All right, so I finally decided to nut up and make an e30 Buildup thread! We're making good progress on our swap and we are expecting to have it running by summer! I guess this will put little extra pressure on us to work faster!
My name is Garret Van Swearingen, my dad is Steve. I go to the University of Washington and am pursuing an ME degree. My dad is Cheif Mechanical Engineer for AIT, a company that does Aerospace Automation. I'm saying this because we've modeled up some of parts in CATIA v5 and run FEA on them (Engine Mounts). Here is a brief history of our swap and what motivated us to do this! We've been wanting to do an engine swap for a long time, and last year we learned of the Vorshlag e36. We began looking for an e36 and were on the verge of selling my e30 when I came across the Jagermeister e30 LS1, and immediately decided to do the same to my e30. Within week we had purchased an LS1 with a T56, driveshaft, all accessories, etc. With one last celebratory thrashing late at night of the m20 (pretty much drove the shit out of it, I started it up the next morning with some nice white smoke coming from the exhaust...lol) we began the tear down. Here is a sparse picture journal documenting what's gone on since last summer.
We have much more documentation then this including CATIA models, receipts, pictures, wiring diagrams, etc. For those interested, when we are finished we WILL compile all of what we have done and how we did it and sell it at a very reasonable price. We may even consider making some of the custom bits like Motor Mounts, Tranny mount, etc.
Finally, since I'm at school and can only work on this when I go home on the weekends work has been a little slow, but it is coming along. Oh, and I know that our steering rack is a little rusted but it's getting replaced this week, as well as that the bay is a little dirty, but it will be cleaned immensely for the final install. Also, we will be getting rid of the metal bumers. lol...Enjoy!
Bringing the LS1 home
Pulling the m20
Our, "holy shit will this thing really fit" moment!
I had to....
I was tired taking out the old driveshaft....
Test fit of the T56
A little hammering on the tranny tunnel
Foamie mock up chillin in the Engine bay...Damn does that look nice!
Test fit of Radiator
Comes right up through the original hole!
Our modified GTO front sump oil pan to fit over the crossmember
This is going to make the rear end no problem!
Welded up Engine Mounts
That's it for now, I'm in class on my laptop so maybe I should pay attention...
Hope that I didn't screw up any of the images...
E30-LS1 Swap Guide and Kits, email us at e30ls1@gmail.com !!! or check our website e30ls1.wordpress.com
Looks good!
Rob
Prior projects:
1998 540i with 6.6 LS2/T56 Chevy Power
- pictures and details
1992 325i with 6.6 LS2/T56 Chevy power - pictures and details
1995 M3 with 6.6 LS2/T56 Chevy power - pictures and details
what car whas this to start? that looks like it will be fun
It was an 86 325es....it will soon be an 86' 357 is.....
E30-LS1 Swap Guide and Kits, email us at e30ls1@gmail.com !!! or check our website e30ls1.wordpress.com
Looking good bro
Great pics...keep 'em coming!
1991 e30 318is Slicktop - Gone
1996 LS1 Z3 - Gone
99 e46 323i - Gone
2003 e46 xiT - Hers
2014 F-250 CC- Mostly stock
Good looking! Points for teh e30 Keep us posted with updates!!!
1999 M3
2001 525iA
2007 F150 Sold
1995 M3 Sold
1987 528e Sold
1985 325e Sold
This may be a dumb question, but what is the advantage of an LS-1 over a regular aluminum small block chevy? Is it smaller or lighter?
Richard
Wow, that project is awesome man, thanks for sharing and keep the pics coming
Current:
Alpine White E46 325i Touring S54 6MT
Titanium Silver E39 540i Touring M-Sport S62 6MT
Past:
Alpine White E46 330i ZHP Sedan S54 6MT
Interlagos Blue E85 Z4 M Roadster 6MT
Le Mans Blue E92 M3 6MT
Japan Red E46 325i Touring S54 6MT
Estoril Blue Individual E46 M3 Coupe 6MT
Cosmos Black E36 M3 Coupe S54 6MT
Alpine White E92 M3 6MT
Alpine White E90 M3 6MT
Laguna Seca Blue E46 M3 Coupe 6MT
Jet Black E36 325is S52 5MT
Lagoon Green E36 325is 5MT
I wish my dad was an engineer. .............. Thanks for sharing!
