW.
Now that I have a good solid ground, jumping the relay provided a steady 48 psi on my fuel pressure gauge. The fuel system seems tight and very well able to hold the pressure.
Question; Is 48 psi enough for an LS2 running LS3 injectors? Thanks.