hey there. a customer is thinking about swapping a LS engine into a E36 chassis and turbo it. Or at least he wants us to do it.
As i have no idea about american-muscle things i hope i can get some info on theses engines and swapping them here.
First thing: Swap
There are many swap kits with many options out there. but including taxes, shipping and stuff they are pretty expensive to get, so we do not really like this option.
What needs to be changed to fit the engine into the chassis? oil pan, of course, and engine mounts. well the oil pan itsself is not a problem to fabricate, but are there other problems, for example does the oil pump collide with th E36 front axle?
gearbox will be a BMW 5 or 6 speed diesel manual. maybe someone already did this swap (apparently, there are plenty of those swaps) can tell me what needs to be adapted.
second thing: The engine itsself
there are some used LS1 blocks available here in germany for around 4500-5500€. which in my opinion is pretty much for a used engine unknown condition. summitracing sells thousands of different crate engines for really interesting prices, but there is never any information about if they meet any emission standards. but this is important thing as the car must be street-legal. is there any engine that i could get as a new or remanufactured crate engine for a reasonable price?
nex thing is: what about rods and pistons? how much power/torque do they handle? can i buy a crate engine that already has forged internals for example?
third thing: The turbo
are there any experiences with different setups, manifolds an stuff, specifically on an E36? best setup would be two chargers bottom mounted beneath the gearbox, i think. any other opinions?
Thanks for any help!
I think people in the engine conversion forum have swapped LSx motors into E36 and turbocharged them. They have used Chevy or aftermarket auto and manual transmissions. If you insist on using a diesel BMW trans like a GS6-53, there are adapter plates available but the thickness of the plate may mean you need a custom flywheel. Beware the diesel and gas versions of the GS6-53 mount differently so make sure the adapter plate will correctly orient the diesel version to the LSx block. I think this one does:
https://www.pmcmotorsport.com/153,ge...-gs6-53dz.html
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