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Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

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  • Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

    Start of Build - August 25, 2010: Matt bought this 1995 BMW M3 a while ago as a rolling chassis. The stock motor was long gone, and some of the interior was as well. This was a no sunroof, black car (diamond schwartz) in fairly good shape.



    There were some dings in the hood, holes in the trunk from an old factory rear spoler, and bubbles in the paint on the doors where a plasma cutter (facepalm) was used to remove about 2 pounds of door bar reinforcement (facepalm, again), and... ok, the body isn't perfect. But it had AP big brakes in front, some Kosei K1 wheels and Falken RT615 tires (which were the hot ticket back in... 2005?).



    Matt had ridden in our E36 LS1 Alpha car years ago and was smitten - he bought the LS1 swap kit and a set of AST 4100s from us after finding this donor chassis. He had Dallas Performance build a nice 4-point "street cage" that also had some bits that tied the rear shock towers together and to the subframe mounts, but still had plenty of room for the front seats and people could ride up there safely without helmets. Dallas Performance took the junkyard 5.7L aluminum LS1 engine and T56 trans Matt had sourced and rebuilt everything, and installed ported heads and a larger camshaft in the process.



    Then the car sat... and sat... and was moved 3 times, and became a storage container on wheels. In the meantime Matt started working for Vorshlag back in early 2008, and somehow in 2010 the car migrated into our shop. What the...??



    We'll be doing the swap here in-house soon (starting after the 2010 Solo Nationals and GRM Challenge events), and developing some additional parts to go along with our LS1 swap kits. We will be taking photos and videos of the installaiton steps as well. Recently Matt rolled the car outside and washed all the years of dust off, and now it sits under a car cover in our shop awaiting some installaiton work.



    Here's the 4-point roll bar/cage structure added to the car:



    Stay tuned for more.
    Last edited by Fair!; 08-25-2010, 12:00 PM.
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

  • #2
    Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

    Update for Jan 21, 2011: We're still on it!

    Originally posted by speedracer9923
    Any recent updates?
    Sorry! Yes, we've been hacking away at refining the ABS relocation brackets since mid December, and attacking the new brake hard lines needed to plumb this all up. This is between working on several other development projects and cars, so the '95 M3 has been on and off the lift a dozen times in the past month.



    We've made a big batch of the brackets (which are for sale on our website) and we've had 4 or 5 iterations of the lines... trying desperately to tie into the stock lines, with no luck. It will be all new lines to the front calipers and the rear section, then.



    We're tying to make this kit friendly, and make better instructions/pictures, as we go. This adds time. Let me get caught up on some other bits and I'll post more pics...
    Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
    2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
    EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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    • #3
      Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

      Project update for Feb 13, 2012: Just a wee bit tardy, but a lot has happened on this 95 M3 development mule in the past few weeks. The engine has been in and out of this chassis 3 or 4 times, to test new parts, too.


      This E36 finally got the LS1 motor installed for the last time today

      This poor car was kicked around and stuffed into the corner of our shop for months in early 2011, moved to our new shop in September 2011, but in December 2011 we used it to develop new brake hard lines and other little optional bits for our E36 LS1 swap kit. I'm going to catch up the thread real quick as we've put the LS1 + T56 drivetrain into the engine bay for the last time today.


      ABS Relocation Kit Development

      As you probably know we like to relocate the ABS hydraulic unit to the left front corner of the engine bay, as the stock location (see pic below, right) is in the way of where we route the long tube headers. We already make and sell a Vorshlag ABS relocation bracket kit, which is a bracket + bushings and mounts we developed. This comes in 3-channel and 4-channel varieties... developed on this car in early 2011.



      The hard lines needed to make this ABS relocation a drop-in were a royal pain to develop. These lines have gone through 3 rounds of prototypes and is finally ready to begin production. We had a hose/line company work with us on this set-up and they just built the production bend fixtures now - a complicated set of boards and contraptions needed to verify the fit for each of the 5 hard lines needed for the 3-channel ABS system. They are bringing them by our shop and I'll snap some pics of that.




      Engine Bay Repaint

      This car was purchased a few years ago without the original S50 motor, and the engine bay had seen its share of scratches, a big dent, and a few extra holes drilled. We also removed a few extraneous brackets along the way, to de-clutter things a bit. These E36 cars always seem to have some "rub marks" near the OEM airbox, usually worn down to bare metal, through the paint. Instead of just leaving it ugly Matt decided to invest in the work needed to make it look as good under the hood as the rest of the car.



