LS1 swap into E36-Page 2: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

Subscribe get a full year for only $23.95 Sample Free Test Drive—no strings attached

1 2

Jan. 1, 2011 4:06 p.m. Keith SuperDork

pimpm3 wrote:

e39 540i wagon with a 6-speed swap. It seems like this would be the way to go. It would be like a factory car and it sounds like this would be cheaper then the 8 grand cost associated with the lsx swap

Except that then you have a 280 hp engine, and the LSx car does not It would be nice, though. I keep saying that if anything happens to my E39 M5, I'm going to transplant the drivetrain into a wagon.

jv8, I want to see what you can do with that dashboard. I'm looking for some way to mate an LSx computer to a CAN BUS driven dashboard in a Miata. Lots of people like to extract signals (such as the tach), but nobody seems to want to inject the data into the stream...
Jan. 1, 2011 9:23 p.m. calteg New Reader

coll9947 wrote:

My friend is well underway on a Ford 302 swap into an E36 sedan. I bug him daily to join GRM and throw up a build thread.

e36 v8.com was all it took to get him hooked.

It has a lot of reasons why the Ford 302 is the best bang for the buck for the E36.

I'm planning on going this route, but I'm being unrealistic about the price and condition of the E36 donor
Jan. 2, 2011 12:01 a.m. Ian F Dork

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: IIRC James Clay at Bimmerworld also has a super or turbo charged monster E46 wagon that made an appearance at the UTCC.

I remember that car (and the GRM profile on it) and I'm 99% sure it's an E36.

"In theory" you could graft the wagon rear of a touring onto the back of a E36 sedan and end up with a 'legal' E36 Touring in the US, but otherwise, it's difficult. It's the same problem with the E30 Touring, although at least that car is closing in on (and some have met) the 25-year rule. I've seen a couple of Tourings come up for sale on the E30 forums. They usually sell pretty quickly and for decent money if the title process it already done. Even a recent ratty one in Florida.
Jan. 2, 2011 12:40 a.m. driver109x HalfDork

When the m30 on my e28 finally dies an LSx will find its way under the bonnet.