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5.3 LS Swap into 91 318i

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    Originally posted by Elysian View Post
    Been pretty quiet, how's it going?
    I've been thinking the same thing!

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      Originally posted by Mr.Hirako View Post

      I've been thinking the same thing!
      Took a few months off there. Ended up taking on a lot more responsibilities with my job that I had to figure out how to juggle properly and also needed to save money for grown up adulting stuff.
      Anyway, ordered a complete subframe,trailing arm, etc. reinforcement kit from Garagistic a couple days ago. Waiting on it to get here and i'll get started/post a new video.

      Currently deliberating on my transmission choice. That seems to be the major project keystone in my mind. I had a line on a built T56 for $1400 but the guy I was going back and forth with just ghosted me. So I'm tired of trying to hunt down a t56 for a reasonable price that may or may not have bad synchros and gears, and a magnum is just going to blow my budget at this point.

      Based on what I've seen, I think I'm going to go with an AR5 from a colorado. There's one at the junk yard down the road for about $250, the adapter kit is $250-$420 depending on which one I pick, and a bellhousing from a 4l60 is $50, then I just need to decide on a clutch kit. Their power rating is low, but there's guys putting a ton of power through them and having good results. Doing some more research, but I think this is the way. If I end up grenading it, then I'll make the magnum upgrade at that point, but at least I'll have the rest of the car done.

      Also, I invested in a nice cart and an argon/co2 tank for my mig welder. No more ugly splattery flux core.

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      Last edited by DividedBeing; 11-29-2020, 01:45 PM.
      91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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        Picked up this AR5 out of a Colorado today for $350. Shift boot is ripped a little, but it shifts well. Let's hope it doesn't sound like rocks are tumbling around inside of it once I'm ready to fire up the car lol. Adapter kit should be here within the next week or so hopefully. Just waiting on it to ship. Also waiting on my reinforcement kit for subframe etc from garagistic -- they got hit pretty hard on Black Friday, so it might be a bit.

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        91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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          So far, my 4l60 bellhousing is the only thing that has arrived in the mail.

          In the mean time, I ordered the slip yoke I'm going to need for the AR5 output, and I just ordered one of those Jags That Run V8 Conversion BMW Diff Flanges with the 1310 UJoint.
          The plan is to do all the reinforcement on my subframes/trailing arms, then have everything ready to go so I can test fit the engine/trans, build a trans mount, and measure to have the driveshaft built.

          Edit:Just ordered a full set of Delrin bushings as well. Those will go in along with the reinforcements.

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          Last edited by DividedBeing; 12-07-2020, 02:13 PM.
          91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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            So, I should have checked around more. Did quite a bit of digging and didn't realize I could get this driveshaft to BMW diff flange for half price elsewhere.

            But I don't feel like dealing with cancelling this order now...and the Jags That Run guy was helpful about getting this updated as "back in stock" on his website when I called.

            For everyone else's reference:

            Spicer Part # 2-2-1679

            https://www.northerndrivetrain.com/p...-2-2-1679.html
            91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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              FabBots adapter for the AR5 just showed up yesterday.
              Just ordered a purple tag E46 steering rack and the garagistic adapter kit.
              Still waiting on my subframe reinforcement kit that I ordered during the black Friday Sale. Kind of annoying, but that's the reality of Black Friday sales at these boutique parts shops.
              91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                Originally posted by DividedBeing View Post
                FabBots adapter for the AR5 just showed up yesterday.
                Just ordered a purple tag E46 steering rack and the garagistic adapter kit.
                Still waiting on my subframe reinforcement kit that I ordered during the black Friday Sale. Kind of annoying, but that's the reality of Black Friday sales at these boutique parts shops.
                I'm still waiting for the E46 hex style treehouse FCAB's to ship from that sale as well.

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                  Originally posted by Elysian View Post

                  I'm still waiting for the E46 hex style treehouse FCAB's to ship from that sale as well.
                  Yeah, they must have been slammed. I also ordered dual caliper mounts that they shipped to me separately, and then a little over a week ago I ordered a full set of delrin bushings that are already here.
                  91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                    `Ordered the steering column I'm going to need for my wilwood pedal box/boosterless setup. Can't run an airbag steering column, so I have to swap to the non-airbag column. Found it for about $125 on ebay, so that's pretty cool.

