My First BMW – My First Swap – LS2/T56 into an E36

[lloydjoe]

Curious - for those of you with completed swaps - did you retain the "Starter Immobilization Switch?" In other words, do you need to depress the clutch pedal in order to engage the starter?

Tipsy

Mine was an automatic before the swap, I did not hook up a clutch switch for the starter circuit. I am the only one that drives my car, no command start on it, I prefer to be able to start it without pressing the clutch. The thought in my head goes back to my DSM days with running a heavy clutch and trying to start the engine with no oil on the thrust bearing, no pressure on the throwout bearing means no pressure on the thrust bearing and should help it last a bit longer.

[modernbeat]

I'm a fan of having a clutch-start switch on street cars, but delete it on any competition or off road cars and trucks.

[doktor b]

Curious - for those of you with completed swaps - did you retain the "Starter Immobilization Switch?" In other words, do you need to depress the clutch pedal in order to engage the starter?

Tipsy

i always disable this feature in all my cars. i realize its intended purpose. but i feel like it's hard on the clutch and especially so on the TOB. and this is all exacerbated with performance clutches.

[bimerok]

i always disable this feature in all my cars. i realize its intended purpose. but i feel like it's hard on the clutch and especially so on the TOB. and this is all exacerbated with performance clutches.

I'm sure people who don't use their turn signals use the same logic - it wears out turn signal stalk and hard on the bulbs.

[TipsyMcStagger]

I'm sure people who don't use their turn signals use the same logic - it wears out turn signal stalk and hard on the bulbs.

LOL. I'm fairly certain I'm going to retain the starter immobilization feature. I'm just in town for a day but I picked up the PCM from Current Performance today. It now has a 2006 SSR OS. They also did the standard VATS removal, rear O2 delete, skip shift delete, torque management delete and I think they bumped the idle speed a bit to compensate for the aftermarket camshaft, until the car can be properly dyno tuned.

Hopefully, this all works out and I'll be able to have cruise control without the complication of the PIM and BCM required with the GTO OS.

Tipsy

[squashman702]

What'd they charge for the flash if you don't mind me asking? Going to need a baseline done soon. Did they change it for a 6 cylinder tach as well?

[bimerok]

Did they change it for a 6 cylinder tach as well?

With GTO PCM you need a conversion box for tach. It doesn't matter if you flip it to 4 or 6 cyl. it still does not play with BMW cluster.

Now having flushed to the SSR OS, I'm curious if that will change the behaivior of tach output.

[squashman702]

With GTO PCM you need a conversion box for tach. It doesn't matter if you flip it to 4 or 6 cyl. it still does not play with BMW cluster.

Now having flushed to the SSR OS, I'm curious if that will change the behaivior of tach output.

Right, forgot that this was an LS2.

[TipsyMcStagger]

What'd they charge for the flash if you don't mind me asking? Going to need a baseline done soon.

$175 for the flash. I know I've written in the past that it can be a SSR or TBSS flash in order to get the cruise functionality- but it's the SSR specifically, since the TBSS never came with a manual transmission.

The SSR and TBSS use the same pedal. And the flash must be year specific (2005 SSR OS for a 2005 GTO PCM, 2006 SSR OS for a 2006 GTO PCM).

Tipsy

[TipsyMcStagger]

Trying to get motivated while I'm in town for a few days and the weather is cool - but working without a lift is getting old. I'm giving thought to building some of those 2"x4" platforms to place under the wheels (like these) to try to get some more height and room to work. But the last thing I need in my tiny garage is more stuff to store. The ramps are already constantly in the way. And every time I need to attach the hoist, I have to get the car off the jack-stands and push it halfway out of the garage onto the ramps. To support the trans, I have to place the jack on the edge of the garage floor, which leaves me little room to get under the car. The motivation is waning. I need to make some progress...

The engine is installed again. Scratched the hell out of the newly coated header getting it back in. Oh well. The brake line clearance is not perfect but it's a lot better than it was. And I "persuaded" the firewall a bit near the top of the pax side bellhousing. There's about 1/4" of space now, although I still need to apply adhesive heat shield which will fill some of that gap.

As I mentioned in Squashman's thread, I ordered the CX Racing trans crossmember because I'm not too keen on the way the JTR crossmember mounts to the side of the trans tunnel. The CX Racing piece arrived, so I tried a test fit. No go. To strengthen the crossmember, CX Racing welds a piece of metal across the back of the mount. It's pretty much in the way using the stock '98-'02 rubber trans mount I'm using. And I do want to retain the rubber mount...rubber mounts are the main reason I chose the JTR kit. I could cut the backbone off the CX Racing piece but at what structural cost? The CX Racing piece is about 4 1/2 pounds lighter than the JTR piece. Not sure what to do here.

