jsquared wrote: Looks good! I like that you took the time to keep the AC! Have you corner-weighed it yet? Ride height looks about the same, I'm interested in what the weight change might have been.
Yes AC was required. It will see a good amount of track time but the customer wants to be able to drive to and from the track without sweating.
I don't have a way to corner weight it. It would be interesting to see what it is like. I will get a full weight on it soon tho.
Very nice. I bought my E46 M3 with plans to do this eventually. I actually sent many pairs of stock LS* manifolds to Vorshlag for them to test fit and see if any combination would clear the steering rack or frame rail. Unfortunately I think my manifolds are either being held hostage or Vorshlag is just too busy to do it. It's been a few years and I haven't heard anything.
What did you do for the electronics? Are you running the stock dash gauges? Are DSC and ABS still functional?
series8217 wrote: Very nice. I bought my E46 M3 with plans to do this eventually. I actually sent many pairs of stock LS* manifolds to Vorshlag for them to test fit and see if any combination would clear the steering rack or frame rail. Unfortunately I think my manifolds are either being held hostage or Vorshlag is just too busy to do it. It's been a few years and I haven't heard anything. What did you do for the electronics? Are you running the stock dash gauges? Are DSC and ABS still functional?
hmmm, they do make a e46 lsx header. That is what is on this car. ABS yes, DSC no...but we are running racelogic. Stock gauges are working with a CANBUS adapter that a guy on bimmerforums made.
series8217 wrote: Very nice. I bought my E46 M3 with plans to do this eventually. I actually sent many pairs of stock LS* manifolds to Vorshlag for them to test fit and see if any combination would clear the steering rack or frame rail. Unfortunately I think my manifolds are either being held hostage or Vorshlag is just too busy to do it. It's been a few years and I haven't heard anything. What did you do for the electronics? Are you running the stock dash gauges? Are DSC and ABS still functional?
They tend to make their own headers nowadays so yeah...
I am with the owner of this car, AC can be a requirement in some parts of the country! :D My track S13 doesn't have it, and driving that car to work in Raleigh summers meant sweat in less than 5 minutes!
I used to be part of the "LS-into-everything is a lazy redneck method"... until I found out how much effort GM put into keeping it light and compact. The lightbulb moment was after seeing corner-weights on a track-prepped LS-swapped FD. Now any time I see one swapped, especially into a car that comes with an iron-block engine, I'm interested to see the difference. Partly to satisfy the nerd in me and partly to file that combination away in the "potential future project" folder in my head 
jakeb wrote: Stock gauges are working with a CANBUS adapter that a guy on bimmerforums made.
That sounds great; I thought I was going to have to develop it myself when I do my swap. Link?
Mad_Ratel wrote:series8217 wrote: Very nice. I bought my E46 M3 with plans to do this eventually. I actually sent many pairs of stock LS* manifolds to Vorshlag for them to test fit and see if any combination would clear the steering rack or frame rail. Unfortunately I think my manifolds are either being held hostage or Vorshlag is just too busy to do it. It's been a few years and I haven't heard anything. What did you do for the electronics? Are you running the stock dash gauges? Are DSC and ABS still functional?They tend to make their own headers nowadays so yeah...
The headers make the swap impossible to legalize in California, Washington, and perhaps some other states that have similar emissions requirements for swaps. Hence the stock manifolds.
We're looking into some CARB-approved headers for the Miata application. They'd probably work in other cars as well, so I'll spread the word if it happens.
Keith Tanner wrote: We're looking into some CARB-approved headers for the Miata application. They'd probably work in other cars as well, so I'll spread the word if it happens.
Already CARB-approved for another application, or are you getting some specially made for the Miata and going through the CARB approval process? If you're going through the process I think you can name other vehicles and similar engines too. It would be great if we had good block-hugging LS swap headers for various applications.
Here's an E46 wagon with an LS2 using Hooker 8501 manifolds and a custom steering linkage: http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=1053795
Something like those with a CARB approval would be very useful for LS swaps in many different chassis.
Car is shipping out to the customer tomorrow. I have some in car video I need to upload but it is really hard to capture the power of this thing without being in it.
Weighed it today and it came back at around 3400lbs and has 525hp with 469ft tq. It's pretty insane to drive.
Still some lights on in this pic but if you look close you can see the tach is working as well as the temp gauge. I had Thaniel over on bimmerforums make me a can bus adapter. I cannot say how great it was to work with him. He made many adjustments to the program and it works great.
Along with the canbus adapter being used for the gauges it is also helping make the racelogic traction control work. This runs off the canbus and is fed tach from the canbus adapter and wheel speed sensor signals from the e46 can bus.
Made some adjustments to the shifter rod to get it in the center of the console
outside...
Now that is cool.
that is awesome.
Awesome! It weighs the same as my stock E46 M3 (3410 lbs with SMG, sunroof, and ZCP).
3400 lbs and 525 HP, must be a monster! Did you get a F/R? Looks like it'd be about the same...
I want this in my life. 
pinchvalve wrote: I love that no one has asked "why".
Me too. Cause if you have to ask, then you don't get it. This is bada##! I will for sure keep watching for more.
What a well-thought-out, amazingly executed build. Costs had to be stratospheric, but that's what it takes to do it this right. Spectacularly done.
gamby wrote: What a well-thought-out, amazingly executed build. Costs had to be stratospheric, but that's what it takes to do it this right. Spectacularly done.
You know, in the realm of average new car prices, I bet this could still be done for a "reasonable" figure.
100K+ E46 M3's (as this one seems to be) can be found on the lower end in the $12K range. Also the '02/'03 cars seem to go cheaper. If you were hunting for one with a bad trans/engine you could cherry pick the right deal, and/or starting with a runner you likely could recoup $2-3K selling the drivetrain pulled from the car.
Yes a 0 mile LS3 and brand new T56 Magnum is expensive, but it's brand new. Certainly could be near replicated with a little resourcefulness and buying a donor car/selling/scrapping and ending up with an LS1/2 & T56 combo, follow the basic bolt on paths to 500ish NA hp.
What I'm curious is the breakdown of the rest of the hardpoints that are more or less required regardless. How much is that canbus adapter? Vorschlag headers? engine mounts? etc.
Unlimited money can be spent within the drivetrain, but the basics to make it all work more or less stay the same. The modified A/C lines and bracket are a nice touch.
Was the stock radiator of sufficient capacity? What size is the Superspring M3 exhaust? Any custom oil pan modification? Clutch master cylinder? etc.
The E46 seems to be scary more from an electronic integration standpoint. If somebody can sort the canbus items to get that to play nice, that seems to me to be the biggest part of the headache. It would be nice to have a car where all the gauges/hvac/abs/airbags and such still work like stock.
Beautiful build Jake! I still want to hang out in your garage someday. 
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