1992 E36 325i LS build

[lloydjoe]

Figured its about time I register here and start posting stuff and saving relevant information. This will the second car I have done a conversion with, the first one was a 1989 dodge colt that I put a 2.0 turbo in and made all wheel drive. It was a blast to drive but too stiff, too loud, and not reliable enough to cruise on the highway. The setup that was in it should of been around 400 hp at the wheels (closest awd dyno is 5 hours away, been there once and blew a coolant line at 4500 rpm but was at 340 whp).

Anyways, I been searching for a clean E36 for a year or so, found a clean 1992 325i that was imported to Canada about 4 years ago and parked with just over 77,000 kms. The car has 0 rust, dents and no major repairs are needed. I don't know much about it but I am finding out some new things every now and then. It seems to be made to the Euro specs, it has the glass headlights with projectors in the low beams (with the leveling motors), city lights, front and rear fog lights, jatco auto tranny and the vanos system. From what I found out the American ones didn't get the vanos until `93. The jatco tranny has 3 different modes it can run in (sport, economy and snow), I am not sure if all BMW auto transmissions are like that or just the jatco setup? I have read many posts with LS swaps and it seems most people use a stock LS1, probably because of the cost and fuel mileage I think. I wanted something with a bit more power and a bit more unique. I probably wont be happy with just 400 hp so its getting tweaked a bit.

I replaced the fuel pump with an areomotive unit already as it was seized and it now runs with no issues. The fuel gauge doesn't seem to be totally accurate, there is 20 liters of fuel in it and it reads over 1/2 full already. I have a L92 that is getting built up, using the LS3 stuff for more options for cams. Bought the Vorshlag components for the swap, a T56 transmission with gear ratios of 2.97/2.07/1.43/1.00/.74/.50 and a twin disc clutch. Need to find some interior parts for the console/clutch setup as the car currently is an automatic.







After I get the car inspected and insured I will be starting to pull the stock drivetrain components out and will probably try to sell them as they will be of no use to me. Anyways, thats about it for now. If anyone has any questions/suggestions I would be glad to hear them even if they are negative. Mainly if anyone has any more info on the differences between the Euro/American versions that would be cool.

[lloydjoe]

Drove all day yesterday and picked up most of the swap stuff at the Montana border crossing.







Along with some other stuff that Vorshlag offers for the swap. I did get the proper yoke for the transmission, I am aware the driveshaft will most likely be too short and will need to have the tube cut out and a longer one welded in then balanced. It seems like there is no consistent measurement between the magnum transmission and the block so I bought just the normal bell housing and when I pick the motor up at the end of the month I will be able to start measuring stuff up.

Next bunch of stuff to get is:
order auto-manual interior swap stuff
EFI system (probably going with the MSD Atomic LS system)
motor accessories (ps pump, alternator, water pump)

[lloydjoe]

Motor mated to the transmission and headers.

It has the wrong harmonic balancer on it right now, but I still need to order all the accessories for the front of it anyways.





Tomorrow will be test fitting it in the car

[ckpitt55]

Crane rockers. Nice. You might have already done it but make sure you check the wipe pattern on the valve stem and shim as necessary to get the right geometry. Aluminum arms don't take kindly to too much misalignment - especially if you're going to be throwing a cam and springs at it.

[lloydjoe]

Thanks, and it was built by a motor shop that has been in business for almost 30 years now, so I imagine it should be good.

Bad thing with those rockers though is they dont fit under the stock valve covers so taller ones were needed. The motor and tranny are in but sitting about an inch low. I had to drop down the sub frame about 3/8" just to get it to sit on jack stands. Was hoping to be able to cut and reweld the one corner of the valve cover but I dont think it will clear the rocker then (valve cover is pushing on the brake booster right now). Going to take some measurements tomorrow and see what I can come up with for ideas.

[Avus276]

Damn that looks awesome. Congrats. This is my first post too!

[lloydjoe]

Its in and sitting where it should! Have not measured up the minimum rocker clearances yet, but hopefully between the Mercedes booster and modifying the valve cover corner it should fit.


This is not the F-body oilpan, but instead is the oil pan that GMPP sells for LS swaps. Suppose to be similar to the F-body style?






When this bolt was in the header didnt seem to fit, now that the header is on it looks like there is enough room, but there is not...


The back cylinder is way tighter, just over 1/8" clearance

Yes, there is no exhaust gasket but instead a flat washer just to try and simulate the thickness of the gasket for test fitting.

This heat shield needs some tweaking


and underneath



The Vorshlag driveshaft for the t56 magnum needs to be almost 1.5" shorter to fit.

[vaderTT76]

What's up fellow countryman! Swap looks great, I'm in the middle of mine too. BTW I dig the RC8 in the back

[lloydjoe]

What's up fellow countryman! Swap looks great, I'm in the middle of mine too. BTW I dig the RC8 in the back

Thanks That bike is a great bike for everything but long trips, seat is hard as a rock and the throttle is way more sensitive compared to the inline four cylinders I owned in the past. Between the bikes and the back yard that needs cleaning and grass planted its hard to work on the car as much as I want.

