Page 4 of 9 FirstFirst 123456789 LastLast
Results 76 to 100 of 209

Thread: 99 E36 M3 LSx Build

  1. #76
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    West Point, Virginia
    Posts
    959
    My Cars
    2002, 320is, 328is, M3
    That Tech Shop place must be awesome. Wish I had something like that. Coating looked great!

  2. #77
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis,MN
    Posts
    2,260
    My Cars
    2003 M5, 2014 535i
    Car is coming along nicely

    I was bending steel fuel line for my LS swap this past weekend and was struggling making bends like I wanted. I figured I would search around to see if I could get some pointers/tips etc. In my searching I ran across a great project blog by a guy out of Pittsburgh. I ended up spending quite a bit of time reading it. While reading through, I ran across a page where he had provided a link to your build. I'm guessing he must be a friend.

    http://wrinklered.blogspot.com/searc...max-results=44

    He sure has a way with stainless tubing.

    2003 M5 LSx l 6 Spd Manual l 4.10 LSD
    Build Thread
    The chassis must always be regarded as a means to an end and never as an end itself

  3. #78
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Quote Originally Posted by Cobra1956 View Post
    That Tech Shop place must be awesome. Wish I had something like that. Coating looked great!
    Unfortunately they're kind of few and far between right now but new locations are starting to pop up. And thanks

    Quote Originally Posted by Schitzo View Post
    Car is coming along nicely

    I was bending steel fuel line for my LS swap this past weekend and was struggling making bends like I wanted. I figured I would search around to see if I could get some pointers/tips etc. In my searching I ran across a great project blog by a guy out of Pittsburgh. I ended up spending quite a bit of time reading it. While reading through, I ran across a page where he had provided a link to your build. I'm guessing he must be a friend.

    http://wrinklered.blogspot.com/searc...max-results=44

    He sure has a way with stainless tubing.
    Yep, that's my buddy Fazz. I also happen to work with him. He's half sage, half wizard, half genius - pretty much has his way with anything he sets his mind to. Also makes me feel disgusted with any work of mine that I had previously thought to be acceptable.....so I guess I can kind of blame him for making me go off the deep end with this car.

    On the subject of hardlines though - he's doing all his bending with Imperial 364-FH-XX tools and all his flaring with an Imperial 400F for 37 degree JIC (AN) flares. I know on some of the thicker tubing (he's getting into 5/8" thick wall stuff for hydraulics), he actually cut and bent smaller sections that he then tack welded together to serve as his template. When you're making long lines, you often can't bend and fit as you go so in that way it's pretty helpful.

    If you're going to be getting any kind of flaring tools though, don't cheap out on them. I initially bought a Ridgid 377 (~$100) that I figured I'd save some money with, but the tool put all kinds of work marks (stress risers) at the neck of the flare and the sealing surface of the flare itself was pretty crappy. Maybe it would do better in softer metal like regular steel, copper, or ni-cop but it didn't like stainless. I had Fazz do a sample flare with his 400F and there was absolutely no comparison. No work marks, beautiful sealing surface, etc. So I now have a 400F also that I'll eventually be using to build new brake and fuel lines with in stainless.
    Last edited by ckpitt55; 09-16-2014 at 12:30 AM.

  4. #79
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis,MN
    Posts
    2,260
    My Cars
    2003 M5, 2014 535i
    I was going to get the Rigid 37 degree flare tool. Glad you mentioned that. PM coming your way.

    2003 M5 LSx l 6 Spd Manual l 4.10 LSD
    Build Thread
    The chassis must always be regarded as a means to an end and never as an end itself

  5. #80
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Couple updates

    The aforementioned Imperial 400F flaring tool - I did a couple sample flares with it and it works great. Also got a ridgid deburring tool to clean up the tubing after it's cut



    After some more research and thought, I decided to remake my subframe brace. The first time I made it, there was still some residual oil inside the tubes from cutting, and when things started to heat up during welding, the oil ran to the joints and was causing all kinds of porosity issues.

    So I ordered two more sticks of DOM and rough cut it



    Then turned some caps for the vertical stubs



    Then turned some bushing inserts for the front vertical uprights. These will be my new front subframe mounts. The ones in the car are welded-in studs with gussets that kind of interfere with the ID of the tubing and prevent a flush joint with the floor - so they will be getting removed. Will probably make more sense once I have pictures of it done.



    Bushings cut and tapped. I made them out of 1045 steel - I don't have carbide parting tools so that part of the process was extremely sketchy.



