Has anyone here built an LSx E36?

Temptations...

A friend of mine has a '95 BMW M3 that he is/was parting out. It was a 2-door coupe with an automatic trans.

He was grabbing the engine for his own E30 project, and the rolling shell is available sans drivetrain for cheap. Half the interior is gone, but I was thinking more mostly stripped interior/roll cage setup anyways. The rest is there minus a few plastic bits on the exterior. Was a high mileage (209K) car.

I can't get LSsx / T56 thoughts out of my head. Problem is, I know I couldn't afford the coin to actually finish the project anywhere in the near future. It was an otherwise stock car, so would need all the usual upgrades in addition to the swap itself... but with some GRM and junkyard creativity it could probably be done at a somewhat reasonable budget.

Ugh.

dirty thoughts...

actual shell...

They made M3s with an auto?

xflowgolf wrote: dirty thoughts...

Mmmmm wide wheels HHHNNNNNGGG

Haven't built one, but there is one for sale right now that I've seen. Here are the details. Seems a little pricey, but I have no idea what it would cost to replicate. Not mine!

Located in Orlando, FL

$22,500 OBO 1997 BMW E36 M3 Arctic Silver coupe with 186,000 miles on chassis Full functioning AC, PS, ABS, tach, speedo, coolant temp, fuel level, check engine light, power sunroof, power windows, power door locks, etc. Car weighs 3160 lbs with full interior, 1/2 tank of gas, and maintains 50/50 weight distribution Gets 27-28 MPG on highway in 6th gear All black leather interior with "Vader" style front seats (no tears) 2008 Chevrolet Corvette LS3 with 13,000 miles BER ported intake manifold F.A.S.T. Big Mouth 92mm throttle body (drive by cable) Pat G. custom spec'd Comp Cam, dual valve springs, hardened pushrods 4" Intake with Corvette style "credit card" MAF Amsoil large dry air filter (cold-air style, NO heat soak) 2006 Pontiac GTO T56 6 speed transmission with 65,000 miles Dynojet numbers: SAE 443hp/425tq Samberg motor/trans mounts and 1 3/4" headers 2.5" mandrel bent dual exhaust piping Magnaflow resonated x-pipe Vibrant high flow metallic catalytic converters Top Speed Pro1 2.5" dual catback MGW Shifter ProSport electronic oil pressure guage/sending unit LSD rear diff ratio 3.38 matches perfectly with GTO T56 and rear tire diameter TWM counterweight shift knob (heavy) RAM clutch/pressure plate/lightweight flywheel New BMW clutch master cylinder with stainless line New GM clutch slave cylinder with stainless line/remote bleeder New Mason engineering clutch pedal New AKG subframe, diff, LCA bushings New AKG subframe reinforcements at sway bar mounting points New rear shock mounts New BMW front lower control arms New EBC Redstuff brake pads New BMW Euro floating front rotors New rear cross drilled Brembo rotors New Kosei K1 17x8.5 lightweight wheels (16.5 lbs each) New Bridgestone Potenza RE050 Pole Position tires with 85% tread remaining New 75mm extended wheel studs and lightweight lugs New Vorshlag 12mm Hubcentric wheel spacers (front) New DeatschWerks high flow fuel pump New adjustable sway bar end links Depo HID lowbeam headlights New Euro radiator cover panel H&R Sport springs Koni adjustable shocks Python alarm with remote keyless entry Sony CD/MP3/USB receiver Much more not listed Receipts for everything

Tons more photos I can email

CF Front lip and Mason strut bar not included

WOW! I am in love with that ^

That looks nice. I've thought about it. Wanted to do a sedan and have it as my "one" car but i think having a nice disposable miata is a better solution for the time being

make sure to let us know if you do end up doing it, i'm sure we either have an oil pan that will work or can adjust one to make it work for that.

DaveEstey wrote: They made M3s with an auto?

Definitely.

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/3282520872.html

My thinking is more on the challenge side of a budget than the 20k budget.

On the commercial side, Vorschlag would be a place to poke around or at least take a hard look at their challenge e30 - which gives a bellhousing/trans adapter idea/options to a t56 (couple of hundred instead of $1000) The ford 5.0/t5 is a pretty well documented swap and another way to get to 300ish hp fairly easily/cheaply. Jakeb did the LSx in the e28 - he would be my source of info for making the electrons work.

This has been one of my "someday projects". Practical, great handling package that's the "right size". Big motor.

I think the trick to keeping it cheap is using an auto and controlling it manually - there's some great hard/software out there.

oldtin wrote: My thinking is more on the challenge side of a budget than the 20k budget.

agreed. while the silver car above is beautiful, I'm thinking more of a home brewed, junkyard parts wherever possible, self fabricated bracket type car.

Despite the cheap availability of this shell, I know cost wise I'd be better off buying a track prepped 3-series of non-M variety that already has the suspension/brakes/cage/seats/etc. sorted and upgraded, and then plopping an LSx into it. It's all the nickel/dime stuff that ends up doubling every budget build.

But... this would be more fun. Timing's not right for me at this point in my life as I'd rather do it when I know I could finish it which means waiting until we sell our house and relocate.

