LS3 Swap (In Progress)

[shiboujin]

My DBW gas pedal is mounted with a piece that bolts to the area. There's a top bolt location and a bottom bolt location that you can fab something to, then mount the pedal to that. It's not so bad actually.

[Garage30]

This thing will be fast as hell.

[beggs]

this is gonna be a fun one! Hell yeah!
good luck with the swap man!

hopefully you dont go through what i had too

I certainly hope not!

Sorry I haven't been updating for a few days, I was busy and unable to work on the car but we made some progress today.
Engine is now bolted up to the tranny and crossmember. Ready to go in!

The insulation and some carpet had to go in order to make way for a new bracket for the hanging pedal. Shouldn't be too hard to make one.

Brake parts finally came in! Drilled rotors are being dropshipped and should be here soon. Can't wait to get those bolted up.

[beggs]

Driveshaft is out! Gas is drained and the tank is ready for the Walbro 450. I didn't realize E30's had 2 piece driveshafts. The custom one will also be 2 piece.

and thanks for the info shiboujin.

[shiboujin]

NP brah. Love my 1 piece drive shaft. So much less to worry about. Just kind of a pain to work on.

[beggs]

Today was productive. Got some more parts in, 2 Mishimoto Transmission Coolers for the trans and power steering, various fittings for clutch, oil, and brakes, and also more aggressive rear pads. The 2 Mishimoto coolers might be a bit of a tight fit.

Also welded a bracket for the oil cooler, trans and power steering coolers. They'll sit right behind the front grille.

The finished product.


Also welded on the Radiator brackets and test fitted the Z3 radiator. Looks good! I used the 88+ radiator mounts for the bottom and had to cut up and modify the brackets.


Still procrastinating on the pedal bracket.

[beggs]

Small update, Finally got the rotors in, they're awesome and way bigger than the stockers. So big in fact that they didn't fit. The caliper had to be lightly grinded down and I got spacers, I also had to remove the wheel weights. Here is the finished product in the wheel with no scraping.

The 2 coolers for the trans and power steering were a bit of a pain to make brackets for, it took all day of test fitting and cutting up angle aluminum. The coolers are VERY delicate and they got a little dinged up.

[Q8y_drifter]

Which pump are you gonna use for the trans cooler?

[beggs]

Which pump are you gonna use for the trans cooler?

There is a pump built into the trans which is super nice.

Today, the struts and wheels were bolted up to the subframe which is now ready to go in!

The brake booster delete bracket from Garagistic is in and its not coming out thankfully. A support bracket was also welded on to make sure it doesn't flex at all. Radiator is in with the puller fan.

Just a cool shot since it's a short update.

[beggs]

Big Update!
Motor is in. Looks great and its just to mock up and see how everything will fit.

The fan is definitely too big, not sure how that will fit. Might have to get some slim fans

PCM is mounted on the wheel well.

Remote reservoirs mounted.

All lines to the masters connected.

[beggs]

Took out the fuel pump and checked the fitment on the Walbro 450. Very close.

After looking in the gas tank, there is a bit of dirt and grime in there so that will have to be cleaned, the photo doesn't really do it justice.

Oil filter/ sandwich plate mounted, it might have to be moved to the other side due to clearance issues with the sway bar.

Checked the shifter hole and how it fits, not that bad.

Accelerator bracket fabbed up and its all good to go, steering column is in and hopefully not coming back out.

[Q8y_drifter]

Great progress!

[shiboujin]

Not sure I like the PCM mounted in the bay. It'll get water and gunk and stuff. I somehow managed to mount mine in the factory location.

Are you wrapping those headers? I had heat (Read: melting) issues with the brake res/lines being so close.

[beggs]

Not sure I like the PCM mounted in the bay. It'll get water and gunk and stuff. I somehow managed to mount mine in the factory location.

Are you wrapping those headers? I had heat (Read: melting) issues with the brake res/lines being so close.

Yeah Ill be sure to regularly clean it off but overheating shouldn't be an issue with it. If worse comes to worst ill have to relocate it to the glovebox. The Sikky headers come with a ceramic coating so I wont be wrapping them. I did put heat sleeves on the wires since some are very close to the headers. Hopefully I wont have the same issues.

Great progress!

Thanks! I can't wait to drive this thing.

[CorvallisBMW]

Nice work! sub'd