Corvette engine in your bimmer?

I heard that a couple people had these at this and last years bimmerfest. My engine might be on its way out and I'm thinking about keeping it as a project car.

The only LS1 kits I have found for my E36 is by Vorshlag ( http://www.vorshlag.com/E36ProjectBook.asp ) and that isn't done yet. :-(

There are several e36's out there running with LS1's under the hood. Mike Collins of www.nash8503.com was one of the first (if not the first) to get his project rolling. If you look at his kit page you'll notice some pieces are different than his original project car (mounts, radiator...).

Here is the most recent e36 I've seen that has done the conversion. This was not done via a kit, it was custom, it was done FAST, and it was done 1st CLASS!

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=474890

Thanks for the reply, yeah I like nash's a lot. I was running errands and I rolled into this german auto place I know that does a lot of work on bmws. I asked them what they thought of the project and the thing they told me I would ahve to watch out for which suprised me most were the axels.

I guess they through a M3 motor in a Ti and it snapped. The other thing mentioned was needing a newer limited slip differential so I'm not spinning out my left tire anytime I press on the gas.

Thoughts?

Oh, one more thing.. I'm 90% sure that my 318c is front wheel drive.. it looks a lot like nash's car is rearwheel.

Originally Posted by falieson

Oh, one more thing.. I'm 90% sure that my 318c is front wheel drive.. it looks a lot like nash's car is rearwheel.

all bmw's are rear wheel drive

But you end up loosing the balance that was engineered for the models these LS (Vette) egines are placed into.

I'll pass and get an ///M

does anyone know if the 2007 bimmerfest is going to be in santa barbara again?

Originally Posted by gbelton

But you end up loosing the balance that was engineered for the models these LS (Vette) egines are placed into.

I'll pass and get an ///M

Balance is better than an ///M. These motors are not only lighter than an ///M motor (S50, S52 or S54), but the package is smaller (shorter) and the majority of the weight sits behind the strut towers....similar to the way M44/42 sits.

Yes there are quite a few "associated" costs when doing a conversion like this. Headers often cost several thousand $'s and $3k+ generally goes into strengthening the rear end (at a minimum). Get a harness and computer from Speartech for another $1k+, then spend some time on a dyno and spend some more...these are just a few of the many costs most people do not consider when posting about engine swaps.

Originally Posted by JoeZ

Balance is better than an ///M. These motors are not only lighter than an ///M motor (S50, S52 or S54), but the package is smaller (shorter) and the majority of the weight sits behind the strut towers....similar to the way M44/42

Exactly. To the guy who said his 318 is FWD?!?! That's scary to have someone who writes on an enthusiast board and doesn't even know where the power goes to on their car let alone BMW's history of RWD cars (not to mention the AWD models they make).

I had spent the entire day at the beach - I don't know what I was thinking.

Does anyone know anyone that has done that nash kit? ( http://www.nash8503.com/ )

Also, anyone can point me to some spicey pictures of vette engines in an E36?