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    LS1 swap 318IS

    Mods as of 7-25-20

    Engine: 98 LS1- stock cam, Milled 243 heads
    Sikky 1-7/8" Longtubes
    3" dual exhaust, 3" x-pipe, Dual 3" magnaflow 14419 mufflers
    4" intake
    Sikky 7 QT oil pan
    Earl's remote mount oil filter housing

    Cooling:
    LS2 waterpump
    Becool 35202 radiator
    SPAL 12" 1800CFM fan

    Fuel:
    Walbro 255
    28lb LS1 injectors
    AEM AFPR

    Drivetrain:
    T56 trans, stock clutch and flywheel
    PST 3" aluminum drive shaft, JTR 1310 U-joint conversion flange
    MGW short shifter

    Steering/supension:
    ZHP steering rack
    Condor airbag column steering coupler
    Condor offset FCAB's

    Brakes:
    E30-LS1 remote hydroboost


    Exhaust video:


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

    Last edited by tyeler18; 07-25-2020, 01:08 PM.

    #2
    I'll try and keep this short to start. Hoping to use this thread to document the progress of this car. To start, I'm a die hard mitsubishi guy. I currently own 8 mitsubishi vehicles ranging from a built evo 8, to an LS swapped boosted montero. I've always had 4g63 cars, but also wanted an e30 as a fun track toy. I currently race a C5 corvette and would like to let my girlfriend race that since the e30 is less...containable? I've owned my e30 since October of 2016. I had a dodge colt at the time we planned to 4g63 AWD swap (ive had a few), a local buddy had one of my AWD shells and wanted a nice donor car to get interior and body panels off of to fix it up. One of his customers had blown up her e30 on the highway that she'd owned since 1993 and decided to leave the car with them. I jokingly offered to trade my colt for the e30 and my buddy, not knowing much about them was more than willing to make the trade. This is how I received it, dirty, sun beat, with a locked solid M42, but clean and untouched otherwise.

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


    After a few months of deciding what to do with the car, realizing that every M42 I looked at was either junk like mine or questionable condition, I decided why not stick an LS in it? I owned an LS trans am that I sold to buy my house and loved the car. My girlfriend figured the e30 would make a great trans am replacement, with a better chassis, lighter and much more built around an HPDE setup than my trans am would've been. Browsing the marketplace for a few weeks I came across a 98 camaro that had an engine fire. Seller was asking $2000 for the car. The harness was melted along with the plastic LS1 intake manifold, but aside from that the whole car was there in relatively good shape. The real kicker- its a t56 car with 117k. The seller was cashed out by insurance and just wanted to get rid of the car at that point. He had hooker headers on it that were nearly brand new and wouldn't come down from his price because of that, so I offered him $1200 and told him I'd pull the headers off and bring them back to him. Crazily he agreed, so I load a buddies truck and trailer and brought it home, dropped it off at my shop and had the entire drivetrain out the next morning.

    E30 build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

    Midway through the build the waterpump in my 400k montero decided to call it quits. Realizing the anemic 3.0 wasnt cutting it for what I use the truck for I decided to pick up a 6.0, 4l80 and tcase to LS swap the truck. The e30 sat on the back burner for about a year and a half while my montero build snowballed into a boosted 6.0 setup. I finished the truck last year and began focusing on the e30 again. I had been slowly accumulating parts for the build over the past few years, trying to compile a reliable track setup, that didnt sacrifice any daily amenities. I wanted power steeing, power brakes, cruise control, A/C and anything else that would allow me to daily the car and race it when I wanted. The corvette has been a great all around car, i drive it to the track, run 20 minute sessions and drive it home- that's what I wanted with the e30.

    In an attempt to keep this semi short I'll post a few photos from the build with plans to break down some of the mods and add pictures to future posts documenting the process.

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

    I was never a fan of the factory reds, after a lot of deliberation we decided to go to delphin grey. A couple of pics from the process. I knew if i didn't do the engine bay before sticking the engine back in, I wouldn't want to do it anytime soon. Cleaned:
    E30 build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

    Base+Clear:
    E30 build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr
    E30 build by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

    The whole car will be done eventually, for now I started buffing some of the red just so the body doesn't look too horrible. Single stage does buff out pretty nice.

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

    Becool 35202 radiator to handle cooling- I run this same radiator in my boosted montero and it never goes over 210F with the A/C cranked on a 115F AZ day. The truck has a giant trans cooler, intercooler, and part of the frame rail blocking with just a single taurus fan to cool it. So far it's been a beast in the e30 as well. I haven't had it on track yet, but I'm more than confident that it will maintain temps during 20 minute sessions.