Glad to see there are young hot rodders out there to take over for us old farts! I put a 1 pce driveshaft in mine, same type of rear u-joint. I don't know if it matters to you, but Inland Empire Driveline markets trans yokes w/ removable caps. I had to use one for my E32 conversion. Keep it up, looks good.
Garret, does SX300 mean anything to you?
Up for a fellow Washington IET Major!!!!
I like your motor mount design--clean, simple and strong. Love to see some more close-ups of the oil pan mods.
E30-LS1 Swap Guide and Kits, email us at e30ls1@gmail.com !!! or check our website e30ls1.wordpress.com
for some reason those motor mounts look to me like they are going to break, Im sure you dod knows what he is doing but why are they off set forward? with that long horizantal leg and 90 degree angle... I dono the'll probaly work fine though looks like thick metal and nice welds. I probably would used a more triangulated design
will der Schnurrbart Behandlung?
www.leistungmotorwerkes.com
Wow....looks like a good start.
2008 E92 M3
2011 E90 335xi
2007 E70 X5 4.8i
1994 E36 M3 Euro Spec
Gone:
1986 E30 "327i" hybrid
1992 E36 325i/4
We put them forward because headers are going to be a pain and that gives us extra room. We also did a bunch of FEA (finite element analysis) with 3D spacemodels (CATIA v5)to see if they would break. We put 700lbs vertically and 350lbs horizontally at the same time, but the real amount that we'll see is 1/2 the engine weight + half the torque which is gonna be 250lbs+175lbs=425lbs. Also the horizontal beam in the model was 1 inch longer than it really is, so we should be good.
E30-LS1 Swap Guide and Kits, email us at e30ls1@gmail.com !!! or check our website e30ls1.wordpress.com
well it sounds like you have done your homework, 700 lbs verticle seems like alot.(and its a light engine) you are using the factory rubber mounts so I think that would help absorb alot more than if you were using solid mounts. I'm not an expert by far but it seems like there is alot of stress involved with hard shifting, bouncing revlimiters, hitting hard bumps in the road.ect. its not like you are building a race car and you would through thousands of dollars out the window with a dnf, it would only be a minor inconvience if you were to have one break. there is a high probability it wont though, I have seen some pretty hagard looking abominations hold up.
I want to see some vids of this beast when you are done!
will der Schnurrbart Behandlung?
www.leistungmotorwerkes.com
Allright, so it's finals time for me so I haven't been working on it much lately but here is the latest:
We got out new steering rack and that will be going in this weekend...probably. We got a hydro boost brake booster and found out that it WON'T fit where the old booster went so we need to make a linkage for a remote setup of the hydro boost. Here's a model of what the linkage is going to look like mounted to the firewall.
E30-LS1 Swap Guide and Kits, email us at e30ls1@gmail.com !!! or check our website e30ls1.wordpress.com
Garret,
SX300 is a kit airplane, the Swearingen SX300 to be accurate. Talking about your father being in the Aeorspace industry and being a DIY guy it was too many coincidences.
Go here for more info: sx300group.org/index.htm
You may want to consider manuvering loads ... compression bumps in the road, vibration, etc, especially if you decide to hit the track. Despite the car being ground based you might want to shoot for some kind of safety factor like 5 or 10 since weight (relatively) is not really as much as a problem as it would be in an airplane. I know if they break on the ground it wouldn't be the problem it is in the air but it could still tear the hell out of your car.
2 cents worth from a design engineer who gets to work with the smart structures guys everyday.
cheers,
Dave Menheere
I've daily driven my e30 for a couple years now while I saved up to do a ls6 swap in my Camaro. With this insight I might be doing the swap on my Camaro later...
Any hassles with the swap yet,
I have heard about the master cylinder placement being an issue as well as the steering rack, but have heard using the e34 cylinder which moves it infront of the engine and using a Z3 rack make this work. Also what are you going to be doing as far as the rear end. With power such as that you need to have a good dif to hook up the power.
I am in the Bay area and you are more then welcome to come down and see what I am doing with the E24/LS6. Email me and we could set up a time if you like.
ed@mwrench.com
Ed
Bookmarks