1990 e30 325I LS1 swap thread

[90e30ls]

Hello to all! My name is Wes and this will be my journey into the e30 LS swap. I work at a performance shop outside of Atlanta, GA where we support a few e30 spec racers. I love the body style of the e30 but looking at what you have to do to get any performance out of a M20, I decided to just go with a LS swap. I'm already partial to the LS motor and really know nothing about BMW engines so the fit seemed right. I'm by no means a mechanic but I am capable of doing most things with help(I sit behind a desk all day). My goal was to find something that was in pretty good shape cosmetically because I would be parting with the drive train anyway. Here is what I came up with





The paint is in good shape. The front seats and carpet will need replacing but the dash is crack free. The car is lowered with some brand of coilovers - not sure what they are. I'm going to hold off on pulling the motor until i have everything ready to go. I will be going with a full sikky kit, chase bays BBE and wiring specialties wiring harness. The motor and trans were pulled from a 2001 trans am and I will be posting some pics of that process shortly. Any feedback or suggestions along the way is greatly appreciated!

[90e30ls]

I found a donor 2001 Trans Am. Owner had broken off a spark plug in the head. No big deal because I have other plans for the head[IMG]http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160303/d3d4d2d388ffb92fe58bde2f00b0be4f.jpg[/IMG
engine was really dirty....I was going to pull it down anyway but I was just hoping that it was in fairly good shape
There is a machine shop next door and the guy over there is doing me a favor on the machine work. Came over and checked everything out. No boring needed. Just a clean, honing and fresh bearings
Block cleaned up well after a bath
Honing after the clean
Polishing the crank
Down to the head work which should be done this week


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[90e30ls]

Parts to go in the motor
Lunati rocker arms with the upgrade
Lunati lifters
Pistons cleaned up and ready to go
Bearings and gaskets
As soon as the heads are done we will start putting the motor together


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[Pootis]

Looks like a solid start what are your plans for the heads? Trickflow or something?

[90e30ls]

Got a set of heads from a guy that worked at a local corvette performance shop. They have had some porting done along with upgraded springs and retainers. Not sure on the specs but they are supposed to flow much better. Not getting too crazy with the motor.


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[shiboujin]

Very unique color. The motor will look great in there :).

Caaan you do me a favor? Can you take a few pix of the whole kit with all the parts? I want to verify that/if it comes with everything I think it comes with. Like clutch line and quick bleed kit.

[CorvallisBMW]

Awesome project! Definitely jelly of the cheap, plentiful aftermarket support you get with an LS motor. Can't wait to see more.

[90e30ls]

Very unique color. The motor will look great in there :).

Caaan you do me a favor? Can you take a few pix of the whole kit with all the parts? I want to verify that/if it comes with everything I think it comes with. Like clutch line and quick bleed kit.

Yea haven't seen many this color. I got some parts coming in first of next week and the sikky kit will be next. After that I will be getting the Chase Bays kit. As soon as I get it I will throw some pics up.

[Reyhan335]

hell yeah man! cant wait to see this thing come to life! yours as well as mine haha

whatever questions you got let me know and ill try to help as much as i can!

[90e30ls]

hell yeah man! cant wait to see this thing come to life! yours as well as mine haha

whatever questions you got let me know and ill try to help as much as i can!

Yea looking forward to seeing yours done too! I have been pretty busy the past 2 weeks so haven't been able to get much done on the car. I have parts coming in next week and the motor should be finalized this week. Hope to pick some speed on this project after that.

[dhithim]

Awesome I have the same color car except my paint is faded LOL. This is one of my options for a swap too but BAR'd because Cali.

[90e30ls]

I live in GA so with the age of the car I can pretty much do anything I want.

[E30LSX]

I am also knee deep into a LS swap here in Roanoke, VA. Good luck with your build!

[shiboujin]

If you wanna see mine, I'm just outside of DC on the virginia side. By GMU

[bmk]

Are you going turbo? Or why such a mild/smallish cam?