[lloydjoe]

Brake booster size comparison:








Yes the bolt pattern is different for the firewall mount. I have made a drawing to take down to the fab shop for them to brake and weld up some stuff to make a nice bracket to mount it.

If anyone is reading this, what is the point of the brake pedal travel sensor? I am guessing it is an input for the ABS system?

[bimerok]

Correct. The travel sensor feeds ABS. There are quiet a few of issues that people experiencing over in track section on this forum when moving this sensor around. So be careful with it.

[lloydjoe]

Thanks for the info, I will look into it further and see what I can work out.

[lloydjoe]

MSD LS EFI system:





Trying to find a place that is able to sell me some teflon in something thicker than 1/4" right now so I can make some clamps for the brake line tubing. I think I am going to mount the ABS motor on the passenger side, along with the heater core valves.

Also picked up all the lines and fittings for the fuel system

[lloydjoe]

Brake booster bracket tacked up:


Brake line clamps, OEM line in it for now:



McLeod twin disc clutch:




New pedals, gas pedal has a switch for fully depressed???


Have to wait until I get the powersteering pump bracket and mount the pump before I hook up the fuel lines to the regulator:


Need one more straight AN hose fitting to tie the tee into the front passenger steam port:










Fuel supply line clamp, have to test it for clearance with the header before I weld it on.


Someone mentioned to me in person the other day about the chicken strips on my bike haha, not bad for living in an area with almost zero twisty paved roads I think:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/268/0gp2.JPG/
Sorry, but for some reason Imageshack loaded up the picture really huge, so I put a link to it instead to save space here.

And the bugs


Forgot to take a picture of the fuel line under the car. I ran the supply line in the factory holders. BMW used a rubber isolator around the original fuel supply line, with this rubber isolator removed the 6 AN fuel line fits in the same spot with some clearance, so I gave it a few wraps of rubber tape to help out. I moved the return line over one set in the OEM holder, this gave me room for the fuel filter to be under the car.

Anyways, I am heading back in the garage to see what else I can do while I am waiting for parts

[Irishace]

Good looking swap, nice to see another one in Canada.

[BRAAP]

Brake booster size comparison:

Yes the bolt pattern is different for the firewall mount. I have made a drawing to take down to the fab shop for them to brake and weld up some stuff to make a nice bracket to mount it.

If anyone is reading this, what is the point of the brake pedal travel sensor? I am guessing it is an input for the ABS system?

As Bimerok mentioned, the travel sensor is for the ABS and if ABS is to be retained the travel sensor needs to be operational. The ABS module expects a certain amount of pedal travel under varying conditions and if it sees too much or not enough it will set and ABS DTC and in some.most/all cases disable ABS functionality.
In my E36 M3 LSx conversion I also went smaller booster and relocated the sensor to under the dash, spent a bit of time making sure it was measuring at the same ratio, same initial clearance, etc. Worked flawlessly for the 35,000+ miles I had mine on the road prior to selling it.

[lloydjoe]

Thanks for the information in your build BRAAP, there is lots of good info in it. I have seen it before, never did look at each page though. So far it looks like I wont be using the BMW master cylinder for the brakes because it doesnt fit my booster that well. The proportioning valves for the brakes from what I read is located in the ABS unit (which is pretty much the only reason I am using it). I am use to driving a car without ABS, and this project wont be out in the snow, or on gravel roads and probably will only be raced in a 1/4 mile. So in my mind if I do decide to get rid of it, it wont be much of a loss except for a panic braking situation on the road (which super sticky tires help lots from my experience). There is still time to change it, but I have to start somewhere to decide if its good or not.

[lloydjoe]

I purchased a different master cylinder yesterday and test fit it last night. Wilwood, 1" bore (same as the M3's) but larger then my original one, from what I found out the 325i is a 15/16" bore. Its a tad too long, hits the strut tower. I plan on shortening up the adapter bracket from the firewall to the booster to gain a bit of room, then see if I have to do any massaging or something else.


Installed the new F-body oil pan and pick up tube, had to trim the windage tray (mine is still the truck style).



Then todays adventure started, welded the mount for the fuel line:


New drivers side front brake line:



Passenger side front brake line:





Poked the holes out of the firewall and insulation for the clutch lines, installed the clutch master cylinder:


Aluminum power steering pump mount:


And I trimmed up the tray, makes it easier to run the spark plug wires:


Its almost fully converted to a manual now . Left to complete on the brake system is the mount on the booster and the lines from the master cylinder to the proportioning valve. Other major things that stick out in my head are that I have to make new spark plug wires, modify one coil pack mount (driver side rear, had to flip the coil to clear the brake booster), wait for the power steering pump pulley, terminate the few wires for the EFI system, complete the fuel return system, and assemble the front of the car again. Oh, and find something to use as a clutch reservoir. I think I remember seeing a Ford Focus or the Chev Cavalier at the wreckers and it had a small reservoir that bolts to the firewall and just has one hose out the bottom.