                    For my steering shaft:

                    The low profile sikky, vorshlag, flaming river, and condor steering shafts are pretty damn expensive, so I'm not buying one from them.
                    I've been planning on making one for myself out of E34 steering shafts based on the Garrett swap instructions. Well, it turns out those shafts from the E34 might be kind of harder to find and they seem on the expensive side everywhere I've looked.


                    I came across another method using two E46 shafts that you cut and combine into one. If you have a nearby junk yard with e46s available, you can probably find these pretty damn cheap -- I just paid $75 total for two of them on ebay, and I'm sure they can be found for $20 a piece or less at a junk yard.

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                    Here's _JohnnyD_'s thread here on r3v with pretty small photos but good explanation

                    And here's a video I found on youtube of someone making one.
                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6khEWLPHyUQ


                    Yesterday, I almost snagged a basically brand new AHP AlphaTig 201XD setup with a cart and big argon tank on fb marketplace for less than what the machine cost new by itself. Someone else got to it before I did though. Going to have to find a friend nearby with a tig setup.
                    91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                      My reinforcement plates showed up in the mail from Garagistic just a moment ago. They look great. Was waiting for these to show up to really get started again, so here we go.

                      Excited to finally get a long stretch of welding practice in with this section of the project. Looks like there's about 1001 reinforcement plates, so I should be an expert by the end of this lol.
                      91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                        Finally got the car off of these recalled HF jackstands. I've known about the recall since it was issued, but I wasn't getting under the car since then or I would have replaced them earlier. Told the guy at HF "I brought my death traps in for the death trap recall." I always try to keep a tire/wheel under each side of the car just in case, but god damn is it scary to imagine that these things could have crumpled and killed me.

                        Picked up one of those nice Daytona Low Profile jacks in Green while I was at HF too.

                        Also, my purple tag E46 steering rack came in the mail. Good stuff.
                        91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                          Waiting on this rain to stop and I'm going to drop the subframes to give them some love. Probably starting with the front.
                          Wish I had a nice carport or garage. Might have to finance one in the near future here. I built a concrete pad that's reinforced with rebar and ready for a two post, so it would be great to actually have one.

                          Anyway -- my parents heard me talking about a tig welder setup I missed out on through facebook marketplace and told me they wanted to give me some cash toward buying one for Christmas.
                          Ended up going with the AHP AlphaTig 201XD. Can't wait to get some practice in and figure out how to stack some dimes. Already picked up and assembled a cart and I need to pick up an argon tank.

                          My first project is going to be that low profile steering shaft made from the two E46 steering shafts.
                          Going to be helpful for welding some 90s onto the radiator I'm getting as well.

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                          91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                            Nice
                            sigpic

                            https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=420591 5.3 LSA build in progress :devil:

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                              Got this bad boy out today. Pretty straight forward. Going to degrease, power wash, grind, and hopefully weld up some reinforcements tomorrow.

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                              I also had my new toy arrive. Realized after I shot these photos that I completely ignored the color coding and plugged the torch/clamp into the wrong ports. Oh well, I haven't turned it on yet.

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                              I'll probably use my MIG for these reinforcements, just because I'm more familiar with it, and I've never done any TIG work before. I'd rather practice on some scrap instead of jumping right into my subframes with it.

                              91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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                                Got the front subframe reinforcements welded up. Lots of cussing but lots of good practice. This is my first real stretch of actual welding, so it was a bit of trial and error. I did the motor mount inserts first, then I went on to the control arm/ball joint reinforcements, then the sway bars.

                                This was one of my better sections

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                                Like I said, I was having a hard time getting it to stop splattering. Had my gas set at about 25cfh and I was playing around with the power/speed a little trying to dial it in and I was really going pretty wild with the grinder trying to make things clean before I welded. Things got better by the time I was welding up the outer motor mount reinforcements, but it was annoying. Lots of fun trying to pick up a new skill, even if it's a somewhat difficult skill.
                                91 318i LS Swap In Progress - Build Thread

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