Jump to content
HybridZ

LS1 BMW...no - Not Vorshlag.com!


Recommended Posts

I was combing the archives of LS1tech.com when I came upon a thread asking for information on the BMW LS1 Swap.

 

The reply was to check out the obvious...Vorshlag.com but also gave another site where the BMW LS1 swap has been completed...and the guy gives excellant tech info.

 

The site is http://www.Nash8503.com

 

For those of you who are interested, this link also has other BMW SBC conversions listed on the "Cool Conversions" link on the left - simply scroll downward till you find the link and click away.

 

I must confess...this swap has caught my attention. If/when I ever do decide to commit on the LS1 swap I may have to flip a coin between the Z and a Bimmer (?). :?

 

BTW: I did email Mike Collins..the owner of the Nash8503 site - and he advised me that he will be putting together a kit for the engine install. Hopefully he will complete his kit a lot quicker than the Vorshlag.com folks.

 

Kevin,

(Yea,Still an Inliner)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just received an email from Mike Collins (owner of the BMW LS1 site) regarding the projected time-line we can expect the kit to begin/completed.

 

Quote: "I will definately be creating a kit but I just dont see it being ready until this winter. I am giving a lot of thought of how to do this. The motor mounts are very custom and would require a core exchange with the crossmember but I have some ideas that might simpligy things. I wont have A/C working this summer either. I know it (A/C) will fit but requires a custom bracket that will b easier to fabricate once the motor is out of the car this fall. Right now I am having way too much fun driving the car so I dont want to start tearing it down just yet."

 

....having too much fun driving it(?). I can only imagine how much fun that could be!

 

Kevin,

(Yea,Still an Inliner)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...
hmmmm moving the motor off center to clear the steering column???? thats sounds like bad juju. and holy cow i hope those are just sample headers so theycan build a jig and do some quality welds :D

Chrysler did it in the 60's to give the correct U-Joint geometry. Seems like a similar Idea...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
Sorry for dragging up and old post but I couldn't resist. Yes it does make a wonderful daily driver. Been driving mine for nearly 2 years now.

 

Thaniel! Didn't know you were a long time member here? Belated welcome to HybridZ. bgiorno.gif

 

Take a gander at our BMW Daily driver thread, and please share your LSx E36!... (when I started my LSx BMW M3 conversion I may have mentioned/linked your build in that thread...) :2thumbs:

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=147547

Edited by BRAAP
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thaniel! Didn't know you were a long time member here? Belated welcome to HybridZ. bgiorno.gif

 

Take a gander at our BMW Daily driver thread, and please share your LSx E36!... (when I started my LSx BMW M3 conversion I may have mentioned/linked your build in that thread...) :2thumbs:

 

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=147547

 

Yah my first love is Nissan. I joined up on this board when I was doing my Nissan V6 into the Rx-7 project. That was a fun car although small.

 

I'll check out your thread.

 

On and for the record my engine is mounted down the centerline of the car. The offset thing is what some swappers did for clearance. Not that I have anything against that it's just I didn't have to on mine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrators
And the OE location for the L-series in an S30 is also off center :2thumbs:

 

Common in OE. Crank centerline is offset to the passenger side in the BMW E36 too. wink.gif JTR V-8 Z is offset to the passenger side!

 

If you stop to think about it, it makes sense to offset to the passenger side on a few levels.

 

1) For a track oriented, left hand drive sports car, a slight passenger offset of the engine/trans offsets the drivers weight for more equal left to right weight distribution.

 

2) As mentioned, for US market left hand drive cars allows more steering-to-engine clearance.

 

3) Lines up truer to the diff input! The diff input is offset to the passenger side in rear wheel drive cars. Some manufactures will offset the diff case back to the driver side a smidge, but in most cases, not enough to center the diff input to the center-line of the car. In the case of the BMW E36, the diff case is centered in the car, so the input of the diff is offset to the passenger side by 1”. With how BMW designed the piloted driveshaft/Guibo trans coupling, they offset the engine and trans centerline to the passenger side by the same amount for a straight and true shot to the diff input. wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
  • 9 months later...
  • Administrators

Here is a list of the known LSx BMW E36 kits available or in the works;

As mentioned early on, the Vorshlag kit;

http://www.vorshlag.com/index.php?cPath=0_1_4_63

 

Nash was also mentioned and linked early.

 

New Age Hotrods;

http://www.nahrods.com/

 

We all know JTR with the V-8 Z kit, well they are also working on a BMW conversion kit, hopefully to be available soon! I am fortunate enough to be working with them on the prototype kit, we're finalizing few details before JTR offers the mounts, headers, etc to the public. JTR is also going to offer traditional SBC kit as well. (I am currently working with JTR on the LSx kit with my '97 M3, finalizing a few specifics before committing on the final mount design. Hope to have both shorties and long tubes available as well).

http://www.jagsthatrun.com/BMW_Order.html

 

Ford 5.0 conversion kit/instructions;

http://e36v8.com/index.html

 

Samberg Rod and Custom, (of LSx RX7 fame) recently released a very nice kit;

http://www.norotors.com/index.php?topic=623.0

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a short list of a a few guys have recently got theirs fired up and running.

Thaniel of corse has his, as did Rao, but he parted his out.

 

HBZ Member MAS280 is running the Samberg kit, just out of paint, not on the road yet;

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1214157

 

A gentleman local to us here in Portland, using a Camaro LS1/T56 in his '97 M3 sedan and also the Samberg kit, hopefully to be on the road this weekend, (taking my HPTuners over there this weekend for VATS delete and tach signal change).

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1503369

 

Bimerok built his own mounts, headers etc. His headers came out wonderful;

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1289987

 

357i recently got his up and running, another DIY conversion;

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1347123

 

RahgBag recently got his up and running recently, Vorshlag kit;

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1363423

 

Last and certainly the slowest progress of them all, mine. :wink:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1259268

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...