1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

[DBeck]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

7:00 tonight?

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Yes, 7 pm tonight. Car already ont he lift ready to be de-engined.

[cledbetter]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Sorry I missed it. Guess I dont get on the forums enough =(

Christopher

[Redwood]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

How'd the engine removal go?

[DBeck]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

I think it went good.....well better than the header that jumped on Fair when he was under the car. First time for me pullin an LS out of an E36. We (Brian, Fair and me) were done by about 10:30

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Thanks for coming by to help, Dave. With the three of us working it went pretty smoothly.


Here Hanchey and DaveB get to work pulling the drivetrain out


About 2 hours later






Some hasty reassembly over the weekend will keep all of the front end parts from laying around the shop

Ready for the LS2!

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Koenig has the new LS2 motor ready! I've got to pull the oilpan and rear cover off the old motor this weekend and ship it to him, then its ready to go into the car. Installed a new Camaro LS1 oilpan baffle kit that looks pretty trick.

So excited!

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

btw speaking of LSx oilpan baffles i bought this a few months ago its a really nice welded piece which you or others may find useful. http://www.improvedracing.com/produc...078287a0ea08b9

Thanks for this tip - we ordered one of these and our engine builder liked it so much he got another for a customer's engine. We picked up the motor last weekend while we were in Houston at an SCCA National Tour. We're pretty swamped at the shop but Brian did find time to get us a new Fidanza LS2/LS7 aluminum flywheel and an LS7 factory clutch and pressure plate. Today he spoke with a guy at Canton/Accusump for about an hour and we've got an oil cooler, 3 quart Accusump, and all sorts of accessories that go along with these parts. We might even be a dealer for Canton soon? Good stuff. Anyway, here are the pics:


Left: Old 5.7L LS1 motor and Camaro pan next to LS2 pan (LS2's much longer sump gets in the way of BMW crossmember). Right: Dropping off old motor at HK Racing Engines


The new LS2!

As soon as the new flywheel and Canton bits arrive we can finally get the motor back in this car. :redspot

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Flywheel arrived today so we're working on the LS2 motor on the Alpha car TONIGHT! 7 pm until 11 pm or so...

[DBeck]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

See ya in a little then.

[hancheyb]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

We had a day Saturday opting to not drive down in the rain to TWS we worked on putting the accessories and intake on. Thanks to Matt for the help. We'll be working again tonight getting the flywheel, clutch and transmission put together. Maybe sticking it in the car?

After that we have a bunch of little projects like mounting/installing the oil cooler, Accusump and fire system. Plenty to do!

Probably starting around 7:30PM tonight.

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Some updates on the Vorshlag E36 LS2 install from the last few weeks. We've been chasing down all sorts of hardware needed for the LS2, for the new C6 Z06 clutch/pressure plate, and for the addition of the Accusump and Canton oil cooler.


A beautifully built LS2 as delivered from HK Racing Engines in Houston, TX


Factory oil pan baffle in the LS1 Camaro pan (in the pan) next to the Improved Racing version


The modified baffle after 2.5 hours and 14 iterations of grinding/cleaning/bolting in/test fitting. It now clears the pickup tube.


Powerbond balancer, ARP crank bolt, and LS2 front cover - supplied by HKE


Oil Cooler Adapter


Accusump 3 QT accumulator kit. "Some assembly required"

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

More updates from the LS2 install...


Race duty power steering pump. Billet underdriven pulley with bolt access and safety wire, lower flow pump internals. 10 GPM instead of 15 GPM. Mo Power, Less Heat, Mo betta.


Our stock LS6 intake wouldn't fit our CNC'd LS6 heads. WTF?


Actually this is pretty common on LS1/LS6 factory intakes. Just grind the bosses on the bottom a little and it pops into place.


Old stock Camaro water pump after many years of "water only". Crusty!


New water pump hotness + power steering, alternator, and lots of cleaning.


Big thanks for help from Matt P, Dave B, Paul M. Brian and I appreciate it!

[Fair!]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

More LS2 updates... clutch/pressure plate and flywheel

Since we're adding about 200 hp we figured our LS1 Fidanza flywheel and used C5 Z06 clutch and pressure plate (despite looking brand new after 3 years of abuse) might not be up to the task. After doing a little searching bought the LS7 aluminum flywheel ($400 retail) and LS7 factory clutch and PP ($220), which is rated at 505 hp from the factory. A lot more surface area on the friction surface and a much heavier pressure plate. In our little 2500 pound car this should work nicely.


LS1 Fidanza (L) and and LS7 Fidanza (R) look very different but weigh the same


The C6 Z06 (LS7) OEM clutch & PP were almost 5 pounds heavier than the C5 Z06 (LS6) OEM version, though

More pics of our various LS1/6 to LS2/7 differences shown in this gallery (there were quite a few): http://vorshlag.smugmug.com/gallery/7972177_iYqz3


The damn flywheel bolts - 3 iterations and lots of lessons learned

First off let me start with some excuses - we're suspension guys and don't build a lot of LS1 motors. Luckily we know some good engine builders (Erik at HKE) and tuners/builders (Taylor at DP) that have been very helpful when we ran into snags.

We never have time during the day to work on this stuff so we attack it in small chunks at night and on the weekends. The flywheel has been kicking our butt the last 3 times we've tried to work on the motor. First we figured out the factory LS1/2/6/7 flywheel to crank bolts are M11 (an oddball bolt size, even for Metric!), which we had used before on the stock motor/Fidanza flywheel. We bought replacements from GM. They almost worked in our aftermarket crank... which we found out quickly is made for 7/16-20 SAE threads (Small Block Chevy style). Oops. Then we rounded up some aftermarket SBC bolts (shown above) but the heads were too short for the LS7 Fidanza flywheel's recessed bolt pockets. After 2 weeks of this we just received proper ARP flywheel bolts for a SBC (from HKE). These flanged head, 12 point reduced socket drive, super strong bolts work like a charm. Almost there!

[GotCone?]

Re: 1992 318is / LS1 aka: "Alpha E36 LS1"

Good progress guys!