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

    Currently waiting for the rest of my images to upload, so I'll slowly be adding to this. I've put about 100 miles on the car so far in the past 2 weeks and aside from ripping the diff bushing to shreds it's been holding up great. My small case 4.10's are going to be the next to explode, but the car doesn't have enough traction to actually break them yet as it is.

    Comment


      #3
      Now that I think my posts are editing properly- slowly adding back into this. Its 115F in Arizona right now, A/C was the last major project on this swap to make it dailyable. I've accumulated the rest of the parts needed to get the A/C done.

      This car was already converted to 134a, but the PO left the stock condenser. ADL condenser to convert to serpentine as well as a new drier.
      E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

      E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr

      F-body adapter fitting for the suction and discharge line as well as the biggest pain of a fitting to find. I'm using the LS trinary pressure switch to run the fans which meant I needed a fitting to install the sensor. Plenty of aluminum fittings, and plenty of adapter fittings, but I wanted to braze a fitting in. AP-Air was the only online company that listed a steel braze on fitting. $5 for the fitting, $21 shipping but it works great.

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

      Factory suction and discharge hoses have new A/C barbs brazed on. Just need to crimp the hoses going to and from the compressor.

      E30 by Tyeler Andersen, on Flickr


      Hopefully have nice cold air before the end of the weekend!
      Last edited by tyeler18; 08-11-2020, 06:30 PM.

      Comment


        #4
        We are finally daily ready! Spent part of last night after work and earlier this morning finishing up the A/C system. This was much easier than the swap I did in my montero which required building a nearly entirely new A/C system to adapt to the LS. A couple of A/C fittings and some #8 and #10 barrier hose and I was set. Used the A/C crimping tool I have at work to crimp the lines after routing them where I wanted. Flushed everything, evac'd it down to make sure it held vacuum.

        I went with F-body oil capacity so 9oz of pag 150 and then charged it with 1.6lbs of 134a. I tried to bump it up to 1.75lbs as it seems it could use a small amount more and still get colder but the high side pressures jumped almost 50psi with just .15lbs more so I sucked it back out to 1.6lbs. I only have a single 12" spal fan and the seemingly weak OE condenser fan. I've been planning to add a second spal to the back of the radiator and I'll probably stick a 14" spal on the front to ditch the stock one, that should be plenty to keep the pressures down. All in all I'm very satisfied, i think my temp probe is off because it feels significantly colder, but I didn't bother to check. With 1.6lbs I have 58F duct temps at idle in 104F+ heat, 54F duct temps at 2000rpm. It feels like its blowing high 40's, but either way a 50F+ split at the duct is perfectly fine with me, its plenty cold enough to want to turn it down from high while driving.

        I also added the 3 wire GM pressure transducer which worked out perfectly with the stock corvette OS that I have flashed on. Wasn't sure if I was going to have to make adjustments in the tune since the vette are serial enabled and this is wired for analog. I now have full fan control based on temp and A/C pressure which was the main goal of the pressure sensor. My montero is run on high/low switches like the e30 is stock, but you can't control the fans with high/low switches so I have a diode and trigger tied into the fan off the A/C clutch. This was much simpler and arguably cleaner.

        Added a few pics to show some hose routing if anyone wants to go this route. This was very cheap to do. Im excited to finally be able to start looming the harness. Just need to wire in my flex fuel pigtail and I can button the harness all the way up. Then itll be time for actual track mods, paint, and just driving the hell out of it like I planned.

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

        Comment


          #5
          great little build!
          1991 318is
          2004 330ci
          2011 335d

          Comment


            #6
            Im enjoying the build.

            What are the next plans now that its daily ready?
            Simon
            Current Cars:
            -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

            Make R3V Great Again -2020

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by 2mAn View Post
              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.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by tyeler18 View Post
                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
                Simon
                Current Cars:
                -1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle

                Make R3V Great Again -2020

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by 2mAn View Post

                  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

                  Comment


                    #10
                    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.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      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.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        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

                        Comment


                          #13
                          amazing work and pics

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by tyeler18 View Post
                            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
                            The first car I ever rode in was an e30

                            Originally posted by Cabriolet
                            Wish you the best and hope you don't remember anything after 10pm.



                            1992 Mauritiusblau Vert
                            2011 Alpinweiss 335is coupe

                            2002 540i/6 Black/Black
                            2003 GSX-R 750 (RIP)

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by agisthos View Post
                              amazing work and pics
                              Thank you!

                              Originally posted by Vivek View Post

                              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.

                              Comment

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