Ls2 swap

[BP SCM3]

After reading octavianv8's thread, I thought I’d post my LS2 Z3 Coupe.



The swap started as a 1999 2.8 coupe with 266,000 miles. Texas car, decent shape, no rust.

Here is the car before. The previous owner had unique taste.



List of the major items -

Swap done by Kansas City Autosport
LS2 & T56 from a wrecked GTO with 80,000 miles
CX-Racing engine and transmission mounts for E36
Corvette Z06 Exhaust Manifolds
Driveshaft
Radiator/Fan
MegaSquirt EFI Controller
New Age A/C
3:73 Limited Slip Differential
Diff Cover
Reinforced rear end
E46 330i Rotors & Calipers
BC Racing Coilovers
18x8 Enkei Tuning Raijin, Front
18x9.5 Enkei Tuning Raijin, Rear. Widened to 11.0”
NITTO NT 01
225/40-18 Front
315/30-18 Rear
Z3M front/rear bumpers, mirrors & fender grilles
Never Done front splitter, Gurney flap & custom rear diffuser
Matte Red Metallic vinyl wrap by Never Done

There is a ton more crap not listed.

Some photos and videos of the swap.

I Assume this is the first time the car has seen snow. Gold wheels are the first to go.


Engine and transmission arrive.


Out with the old


Mounts


Plenty of room for the LS2.


The front of the block sits just behind the front of the strut towers.


Enough room to stand in the engine bay, check the oil and eat a ham sandwich.


First start up. No exhaust.


Front M bumper install.


Rear M bumper and center exit exhaust.




Enkeis mounted. Rears are too narrow.


Added 1.5" to the inside of the rims.


M fender grille and coilovers installed.


Off to Never Done for wrap, Gurney flap & rear diffuser.


Decided on 3M Matte Red Metallic, matte black roof.


Wrap, front splitter.


Gurney flap & rear diffuser.


Finally home with new window tint & M mirrors.


Interior is next. Should be done in a couple of weeks.

[328 Power 04]

Very nice car and project! Looks like a very clean swap.




Also that X5 is certainly unique. Any details on that?

[octavianv8]

Looks great! I really like that you kept the amber lights...it goes good with the matte red especially at the rear.
What are your thoughts on the the 3.73 diff with your setup?
Also are you running the stock axles/trailing arms?

[sleepy740]

I love the Center Exhaust!

[Remotion]

very nice. what is the weight difference between M52 and LS2? The V8 engine is a little bit less in front of the strut towers than M52 right?

[tommy1394]

Are you running the GTO exhaust manifolds? Any issues clearing steering? Any chance you could still fit cats? Have been investigating doing an E-Rod swap in a z3 coupe as a CARB legal option.

[BimmerBreaker]

That last pic makes it look like it has diamond pleated seats? Pics of interior?

Looks nice overall, would be cool to see some vids of it on the track.

[BP SCM3]

Looks great! I really like that you kept the amber lights...it goes good with the matte red especially at the rear.
What are your thoughts on the the 3.73 diff with your setup?
Also are you running the stock axles/trailing arms?

Thanks. The 3:73 feels perfect for the car. Stock axles and trailing arms.

I love the Center Exhaust!

Thanks. I need to get better pictures of the rear.

very nice. what is the weight difference between M52 and LS2? The V8 engine is a little bit less in front of the strut towers than M52 right?

I'm not sure of the weight on the M52, but the LS2 weighs about 440-450lbs. The LS doesn't come out in front of the towers, I'm guessing the M52 is 3-6" in front of the towers.

Are you running the GTO exhaust manifolds? Any issues clearing steering? Any chance you could still fit cats? Have been investigating doing an E-Rod swap in a z3 coupe as a CARB legal option.

Z06 manifolds. Had to build new steering shaft. Should have bought the CX-Racing headers and not mess with the steering. I think there is still room for cats. I'll try to find some underneath shots of the car.

Very nice car and project! Looks like a very clean swap.

Also that X5 is certainly unique. Any details on that?

They guys at Never Done Garage are building the X5. Don't have any info on it.

That last pic makes it look like it has diamond pleated seats? Pics of interior?

Looks nice overall, would be cool to see some vids of it on the track.

Current interior is hideous. I'll post pictures when it is done.

[BMWCBE]

Did you have to move the hole for the shifter like vorschalg did on their Z3 m roadster ls1 swap? The LS6 and T56 are in, in my z3 coupe but we are trying to figure if we can extend the shifter linkage and have it function properly or if we need to modify the shifter hole which quickly has you running into the center console. Let me know what you ended up doing, any insight would be helpful.

Thanks

[dghii]

Very impressive. Lots of engineering!

[z3forlife]

Are you going to be at the car show next Sunday the 18th at 119th and metcalf ? I'm thinking of coming up and would love to see this in person. It's a all German show sponsored by the local bmw club. Free show but they're asking for people to register. Starts at 9am

[MudHut]

Looks good. Sounds great.

If you have a minute, I'd really be interested in the work that went into getting the speedo, tach and gauges to work with the swap. How many had to interface with the engine? I suspect the gas gauge and amp meter work without mods, but I'm curious about the rest. Are you running the engine management through the dash as far as OBDII outputs and such? ABS/traction control work?
To me personally, the mechanical part of this isn't the intimidating aspect, it's trying to get the electrical components correct and use the factory dash that is daunting.