Tipsy


The trans crossmember is already installed in this picture but you can see there's little room to get under the car with the hoist in front and jack at the edge of the garage floor. The slope of the driveway makes it tough to come in from the rear...especially on a creeper:




New bellhousing clearance on pax side:



The problem of the lines too close to the #7 header tube is 100% fixed:




The lines are still closer to the #3 header tube than I'd like but I'll try to secure them closer to the strut tower and maybe wrap them in some heat protection:






The "backbone" would need to be removed:

[squashman702]

You should be able to get away with moving that rib to the bottom of the crossmember or grinding it down. You definitely want to keep it.

[TipsyMcStagger]

You should be able to get away with moving that rib to the bottom of the crossmember or grinding it down. You definitely want to keep it.

It would have to be completely ground down in order for it work with the rubber mount. But I'm not too impressed with the piece overall. I unbolted the rubber mount from the trans and held the trans up with a jack so I could mock-up the CX piece. With one side bolted in, I could only get one bolt in the opposite side. I messed with it for 20 minutes, sliding it back and forth. It's simply tweaked and doesn't fit as it should.

Tipsy

[doktor b]

that's super weird.
mine bolted right up without issue.

i am using a poly trans mount. i originally intended to use the OE rubber. but once i found out it was $70, i went with the $25 poly one. if it is absolutely unlivable, i'll source an OE mount. but the poly bolted up nice and easy too. didn't have to swing the tail of the trans around at all to get two bolts in the bottom and both top bolts.

apparently quality control is not CXR's forte.

[squashman702]

It would have to be completely ground down in order for it work with the rubber mount. But I'm not too impressed with the piece overall. I unbolted the rubber mount from the trans and held the trans up with a jack so I could mock-up the CX piece. With one side bolted in, I could only get one bolt in the opposite side. I messed with it for 20 minutes, sliding it back and forth. It's simply tweaked and doesn't fit as it should.

Tipsy

The holes on your mount look even worse than what mine did. I wonder if it warped when it was welded? Like Chris said, mine fit in with no issue as well.

[bimerok]

If you constantly have your car on jack stands, the chasis might twist over time as well. One thing you could check if you have your OEM cross member is to see if it still aligns, or if the JTR pice lines up.

The holes on CX can also be easily enlarged, not a biggie... Most likely they are the problem, not as much of the chassis..

Do you have the rubber mount, I'm curious to see how much that backbone is on the way?

[TipsyMcStagger]

If you constantly have your car on jack stands, the chassis might twist over time as well. One thing you could check if you have your OEM cross member is to see if it still aligns, or if the JTR pice lines up.

The holes on CX can also be easily enlarged, not a biggie... Most likely they are the problem, not as much of the chassis..

Do you have the rubber mount, I'm curious to see how much that backbone is on the way?

It's possible the chassis could have some twist. But the first time I put the CX piece in my hands, I could tell it wasn't true. I backed that up on the bench with a straight-edge. As mentioned previously, I think the whole piece twisted when it was welded. It's not very stout.

The rubber mount I'm using can be seen here. It's an OE rubber mount for a '98-'02 F-Body. The CX back bone would interfere with an aftermarket poly mount (like this one) too, unless it lands in the exact right postilion.

The JTR piece is very adjustable. Nearly all of the sections that bolt together are slotted. I've reinstalled the JTR piece and will likely go ahead and use it. I'm just going to put off drilling the holes in the tunnel for the supporting flanking pieces as long as possible.

Tipsy

[Jaxchrisfla]

I've got an aftermarket poly on mine and it mounted just fine IIRC.

[TipsyMcStagger]

I've got an aftermarket poly on mine and it mounted just fine IIRC.

If things are positioned such that the trans-mount is fully forward of the brace, there will be no interference. In this case, it's not fully forward of the brace.

Tipsy

[TipsyMcStagger]

Finishing up a few things I needed to do before I pull the engine/trans for what I hope will be the final time. I enlarged the tunnel opening for the MGW shifter. I might have made it larger than it needs to be but I did the best I could in estimating the required size. I wanted to ensure the shifter won't come in contact with the tunnel as the trans moves on its rubber mount. I'd previously asked if the hole should be made large enough for the entire shifter to fit through. While I was only attempting to make the hole large enough for the round section, the resulting opening is large enough to pass the entire shifter through, though I doubt the four allen bolts could be reached. That wasn't the goal, but that's how it turned out.

Before Cutting



After Cutting



The orange part of the shifter needs to be reclocked. As Bimerok had commented, the bolt that secures this part is very tight. At first, I tried an allen socket on a 1/2" ratchet. But it felt like the allen socket was about to strip. So I switched to an allen wrench and used a cheater bar. Believe me, you need the cheater bar. As suspected, the bolt was installed from the factory with red thread lock. I reinstalled it with blue thread lock.

