My '90 325is LS3 Swap Build Thread

[The Dark Side of Will]

That exhaust tuck is niiiice.

Fair warning. My trans mount failed after a year or two. The design isn't great.

This applies to basically all the mounts that the BMW aftermarket community produces.

[shiboujin]

That might be true. I only have my own experiences that I can talk to.

[BUDNUNTA]

mine failed too, now i use the mustang one now https://lmr.com/item/PT-61608BL/79-9...sion-Mount-T56

[jbontke]

What is the rear end setup?? It looks like a different subframe or possibly a new crossbar to support the diff?

[CLM21]

Same subframe, just a crossbar welded in to support both ears of the diff and provide some extra rigidity to the rear part of the chassis.

Was worried the extra power would literally rip the diff off the trunk floor, so I basically did the same thing vorshlag did for their car.

[CLM21]

Just FYI on the trans bushing failure, I'm sure some of you have brought this to Sikky cause James is aware of the issue and Sikky is redesigning their future trans mounts but they're not ready yet. Here's what they said:

The bushing part itself is glued and semi-captured into a metal bracket. In the past they've dealt with a couple failures where the bushing started to separate. However, Sikky has started to redesign the bushing to a full-captured bushing design, but it's still in the production queue, and has not been tested further than design.

[jbontke]

Same subframe, just a crossbar welded in to support both ears of the diff and provide some extra rigidity to the rear part of the chassis.

Was worried the extra power would literally rip the diff off the trunk floor, so I basically did the same thing vorshlag did for their car.

Is this what you are referring to: https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/foru...ement-fab-work

[CLM21]

Is this what you are referring to: https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/foru...ement-fab-work

Different car but they did basically the same thing for that z3. I got the idea from the $2010 GRM challenge car vorshlag built, where they threw an ls1 in an e30:

https://www.vorshlag.com/forums/forum/vorshlag-v8-swap-talk/engine-swap-discussions/6108-vorshlag-2010-grm-challenge-car-bmw-e30-v8/page4

[CLM21]

https://youtu.be/H7u_kesnS7w

Made ~550/540 to the wheels

[CLM21]

Anyone know how to embed a youtube video? Should be super straightforward but its not working...

[TeXJ]

Anyone know how to embed a youtube video? Should be super straightforward but its not working...

it no worky worky

[CLM21]

bummer

[CLM21]

Welp, she's finally up and running. Few videos of the exhaust note:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iebdJoiX7AA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4RQOz5Mb7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqikan3HYM

Issue I'm already running into -

Had to run a smaller radiator than intended because of the limited space on the front end. There's also pretty miserable airflow through the front end of an e30. I'm already running into cooling issues while idling for awhile in Florida heat.
To combat this, swapping to a 160 thermostat, and likely going with a tubular front end so I can jam in a bigger radiator with some pusher and puller fans.

Car currently spins at about half throttle all the way through first and second gears with some sticky 285s out back. This isn't what I built the car for, but I'm throwing some slicks on it and taking it to the quarter mile this Thursday... curious what it'll run but fingers crossed I don't break anything if it actually winds up hooking.

[Pootis]

Man it sounds amazing! I feel you on the cooling issues. LS's are notorious for being a bitch to bleed so maybe try bleeding it again just to be sure but I do have to run two 10" pullers on mine to cool it.

[CLM21]

Thanks man. Unfortunately I don't think bleeding is the issue. It ran fine up north but as soon as I brought it down to the Florida summer, it started having cooling issues. I kinda wanted to do a tubular front end anyways, so thats what I'll probably end up doing.