E36 M3 Sedan + LS1/T56 + Samberg Kit

[Pzary3233]

No joke!!!! The money tree needs to grow a bit!

[Tongboy]

Went over to Braaps place to have some codes pulled. Had him take it for a spin to encourage him to finish up his swap. Thanks again Paul

15 codes I think it was, the list is in the car - had like ~4 of them perm disabled becuase I don't care about them, fuel level sensor error, skipshift solenoid error. couple of other good codes I need to solve and fair amount of emissions related ones that I need to plug the emissions stuff back into.

and, finally a chance for me to post a video of it running since I wasn't driving

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-MWbvh7K_o[/ame]

and there might be another video of it roasting the rear tires :o
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReUbdhsKusY[/ame]

[MikeJTR]

I knew Tongboy was friendly, but I didn't think he would want you to sit on his lap to do the video.

[BRAAP]

Was trying to get the pics posted before Jermiah got back home, didn’t make it..

Any how, Tongboy stopped by this morning with this car. We did a bit of chatting, pulled PCM codes so he knows what to address, then he tossed me the keys, hopped in back, M3Z jumped in passenger seat and off we went.

FUN FUN FUN! Thank you Jeremiah for letting us beat on your M.

Driving impressions;
1) It is easy to drive, very much like driving a stock M3. All pedals are soft and easy, steering felt like it wants to feel normal, (has a P/S pump/reservoir issue that when resolved will feel much like stock)

2) Power of the LS1 is torque everywhere, very much like the M3 engine, just more of it, everywhere! Very easy to drive. Clutch pedal take up is smooth, starts to grab at mid travel with a nice amount of travel from initial take up to full engagement. Brake pedal is very soft, probably softer than stock which would follow that 2 valve engines generally build more vacuum than 4 valve engines, therefore would be more boost in the vacuum assist.

3) Jeremiah mentioned he wants a slightly deeper final drive, I didn’t do any launching, just mild flogging on our tight twisty back roads that Jeremiah kept calling "driving heaven", gearing for that felt OK, though again wasn’t launching or pushing that hard.

4) The car is deceptively quick. Speedo registers 100 quicker than it feels like the car would reach that speed, nice smooth power delivery, easy to manage, never explosive. Sooo looking forward to getting mine on the road.

5) The Poly mounts are rigid! Jeremiah says there is more than 1/8” between his booster and valve cover, my machinist-eye says it's less than 1/8”, regardless there are no signs of the valve cover bumping the booster, that we could see any how. With the firm mounts comes a noticeable engine buzz into the chassis, most felt in the steering, pedals and shifter. In our short jaunt it wasn’t obnoxious and when we picked up the pace a bit the buzziness was not strong enough to distract the driver from the chore of driving. During the portions we were tootling is when it stood out most. Definitely my first choice for mounts in a race car with so little power train movement and not overly intrusive buzziness!


Didn’t take much arm twisting for Jeremaih to hand over his car to our team racing driver for a foggy burnout.
Some say His scrotum has its own small gravity field, and that if you insult his mother, he will head butt you in the chest. All we know is, he's called The Oregon Stig

(My apologies for the terrible quality)

[bimerok]

Nice!

[Tongboy]

I knew Tongboy was friendly, but I didn't think he would want you to sit on his lap to do the video.

running & driving e36 swaps do weird things to a guy, what can I say

[Schitzo]

Driving impressions;
1) steering felt like it wants to feel normal, (has a P/S pump/reservoir issue that when resolved will feel much like stock)

Could you comment further on this issue. I am having somewhat of a similar issue. I used the BMW reservoir and I think I mounted it a little too low (its almost level with the pump inlet) When I turn I can hear the pump whine. I do have a solution in the works but wondering how you guys are planning to fix the issue.

[Tongboy]

Could you comment further on this issue. I am having somewhat of a similar issue. I used the BMW reservoir and I think I mounted it a little too low (its almost level with the pump inlet) When I turn I can hear the pump whine. I do have a solution in the works but wondering how you guys are planning to fix the issue.

your pump is hungry for fluid.

i'm using the stock gm reservoir that is mounted on top of the pump - it's leaking slowly out of the top (and the bottom...) so if I top it off it pumps all that fluid out realy quickly and then slowly leaks the rest out - so it'll whine for like 50 miles between top ups but if I fill it all the way up it'll be quite for like 3 miles - pump all the fluid out and leak again.

i've got a new pump/reservoir in the mail that should be here tomorrow - once it's not leaking i'll be able to top it up and it'll be nice and quiet/smooth.

