My life in the slow lane: Turning a z71 4x4 335I into something respectable.

[Chris Welter]

A little back to back comparison from a friend's top mount N54 and my LS swapped car. Note the LS is running a truck water pump so the car version is a good amount shorter.. either way if you use the front of the strut tower in comparison to where it sits on the motors you get a good idea..

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[jc43089]

Wow that tucks in there great!  Good work.

[Jdesign]

Well I didn't expect that.

[jc43089]

Chris is crazy...  We worked together in Dubuque and he knew I was into BMWs so he calls me after seeing this car at the local Toyota dealer and said something like "it looks cool are they pretty good cars?"  I said yea they are nice and decently reliable.  Now here we are...

[jc43089]

If only the original owner could see what it has become.

[Jdesign]

jc43089 said:

Chris is crazy...  We worked together in Dubuque and he knew I was into BMWs so he calls me after seeing this car at the local Toyota dealer and said something like "it looks cool are they pretty good cars?"  I said yea they are nice and decently reliable.  Now here we are...

HAHAHA awesome.

[patsbimmer1]

I don't think this pisses anyone off.  This should make 4 figure power if i'm figuring that correctly, right?

[m42b32]

patsbimmer1 said:

This should make 4 figure power if i'm figuring that correctly, right?

" The new engine that will replace it will be a 427 cubic inch dart LS next block with two big snails hanging off of it "

I would imagine that it will be well into four figures by the sounds of it!

[i_love_cars]

Chris what do you think the timeline for everything is? Will this be ready for us to see next season?? I know you're using the iron block for testing purposes but are you just going to basically use it to get all the ECU controls and creature comforts sorted, and then blow it up so you can quickly move on to the new motor?

[Chris Welter]

I am really hoping to make a couple passes on the 4L80e and the stock N/A 5.3 in the spring to set a baseline against my stock N54 timeslips. The turbo setup will come later as I have to select the turbos so I only buy one set and be done with it. The general idea right now for the engine is run the 5.3 and get some base times and tunes down so if I blow it up I'm out $500 instead of the new motor (which I'm having tuned). The other thing is the new motor will be $$$$ so it will buy me some fun drive time until I get the funds together to buy it. The initial power goal (hence bigger cube motor) is 1200 whp but we'll see how everything pans out as I don't plan on spinning it past 6500. Gotta make it worth the swap as the N54 is a powerful motor to replace . Transmission will have a HD2 shift kit in it soon and will be upgraded to a Jake's performance level 5 when the new motor is ready. As for rear end, I already plan on shredding it so I've ran up some plans to beef up my subframe and control arms and also install a 9" ford DSS IRS conversion kit. Again reasoning is I want to maintain BMW designed suspension just stronger.

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[Chris Welter]

Big hold ups right now are mechanical fuel pump surge system (jc43089 helped me through this one), stock LS intake and water pump, alternator mounting, and other small items besides the Ecu. I am heading over to get my oil pan setup today, so there is still progress.

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[wasnt m3]

What intake manifold and water pump are you looking to run? Odds are, I know someone that has what you're looking for.

[Chris Welter]

For now just stock LS1 stuff for cars on the 5.3..

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[Chris Welter]

So yet another update. I got the motor to fit into the car and the second set of headers are installed (first set were too long). Motor is in with a motor plate and I spent a good amount of time freshening up gaskets and cleaning the test engine. I have learned you really have to wanna go fast to attempt to do this kind of swap. Engine is almost in completely and wiring will be fairly quick thanks to my Dominator harnesses and a spreadsheet I made of all the wires I need to modify for the oem harness. Going to make the tach and oem gauges work for the most part until I'm ready to drop the 7" Holley display in. Now some update pix.

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[Chris Welter]

Overall progress of fitting motor and getting correct fitting headers. Motor cleaned in the pics and reassembled with new gaskets ect. Powder coated valve covers for a hint of color and a ls1 water pump. Now to just get it final mounted on the motor plates with the c5 corvette racing alternator and we are in business.

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[YoungCR]

That motor looks badass!

[Jdesign]

Yes! Glad to see an update on this!!

[Chris Welter]

Here's another shot as of recent.. Dominator is installed and wiring is ran. Put the front on to figure out the cooling and the turbo/exhaust situation.

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[i_love_cars]

awesome progress. It looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. Seems pretty plausible that this car will be running well before summer is done?

[B C]

Nice update! 
Access to the front of the engine looks improved over the I6 (obviously), Is there anything that is going to be a royal PITA to work on with this setup that will require pulling the engine, that normally wouldn't (spark plug access etc.)