      Our fab man Ryan picked up some special welding rod and TIG welded the un-used holes in the engine bay closed, then he and AJ cleaned and degreased the entire area thoroughly. Next they added some metal glaze (spot putty) to some small problem areas underhood (dents, ripples, and holes that were patched), then re-applied some seam sealer to the stock locations that had been cut away. Next they taped and papered up everything and got it ready for primer.



      A couple of coats of primer were laid down to the bare metal and putty areas, then the engine bay was painted with custom-ordered, OEM matched spray paint. The factory engine bay paint is not clear coated, so that's why it looks gloss-less (it matches the factory look).



      This engine bay re-work took a total of about 8 hours, and a hundred bucks in materials, but WOW - it makes such a huge difference! Now the engine bay is repainted, decluttered, undented, and looks better than new. It really looks good with the LS1 engine in there (see top of this post).



      The power steering hose test fit happened today and the production ready hoses and modified loop cooler will be going into the car tomorrow, as well as the production batch of brake hard lines. We will take pics and put them up in the next few days. Lots of parts were ordered for this build this week and its all going to be installed shortly.

      Stay tuned,
      Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
      2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
      EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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      • #4
        Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

        Does this all work for the M3/4s (sedans) as well?
        If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

          Originally posted by Tennessee Steinmetz View Post
          Does this all work for the M3/4s (sedans) as well?
          Yes... our E36 LS1 swap kit works on the Sedan, Coupe and convertible. With a different steering shaft and driveshaft it works on the Z3/Z3M Coupe/Roadster as well. We've got kits in the 318ti as well (diff driveshaft).
          Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
          2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
          EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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          • #6
            Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

            Project Update for Feb 17, 2012: We've got more to show on this in-house E36 LS1 build. The power steering hoses are done and we've got 5 more sets built and almost ready to sell.

            Here they are on the car:





            Instead of removing the factory power steering loop cooler and simply making hoses from the pump to the rack and back, we've modified a factory loop cooler and kept it in the system. The modification to the loop cooler involves removing the standard crimped end hose and TIG weld on an AN-6 male fitting. Then we can use AN stainless braided lines to attach to everything (except for the power steering reservoir).



            This makes for a super slick set-up. We have multiple sets of brand new, OEM BMW loop coolers arriving early next week. Once they arrive we will cut the return lines off, weld on the AN fittings, and get them re-plated. There's a mounting clamp we are waiting on to arrive, too. These kits should be ready by the last week of February. The entire E36 LS1 Vorshlag power steering hose kit + loop cooler will retail for $220. I'll post up here when these are ready for sale, as well as in the "E36 LS1 Stage 0 + optional parts" thread.

            In my last entry I talked about making the brake hard lines for the 3-channel ABS relocation installation. Here are the intricate fixtures used by our hose and hard line supplier to verify the fit of our five brake hard lines needed in this installation:



            Without using a CNC tube bender, this is the only way to verify the exact fitment of brake hard lines made for a specific chassis. We re-routed all of the lines to fit the new ABS location and go around the LS1 engine accessories. This routing ensures the lines do not run near the headers (unlike the factory ABS location) so the brake fluid is not exposed to any additional high heat. We are waiting on the production batch to be built and again, these should be available in late February. The new hard lines are going to be a little expensive, but will save you a LOT of hassle and custom hard line construction work if you are using our LS1 installation kit.

            More soon,
            Last edited by Faerus; 02-17-2012, 11:14 AM.
            Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
            2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
            EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

              Any chance you will show any hard-line-kit-love for the 4 channel ABS systems in the 1996-1999 M3s? Any idea if there are major differences in the ABS lines in sedans vs. coupes? Really wanting to go sedan over coupe for DD practicalities.
              If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

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              • #8
                Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

                Project Update for Dec 20, 2013: Wow, looks like this thread got buried and I have neglected to make any updates in a long long time. The car in this build thread, Matt's 1995 M3 LS1, is actually finished, tuned, sorted and driving around town. Let's back up and get caught up on the last 6 months of development work on this E36 LS1 M3 as well as show some new LS1 swap products we developed using this particular car and a couple of others we built in the same time period.