I think there is also something to be said for the solid steering shaft instead of the rubberized one...

[Schitzo]

your pump is hungry for fluid.

i'm using the stock gm reservoir that is mounted on top of the pump - it's leaking slowly out of the top (and the bottom...) so if I top it off it pumps all that fluid out realy quickly and then slowly leaks the rest out - so it'll whine for like 50 miles between top ups but if I fill it all the way up it'll be quite for like 3 miles - pump all the fluid out and leak again.

i've got a new pump/reservoir in the mail that should be here tomorrow - once it's not leaking i'll be able to top it up and it'll be nice and quiet/smooth.

I think there is also something to be said for the solid steering shaft instead of the rubberized one...

thanks for the info. I agree the way I have the reservoir positioned is starving the pump. I ordered a C5 corvette reservoir. I hope that will fix the issues.

Glad your car is up and running.

EDIT: quick question, are you using ATF or power steering fluid?

[Zander]

running & driving e36 swaps do weird things to a guy, what can I say

James told me you were done and posted vids so I had to see them. Good work buddy! Makes me all the more motivated to get mine done before the 26th for the NW BMW Motorfest.

You and Braap are coming right?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1506630

Would be a good opportunity for a little lsx meet up .

[Tongboy]

thanks for the info. I agree the way I have the reservoir positioned is starving the pump. I ordered a C5 corvette reservoir. I hope that will fix the issues.

Glad your car is up and running.

EDIT: quick question, are you using ATF or power steering fluid?

I'm using power steering fluid - once I get it to not leak anymore i'll drain the generic stuff out and put in some of that sweet sweet german power steering fluid.

hmm - upon a quick google it looks like the e36's drink ATF for power steering fluid instead of the crazy german power steering fluid I feed my VW & what I fed my e34 540 (pentosin CHF11s or something like that.) we'll see what I decide to feed it. I'll feed it something BMW related as i'd rather replace 10 $50 - easily reachable and replaceable pumps before I want to have to replace a rack, not that it's particularly hard to get to.

James told me you were done and posted vids so I had to see them. Good work buddy! Makes me all the more motivated to get mine done before the 26th for the NW BMW Motorfest.

You and Braap are coming right?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1506630

Would be a good opportunity for a little lsx meet up .

Thanks, get yours done - don't get stopped up with the headers and other stuff that might slow you down!

16 days is the time to beat

I might just see about making that, would be fun to get mocked by the purists and then be faster than them.

On a side note - I've basically been driving the car around all day like a total bastard and just now coming back from dinner I started having driveshaft rubbing issues again...

[Zander]

16 days is the time to beat

Already got me beat . I am however a bit worried since the parts for the steering shaft which are quite crucial right now wont be here till the 14th. That would leave me 11 days to finish the swap from there. I am half tempted just so we can get the headers done is to make a mock steering shaft to run the pipes around till we get the actual in.
so far here is my to do list.
Run wiring for whole motor
Build steering shaft
have driveshaft built (takes 1 day to make)
Build driver side header and have them welded
re enforce the subframe ( less than a day)
purchase a lsd and install ( Couple hours )
install big brake kit
install new shocks
install new sway bars( Few hours worth of work)
send in PCM to get re flashed ( dont know how long that will take )
run exhaust ( dont know how long that will take )
Put interior back together
Put front end back together

there are some other minor things to do here and there but that is pretty much it. Most of that stuff I could do in a day. Would have most of that stuff done already if I wasnt waiting on parts .

[Tongboy]

you're missing some pretty big to do items on there :o

power steering lines, cooling lines, fuel system - it all adds up. if you don't have parts in the mail get them on the way fast!

have you looked at off the shelf flaming river stuff or just buying the vorschlag piece? i'm pretty sure it's all off the shelf parts.

wiring is seriously surprisingly easy to do quickly... I still need to do it correctly.

[Zander]

you're missing some pretty big to do items on there :o

power steering lines, cooling lines, fuel system - it all adds up. if you don't have parts in the mail get them on the way fast!

have you looked at off the shelf flaming river stuff or just buying the vorschlag piece? i'm pretty sure it's all off the shelf parts.

wiring is seriously surprisingly easy to do quickly... I still need to do it correctly.

