LS3 Swapped 528i BMW

[Aquaticbob]

Well what originally started out as an inline 6 base-ish 528i sport has started down the path of becoming a GMW. We will be making the mounts, the headers, and pretty much all the custom pieces to get the swap done. The headers will be the biggest fab work for the swap. We are doing long tubes as that's pretty much the only option for clearing around the steering shaft. The project is about 30% of the way in so I'll get to the pictures part.


Her she is, freshly traded for from a customer of mine. Waiting for the race car to be "done" and out of the bay.

Ready for the transplant! Our mock up LS block was so excited to get put to use it hopped right on the hood



The OEM motor takes up soooooo much room! Bmw puts their inline sixes on an angle, and then puts everything under the intake manifold. ***** to work on the motor that way, but it makes the frame rails perfectly situated for a push rod V8. There is 2 fists of room on each side of the motor


Mmmm displacement, ohhhhh there is no replacement for thee



Love these manifolds, they are so well designed and look fantastic. Block is a bit dirty though, bit of cleaning to do.

 

[Aquaticbob]

I really become a clean freak when I'm building a motor. This is getting torn down and rebuilt. We popped the bearing caps off and took a peak. Nearly could see the part numbers so we decided they can stay. Cross hatch is also excellent, so we are leaving the rings as well. Overall I'm pretty happy with the condition of the motor. Previous owner obviously followed the maintenance schedules and had the oil changed regularly. Not the best quality oil, but for sure not the worst which is very nice for its 2nd life.




Getting the heads all cleaned up! I was really surprised to see an MLS gasket as stock. Cleaning aluminum can be a real task, as I do not allow metal razor blades, or any sort of discs on power tools. It takes awhile but there are absolutely no scuffs, scrapes, gouges, whathaveyou on anything. This is still in progress on cleaning and getting prepped for new valves and valve springs in prep for the new custom cam from Isky racing.

 

[nine4gmc]

Should go FAST now!

Couple questions, will the car have ac? Will the gauges work? What all is involved electrically to make this work? I can grasp the mechanical side of the swap but all these new cars with ecm's, bcm's etc I am not real familiar with.

 

[Aquaticbob]

I nearly forgot all about this here piece of magic! Trans is a 4L60e that we will be upgrading and sticking a gear vendors unit behind. Purchased used on eBay from an LS1 GTO, it had a hard life but it will enjoy it's new one. Just got this piece in today and torn down to get the parts list for it. The main objective of the car is to be a prime daily driver. It's not a strip street car or anything like that, so hard launches won't be had too often

 

[404]

Looks great! Is that a styrofoam block?

Are you exempt from OBD2 emissions testing? We are in mass for cars after 2000 as of this year.

Not saying the motor will pollute, but just wondering how the paper work is dealt with during inspections in WA state.

 

[Aquaticbob]

It is a styrofoam plastic block. For sure a useful tool doing these swaps. Best part is you can bolt everything onto the block (minus rotating assembly) so you can get the full size assembly and not have to mess around with the engine hoist moving a heavy block around. This thing weighs about 20lbs and with the intake, timing cover and pan it's a very manageable tool. Just set it up on a support bar so you don't have to hold it, but you can still easily move it

 

[MattVette89]

Looking forward to seeing this build!

 

[1949 caddyman]

Subscribed. So you will have an overdrive trans with a gearvendors overdrive?

 

[aka Larry]

Best way to make a BMW decent is to replace the German parts with American ones...like an LS3.

 

[exmaxima1]

Should go FAST now!

Probably a tick faster than the v8 powered M5 model of that same car. They have similar power, but the extra displacement of the push-rod LS3 may beat out the sophistication of the smaller German engine.

I used to own a similar black 528i, and I recall that it had superior handling to the V8 versions due to better weight distribution and (most important) its rack&pinion steering. Apparently BMW couldn't fit the V8 engine under the hood unless they reverted to the lesser recirculating ball type. That also changed the swing arms, and some other suspension parts. In the pics I see that all of that is removed---it will be interesting to see how that all goes back together.

 

[nonhog]

Fun stuff, I am on the tail end of a V8 Volvo swap(for about a year now)
Looking forward to more!
Wish I had a lift..........envy!

 

[Aquaticbob]

OEM steering rack and pinion will be retained with power steering of course. This one is "supposed to" put down close to 450 wheel so it should move past an E39 M5 with no problem.

The double over drive is to get the mileage manageable on the freeway where this car will spend most of its time. There are 4:10s in the back so we needed to have the .55 OD to make it a bit more RPM friendly cruising.