                We learned a lot on this car, and one big series of sub-system kits we developed on it (and keep developing) was the ABS relocation bracket + brake hard lines necessary to make room for our full length headers. The ABS pump gets moved from the back driver's side corner of the engine bay to a spot on the forward corner, behind the LF headlight. We make all new hard brake lines in the engine bay to accommodate that move.



                On this 95 M3, which has a 3-channel ABS system, we have one particular ABS pump bracket style and one set of brake hard lines. We've since made two additional variations of these kits for the 1996-1999 3-series cars: One unique bracket for the 4 channel ABS pump and two sets of hard lines, one for the 4 channel '96-99 M3 and one for the 4-channel '96-98 328. Finding two different 4 channel ABS pump arrangements was a bit of a surprise to us, but with these German cars you just have to expect the unexpected. Our first 328 specific 4-channel brake line kits shipped out just yesterday.


                Vorshlag 4-channel ABS Relocation hard line kit for 1996-1999 BMW M3

                Sure, it would be easier for us if we just included a bunch of lengths of flex lines and tossed them into a box to sell, but we went the extra mile (or three!) and developed a series of real hardline kits, with the right ends for the 3 variations of ABS pumps and two locations we had to work with. This was a huge pain in the backside, but we feel that having long runs of flex lines was just... not the proper way to do it. Flex lines are for small sections of brake lines that need to be flexible and move/rotate, and hard lines are for long runs that stay fixed - it is as simple as that.



                We took what we learned on this 95 M3 and have made several production runs of these power steering loop cooler + hose kits to fit the 1998-2002 Camaro power steering pump and the E36 chassis. This Vorshlag E36 LS1 Power Steering Hose Kit [A6-8812-PS] is a popular seller and makes the power steering install take "ones of minutes". Dozens have been sold and installed onto customer's cars since my last post in this thread.



                Since most of our customers are using LS1/LS6 engines, which use a cable operated throttle (as opposed to drive-by-wire electronic throttle) we came up with an E36 LS1 throttle cable kit, also using this black M3. We use an aftermarket throttle cable kit and modify it to work with the E36 pedal and LS1 throttle body, shortening the length and making the firewall hole set-up (see above left) so it is a simple bolt-in affair. We actually first used these same materials on the Z3 LS1, shown above right, and tweaked that for the M3. The end result is a high quality, affordable, trouble free cable kit that is the proper length and ends for this chassis and engine. We will have this on our website soon.



                Another major sub-system we needed to cover for this swap was the fuel system. Getting fuel from the BMW tank to the LS1 fuel rail took a number of components and some development, but we now have a front to back solution in these two kits, shown above. First we made the E36 LS1 fuel pump assembly kit. We start with a brand new BMW in-tank housing, add a 255 lph Walbro high flow electric pump, new fuel sock, the correct submersible hose, and wire everything up to literally plug in and work. There are two versions, and you have to pick the "Tan or Blue" housing to match our car.

                We spent a lot of time getting this fuel pump assembly together, and it works very well. Could you cobble something together on your own for less? Sure... probably. But we went through several iterations on shop cars to get our set-up to have the right fit, materials and function. You can choose to chase down fittings, hoses, grommets, fuel socks and the right pump, then wire everything up and hope it works... or just press "the easy button" and buy our complete "fuel pump kit in a box" and just drop it into your tank. Our set-up includes a new housing, pump, and fuel level float and sender.



                Next we made a Tank to Fuel Rail fuel line kit that connects from the above mentioned fuel pump assembly located in the factory saddle type fuel tank, incorporates an in-line OEM style fuel filter/regulator, and from there then has AN braided lines that connect to the LS1 fuel rail.



                This set-up is pretty slick, uses factory style crimps and fits beautifully. We laid it all out so that the filter/regulator even bolts onto a BMW chassis stud. Simple, reliable, effective up to 500 whp, front-to-back solution.



                The thermal insulation material shown on the car above was also added to Matt's M3 LS1 build. We used this thermal insulation material that has an adhesive backing, sound/thermal layer of some fire proof polymer, and a IR reflective shielding on the outer layer visible above. We've made templates for the E36 tunnel and use this stuff instead of the fiberglass based material that BMW uses. Why? Well with the age of the E36 cars the old fiberglass stuff is usually trashed and falling apart. When it gets old it falls down off the bolted clips on the tunnel and hangs on the transmission and driveshaft, often burning through from the spinning driveshaft. This adhesive material is on there good, and provides more heat and sound insulation than the old fiberglass mat ever could. We do this same heat shielding on the tunnels of both race car and street car E36 LS1 builds.



