lq9 in e39 touring build

[hkssupra]

So a little back story I bought a 1994 supra when I turned 21 and after about 8 years began to get bored and then the clutch let go. I let it sit and then decided to sell it. It put down 578whp on pump with a t51 turbo.

So then I began looking around for cars to do an ls swap into. I managed to pick up a clean e30 shell and began to get it ready for a swap. After a while I realized that it wouldn't be good for what I wanted and began to look for an e39 touring a 528i to be exact since the 540i's had a steering box and I didn't want that. So I will be posting pics through out the build her and saying what issues I found and what not.

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photo 4a.JPG

Here is the old supra.. sold it with 62k on it. was a factory tt 6 speed.

[RVAE34]

Nice Supra. Good luck on the build. If you get the mounts and headers from Josh (Jesus Freak), the swap is very straight forward.

[hkssupra]

Thanks man. Your build is rather awesome.. so I may refer to things you did. I have contacted Jesus Freak and am saving up for his parts. I plan on being on the road by July.. then drive it for a few months and do a tear down over the winter and going forced induction. That's the plan at least.

[geargrinder]

Ken - Cool to meet you today. Sorry I showed late-ish otherwise there's a few other things coulda showed you. You have shattered any chance of my meager VF blower being the most badass E39 wagon in Mass, but I have ZERO problems with that, as a serial F/I german wagon freak - the more and the baddasser the better. Can't wait to see pix of the build. LMK if you need help w/ any coding of the car when it comes to that - we didn't get into what your plan is for dash / electrical integration etc.

[James39]

Welcome to the club from Lancaster County, PA! ---

[hkssupra]

Yes it was nice meeting you as well. I have no idea about wiring it yet.. I am kinda trying to not think about that nightmare. I think I got the picture size figured out and will try to upload some pics.

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photo 1.JPG well I couldn't open the hood.. nothing a sawzall and 3 minutes couldn't fix. Also I am in the market for a silver hood if anyone has one in new england let me know.

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photo 4.JPG after 2 hours the engine and tranny came out.. I expected quicker, but did my best to not break it into a thousand pieces.

[RVAE34]

The gauge drivers should be soon be available as pre-programmed gauge drivers for our cars. It would make your CEL, temp, tach etc all work. The acc port on the gauge driver will be used to run the A/C off the oem BMW switch. Since the driver also sees RPM, it will be programmed to control the A/C compressor clutch for higher RPM's etc. For the engine wiring, Josh and I both used the GMPP E67 ecu kit which makes install a breeze.

[hkssupra]

I was debating racepak or something of that nature, but who knows. wiring is the biggest pain the balls.

[RVAE34]

The E67 kit is a no brainer and I agree, I hate electrical. IIRC, you literally only have to hook up the 2 feeds to electric fan and fuel pump, run power to the kit and then splice into your ignition and you are done.

[hkssupra]

photo 2.JPG so have the head waiting on the machine shop to freshen up the block. going 243 heads with patriot springs and retainers decked .030 over

[geargrinder]

The E67 kit is a no brainer and I agree, I hate electrical. IIRC, you literally only have to hook up the 2 feeds to electric fan and fuel pump, run power to the kit and then splice into your ignition and you are done.

dayum you make it sound so easy a caveman could do it.

Maybe i need moar LSx swappage.

photo 2.JPG so have the head waiting on the machine shop to freshen up the block. going 243 heads with patriot springs and retainers decked .030 over

Kewl. Work underway.

[RVAE34]

With that kit, it is that simple. But I think it retails for like $1200 so most don't want to spend the money.

[geargrinder]

LOL. $1200 in my automotive reality these days seems to be weekly minimum. Though i think tbats what Ken paid for his whole car.... Obviously i am doing it wrong...

[hkssupra]

Yea that's what I paid for the car. haha. But the budget was never really set in stone.. I did drop 900 bucks on cts-v 6 piston calipers. They are waiting at home for me.. I'll post a pic when I get home.

[RVAE34]

Nice score on the calipers!!!!

[hkssupra]

brembo.JPG so a kid in a group I am on facebook was selling this and a tenzo for 240 clearly I needed this. I don't think he knew what he actually had so a legit Recaro for 140 bucks.. I'll take it. now to find a match.

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recaro.JPG this is a comparison to my iphone4s.. I think these will work? Time to figure out specs and what not and get a game plan going.

[hkssupra]

I just posted two pictures.. I guess they have to be approved or something?

[RVAE34]

You don't have enough posts yet.

[geargrinder]

dude envious on the seat. current seats are one of my major pain points. the 18-ways are really nice comfort seats but my Audi has such awesome recaro built OEM chairs, both my bimmer factory seats are a bummer. a bud in our hood has gorgous Recaros in his M3 and I was sitting in them last few weeks to code his car and MAN they are nice. cost a bundle I think not just for the seats but to custom dye the leather, but they are crazy great to sit in. anyway. I want better seats. would settle for the E38 Sports like Brandon used to have but the only grey set I have ever seen FS was in midwest or something.

[hkssupra]

Yea these are cloth.. I was debating getting brides or even corbeau revenge's but for the price I can always sell it for double what I got into it. The weird thing is I haven't seen another with the top bolsters like that.

[DailyDSM]

Any information on retrofitting the CTS-V calipers to fit an E39? I have a complete set of front and rear calipers/rotors leftover from a part out. A quick search yielded very little info on the conversion.

[AutoRotate]

I would imagine that they are similar to the corvette calipers. There's a company out there that sells a retrofit kit for corvette 6 piston calipers to fit BMWs. I'll look for the website, but there was a thread about it a little while back.

[hkssupra]

What color cts-v's? I don't really like the yellow and would trade for silver. I don't really know how I am going to go about it. I am thinking f10 m5 rotors and will figure it out from there.

[DailyDSM]

Mine are from a V1 so they are the 4-piston calipers. I also have the rotors which should be the same lug pattern as the E39.

[hkssupra]

I'm going to head up this weekend and hopefully figure out what my plan are for the brakes.. and laugh at the size and get depressed all within a couple of minutes.. still waiting on the crank and main bearings to come back.