Also to address the emissions question, in WA as long as the motor is newer than the chassis it is permitted. It will still need to pass and emissions test, which here we hook up to OBD2 and the car tells the machine yes or no. It's very rare for them to actually sniff an OBD2+ car because they could care less. Also if you fail, $150 waiver gets you through anyway. It's not exactly hard to pass emissions lol

 

[404]

Thanks for the answer to the emissions question.

 

[exmaxima1]

OEM steering rack and pinion will be retained with power steering of course. This one is "supposed to" put down close to 450 wheel so it should move past an E39 M5 with no problem.

I get your "supposed to" quotations. That's nearly 100 more ponies than stock (whp), and about 50 more than virtually any add-ons can muster out of a 2 valve push rod engine. What kind of tricks does that engine possess?

 

[Aquaticbob]

The tricks are in the heads. The LS3 heads have huge ports that the stock cam doesn't take advantage of. It's pretty easy to cam an LS3 and add 50+ wheel. The rectangular ports and big valves are key. I don't have exact numbers, but if you google the LS3 head flow tests people have done the stock castings are pretty impressive

 

[Flat-rate]

Finally a reason to own a BMW.

 

[bullnerd]

"so hard launches won't be had too often"

Muhahahaha! Yeah right!

looks like fun, thanks for sharing.

 

[54FordPanel]

This is cool

 

[Aquaticbob]

Mounts will hold the motor up about .5-1" above where it is. Currently just being supported by wood on the pan sump and sitting on the cross member. Seems that I might be able to get away with some block hugger shorties, we will see though.

 

[madoc1]

should be awesome. what is the weight diff. between the bmw and the chev engines? is the ls3 an all alum. model?

jim

 

[tms0425]

What a great project!

I've had some nice ones - an M5, couple of M3's, and a 2000 E39 540i Sport 6-speed. It was by far the best overall car I've ever owned, wish I still had it. I can't imagine what it'd be like with an LS3 and the 528i's steering/suspension setup, but it should be big fun!

 

[wrnchmonkey]

Love bmws and ls motors. This is awesome.

 

[Aquaticbob]

should be awesome. what is the weight diff. between the bmw and the chev engines? is the ls3 an all alum. model?



jim

Weight difference I believe is about 20lbs more. It's a small difference between the motor weight. The transmissions do have a large difference in weight. Fortunately that's down low and close to the middle so it works out pretty well. All LS motors are all aluminum.

What a great project!

I've had some nice ones - an M5, couple of M3's, and a 2000 E39 540i Sport 6-speed. It was by far the best overall car I've ever owned, wish I still had it. I can't imagine what it'd be like with an LS3 and the 528i's steering/suspension setup, but it should be big fun!

It should be a prime daily driver. I love the E39 5 series and I think putting the American power plant in it, the car will drive significantly better. The sport suspension is for sure the way to go on them.

I think after this, and the formula drift car I've got slotted up next, I'm going to build one of these for myself. I'll need a bit more power, and I think I'm gonna find a dead E39 M5 to start with.

 

[TauntDevil]

Looks like a good start. We do a lot of V8 as well as other engine swaps out here. We have done a ls6 E30 and about maybe 6 or 7 2JZ Bmw's as far as what we have done to beamers. Fun cars and very cheap.

 

[Aquaticbob]

Looks like a good start. We do a lot of V8 as well as other engine swaps out here. We have done a ls6 E30 and about maybe 6 or 7 2JZ Bmw's as far as what we have done to beamers. Fun cars and very cheap.

I have someone who really wants to do a 2JZ E36, but I'm all about the LS for going to the track. Cheap and easy! Besides might as well just turbo the BMW motor lol. LS in an E30 seems a bit tight, but I know the can really move with them

 

[nine4gmc]

Should go FAST now!

Couple questions, will the car have ac? Will the gauges work? What all is involved electrically to make this work? I can grasp the mechanical side of the swap but all these new cars with ecm's, bcm's etc I am not real familiar with.

 

[Aquaticbob]

Should go FAST now!

Couple questions, will the car have ac? Will the gauges work? What all is involved electrically to make this work? I can grasp the mechanical side of the swap but all these new cars with ecm's, bcm's etc I am not real familiar with.

Sorry, I must have missed your post! The car will have AC, we will be splicing a GM connector to the existing BMW lines to get it to bolt onto the AC compressor for the LS3. Electronically we will use the GM PCM and TCM, we just need to wire power to it through the BMW system. To do so we will compare some wiring diagrams and run some positives and negatives.

The gauges will be switched to analog and be wired up to the motor. That will allow the stock gauge cluster to still be utilized

 

[nine4gmc]

Awesome, that makes sense now thanks for explaining it. Look forward to seeing this thing run!

