I purchased a car a few weeks ago that will be perfect for what I want.
I wanted:
4 doors
Light weight
Decent looking
Handled nice
Affordable
Relatively easy swap candidate (RWD, enough room in engine bay)
And comfortable
This is what I landed on:
2000 BMW 323i E46
120k, runs and drives nice. Slight rust under rear passenger tail light but that's it. It has a slight oil leak from the crankcase gasket but who gives a shit.
2300 bucks.
Plans are:
5.3 with forged pistons and rods, ported 317s, some sort of turbo cam, pump gas water/meth, stock pcm hp tuners
Chinese 7875 turbo (to start with)
A2W by frozen boost, parallel a/c system with secondary heat exchanger to cool water in the tank
4l80
M3 rear
Hmm, not a welcoming group I see....
I get ya. Progress is coming, brace yourselves. LOL. I'm gathering parts now and I am no stranger to swaps. I bought this car with the sole intention of swapping. IT. WILL. HAPPEN. and soon. So, hi! and I like to hear input from anyone who has gone through the process.
Welcome to the dark side ha. It's a pretty straight foward swap but I really had to dig around for alot of things pertaining to the e46 chassis. Like unnatrl said it's not as common and not very detailed info out there. If you have any questions I can help out from what I have gathered.
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Thanks guy's. I've already talked with Thaniel about the instrument cluster conversion module. Other than that I guess all my questions would be about electrical. Things like the speedometer and cruise control. The tach, mil, coolant temp, and a/c will be controlled by the module. I'm unsure on what control modules can go and what needs to stay. Mechanically I'm a metal fabricator and draftsman by trade so the physical act of putting the 5.3 and 4l80 in along with a turbo is no problem.
Popular engine swap weights & stock engine weights
M42 + trans - 427lbs
302 + t5 trans - 475lbs
m20b27 + g260 - 497lbs
m52b25 vanos + g250 - 544lbs
351w + t5 trans - 572.5lbs
LS, aluminum block + t56 - 609lbs
LS, iron block + t56 - 719lbs, EST.
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...60-m42-1jz-2jz
LOL! No, I just have been waiting a long time to do this swap and I finally got the car I'm going to molest..... and not even one hello out of 2 weeks and 135 views. PS, I love South Park.
always trying to make it lighter and faster
^^former build: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-neglected-M3/
current build: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...car-build.html
instant grams: doktor_b
I can tell I'm going to like it here.
Good to see another MN BMW getting a chebby! Welcome.
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
hahhahaa well you passed the ball busting test with flying colors. welcome to BFC buddy
if you want some good tips on a build like this, there's a dude somewhere on here that did a turbo 5.3 with a 4L80 as well, but with some fancy billet wheel turbo. i wanna say his name is.... vince? it was a super legit build, putting down some crazy numbers, IIRC 600-800whp. or more. i think he's dragging the car, as i think i remember seeing some insane sub 10 second 1/4 timeslip
i'm sure someone here knows who i'm talking about and can point you in the right direction
Popular engine swap weights & stock engine weights
M42 + trans - 427lbs
302 + t5 trans - 475lbs
m20b27 + g260 - 497lbs
m52b25 vanos + g250 - 544lbs
351w + t5 trans - 572.5lbs
LS, aluminum block + t56 - 609lbs
LS, iron block + t56 - 719lbs, EST.
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...60-m42-1jz-2jz
Thanks for the input!
Who is the Canadian dude with the 370 edelbrock headed billet 7665 4l80e 328i? His youtube sig is mpengineering or something. That car is basically the inspiration for the build.
Sounds like you did the same thing I did. But no turbo for now and went with a 2-door and manual. Will be following this for sure.
I ordered the module from Thaniel. It should be here soon. As of now I am trying to source a L33. I have two LM7s in the garage but I think aluminum block is the way to go in this case. I'm using the 323i as a daily now and I spit v8 turbo sounds every time I accelerate (vrooooom psshhhhhh). This car is going to be a blast with 700 whp. So the search continues for a new daily, then operation Bimmer will commence.
Any updates?
Not really, still driving it as a daily for now. A buddy is selling me his 2000 suburban in a couple weeks, so I can start a teardown on this little gem. Still trying to plan if I want to go 8.8 IRS or 3 link like Foxbodyracing.
I vote 8.8 IRS.. but just because I want someone to document it if I ever get off my a$s and build a swap
Well, the head bolts pulled out of the block on this poor m52. I guess I'll be starting this swap sooner than later.
you want me to fab an explorer 8.8 into the rear I pulled out of mine and sell it to you?
- - - Updated - - -
it was ALOT of work. not for the faint of heart. but if you have a lift and a decent welder go for it. I would estimate I have over 100 hours in the rear alone. granted I had nothing to go off of when I did mine so a good chunk of my time was R&D.
well not having a car is probably the biggest snag lol. I could ship just the center area and the user could put their own control arms on it.
I picked up a 4l80e the other day. I gotta prep the garage and start the tear down. I have enough parts now to start with engine and trans mounts along with the hotside.
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