This is exactly the fantasy i have been toying with for the last year. I am getting close to getting out and finding a decent E36 to start, but I have a garage project to finish first.

oldtin wrote: My thinking is more on the challenge side of a budget than the 20k budget. On the commercial side, Vorschlag would be a place to poke around or at least take a hard look at their challenge e30 - which gives a bellhousing/trans adapter idea/options to a t56 (couple of hundred instead of $1000) The ford 5.0/t5 is a pretty well documented swap and another way to get to 300ish hp fairly easily/cheaply. Jakeb did the LSx in the e28 - he would be my source of info for making the electrons work.

I've had a hand in a few.....at Vorshlag. If you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them. The T5 is NOT the way to go. Used T56 is the easy button as long as you have the tunnel room, which the E36 does. We do other swaps that need more room and use the TKO 500/600 for those. But the TKO are not available new and cost about $2600 once you buy the bellhousing and throwout bearing parts you need.

The Vorshlag kit is expensive. But once you start comparing it to other kits you find out the other kits are either very incomplete or use crappy headers. If you are on a budget I'd recommend you only buy the headers, engine and trans mounts and steering shaft from Vorshlag and do everything else yourself. We have a lot of small parts that make the swap easier and quicker, but they are expensive if you have more time than money.

It's totally worth it to get a good set of headers for these motors. When I did my swap into my 951 decent headers really weren't available, so I was forced to use a set of short tube 1 5/8" headers.

I'm about to put a set of 1 7/8" long tube headers with a nice 3" collector on my car and conservatively expect to pick up 40rwhp with them.

Hey man....I have done a couple LSx swaps... e28 and a e12.

I see you are in Michigan (as am I....Bay City). I would be willing to make mounts and headers for you if you end up going the route of an LSx in that shell. I would charge just about cost just to be able to put together an e36 kit. That is if I just make mounts and headers and you finish the rest....

Or if you pass on it and he parts it out and scraps the shell I might be interested in the shell.....just to mock in and then scrap.

Ditto on the big header comments above.

I went from stock manifolds/cats/Xpipe on my 02 Corvette to Kooks 1 7/8" primary, 3" collector, 3" offroad X pipe. Used to run out of steam around 5k, now pulls hard to redline all the time, so hard I sometimes bang it off the rev limiter on 1-2 and 2-3 because it feels like it has that much more in it.

dyintorace wrote: Haven't built one, but there is one for sale right now that I've seen. Here are the details. Seems a little pricey, but I have no idea what it would cost to replicate. Not mine! Located in Orlando, FL $22,500 OBO 1997 BMW E36 M3 Arctic Silver coupe with 186,000 miles on chassis Full functioning AC, PS, ABS, tach, speedo, coolant temp, fuel level, check engine light, power sunroof, power windows, power door locks, etc. Car weighs 3160 lbs with full interior, 1/2 tank of gas, and maintains 50/50 weight distribution Gets 27-28 MPG on highway in 6th gear All black leather interior with "Vader" style front seats (no tears) 2008 Chevrolet Corvette LS3 with 13,000 miles BER ported intake manifold F.A.S.T. Big Mouth 92mm throttle body (drive by cable) Pat G. custom spec'd Comp Cam, dual valve springs, hardened pushrods 4" Intake with Corvette style "credit card" MAF Amsoil large dry air filter (cold-air style, NO heat soak) 2006 Pontiac GTO T56 6 speed transmission with 65,000 miles Dynojet numbers: SAE 443hp/425tq Samberg motor/trans mounts and 1 3/4" headers 2.5" mandrel bent dual exhaust piping Magnaflow resonated x-pipe Vibrant high flow metallic catalytic converters Top Speed Pro1 2.5" dual catback MGW Shifter ProSport electronic oil pressure guage/sending unit LSD rear diff ratio 3.38 matches perfectly with GTO T56 and rear tire diameter TWM counterweight shift knob (heavy) RAM clutch/pressure plate/lightweight flywheel New BMW clutch master cylinder with stainless line New GM clutch slave cylinder with stainless line/remote bleeder New Mason engineering clutch pedal New AKG subframe, diff, LCA bushings New AKG subframe reinforcements at sway bar mounting points New rear shock mounts New BMW front lower control arms New EBC Redstuff brake pads New BMW Euro floating front rotors New rear cross drilled Brembo rotors New Kosei K1 17x8.5 lightweight wheels (16.5 lbs each) New Bridgestone Potenza RE050 Pole Position tires with 85% tread remaining New 75mm extended wheel studs and lightweight lugs New Vorshlag 12mm Hubcentric wheel spacers (front) New DeatschWerks high flow fuel pump New adjustable sway bar end links Depo HID lowbeam headlights New Euro radiator cover panel H&R Sport springs Koni adjustable shocks Python alarm with remote keyless entry Sony CD/MP3/USB receiver Much more not listed Receipts for everything Tons more photos I can email CF Front lip and Mason strut bar not included

That's not pricey at all even if your time bills at minimum wage. Mine still has a stock motor and I've got a metric sh1t-ton of time invested. That looks like a car that was done right.

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1622000

Found the build thread of the car for sale.