Fuel system. Done
Power steering lines. Done
Cooling lines. kind of half done.
The only hard cooling line stuff we have left is the heater core lines. The front should be cake.
The only real big things we have left is the headers, exhaust, rear subframe re enforcement (starting that tomorrow), and steering shaft. Otherwise its just simple stupid little shit.
All the stuff I need is in the mail now. Its just a matter of waiting for it all to get here. The sway bars should be the last thing to arrive. Everything else I need minus the PCM will be here before the 15th. We need to get that PCM mailed out.

[Pzary3233]

Nicely done!

Braap, thanks for the feedback on how the car felt! I cannot wait for mine to be done... oh it's so far away...

[BRAAP]

James told me you were done and posted vids so I had to see them. Good work buddy! Makes me all the more motivated to get mine done before the 26th for the NW BMW Motorfest.

You and Braap are coming right?

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1506630

Would be a good opportunity for a little lsx meet up .

Will try to make it, no guarantees. I'll mention it to M3Z as well.

[Tongboy]

ah, the best sound in the world is no power steering pump whine and no leaks anymore.

[Pzary3233]

How did you fix your issues?

[Tongboy]

bought a used power steering pump with a reservoir for about what just a reservoir would have cost me.

I've gotten pretty quick at pulling the pump and installing/removing the pulley, did the whole swap in about 30 minutes over lunch.

[RahgBag]

This makes me miss driving mine

It's currently sitting on stands waiting on me to have enough time to pull everything out again for the second part of my project: cleaning up all the ghettoness that I created with part one. And fixing that pesky clutch problem.

[Pzary3233]

^ Bummer!

I was reading some LS1 tech threads and found some info on pressures:
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conver...truck-etc.html

What are people's thoughts on these?

[Tongboy]

Pzary - i'm interested in how the E36 rack and stock power steering pump compares to the ls1 stuff pressure wise - I'd like to match it up close - I personally think the feel of my car requires more effort for steering than I would like - in comparison to my m5 - even with sport mode on it takes quite a bit more effort to spin the wheels around.

automerge:

had a fun unexpected issue last night - roommate goes to move my car last night and he comes back inside and goes "is there a trick to making it start" - "uh, turn the key?" and I walk outside and it smells like gas, a lot of gas. I turn the key to run the fuel pump and sure enough - fuel comes pouring out of the engine bay. pop the hood and the russell AN -> 3/8 snap on adapter had pulled out and was just DUMPING fuel.

we pushed it into the garage and I finagled with it - it looks like there needs to be some sort of keeper to keep the plastic tabs on the outside spread so it doesn't want to pull out but i've never heard of anyone else having this issue. I worked out a quick hold on piece with the stock fuel piece that looks like it will work for now but I'm worried about it and want something more important before it sees track time...

[Schitzo]

Dont know if this would apply to the E36, but for my swap, I did some research on the E39 vs Ls1 power steering pump output. The info i found showed the stock 528i pump put out about 1600 - 1700 psi while the corvette pump is at 1300 psi. I can definetly tell the steering wheel is heavy especially when parking. not sure I will do anything about it yet.

[Pzary3233]

Pzary - i'm interested in how the E36 rack and stock power steering pump compares to the ls1 stuff pressure wise - I'd like to match it up close - I personally think the feel of my car requires more effort for steering than I would like - in comparison to my m5 - even with sport mode on it takes quite a bit more effort to spin the wheels around.

automerge:

had a fun unexpected issue last night - roommate goes to move my car last night and he comes back inside and goes "is there a trick to making it start" - "uh, turn the key?" and I walk outside and it smells like gas, a lot of gas. I turn the key to run the fuel pump and sure enough - fuel comes pouring out of the engine bay. pop the hood and the russell AN -> 3/8 snap on adapter had pulled out and was just DUMPING fuel.

we pushed it into the garage and I finagled with it - it looks like there needs to be some sort of keeper to keep the plastic tabs on the outside spread so it doesn't want to pull out but i've never heard of anyone else having this issue. I worked out a quick hold on piece with the stock fuel piece that looks like it will work for now but I'm worried about it and want something more important before it sees track time...

I love a heavy wheel... personally...

I wonder what the output is on the BMW pump?

I've heard of people having issues with the Russell fitting before... but it's a hit or miss case.

[garretvs]

Dorman fuel line fittings are OEM, cost less and don't come off without a removal tool