Ls1 cooling system question

[Daniils]

Hello. I'm finishing up ls1 swap into 1994 318is. I have a question regarding the cooling system.
This car had 5.0 SBF in it before. And I have a radiator that was recommended in the guide. It has in/out connection and pressure cap on the radiator.
However i did have overheating issues at the end and I think it was because the radiator sat at the same level or may be lower than the highest point of the engine.
With ls1 there is room to move up the radiator but I still think it will be better with an expansion bottle.


Here is a little sketch, in black is how it used to be with SBF, in red is what im planning to add with LS1.
Will this work?

rad.jpgThank you.

[Liquidity]

What did you do with the heater core ports on the water pump? What about the steam vents on the heads?

- - - Updated - - -

Also - the height of the radiator means nothing. You just need the filling point to be the highest point in the system.

[Liquidity]

Just noticed your drawing. If you’re going to use an expansion tank, you should just use the factory E36 one along with an E36 radiator. There’s no sense in reinventing the wheel. Plumb the large WP port to the bottom port on the ET, top ET port to heater core, small WP port to other heater core connection.

I don’t know how the heater core valve works on the E36, if it closes completely when the heat is off, you will need to drill a ~8mm hole in the WP that bridges the two sides - coolant must always be able to circulate through the heater core lines in an LS or hot spots will develop. There is no valve on factory LS equipped cars.

[Daniils]

Thank you for the advice.
I got rid of stock radiator set up years ago. And all the mounting points have been cut off from the car. Sooo I'd have reinvent the wheel either way.
I removed the heater core valve alltogether. So i think I can skip drilling the WP bit.
Can i connect the steam port to ET though?

[Liquidity]

Sounds as good an idea as any to me.