Cheater Bar on Allen Wrench


Yesterday, I found a very nice guy not too far from here who parts-out BMW's. He had an E36 that had been extensively dismantled. By extensively, I mean it was basically a firewall sitting on the ground (forgot to take a picture). I'm going to need help fabricating a bracket for the DBW pedal and since I don't have a welder or other metal fabrication tools, I figured this will have be accomplished elsewhere. So, I spent several hours longer than I thought it would take and removed a section of firewall to use for bracket mock-up. Now I can simply put this on a bench and go from there. I intend to make something similar to Bimerok's bracket, which attaches to the two studs that secure the steering column base to the firewall.

Section of Donor Firewall



Since I'm trying to have functional cruise control, I had my GTO E40 PCM flashed to the OS of a 2006 Chevy SSR. This requires using an SSR/Trailblazer SS pedal. The SSR/Trailblazer SS pedal is quite a bit bigger than the GTO pedal and has a kick to the right. Unfortunately, I think the pedal arm will have to be cut and welded to shorten and straighten the arm. I'm a bit concerned the heat of welding will damage the electronics inside the pedal. Hopefully, I can find someone competent nearby to help me with this.

GTO Pedal on Left. SSR Pedal on Right.

[bimerok]

You know that firewall cutout you have, is called cheating

But then again, that SSR pedal is ouch!!! Is the shaft hallow on SSR or is it just rediculesly thick?

Also, do you really have to use the SSR pedal? I thought I read somewhere that PCM doesn't really care about the sensor and adjusts to min/max values during the self test on ignition on...

Maybe worth trying to wire GTO pedal and see if it works?

[TipsyMcStagger]

You know that firewall cutout you have, is called cheating

LOL...watching some of these builds take place in what appear to be nearly full fabrication shops with lifts, welding equipment and metal fab tooling...well, I don't feel so bad about trying to make things a bit easier for myself It took nearly four hours to cut that piece out. But all I had with me was an angle grinder, a reciprocating saw and a hammer.

But then again, that SSR pedal is ouch!!! Is the shaft hallow on SSR or is it just rediculesly thick?

Also, do you really have to use the SSR pedal? I thought I read somewhere that PCM doesn't really care about the sensor and adjusts to min/max values during the self test on ignition on...

Maybe worth trying to wire GTO pedal and see if it works?

I've researched the hell out of the E40 PCM. In the GTO, cruise is handled by the Powertrain Interface Module (PIM). In the SSR/TBSS, cruise is handled internally by the PCM. The only caveat is that the pedal has to match the OS.

The pedal shaft on the SSR pedal is a thick, pressed (formed) piece of steel. I'll take some better pics at the end of the week when I get back to FL. Sectioning the shaft shouldn't be too difficult. My biggest concern is the potential damage to the DBW componentry by the heat generated from welding.

Tipsy

[FoxBodyRacing]

LOL...watching some of these builds take place in what appear to be nearly full fabrication shops with lifts, welding equipment and metal fab tooling...well, I don't feel so bad about trying to make things a bit easier for myself

Tipsy

what you talkin bout Willis? Lol. I spent many of years putting transmissions in laying on my back in the Florida and. My first garage was paradise to me till I rented a small shop with a buddy and we bought our first lift. Now I don't know what happened. I turned 30 and decided to spoil myself. I've been in the military for 13 years and I figured I deserved a man cave. ��.

[TipsyMcStagger]

what you talkin bout Willis? Lol. I spent many of years putting transmissions in laying on my back in the Florida and. My first garage was paradise to me till I rented a small shop with a buddy and we bought our first lift. Now I don't know what happened. I turned 30 and decided to spoil myself. I've been in the military for 13 years and I figured I deserved a man cave. 😎.

LOL....30 is way in the rear view mirror. I'm making due working in a small, hot garage. But I'm envious of those with a "proper" shop.

This is my first house...I spent the majority of my adult life living in apartments. It's nice to finally have a garage (and to live on a canal with the boat in the backyard) but canal living has its trade-offs, and homes crammed together with small garages is one of those trade-offs (unless you're super wealthy).

The next -and most likely last - house will be all about the garage

Tipsy

[TipsyMcStagger]

Super minor update but I brought the stock steering cooler-loop to a local hose place and he "silver soldered" an -8 AN fitting to it. Looks factory. Been wanting to do this for a while but not something I could do myself.

Question, the banjo-bolt that attaches to the steering rack through the cooling loop has two washers. I'm guessing these are crush washers and shouldn't be reused?

Tipsy

[bimerok]

They really shouldn't. You might get lucky and they could be leak free, but they are fairly inexpensive so changing them might save you from annoyance of having to replace them later on if they do leak.