Jay

[QuestMCoupe]

Pretty awesome project. Digging everything about it. I'm impressed on how you got the front bumper and hood to line up so well.

[BP SCM3]

Did you have to move the hole for the shifter like vorschalg did on their Z3 m roadster ls1 swap? The LS6 and T56 are in, in my z3 coupe but we are trying to figure if we can extend the shifter linkage and have it function properly or if we need to modify the shifter hole which quickly has you running into the center console. Let me know what you ended up doing, any insight would be helpful.

Thanks

I don't think the shifter hole was modified, bit I'll double check. I believe the engine was moved back as far as possible to make it fit. I attached a picture so you can see the knob position.

Are you going to be at the car show next Sunday the 18th at 119th and metcalf ? I'm thinking of coming up and would love to see this in person. It's a all German show sponsored by the local bmw club. Free show but they're asking for people to register. Starts at 9am

If the interior is done by then, I'll take it to the show.

Looks good. Sounds great.

If you have a minute, I'd really be interested in the work that went into getting the speedo, tach and gauges to work with the swap. How many had to interface with the engine? I suspect the gas gauge and amp meter work without mods, but I'm curious about the rest. Are you running the engine management through the dash as far as OBDII outputs and such? ABS/traction control work?
To me personally, the mechanical part of this isn't the intimidating aspect, it's trying to get the electrical components correct and use the factory dash that is daunting.

Jay

I don't know a lot about this part of the install. I do know that everything is controlled by the megasquirt. Still have ABS and can add traction control & launch control via megasquirt. I also remember they had trouble getting the tachometer to read correctly. They had to program the megasquirt with the speedo out of a 4 cylinder BMW for it to read correctly, would not work with a 6 cylinder BMW tach.

[z3forlife]

Once you open the hood I'm sure everyone will be distracted from any imperfections of the interior but I dig it?

[BIGSOOJ]

Awesome!!! LS everything!!!

[BMWCBE]

Thanks for the information! Shifter looks spot on in the center. We'll take a look at the engine location and the extension linkage we have for the shifter and hopefully we can get ours in the same position. We are using the sanberg engine and tranny mounts not the CX racing so this might put things in slightly different locations. Thanks again

[PbFut]

Thanks for reminder about CX-Racing. I completely forgot about them. My cheap-o Hedman block huggers finally gave up this past weekend after 5 years. I think the shop that popped on the new set of cans for my August event let the pipes hang and stressed the collector flanges. Both sides cracked with big ass holes on Saturday. I tired to weld at the track but it was not going well and I said screw it and came home. CX is the way to go on the headers for value. Hopefully my home made engine mounts doesn't put the engine position too far off from CX-Racing's design. I just ordered the header and trans mount because I liked the mount design. Probably should have done the engine mount as well but I do not like that it has a bushing and the mount to too big for my use. We'll see what happens next week. Having to do over, with the price of these headers, and not needing to relocate the steering shaft would make the swap pretty simple mechanically.

[BP SCM3]

Great project! Did someone in the KC area widen the wheels?
I have a pair of rear Roadstars that I'd like to have widened...

http://www.ericvaughnmachine.com

[gmushial]

Thanks for reminder about CX-Racing. I completely forgot about them. My cheap-o Hedman block huggers finally gave up this past weekend after 5 years. I think the shop that popped on the new set of cans for my August event let the pipes hang and stressed the collector flanges. Both sides cracked with big ass holes on Saturday. I tired to weld at the track but it was not going well and I said screw it and came home. CX is the way to go on the headers for value. Hopefully my home made engine mounts doesn't put the engine position too far off from CX-Racing's design. I just ordered the header and trans mount because I liked the mount design. Probably should have done the engine mount as well but I do not like that it has a bushing and the mount to too big for my use. We'll see what happens next week. Having to do over, with the price of these headers, and not needing to relocate the steering shaft would make the swap pretty simple mechanically.

This had always been one of my concerns, one of those do I really want to get into this items... interesting see there's a alternative - thanks for the comment.

[danomite]

...so where did you mount your rear plate? That's the dilemma I'm having, as I was going to do the exact same thing you've done...with the M rear bumper and center exhaust.

[fire2]

Maybe I missed it, but what about electronics/computer/obd2. what was needed----do you still have full function of all oem controls? what had to be modified/changed for the electrical/electronic systems?

[PbFut]

You keep the OEM computer to run all the street stuff and add a standalone for engine management. Usually a OEM chevy box. Then you have to figure out how to drive the tach and other engine gauges. Pretty basic, just takes some research and patience. The whole project is about enduring the process. If you have a stick with it frame of mind, all of a sudden you realize you are closer to completion than you realize. And when the day comes to drive something like this, it is a very rewarding feeling.

[BP SCM3]

Maybe I missed it, but what about electronics/computer/obd2. what was needed----do you still have full function of all oem controls? what had to be modified/changed for the electrical/electronic systems?

Everything works just like it did from the factory except for the traction control. There is no BMW ecu in the car, everything is now controlled by the Megasquirt. http://megasquirt.info Traction and launch control can be added to the Megasquirt.

...so where did you mount your rear plate? That's the dilemma I'm having, as I was going to do the exact same thing you've done...with the M rear bumper and center exhaust.

I'll post pictures after the interior is done, but the plate is in the M location with a modified license plate frame.

[1933beer]

So many people start and give up on ls on conversions using a 944. I have seen a few ls conversions that have worked. I like what you did. Would love to know how much the project set you back? I am about 2.5 hours north of kc .