 

[TauntDevil]

I have someone who really wants to do a 2JZ E36, but I'm all about the LS for going to the track. Cheap and easy! Besides might as well just turbo the BMW motor lol. LS in an E30 seems a bit tight, but I know the can really move with them

Yeah, we dont have preferences on engine swaps. We are more of, what you can afford or have, if you can go with it, why not... but customers have preferences usually and we make them work. E30 is pretty easy usually because those who come in usually also want a tubed front end so it makes it far easier to install and make space for. Fun project as well. Definitely definitely definitely take a video of the dash and outside of the car during a pull. One of my favorite views is watching the cars wrap out and just blast!

 

[nonhog]

All LS motors are all aluminum.

Not to nitpick, but you must be missing a # for that statement.

Just out of curiosity is there issues with the BMW engines? Not that you need an excuse to build one like you want. Again just curious?

 

[404]

What is a tubed front end?

 

[Aquaticbob]

Not to nitpick, but you must be missing a # for that statement.



Just out of curiosity is there issues with the BMW engines? Not that you need an excuse to build one like you want. Again just curious?

Well I suppose to get down to it all LS motors are all aluminum minus the LSX racing block. So the LS1,2,3,4,6 and 7 are aluminum while the LSX racing block is iron for strength.

The main thing with the BMW motors is they are extremely expensive to work on, and there are some issues once they get high mileage that are going to cost a lot of money to fix. I also don't like having the lack of space when working on the motor either. Things like the starter being under the intake manifold on the I6, making it a ***** to get at. Or if you need to work on something taking the cooling system out to make it easier. I love the S series (S52, S54, etc) of motors, they are for the most part a great series of motors.

 

[madoc1]

what are ls motors considered? small block series 4? if you look at it that way, there are many ls style motors out the , like the lq9 and the lm7 which are near identical to named ls motors but have iron blocks. these are much preferred amongst some drag racers for their strength. easy and cheap to pick up a junkyard truck motor and have some get go. just nit picking. nice work. keep up the pics, lots of good info.

jim

 

[sqznby]

I love me some LS swapness.

 

[Aquaticbob]

The LS series is GM Gen 3 and 4 small block. Like you're saying about the LQ they are nearly identical with those being iron. It's kind of like a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't a square type of deal. An LS is a gen 3/4 small block but a gen 3/4 small block isn't necessarily an LS. I mean if we are REALLY getting nit picky about it lol

 

[TauntDevil]

I believe you guys are over complicating the statement about the engines. LS series is aluminum other than the LSX as far as engine codes go. The LQ etc are iron block but they are NOT LS engines. Its really that simple. When talking terms of similarity etc, yes, the LQ9, LM7, etc are made nearly the same but with iron blocks as the LS. So same setups pretty much (Not including details like bore size, etc that can be different and what not.) Parts are inter-swappable mostly but actual LS engines are aluminum. Something almost every craigslist person seems to not understand it seems.

Hope this helps clear things up. Because if we are all going to go by similarity than almost all old chevy muscle cars have a LS engine since they are almost all just a SBC 350 engines for the most part and a LS is a 350 as well. (mostly).

Information learned from talking and going over this information with chevy dealership mechanics (good friends). As well as building and installing engines myself.

 

[Aquaticbob]

I believe you guys are over complicating the statement about the engines. LS series is aluminum other than the LSX as far as engine codes go. The LQ etc are iron block but they are NOT LS engines. Its really that simple. When talking terms of similarity etc, yes, the LQ9, LM7, etc are made nearly the same but with iron blocks as the LS. So same setups pretty much (Not including details like bore size, etc that can be different and what not.) Parts are inter-swappable mostly but actual LS engines are aluminum. Something almost every craigslist person seems to not understand it seems.

Hope this helps clear things up. Because if we are all going to go by similarity than almost all old chevy muscle cars have a LS engine since they are almost all just a SBC 350 engines for the most part and a LS is a 350 as well. (mostly).

Information learned from talking and going over this information with chevy dealership mechanics (good friends). As well as building and installing engines myself.

This is pretty much what I was getting at.



Getting all lined up and ready to make the mounts. We were able to get everything perfectly set tonight so we can start fabbing mounts tomorrow

 

[bartz32tt]

I love LS-swapped E39's! I'll be watching closely. Please provide plenty of detail on wiring and plenty of pictures for header fab/clearance. I wonder if some shorty headers would clear the steering shaft?

 

[Aquaticbob]

I love LS-swapped E39's! I'll be watching closely. Please provide plenty of detail on wiring and plenty of pictures for header fab/clearance. I wonder if some shorty headers would clear the steering shaft?

There will be lots of info on the swap when I'm done for sure. The bimmer forums are also a great resource on this swap, thanks to generous members posting there.

I'm thinking some shorties would work, but I'm not sure about any off the shelf ones. I nearly got the stock ones to fit though

 

[sqznby]

Another good source for all of your "LS" based info is LS1Tech