    Fitment prior to welding



    Welded





    The other part that I turned above was the collector manifold for my cylinder head steam vents. I will be venting all 4 corners of the block to help prevent the formation of hotspots. The hole is drilled almost the entire length of the part - started like this:



    Then tightened it up and made marks where my others fittings needed to be clocked. Then drilled / tapped for the other fittings. The end result looks like this



    A shot from further away to show placement



    Now just need to figure out how I'm going to make hardlines to connect everything

    Aside from that, an important piece of the puzzle finally showed up:





    T56 magnum 2.66 box. It is one hefty SOB. Once I finish with everything in the rear of the car that I'm doing I'll start laying out the driveline.

  6. #81
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Figured I'd throw up a couple pics from this weekend..

    First things first, I cut out the front mounts for the rear subframe and cleaned up the mounting surface





    Front mounts will be situated like this



    Bolted in the subframe from the bottom to set the front mount position



    Cut and fit all the tubes (again)



    Tacked them up in the car then removed it to weld it out



    More crappy welding



    So all of the above was about a 12 hour day for me after I got everything prepped, cut, fit, deburred, cleaned, tacked, and welded out completely. Apparently the heat from welding it pulled the front stubs together enough that I couldn't bolt the subframe in anymore - I was off about 3/16" total. Given the time I had invested into this thing, the bottle jack came out to remedy the situation.



    A couple pumps and the subframe bolted up again.

    Aside from that, I welded in the reinforcements for the other shock tower in preparation for cutting / fitting the crossmember that will go between them. Hope to get that done this week.
    Last edited by ckpitt55; 09-29-2014 at 11:58 AM.

  7. #82
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Long Beach
    Posts
    2,982
    My Cars
    95 LS1 M3
    I love reading the updates here. I need that steam vent set up...I just PMed you!
    Race/Street Wheel stud conversion kits and spacers --->www.MotorsportHardware.com
    95 M3 7.1L LSX

  8. #83
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    I'm in the process of getting the car level on jackstands before I throw in my mockup block / trans and start laying out the driveline.

    For those of you who built your own mounts, what reference features on the car did you use to level it along its length?
    Last edited by ckpitt55; 10-26-2014 at 12:05 PM.

  9. #84
    Join Date
    Jun 2011
    Location
    Buffalo, NY
    Posts
    1,703
    My Cars
    2001 BMW 540i/6
    frame "rails" under the car. I have no clue if they are actually parallel to 0 degrees but I set my driveline angle based on them and have not had any issues after 15K miles.

    2001 BMW 560i 6.0 LSx/T56 SOLD


    2000 Corvette Hardtop FRC

  10. #85
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Naperville, IL
    Posts
    2,462
    My Cars
    1998 540i
    Quote Originally Posted by ckpitt55 View Post
    I'm in the process of getting the car level on jackstands before I throw in my mockup block / trans and start laying out the driveline.

    For those of you who built your own mounts, what reference features on the car did you use to level it along its length?
    I measured the angle of the stock driveline and matched it.
    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




  11. #86
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis,MN
    Posts
    2,260
    My Cars
    2003 M5, 2014 535i
    I go off the original driveline as Rao mentioned.
    If your engine is gone, then start at the diff. Measure that angle then mount your engine and trans in such away that the transmission angle is equal and opposite to the diff angle. Align the engine/trans to ensure it is centered to the diff left and right (no big deal if you can't get it centered; a small variation won't course issues)

    Here is a good doc on driveline angles.
    http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3311-1-HVTSS.PDF

    2003 M5 LSx l 6 Spd Manual l 4.10 LSD
    Build Thread
    The chassis must always be regarded as a means to an end and never as an end itself

  12. #87
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Quote Originally Posted by Schitzo View Post
    I go off the original driveline as Rao mentioned.
    If your engine is gone, then start at the diff. Measure that angle then mount your engine and trans in such away that the transmission angle is equal and opposite to the diff angle. Align the engine/trans to ensure it is centered to the diff left and right (no big deal if you can't get it centered; a small variation won't course issues)

    Here is a good doc on driveline angles.
    http://www2.dana.com/pdf/J3311-1-HVTSS.PDF
    Thanks, that makes sense.

  13. #88
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Olathe, KS
    Posts
    45
    My Cars
    98 323is, 03 540i
    Just read through this from the beginning. Just fantastic work, man. Can't wait to watch the journey and thanks for sharing.

  14. #89
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Quote Originally Posted by DiamondJQuimby View Post
    Just read through this from the beginning. Just fantastic work, man. Can't wait to watch the journey and thanks for sharing.
    Thanks man, I appreciate it

    Guess I'll update this thread while I'm at it - Since the last big post I finished a bunch of details on the engine - steam vent, pcv system, throttle cable bracket, and some other details. The only big thing left to do is get the wiring harness built - hope to get that done over the winter.

    I'm using a lokar throttle cable bracket and cable, and it didn't align with the fast throttle body. The cable clamping ferrule also didn't fit the blade, so I machined a couple simple spacers to line things up and a new ferrule to clamp the cable.