[unnatrl]

I purchased a different master cylinder yesterday and test fit it last night. Wilwood, 1" bore (same as the M3's) but larger then my original one, from what I found out the 325i is a 15/16" bore. Its a tad too long, hits the strut tower. I plan on shortening up the adapter bracket from the firewall to the booster to gain a bit of room, then see if I have to do any massaging or something else.

Installed the new F-body oil pan and pick up tube, had to trim the windage tray (mine is still the truck style).

Then todays adventure started, welded the mount for the fuel line:

New drivers side front brake line:

Passenger side front brake line:

Poked the holes out of the firewall and insulation for the clutch lines, installed the clutch master cylinder:

Aluminum power steering pump mount:

And I trimmed up the tray, makes it easier to run the spark plug wires:

Its almost fully converted to a manual now . Left to complete on the brake system is the mount on the booster and the lines from the master cylinder to the proportioning valve. Other major things that stick out in my head are that I have to make new spark plug wires, modify one coil pack mount (driver side rear, had to flip the coil to clear the brake booster), wait for the power steering pump pulley, terminate the few wires for the EFI system, complete the fuel return system, and assemble the front of the car again. Oh, and find something to use as a clutch reservoir. I think I remember seeing a Ford Focus or the Chev Cavalier at the wreckers and it had a small reservoir that bolts to the firewall and just has one hose out the bottom.

Mid 80's to late 90's ford rangers have a nice reservoir for the clutch as well.

[wheels4265]

Looking good. Keep the pics coming - we, ok I, can never get enough pics. Right now I'm in the parts collecting stage myself. I was curious about the steeper 1st gear ratio as i was looking at that trans myself and would like to hear your thoughts on getting the extra torque to hook up What rear diff ratio were you thinking about and care to share on the engine details(?)

Kevin

[lloydjoe]

No matter what transmission ratio I decided to go with I am sure that just accelerating too quick in first or second will break loose, so I decided to purchase the transmission with the better ratio for the highway I do plan on driving it lots on the highway, so I didnt want it revving higher then needed, burning more fuel. Right now I have 235/40r17 Toyo Proxy R1R for tires on all 4 corners on the stock rims. When these get burnt off I plan on going to a 18" rim with 255's in the rear and probably still 235's in the front. This should help with some of the acceleration traction issues. I wont be racing this car in any hard turns, just 1/4 mile maybe a few times a year. The rear diff will probably get changed, not sure what to yet, I want to see how this works cruising down the highway. I can see myself trying to find a ratio around the 3.4? area.

As for the motor, it was from an Escalade. 6.2L L92 is what it was. The cam was changed out to a 3 bolt style and the correct front cover to allow me to use the LS style timing sensor locations. The cam is a comp cam #54-453-11. Wiseco pistons, compression ratio is 10.4, ported heads, crane 1.7 rockers, stock crank. Everything was balanced. Not sure what else to say about the motor, it is still the stock bore. It required rebuilding because the #7 valve spring broke causing it to drop the valve into the piston and bent it. When I bought it, it was pretty much just the short block, it had no sensors, no manifolds, brackets or accessories.

[wheels4265]

I too plan on a daily driver, so looking forward to hearing from your experience regarding the trans gearing and what diff ratio you select...Soooo, hurry up and get that thing running.

Kevin

[bimerok]

Whenever there is a diff talk, I always post this clip of mine

[lloydjoe]

Whenever there is a diff talk, I always post this clip of mine

I love the rpm that its cruising at Thats a pretty cool screen you have setup. How do you have it mounted in there? I actually have the old color touchscreen PLC from my colt sitting in the same spot right now, it is going to be a winter project to install it. I wouldnt mind having it display the mpg but it is not able to talk to the car ecu so if I could figure it out it would be involving inputs from the tps, one of the speed sensors, and some fancy calculations... but even then it is a wild ass guess.

Here is the screen before I mounted it in the colt:

It controlled my rad fan setpoints, push to start (because the crank contact on the ignition switch failed), and controlled the boost shortly before I parted the car out. The only thing really hooked up in this video was the temps, the starter, and the fan controls. I forget why it idled like that, but I figured it out and fixed it later on.

Didnt work on the car the last two days, been pulling raspberry bushes out of the back yard and chewing up some dirt... getting ready to plant grass seed

[73 L92]

Just a note in regards to the small diameter booster. If you don't have mega vacuum like 16" or more that small diameter booster will not be good. I speak from previous projects. Best to consider a hydro boost if your cam is allowing 14" or less vacuum. I'm no expert. BEST reference on the net is KORE3. Tobin has been a great resource for braking setups. I have three swaps. 67 Nova 427 ls with manual brakes. 12.5" of vacuum. 7/8" Wilwood master with C5 brakes all around. Have to lean on them but will put your nose on the dash pad. 73 Camaro LS3 with power brakes. 15" of vacuum with 1" master. Again nose on the dash with two toes on the brake pedal. KORE 3 reccomended the 1" bore master in lieu of the typical 11/8" corvette master. Last is my 98 Wrangler with a LS6. 20" of vacuum and stock master and booster. Works great. Just heads up maybe more on cam selection.