BMW E30 LS1 Project Car

My friend and I are selling our beloved project E30. We are both mechanical engineers and have always wanted to do the E30 LS1 swap. After college we started the project as quickly as able and got most of the way through it before life got in the way. We have about $19,000 invested in lots of high quality parts. The E30 ran and drove, passed Texas inspection as a daily driver before the build.

The LS1 and T56 were purchased as a pair on Ebay and had 100k miles on the pair. Pulled out of a 2000 Camaro SS in California. We personally checked the compression on all 8 cylinders before payment was made for the engine and they were between 145-155 psi. We did a comprehensive refresh on the engine including magnaflux and resurfacing of heads, inspection of valves and springs, new valve guides and seals, timing chain, oil pump,hydraulic lifters, pushrod trays, gaskets, seals, critical bolts, water pump, t-stat. Engine has no A/C, power steering, or EGR plumbing. Includes its Camaro driveshaft and BMW adapter yoke.

Our first focus on this car was suspension and brakes. It has H&R racing springs, Bilstein struts, and Ireland Engineering adjustable sway bars (25mm front, 22mm rear). We swapped 4 piston front brake calipers off an FD3S RX7 with 280mm rotors and have re-manufactured OEM rear calipers. The car has an awesome Wilwood pedal-box with a clutch master cylinder and 2 brake master cylinders. There is an adjustable balance bar with a remote adjustment know that allows you to adjust the brake bias between the front and rear masters. We also have a 3-in-1 Tilton fluid reservoir for the master cylinders.

This booster-less brake setup is my favorite part about the car. The brakes bite so hard and there is about ¼” of pedal travel which lets you control the braking using the pressure you apply to the pedal instead of the length of the pedal throw. This gives you so much more control and even on a street car feels amazing. After running this setup for a couple of years on the street I will never build another car that has a brake booster.

We meticulously planned and tracked this build over a few years. We have a spreadsheet showing all the parts we purchased for this build. Take a look at it and you will see attention to detail that went into this project.

See details below.

Please don't hesitate to message me and we can talk about any questions you might have. Also, if you would like any additional pictures, please just ask.

Details:

Engine details:

• Heads rebuilt and magnafluxed

• All new head bolts and gaskets

• New water pump bolts/gaskets

• New Valve cover bolts/gaskets

• New timing cover bolts/gaskets

• LS2 timing chain

• Melling M295 oil pump

• LS7 lifters and trays

• LS2/LS7 water pump

• Garagistic oil pan with baffles

• NGK TR55 spark plugs

• Earl’s remote mount oil filter kit with lines

• Camaro T56 yoke

• BM-110 differential flange to adapt GM yoke to BMW differential

Rest of car:

• Big Brake Kit

• Tilton Reservoir

• FD3S RX7 front brake calipers

• Corrado disks

• Remanufactured OEM rear calipers

• Wilwood pedalbox

• Dual brake master cylinders with balance bar with remote adjuster

• Single clutch master

• Brake booster delete

• Fuel System

• LS1 inline fuel filter/regulator

• Walbro 960-392 Inline Fuel Pump

• Additional inline filter

• -06AN SS braided Pro-Flo 200 hose routed and connected to the fuel rail

• Speedmaster PCE130.1019 fuel cell 10 gallon

• Cooling system

• Be Cool Boneyard LS series 22x17” radiator

• Be Cool 16” 1605 CFM radiator

• ECU

• Megasquirt MS3 with MS3X assembled for LS1 application

• 10’ harnesses for MS3 and MS3X

• Current performance wiring SA-1000 stand alone fuse/relay module wired for LS1

• Suspension and Steering

• H&R racing springs

• Blistein struts

• Ireland Engineering adjustable sway bars (25mm front, 22mm rear)

• E36 steering rack

• Vorshlag steering shaft kit

• Cromoly low-profile u joints

• Double-d intermediate shaft

• E30ls1.com swap kit

• Steel engine mounts

• Corvette rubber isolation mounts

• Trans mount

• Rubber trans mount

• Rear diff strengthening brace

• Sanderson shorty headers with vband flanges

• Sunroof delete

• Chassis wiring delete

• Kamotors front and rear fender flares

• Diamond racing 15x8 wheels w/ dunlop direzza tires

• Wheel studs

• Spacers on front wheels