    I later tapped this for an m5 set screw to clamp the cable. I'm also going to crimp a bicycle cable end cap on the end of the cable as a secondary retainer in case the ferrule fails / slips.



    As for the PCV system, I'll let some pictures do the talking



























    Tapped my water pump for some -10AN fittings



    --

    Driveline

    I decided to get a Quicktime scatter shield for some added insurance in the event my clutch decides to frag itself. I'm going to have a billet flywheel so I'm not all that concerned about it, but I do intend to give the car some "exercise" shall we say - strip, autox, road course, etc, any chance I get. I debated with myself for a while on it but it seems dumb to spend all kinds of coin on go-fast stuff without equal attention paid to safety.

    I know lots of guys just bolt these in with no problems but I'm going to try to get this dialed in as tight as I can. Towards those ends I started by getting rid of the powder coat on both mating surfaces and bolting it up to my dummy block. A painted surface isn't a reference surface - variations in coating surface thickness could mess with the parallelism and cock the transmission one way or the other.



    If you get one of these, I'd also suggest chasing the mounting threads on the trans mounting flange - I assume they just power tapped these on a mill when flycutting that surface and mine were somewhat gummy. Initially I couldn't get the bolt to thread in all the way through the flange. Last thing you want to do is crossthread a bolt when you're under the car wrestling a 160 lb transmission into / out of the car.



    I spent some time getting the car level and threw the block in the bay to start looking at clearances. I know it's been done a million times and I could easily buy the parts to bolt it in tomorrow but I'm going to try to find my own way - I like the idea of adapting mounts that rest on factory isolators. I'm using the bimmerworld group N replica mounts - they seemed to be a good compromise between the stiffness I need while still being somewhat streetable. All the aftermarket stuff is pretty much a solid mount and I really hate solid motor mounts. The kit components aren't worth the convenience charge when I can cut and weld for a fraction of the cost.

    One obvious thing is that I'm either going to need a smaller diameter brake booster or shift it over. I've got thicker valve cover gaskets to clear the rocker arms, which shoves things further into interference. Gonna wait until the engine is in position before I decide how to resolve that.



    As suggested by Schitzo above I'll be building my driveline from the diff forward. I measured the pinion angle to be 3 degrees up, so the trans will need to be angled 3 degrees down and offset upwards 1-1.25" above the centerline of the pinion to get the operating angles of the u-joints correct, depending on the driveshaft length I need. I'm expecting somewhere between 40-41" since the tail housing of the t56 magnum and slip yoke are slightly longer than the regular t56. The driveshaft I bought from Clay was in the neighborhood of 43.5" or so. I have some material on order to make myself some alignment fixtures that will hopefully make dialing this in a relatively simple process.

    Once I get it into a position I think will work I'm going to cobble up some mounts, get the driveshaft shortened and rebalanced, and start working on headers before it gets too cold to be outside. It's going to be super tight (especially on the driver's side with the steering shaft in the way) but I want to try to make 1-7/8" primaries work. Gonna mock it up in mild steel first - If it clears I'm building it in stainless.

    More soon hopefully. thanks for looking.

  15. #90
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    I started working on laying my drivetrain out. I was doing some surfing around and came across some resto-mod guys using inexpensive laser pointers as a means of sighting the trans and diff in. So that's what I did. I'll be using these to get the transmission oriented directly in line with the diff side to side. Elevation and angle will also need to be adjusted, obviously.



    I sized it to slip over the output shaft just like the slip yoke will. This will tell me exactly where the output shaft of the transmission is pointing and will make it pretty easy to get it dead nuts in line with the centerline of the diff. I'll have another fixture pointing forward from the diff - when both beams are hitting the component they're aimed at on center, then the components themselves are on center with each other.

    Initially I had press fit the laser into place but discovered that I was tracing out about a 3" circle over a distance of about 9' once I put it on the output shaft of the trans and spun it around - meaning the laser wasn't shooting on center. So I traded the press fit for clearance and drilled for two sets of set screws at 4 places around the perimeter, each pair being 90 degrees apart. Then I pushed the laser around with the set screws until I got no visible motion from the beam when spinning.



    I did the same with my differential fixture (shown here bolted to the pinion flange) and was able to achieve similar results. Takes some patience to walk it in but it lets you hone in on center very accurately.





    Also got a start on my motor mounts - basically had the same idea as Schitzo. These are going to bolt to the rubber isolators on the subframe - from here all I need is a notched piece of tubing connecting them to the ls motor mount plates that bolt to the block.







    Also got the mockup block and trans up and under the car - there are a couple bosses on the trans that are hitting that will need shaved for it to go higher, but a prelim check shows that I have pretty good alignment with the shifter hole. This is with the engine back against the firewall probably as much as it realistically can be. Anyone else using a magnum? Did you have to cut the tunnel at all for shifter clearance?


