[Miller335]

You Sir are a car craftsman!
Thank you for sharing.

[techwhiz]

What kind of crazy LSD does one need to be on to start to even try this??
Somebody running up on this is going to get their feelings hurt.

This is crazy..

[snapc33]

Axles test fit number 2

[snapc33]

ford 8.8 swap done. Axle were resplined ford explorer axles to fit the bmw outers. I ended up cutting off most of the hardness of the axle, thus weakening it. I found this weekness on the first hard launch, breaking the driver side axle shifting to 2nd. Sounded cool though! HAHA.

[GottWhat]

Originally Posted by snapc33

Sounded cool though! HAHA.

Yeah, it did!

[SynergyAE86]

Not many people with the know-how and wrenching abilities to pull something like this off.

Out of curiosity, what are some of the other swaps you have done? You also mentioned selling the car, any idea what the new project will be?

[SMH]

This is crazy and awesome.

[snapc33]

Originally Posted by SynergyAE86

Not many people with the know-how and wrenching abilities to pull something like this off.

Out of curiosity, what are some of the other swaps you have done? You also mentioned selling the car, any idea what the new project will be?

I have done another ls swap in an Isuzu pickup truck. This car would be my 2nd LS swap. I have built a couple other cars but no swaps.

Not sure what my next project will be. I need to get this car finished up and sold... I really like e90 wagons.

[redEYEjedi]

Amazing job!

I wish I had your skills. My shop is completing an N54 +6MT swap into my E91 wagon. Car is already running and just cleaning things up.

I wish you did this to a wagon!! I would want one..

[lnxguy]

Deer god.

[Manic Mechanic]

Originally Posted by snapc33

Thanks guys.



I built this car in about a year, but that is working on it on and off. Total cost is fairly low if you only include parts I purchased and put no value on my design or fab time.

I am a mechanical engineer but work very hands on and enjoy building things and cars. This is not for first swap project. I'm not sure I would take on a project like this for someone else so I cannot give you a price. I can say that this car will be for sale and I am developing a kit for this swap that will include mounts, accessory drive, rear end parts, ect..

Sweet project, have you got the axle shafts figured out? I would be interested in a kit for the rear end parts. I have some of those diffs with performance gearing from previous cars that I would like to put into my Bimmer. I'm local if any test fitting would be needed for a 5 series. Would love to meet you and see the car in person.

Vernon

[Brandicular]

Originally Posted by snapc33

Ford 8.8 irs differential swap underway. Differential is from a 2007 Explorer with 3.55 gears.

BMW diff weighs 70 lbs, Ford is 67 lbs.









New diff mounts almost done.

Nice, man. I have an LS swapped Volvo V90.

Tons of fun.

[terryd5150]

Thread of the year!

snapc33 If you were able to create and market a conversion kit for the LS/trans/rear diff swap, you'd be a rich man.

[Mkze90]

You sir are a Mad scientist.

[WhiteBeard]

Since it seems like you are doing it without specific goal or plan, might as well do really needed swaps like e91 or put a turbo in 328i - people are paying big money to get them and still can't. Just hurts to see such talent wasted on doing LS1 swaps on some silly Isuzu trucks, no offense

[tmsnyder]

Hmmm, a recent poster just reported a thrown rod on an E90, and bmw engines from scrapped cars are like $8k if you can find them..... LS motors are a dime a dozen, seems like this project is very well planned to me anyway.

[n55jb4]

Originally Posted by tmsnyder

Hmmm, a recent poster just reported a thrown rod on an E90, and bmw engines from scrapped cars are like $8k if you can find them..... LS motors are a dime a dozen, seems like this project is very well planned to me anyway.

AFAIK n54 engine from a scraped car is $4k. For $8k you can buy a high miles 335i in good condition

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by lnxguy

Deer god.

Mouse god.

[tlow98]

Originally Posted by n55jb4

AFAIK n54 engine from a scraped car is $4k. For $8k you can buy a high miles 335i in good condition

There are lots of n54s in 'A' condition. For 2500-3k. I'm actually surprised they aren't cheaper.

I suppose after shipping you'd likely have near 4K in it.

[n55jb4]

Originally Posted by tlow98

There are lots of n54s in 'A' condition. For 2500-3k. I'm actually surprised they aren't cheaper.

I suppose after shipping you'd likely have near 4K in it.

I agree, it's just I went with a margin to spare. I was replying to a poster who said used n54 engine cost $8k

To be honest, OP has amazing skills, but I would rather seen a n54 swap then LS1. LS1 is a great engine, but for me n54 is a step above in terms of engineering design. You can milk as much hp/tq as you want (within reasonable limits of course) especially with OP skills he could have built some crazy 1000hp n54 I'm sure (given that there are many 800hp single turbo ones that were built by folks with much less engineering skills) and all this while being a much smaller displacement than LS1. For me that's a no contest, but majority of folks in US know a lot about LS1, yet don't know much about n54. Muscle cars country......smh

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by tmsnyder

Hmmm, a recent poster just reported a thrown rod on an E90, and bmw engines from scrapped cars are like $8k if you can find them..... LS motors are a dime a dozen, seems like this project is very well planned to me anyway.

I believe the $8k number was including the quote that guy got to have the motor swapped as well.

[snapc33]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I did an ls because I am familiar with the platform and its easy to make power. You wouldn't believe how little money is in this motor. Part of what drew me to an e90 is that it seemed like everyone was terrified of moddifying the platform, and now it turns out its cake. This should be a great platform for swaps soon. Great looks, handling, tons of them will soon be available for very cheap. I see this as one of the next nissan 240, rx7, ect. A modern rwd platform.

Originally Posted by WhiteBeard

Since it seems like you are doing it without specific goal or plan, might as well do really needed swaps like e91 or put a turbo in 328i - people are paying big money to get them and still can't. Just hurts to see such talent wasted on doing LS1 swaps on some silly Isuzu trucks, no offense

Thank you for the compliment. Don't hate on the Isuzu haha, it was nothing of a waste. It my was first car and swap, taught me much of what I know. If someone wants to come drop there car off with some money I will gladly build one for them. But I really don't see anyone lining up.

Here is an update to my build. I ended up breaking the modified ford axles. I had turned down the axle to match the major diameter of the BMW outer CV, in the process I removed much of the case hardening of one axle. This time I went with fully custom 4340 chromoly axle shafts with new replacement outer CVs which had a higher spline count on the inner race.

Built new 4340 axle shafts and heat treated them. Took the car to a dyno night during tx2k and made 687 hp at 13ish lbs of boost. Gotta love those 6 speed numbers.