VR6 Man
Mar 23, 2006, 3:01 AM
Yes, on a BMW forum I am a member of, there is another member with a 3-series (I'm not sure if its an M3 or not) that has an LS1 motor in it. Has anyone else ever heard of this?
(*Pictures at bottom of post*)
Apparently its a decently popular swap to do. There is a whole website on the conversion, but I forgot to save the site and dont feel like lookign for it. But anyways, heres what he said about the car and motor:
Mildly built up LS1 engine with T56 6spd gearbox. Goes like hell, handles with the best of them on the race track. All that is good with the E36 chassis plus tons of torque, easy to drive and drift. Makes 300+ torque at the wheels at 1700rpm redlines at 7200rpms where it is still making more then 400rwhp.
More:
Video's will come, I regret not having my on-board camera ready for my last track day. Would have been quite good with all the e46 M3, C6, C5 Z06, 996 GT3 and viper poundings that were handed out. Pictures, really don't have much that I wish to post. Tutorial, well I don't think there is enough space to detail what is involved. Lets just say it was a hell of a lot of work, which is funny as most people comment that is looks like it drops right in http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/images/smilies/rofl2.gif and looks factory. Compliments for sure but still feels like a lack of appreciation of what was required, lol.
Car is going to get painted, some new wheels, then an appearance in a well known magazine.
More:
I run 255's, will have 265's for the next tires. My gearing currently allows 60mph in 1st gear(which is less wheel torque then a factory E46 M3). I will be changing the stock 3.23:1 to a 3.62:1. I don't really have that big of an issue, I can at will spin them up in 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd. But it's very easy to control with the throttle, not like a turbo. The other thing is these cars put the power down very well, comments from drivers of corvettes that can't believe for the tire size(which really isn't that big of a factory) how well it hooks up. It's was an issue on the road course, I was loosing drive to the bigger cars, especially the viper, due to the wheels spinning. This has been traced to the factory LSD, and is being remedied.
More:
No the LS1 is quite light and compact, didn't weight it but I did compare it to an M42 engine, they weighed about the same. I believe the whole drivetrain is a bit lighter then the M50/5spd, mainly due to the huge T56 6spd gear box, which is ~140lbs. Car weighs ~3100lbs and has no weight reduction done to it. Plus the weight is more central on the car now, the engine sits much further back. Feels very good balance wise, rotates nicely and is easy to 'hang-out' on turn-in or throttle.
And:
about $15k, you can recoupe some of the costs by selling the left over parts, it all depends on what you start with.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/tylaj/BMWLS12.jpg
.
.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/tylaj/BMWLS1.jpg
(*Pictures at bottom of post*)
Apparently its a decently popular swap to do. There is a whole website on the conversion, but I forgot to save the site and dont feel like lookign for it. But anyways, heres what he said about the car and motor:
Mildly built up LS1 engine with T56 6spd gearbox. Goes like hell, handles with the best of them on the race track. All that is good with the E36 chassis plus tons of torque, easy to drive and drift. Makes 300+ torque at the wheels at 1700rpm redlines at 7200rpms where it is still making more then 400rwhp.
More:
Video's will come, I regret not having my on-board camera ready for my last track day. Would have been quite good with all the e46 M3, C6, C5 Z06, 996 GT3 and viper poundings that were handed out. Pictures, really don't have much that I wish to post. Tutorial, well I don't think there is enough space to detail what is involved. Lets just say it was a hell of a lot of work, which is funny as most people comment that is looks like it drops right in http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/images/smilies/rofl2.gif and looks factory. Compliments for sure but still feels like a lack of appreciation of what was required, lol.
Car is going to get painted, some new wheels, then an appearance in a well known magazine.
More:
I run 255's, will have 265's for the next tires. My gearing currently allows 60mph in 1st gear(which is less wheel torque then a factory E46 M3). I will be changing the stock 3.23:1 to a 3.62:1. I don't really have that big of an issue, I can at will spin them up in 1st, 2nd and sometimes 3rd. But it's very easy to control with the throttle, not like a turbo. The other thing is these cars put the power down very well, comments from drivers of corvettes that can't believe for the tire size(which really isn't that big of a factory) how well it hooks up. It's was an issue on the road course, I was loosing drive to the bigger cars, especially the viper, due to the wheels spinning. This has been traced to the factory LSD, and is being remedied.
More:
No the LS1 is quite light and compact, didn't weight it but I did compare it to an M42 engine, they weighed about the same. I believe the whole drivetrain is a bit lighter then the M50/5spd, mainly due to the huge T56 6spd gear box, which is ~140lbs. Car weighs ~3100lbs and has no weight reduction done to it. Plus the weight is more central on the car now, the engine sits much further back. Feels very good balance wise, rotates nicely and is easy to 'hang-out' on turn-in or throttle.
And:
about $15k, you can recoupe some of the costs by selling the left over parts, it all depends on what you start with.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/tylaj/BMWLS12.jpg
.
.
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/tylaj/BMWLS1.jpg