Z3 LS1 Swap

[fallguy]

He has a build tread on here, I think he is building headers at this point.

The mounts are really heavy duty. The trans mount is a tank. But nice design.

[Venom13132]

I emailed him and he replied. $350 for the motor and trans mounts. He will have a few sets ready in two weeks or so.

[Venom13132]

Those mounts look good and probably way stronger than needed. The bracing on the engine mount could present challenges with running your fluid lines and such.
Especially on the left with oil and power steering lines, headers and steering column, it gets challenging to find a path for everything. The mount is right in there as well.
Its all a big puzzle. Fun to do and rewarding when done.

Robust is definitely a good thing though when you are putting a powerful engine into a car! These look similar to what I used in my 3rd gen RX7 as far as strength goes. I had a hinson kit in my FD first go around and it mounted to the stock trans mount location and I ripped the stock mount points out on a hard launch with good track prep and shitty tires. So I went to the Samberg kit which I think was a much better kit and had its own custom mounting points. I think the bmw has more robust mounting points for the transmission than the RX7 did though.

[fallguy]

350$ makes them one of the least expensive mounts out there. And the quality is one of the highest IMO.

The CXracing are more money I think. And the quality is not even close.

[Venom13132]

CX racing is pretty similar cost but you are right the quality difference is very noticeable even just in pictures.

[PbFut]

I bought a set of CX headers and their trans mount after a few years of using my own parts. I had made my own mounts but wanted something a little better for the tranny. I knew the CX trans mount would not fit my setup as I use a Jerico box. The build quality was very good. Fit was perfect without my tranny in place. I cut their mount up to fit my need and resulted is a much stronger version than my initial attempt. Their mount uses all six mount holes in the unibody. I am sure anyone using CX parts would be very happy with them.
The headers are way better than expected for the price. It would be my choice if doing again and not making my own. If you have basic welding skills, it is a weekend job to fab your own mounts. Really more like 6 hours but I went super slow and triple checked as I set it all up. Just pay attention to drive shaft angle. It's really a lot easier than you think. I've said before, the mounts were probably the easiest part of the whole project. I did my swap before any of the kits were available.

[gmushial]

Not to hijack the thread: but in CA we have to deal with smog inspections... and the crate motors are no problem, as long as one uses standard off production car parts... and so many have gotten 99.99% of the way there, only to get hung up on headers, ie, the cast iron exhaust manifolds that normally would be used, have clearance problems, so they use custom tube headers, and leads to a denial of the inspection sticker... since this is looking like a interesting route for what to do with the old '99 2.5L: in doing LS swaps into Z3s - is there a setup that uses strictly factory parts that fit (this is assuming one uses a custom lower steering column to provide some leeway)? A related question is: the 1.9 and 2.5's use smaller diameter and shorter (longer??) half-shafts: are those up to LS torque, or does one have to convert over the 3.0 half-shafts?

[JoshS]

A related question is: the 1.9 and 2.5's use smaller diameter and shorter (longer??) half-shafts: are those up to LS torque, or does one have to convert over the 3.0 half-shafts?

Your question (should a V8 swap use 3.0 halfshafts?) is valid and I don't know the answer (but it's probably "it couldn't hurt!"), but wanted to clarify for future readers of the thread ...

You've confused your halfshafts. 1.9 uses 26mm, short halfshafts. 2.5 and 2.8 (M52, M52tu, M54) all use 27mm, long halfshafts. 3.0 uses 38mm(!), long halfshafts. And then the Ms use 27mm, short halfshafts.

[fallguy]

You've confused your halfshafts. 1.9 uses 26mm, short halfshafts. 2.5 and 2.8 (M52, M52tu, M54) all use 27mm, long halfshafts. 3.0 uses 38mm(!), long halfshafts. And then the Ms use 27mm, short halfshafts.

so the 3.0 has the strongest shafts out of all the z3's?

[gmushial]

Your question (should a V8 swap use 3.0 halfshafts?) is valid and I don't know the answer (but it's probably "it couldn't hurt!"), but wanted to clarify for future readers of the thread ...

You've confused your halfshafts. 1.9 uses 26mm, short halfshafts. 2.5 and 2.8 (M52, M52tu, M54) all use 27mm, long halfshafts. 3.0 uses 38mm(!), long halfshafts. And then the Ms use 27mm, short halfshafts.

Thanks for the clarification... and as such, it sounds like the upgrade to 3.0 half-shafts is a real step up in terms of strength (assuming equal steel etc) - in that such represents an almost doubling in cross-section (1.98x actually).

- - - Updated - - -

so the 3.0 has the strongest shafts out of all the z3's?

Unless the steel in the ///M shafts has at least 1.98x the specific strength... looks like it. :-)

[fallguy]

Hollow vs solid? I'm pretty sure the 3.0 is hollow.

[PbFut]

I don't think the shaft it's self is the weak link. Likely the CV will come apart before the shaft. BTw, I have had zero issue with the shafts, CVs were a small problem for a while until I got them righted.
As for CA smog on a swap. As far as I know, you would have to swap in the chevy fuel tank and all the other shit remotely related to fuel and exhaust. Swaps in California are pretty much out. My car is track only.

[Thedudeinshades]

The z3 gets the speed signal from the differential. So that makes it easy.

Did you finish this? Trying to do the same swap and running into so much misinformation. 99 fbody ls1 to 2000 m52tu Z3. How did you get tach to work? How about traction control and cruise?