                The ECM bracket shown above and below was built to hold the GM engine computer in the stock BMW "DME" location at the passenger rear corner of the firewall. This little cubby hole is perfectly sized to accept the GM "PCM", which runs the LS1 engine. We make a bolt-on bracket that fits most GM computers and tucks it in nicely inside this DME hole, then the factory DME cover goes back in place for a water tight fit. We have done a few of these for our turn-key customer builds and will make another run of these and offer them on our website soon.



                Not shown here are the radiator hoses we have built many times for customers. They aren't the prettiest things but they work, and we will finally be sending these off to have production runs of silicone hoses built very soon (we met the right folks at the 2013 PRI show). We worked out a lot of kinks on the routing with this car and finalized the layout, and it works well.



                The rest of the coolant system we needed a coolant reservoir and heater hoses. Back in that same corner of the engine bay as the PCM is mounted we added a Euro E36 M3 coolant reservoir tank to Matt's black M3. We've done this on a number of turn-key LS1 swaps but the Euro tank is a bit pricy and it is a very funky shape on the bottom. This means we still need to fabricate some mounts to get the tank to attach to the US-spec E36 structure back there, plus another bracket to hold the relocated heater control valve. But for Matt's build we made all of that, routed the 2 heater hoses from the LS1 motor to this location, and the 3 hoses to the heater core at the firewall.

                continued below
                Last edited by Fair!; 01-10-2014, 12:59 PM.
                Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

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                • #9
                  Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

                  continued from above



                  Today we built something new that should work even better and bolt right in. This is a fully fabricated, all-aluminum coolant reservoir that bolts-in using existing holes on the US-spec E36 chassis. It mounts back in this corner and incorporates a bracket to hold the BMW heater control valve.



                  This new Vorshlag E36 LS1 swap coolant tank has a radiator cap, bungs for the inlet/outlet lines, and the factory "float" coolant level sensor screws in from underneath (we haven't added this yet but will next week). Very slick solution that looks better, fits better, relocates the heater control valve to the right spot, and keeps the factory coolant level light working. Once this design is fully functional and street tested we will take the templates from this one, tweak them if needed, then have a bunch of the parts CNC water jet cut. Once we have those we can make a production fixture then fabricate a run of these, see what it will cost, and offer them up for sale (look for this in Q1-2014).



                  The 5.7L aluminum LS1 engine that Matt had built for this car (by Dallas Performance) included CNC'd heads, and larger camshaft, and other internal upgrades. To keep tabs on this motor we added a triple stack of auxiliary gauges, shown above. The AutoMeter full sweep mechanical gauges monitor coolant temp in the head, oil pressure at the oil filter boss, and oil temp in the LS1 oil pan's level sensor hole. This level of monitoring is pretty good idea, and really complement the BMW gauges which work, too (a crude water temp gauge, tach, speedo and fuel level gauge).



                  In the two pictures shown above you can see several upgrades performed on this car. Above left you can see the Mishimoto E36 all-aluminum radiator installed, along with an electric "sucker" fan mounted to the engine side of the radiator. And at right you can see the Motion Motorsports aluminum undertray kit, which installs nicely. This flat, lightweight aluminum undertray kit replaces five factory plastic undertray pieces which are prone to cracking, breaking and falling off. Highly recommended for street and track cars alike, and is less trouble that the stock pieces.



                  The exhaust system is a big one, and we spent some time routing this one and picking the right components. For Matt's car we used two 3" Magnaflow catalysts, a bunch of 3" diameter 304SS mandrel bends, two MagnaFlow mufflers, and a 3" double walled exhaust tip.



                  This was all built in-house by our head fabricator and shop manager Ryan, and it looks beautiful. The dual 3" into single 3" system has a LOT of exhaust flow, and had a good bit of bark. The motor made 425 whp after it was tuned and without any interior carpets or door panels the sound was a bit loud inside. We've since made a few more of these custom 304 stainless E36 LS1 exhaust systems for other customer's street cars, and switched things up and bit.