  16. #91
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis,MN
    Posts
    2,260
    My Cars
    2003 M5, 2014 535i
    Looking good.
    I like the adapters for the lasers; that's a great idea.

    2003 M5 LSx l 6 Spd Manual l 4.10 LSD
    Build Thread
    The chassis must always be regarded as a means to an end and never as an end itself

  17. #92
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Vancouver,WA
    Posts
    400
    My Cars
    00 Maxima SE
    Impressive
    FEEDBACK THREAD
    00-03 Nissan Maxima HID Retrofit
    6th gen AV6 FX35 Retrofit
    Chassis and Suspension
    2011 Space Grey E82 N55 DCT
    2000 Sunlit Sand Maxima SE 5Spd.
    1997 Arctic Silver E36 M3/4/5.
    1997 Techno Violet E36 M3 Coupe 5Spd (SOLD).


  18. #93
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    orlando, fl
    Posts
    184
    My Cars
    318
    The attention to detail is great to see on this build. Really enjoy methodical builds as that's the way I do mine as well

  19. #94
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Made some decent progress this weekend

    Got the engine and transmission situated where they need to be. Here's my alignment with the diff. Shooting rearward towards diff flange:



    Shooting forward towards transmission:



    Since the beams are directly above one another from both directions, the components are on center with each other. General engine placement



    Engine mounts welded out



    Engine sitting on its own mounts for the first time. Maintained all my angles so nothing moved during the welding process.



    I also measured for the driveshaft length I need, so need to get that shortened before I make the transmission mount. I built the engine mounts with the transmission already matching the pitch of the diff pinion but want to leave myself with room to fine tune the driveshaft running angle if need be.

    More soon, thanks for looking
    Last edited by ckpitt55; 11-17-2014 at 12:57 AM.

  20. #95
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Spartanburg SC
    Posts
    955
    My Cars
    E36 ///M
    Subd
    1999 BMW M3

    Avatar Credit: HERMPWR aka Brooke Weisbender

  21. #96
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    A little progress over the past week - got my driveshaft shortened / balanced / assembled and received the transmission isolator. For anyone in the Pittsburgh area, Driveline Service of Pittsburgh comes highly recommended. I dropped it off at lunch time and they were done by 2:30pm the same day. The driveshaft is a single piece 2.75" steel with 1310 receptacles on it. To adapt the 31 spline slip yoke that is sized for 1330, I just used a 1310-1330 conversion u-joint. The isolator is the Prothane urethane mount that is sold for f-body t56's, fits the magnum just fine.



    Got my final drive angles set and ended up with ~1' u-joint operating angles on both sides. Just need to build my trans mount and then I'll be moving on to headers.

  22. #97
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    I decided to add some gussets to my motor mounts. Probably not necessary but definitely looks more complete imo.













    Finished in powder today



    Also knocked my shifter out. It's a Ws6store shortstick with a delrin hardbar shift knob from Product Innovations. I love the feel of it - very positive, very beefy.



    Need to order materials to make the transmission mount, but finishing that shouldn't be too far out.

  23. #98
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    3,241
    My Cars
    96 328is 6.0L
    Loving the mounts. Looks beautiful!
    - 96 328is 6.0L. (LS1 to LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...ad.php?2098938)
    - 96 328is 5.7L. (LS1 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1289987)
    - 95 ///M3 6.0L. (LS2 build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1619249)

    - 97 ///M3. (e46 Fender Flares/track car build thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1727098)
    - 96 328is (Dual Fuel Pump to Surge Tank thread: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ad.php?1964025)

  24. #99
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    sterling hts, michigan
    Posts
    1,507
    My Cars
    02 M3
    Very nice build thread

  25. #100
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    1,142
    My Cars
    99 M3 LS1, '11 WRX
    Thanks gents


    I spent some time this weekend modifying the frame x-brace that bolts up under the car to clear the bell housing / oil pan.

    Started by removing the interference



    Then bent a non-M model frame brace that I had lying around for the clearance I needed



    Cut it, fit it, and welded it up



    In the car



    Bell clearance is ~1/4" in all directions.



    Also since I was working on it, I decided to throw some gussets in there to beef it up some. Not sure if these will stay yet or not, execution could have been better. Messed up on the spacing of the dimples, but the ball was rolling and I didn't feel like stopping.





    The only question remaining with this piece is header clearance. I'm going to do my best to tuck everything in there but if I need to space this down or modify it further I will. Having felt what difference an x-brace makes on these cars, it's going to be in there in one form or another.
    Last edited by ckpitt55; 12-01-2014 at 01:41 AM.

Page 4 of 9 FirstFirst 123456789 LastLast

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •