LS1 swap 318IS

[tyeler18]

So the weekend has come and gone, along with it the first race event for me in the E30. Spent saturday morning finishing the car prep since the event didn't start until 6pm. Brakes bled, witness marks on bolts all checked to torque, fluids all looked over.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

80 miles one way to the event, A/C blasting, perfect daily. My girlfriend was supposed to race my C5, but chickened out last minute again. She autox's a built 2g eclipse I built her and drag races her 450whp evo, but she's never raced W2W and hasn't balled up enough to finally do it. Sucks, I was hoping to get a point by in the e30 lol. The event went phenomenally, I was fully prepared to be fixing bugs or wrenching on the car, or catastrophic failure of some stock driveline component. In my C5 I can usually go 10 laps or so before either oil temp or coolant temps get too high, or I lose power steering from boiling the power steering fluid. I was worried the power steering pump was going to boil fluid quickly since it runs the hydroboost and rack on the car, but I had zero issues lap after lap. The brakes left something to be desired, but I couldnt tell you what brand of cheap pads they are or how old they are as they came on the car when I got it and I've never looked twice at them. They did work though, I was able to stop the car no issue and they never faded, but they need replaced with something better.

Now here's where the fun began, stock suspension with 245 square sticky tires and an LS are by no means a combination I'd ever recommend anyone. I no longer have intact splash guards in the fender wells. There's so much weight transfer between power, braking, and grip that it was like piloting a Caribbean cruise ship. Every corner my tires were up into the fender wells rubbing away, one session I was out there with a pair of side cutters cutting the splintered chunks of plastic out of the wells, but we pressed on! I run low 66 second lap times in my vette here, despite having worse brakes, less rubber, and horrendous suspension I still managed a best of the night at a 66.3 with consistent 66.XX laps regardless of tire temp, these A052's are phenomenal. I have the track addict app and was watching my sector times every lap, one of my final laps I decided to really push the car using 2nd instead of 3rd most of the lap. I had a green 65.0X final sector and ran into a buddy that decided to do a cooldown lap right at the finish line which knocked me back into a 66.4 lap time hard on the brakes. The car has a lot more in it, plenty of power and plenty of grip. Coilovers and some PFC08 pads should greatly improve the lap times

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Most of our group that went. The accord is a K24 swap gutted basically full blown race car. He had a 61 sec PB this event, very fast car. The EG is a 360hp boosted B16, he runs right with me normally but broke 65's this event. My buddy ran the Rav4 which was hilarious but impressive with a 70 sec PB.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Watch that body roll lol, it was so bad!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Hopefully this works, one of my videos uploaded to youtube, a lot more coming. This was my very first session out

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZKAUf8nVX8M" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[tyeler18]

Clean car man. Looking forward to more pictures and details. What's the total weight of the car? Have you done any work to increase stability of the front end like welding in re-enforcement plates for sway bars?

Thank you, no clue on total weight. I'll have it on scales when I go to coilovers, but for now it wasn't too concerning. It's heavy though, zero weight reduction done with A/C etc. I have no reinforcements either. The entire suspension is bone stock aside from the condor subframe bushings, M3 FCABs, and e46 rack. I did inspect the engine plates this weekend while it was in the air and they still haven't cracked yet.

Looking good! Do you have a thread on the montero by chance, I'm a gen 1 owner myself!

I don't, I have a bunch of posts on mitsubishi montero owners on facebook though. None of the offroad forums have a very good Mitsubishi sub-forum so I haven't bothered to post it anywhere else. The montero purists go about as crazy over an LS swapped montero as BMW purists do over this.

[kid8]

Looking good! Do you have a thread on the montero by chance, I'm a gen 1 owner myself!

[paynemw]

Clean car man. Looking forward to more pictures and details. What's the total weight of the car? Have you done any work to increase stability of the front end like welding in re-enforcement plates for sway bars?

[tyeler18]

One week until raceday, got a few upgrades during the week. My buddy from discount called to let me know my A052's came in so I hauled ass over after work to get them mounted on the rear. 245/45/16's and they fit about as perfect as I wanted.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Zero rubbing issues, grip has improved DRASTICALLY over the bridgestone 205 all seasons that came on these wheels. 2nd gear actually holds from a roll now, although it does still spin the 2-3 shift. End goal with these was to test fit them on the front and try and run a square 245/45 setup. I got antsy and decided to stick them on the front as soon as I got home and they fit! Kind of! They rub the front mud guards which the 205s did as well, but aside from that they barely rub the sway bar at full lock, not too concerned there. I pulled the mud guards and drove around to make sure I wasn't going to have any issues and its good to go, so I have another set coming in this week to run up front.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Spent today getting some of the tune setup properly. I've been running without a MAF on a MAF tune this entire time because I was too lazy to swap over to a speed density tune. I plan to add a card style MAF on this, but for now I've been running SD. Heres a quick 2-3 pull from 2500. Trying to record and shift on a bumpy road didn't work too well so it's a little shakey

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

And finally had to show off the cars and coffee setup, 2 folding chairs fit great in the trunk for when you want to stop for a cars and coffee :D

by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

[tyeler18]

amazing work and pics

Thank you!

Love this never been a big vette fan (C8 is cool I'll give it that) but I do want to put one of their engines in my vert one day. Nice build!

Any more pics of the back of the montero? Doesn't even look like a Ram hit it...more like a small car that went under the rear bumper

The rear axle is shoved about 3" forward of where it should be, but the cop said the same thing. They were surprised how it looks compared to his truck. I'll upload some under frame shots. It ripped a bunch of mounts off the frame, bottomed the shock out so far it bent the body and shoved the sway bar into a Z shape.

I definitely wish it was the vette that was hit. Its going to be a fight to get paid out due to the book value of the truck vs it's appraisal. The vette I would come out on top with 6-7k in my pocket if it was totaled out vs what I paid for it, and I can buy 10 more locally all day for reasonable prices.

[Vivek]

The vette is easily replaceable, but this truck isn't.

Love this never been a big vette fan (C8 is cool I'll give it that) but I do want to put one of their engines in my vert one day. Nice build!

Any more pics of the back of the montero? Doesn't even look like a Ram hit it...more like a small car that went under the rear bumper

[agisthos]

amazing work and pics

[tyeler18]

Time for a bit of an update! Scored this 4.27LSD carrier from an e34 for a steal the other day. It was mislabeled as an open diff but after a vin decode I realized it was supposed to be an LSD. Got a picture of the tag and sure enough, S4.27 so I jumped on it and it was delivered thursday.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Wasting no time I tore down my open 3.73 as well as the 4.27 to begin swapping the carrier into my diff. A few hours later I had a pile of diff parts scattered across my work bench, but most importantly I had a fully assembled 3.73 LSD!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Oh yea, if anyones having trouble pressing their tone ring on the carrier an acetylene cap is the perfect size to do it.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Came out this morning to work on a customers GSX and my neighbor came over to tell me my montero was hit by a drunk driver early in the morning. We looked all over the front end of it and couldnt find any damage, came around to the back and realized the axle was shoved into the front of the wheel well. The damage is better than I expected, definitely fixable and I guess I'm going to get the upgraded rear end I've been wanting and building the steel bumpers I've been planning since it's all jacked up now. The cops said it was a dodge ram that hit it and it was royally fucked. They weren't even sure what he had hit and the cop was pretty surprised to see the limited damage to my truck compared to his nearly disabled dodge. Everyone always laughs at me because normally I park my vette on the street and this in the driveway. The vette is easily replaceable, but this truck isn't. I spent countless hours swapping the turbo LQ4 in this truck and it's become a very unique setup. She'll be fixed stronger and better!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Finished up the GSX so it was time to swap the diffs out! Good bye small case 4.10s!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Hello 3.73LSD! I can mostly use 1st gear to putt around in now. It still blows the tires off if you so much as breathe on the throttle but it's better than the 4.10s. Going to try and upload some fly by and pull videos later this weekend. Went and did a "break in" in the school parking lot to get the clutches all lubed up again, so far so good. I've got 245/45/16 A052's on the way this week, track day on the 10th, so just trying to iron out some final projects so it's race ready on the 10th!

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

[tyeler18]

Smallish update- stock tires were really starting to feel like they're coming apart. I've been browsing the facebook marketplace locally for just a half decent replacement set of wheels for the car until I can piece the 5 lug swap parts. These showed up in the middle of the week with new 205/60 bridgestone all seasons. Guy was asking $450, talked him down to $350 and ran into phoenix to grab them late Wednesday night. 16x8 +20 XXR 531's, I'm not much of a fake wheel guy, in fact, I was hoping my local buddy would finally cave and sell me his FN01RC's but he doesn't want me hoarding nice wheels I guess.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Traction is still garbage through 3rd which I didn't expect to improve much anyways. Planning to pull these tiny 205s off and stick a 245/45 A052 or similar on the back and probably a 225/45 front. I had my fender roller at work when I put the wheels on but didn't get time to roll them yet. These fat sidewall 205s rub the fender lip some on really hard dips. Overall though I don't mind the look. A 9" rear would look a lot better but as a temporary wheel these will work for now. Might even run them at this months HPDE event and see how many times I can run off the track.

Next upgrade was in the form of some condor rear subframe bushings. 40ish miles after getting the swap running I ripped the stock 150k diff bushing out of the diff. Swapped a poly in and figured I'd find the next weak (old) link in the driveline. Sure enough, leaving work monday my boss decided he wanted to try and run the car with his 74 K20 we 12V cummins swapped. Grabbed 4th and listened to the lovely sounds of my driveshaft slapping the tunnel as I ripped both rear subframe mounts out of the car. Babied it home and ordered bushings the same night. Swapped them in on friday with the help of a buddy. No pictures of the process, I had been working all day and it was 112F out and humid, we just wanted to get it done so we didn't stop for anything.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

This was one of the more satisfying updates I've done. Brought the 3.73 medium case diff with me to work friday so I could prep it for a rebuild and get all the junk and rust off it. My ears are still ringing from the needle scaler. This is probably 1 hour or more of needle scaling alone. It took 2+ full passes to get it where I was comfortable using a rust reformer. This was how it started in all its rusty nasty glory.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

First pass with the needle scaler. I had rust particles in my nose for hours after knocking the first layer off.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Stuck it in the solvent tank after this to clear all the axle seal grease and road grime off since the needle scaler doesn't do much against grime. Round 2 after cleaning left me with this- you can start to see real metal and it's quite a bit shinier now.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Some of the carnage left over, this shit was all over the shop when I was done.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

First coat of paint was just rust reformer to eliminate all the porous little rust areas.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Axle stubs were sand blasted and hit with gloss black engine enamel, same as the diff

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Next was the rear cover. I didn't want to get crazy with this since I plan to run a dual ear cover, but I wanted it to look half decent for the time being. Stuck it in the chem dip for a few hours which left it with a really dull old (but clean) look to it. Hit it with some duplicolor cast iron colored engine enamel to give it a nicer look.

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

Finished product in gloss black with the cover lightly bolted on

E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

I went to the yard yesterday to grab a 188mm LSD carrier to rebuild and swap into this thing. After spending 5 hours in the heat across way more yards than I normally go to, we couldn't find a single 188mm LSD. Normally there's plenty to choose from, so that was pretty annoying. I'm going to hold off on installing this until I have a carrier for it, but I was so annoyed yesterday I almost plated the spider gears and welded it up just to be able to use it for now. For now it'll sit on the bench along side the other 3 e30 diffs I have accumulated.

[tyeler18]

So my go pro isn't cooperating with uploading videos. It's an older hero 3+ and doesn't want to upload from the APP and it won't upload from the camera itself. Once I get them to upload I'll share them here, in the mean time my tires are definitely starting to separate so I've been as nice to them as I can be but it's time for wheels/tires which is looking like its time for a 5 lug swap. That's the next project if I don't just throw some cheap tires on these wheels.

2 weekends ago I ran up to a buddies to pick up what was supposed to be an open 3.64 Medium case, after getting there i noticed it was a small case. He gave me an e36 4.44 for free with the e30 diff since he was scrapping the car. Figured even though it's a small case I'll use it for the time being. No such luck- I got home and didn't bother to spin the diff at his house. Everything was seized, i popped the cover off and someone had left it sitting out in the rain for a while with no speed sensor. The right side carrier bearing was rusted solid although the ring and pinion look pretty good. I'm not spending time rebuilding a small case diff for this car. Lucky for me I found someone with a 3.73 open medium case local, so friday I went and snagged that guy. She's grimy and has some surface rust, but I've got a needle scaler and a parts washer thatll make this look new again. Now I need to pull a 188mm LSD carrier so I can swap it into this guy. Hopefully the 3.73 and some 25" tires will get first gear back to being usable. If not I'll sell this guy off and grab something a little longer.

Untitled by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr


I've put just over 600 miles on the swap so far, finally going to start calculating fuel mileage. Even with me driving it like a 16 year old with a fresh license it's still looking like itll average a pretty easy mid 20's MPG city. That'll change once it gets a cam, but that's fine with me. My vette averaged 32mpg on both my trips into phoenix for the diffs, if the e30 can even match that I'll be estatic.

[tyeler18]

Sounds like we need some pics of you "boling" them lol

I'll upload some videos when I get home from work tonight, I need to stick my go pro out on the road and get some outside shots because my inside videos are just noise and a near pinned speedometer lol

[2mAn]

Wheels and tires are the big factor right now, the tires are 2008 date code 205's that have sat in the AZ sun up until the last 4 years I've had it in the garage. I've put about 500 miles on them so far with majority of those miles boiling them off the back of the car and they haven't delaminated yet but theyre going to sooner than later.

Sounds like we need some pics of you "boling" them lol

[tyeler18]

Im enjoying the build.

What are the next plans now that its daily ready?

Thanks guys!

Plans now are some MCS coilovers whether that be e36 or e30 I haven't decided yet. I'm planning to 5 lug swap regardless for better wheel options and a removal strut assembly would be ideal for maintenance. Then some 17x8.5s or 17x9's all around. Planning at minimum a 245 rear tire and id like to do what I can to stuff a square 245 up front. The track I race my C5 on has me spinning 305's on the 2-3 shift down the straight so any amount of tire I can get under this thing will be beneficial as its 700lbs lighter than the vette is with a lot more gear.

My poor small case 4.10LSD has been a champ so far, but I'm picking up a medium open 3.46 to convert to LSD. As it is right now I dont even bother with 1st gear, 2nd gear is completely worthless over half throttle and 3rd blows through at WOT. A 245/40/17 and the taller 3.46 will hopefully give me 3rd back and a sticky tire with some throttle mapping should get a little more useable power for 2nd.

That's about it for plans other than driving it. I'll send it in for paint and body work at the end of the year and just cleaning things up in the car until then. Wheels and tires are the big factor right now, the tires are 2008 date code 205's that have sat in the AZ sun up until the last 4 years I've had it in the garage. I've put about 500 miles on them so far with majority of those miles boiling them off the back of the car and they haven't delaminated yet but theyre going to sooner than later.

[2mAn]

Im enjoying the build.

What are the next plans now that its daily ready?