                  So on the next few exhaust system builds (shown above and below here) we switched from the typical MagnaFlow "packed" style mufflers to a new pair of 3-chamber stainless MagnaFlow mufflers. On two street car systems we used MagnaFlow 2.5" cats, merged the two paths into a single muffler again, then went 3" back to a second 3-chamber muffler with 3" inlet and outlet. To cap it all off at the rear we made a custom dual exhaust tip that is double walled, staggered and fits the opening on the back of an M3 perfectly.



                  We have since made a number of these, and added a V-band in the middle to allow us to be able to break it down into two "shippable chunks". These systems sell for $1675 + shipping and we make them in batches, when we have an E36 LS1 car in the shop. The kit includes all of new BMW hangers, O2 bungs, V-bands, and parts shown.



                  Next is the air filter, heat shield, and cold air inlet assembly. There have been several iterations of this set-up, with the one above used on Matt's car (before clamps were added, of course). Since the LS1 tuners have told us the fabricated MAF sensor housings are trouble to tune we incorporate the standard 85mm MAF used on many of the later Corvettes and large diameter tubing and silicone sections to tie it all together. A fabricated aluminum heat shield is sealed to the hood to make for a true "cold air" inlet system. This draws fresh air from under/behind the RF headlight and avoids pulling hot engine compartment air into the engine inlet.



                  The capacity for air conditioning was always built into this kit since 2007, and we have several of our kit customers that have made it work on their street cars. It is a tight fit but there's room, if you use the right parts. We are developing this to be a stand-alone sub-kit, with custom lines and the rest. We will share more about which compressor, how to clock the clutch/switch, and our custom A/C line solution soon. This is being perfected on another customer's E36 M3 LS1, since Matt's black M3 went "a/c-less", as it is a track/street car... with more emphasis on the "Track" portion of that.



                  There are a few iterations of the Vorshlag custom wiring harnesses we've built, which are 100% new and custom made to order. We configure the main trunk length to work for the E36 chassis, can add A/C controls, customize it for MAF style/length, and which coils you decide to use. We will share more about this soon but the cost is around $900.



                  The above two parts were made after further developing existing sub-system kits we already made. At left we have the new Vorshlag polyurethane transmission mount bushing, which we offer as an option on our E36 T56 crossmember kits as well as a stand-alone bushing for existing Stage 0 customers that want a trans mount with less NVH than the machined Nylon mount we introduced back in 2007. At right is an all aluminum clutch slave cylinder for the E36, which mates up with our E36 T56 Hyd. ThrowOutBearing Kit (w/ remote bleeder). We found that there were 2 distinct versions of the E36 clutch master cylinder, one that was nylon and had a clip-on quick connect plastic hose and one that was metal and has a screw in fitting for a metal hard line. The metal unit is preferred (for strength and longevity) and is what our TOB kits were made to connect to, so we offer that for sale now as its own kit.


                  Vorshlag E36 LS1: Some assembly required

                  That's all for this time... I promise I won't wait 18 months before posting again! We've been trying to get Matt to drop back by for some more work on this car, and we will take a few more pictures for things we didn't show here (like how the engine harness ties into the 28 prong BMW connector, the working gauges, and some sound clips of that exhaust)

                  Cheers,
                  Last edited by Fair!; 12-20-2013, 08:02 PM.
                  Terry Fair - www.vorshlag.com
                  2018 GT / S550 Dev + 2013 FR-S / 86 Dev + 2011 GT / S197 Dev + C4 Corvette Dev
                  EVO X Dev + 2007 Z06 / C6 Dev + BMW E46 Dev + C5 Corvette Dev

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Vorshlag Build: '95 M3 + LS1 + T56

                    What's the status of the aluminum expansion tank?

                    Tipsy


                    Originally posted by Fair! View Post
                    Today we built something new that should work even better and bolt right in. This is a fully fabricated, all-aluminum coolant reservoir that bolts-in using existing holes on the US-spec E36 chassis. It mounts back in this corner and incorporates a bracket to hold the BMW heater control valve.



                    ... Once this design is fully functional and street tested we will take the templates from this one, tweak them if needed, then have a bunch of the parts CNC water jet cut. Once we have those we can make a production fixture then fabricate a run of these, see what it will cost, and offer them up for sale (look for this in Q1-2014). ,

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