ls1 e28 build

Would you have any reasons against using the hydraulic boosted 535 brakes? That's what I have, the system seems fairly skinny, but also complicated.

Not at all...the hydraylic boosted setup would actually give you a little more room on the drivers side. You might be able to push the motor back a little bit...other than the shifter not lining right up.

My car is a 528 so it had the vac booster so it was just easier to go this route. It is also a bit more simple.

Another update... Driveshaft is made and will be here on wednesday.

Split the style 5s apart and dropped the centers off at the powder coater. Started stripping off the clear coat on the lips. Two applications of stripper and they are looking good. I think whatever it left will come off with some thinner.

Added some piping to both manifolds and a V band clamp.

Finished up the drivers side manifold...no picture showing it fully welded. Once it comes back off the car I will get one. This was one of the compromises as things are VERY tight on the drivers side manifold area.

Started on the exhaust system. I would say I am 60% mocked up.....

Drivers side...I will make some heat shields for the bushings

passenger side

dual 2.25" into maganaflow cats, into a spintech muffler, single 3" out, into a magnaflow muffler.

I am hoping it is quiet unless I am on it.

Are you still under challenge budget?

A question about heat shielding, if I may. What's safe to use?

haha, nope no longer under challenge budget.

BMW just uses thin sheet metal/tin for heat shielding....anything really to give an air gap.

The entire exhaust is mocked up....not fully welded yet. I have it tucked up as close as I could get it. I am hoping I don't have any clearance issues....if so I will have to redo the center section.

I am REALLY happy with how it came out tho.

some pictures...

Very nice. What's in the magic box?

It's a spintech.... bunch of pipes that spin the gasses around. People seem to rave about them.

Here is a video of a similar setup http://youtu.be/dEAepEb26Xw

It seems really quiet. I like that.

I put the car down on the ground and I am at about 4" of clearance at the center muffler. Debating if that is going to be enough now...gotta check some other cars that I know clear everything.

If I get a different center muffler I would be able to move things around and gain 2" or so of clearance. Gotta decide before I weld it all.

What did you replace the trailing arm bushings with?

What method did you use to remove and install them?

Was it as big a pain as people claim it is?

I replaced the trailing arm bushings with stock rubber. This is going to be a DD... My 70 2002 has poly and it is pretty squeaky.

I have a 20ton press so I just pressed them out and the new ones back in. It was simple. Without the press it would be much more work.

It's $75 an arm right? Or did you find them cheaper

They come in sets of 2...so I think around $20-35 per arm from blunttech. It depends on the brand you go with.

Thanks for that. I was going to get them from Pelican Parts at $150 for four.

What made you decide to go urethane for the subframe bushings?

They were already on the car. Most of the suspension had already been gone through but I wanted it perfect so I re did pretty much everything and only reused a few things..shocks, springs, strut mounts, poly subframe bushings. I am hoping they don't transmit very much vibration into the car. They shouldn't squeak becasue they really done move much.

email sales@blunttech.com if you want a different brand of trailing arm bushings or need any other parts. He has the best prices around. I am not sure if you have dealt with Steve before but he is excellent. Let him know I sent you. I am swapping a cammed LQ4/T56 into his e12 this summer.

Sounds highly sexual.

One of the last pieces of the puzzle showed up today.

Progress is moving along. I should be starting it next weekend if all goes well.

Driveshaft is in and fits really nice.

I might trim a little off the CSB mount as the shaft is about 1/4" away. It would probably be fine as is but a little extra clearance would give me a little piece of mind.

Rear brakes are all done...new parking brake cables, brakes, lines, etc

Power steering hoses are all figured out. Russel adapter fitting in the GM pump to adapt to an -AN6

Banjo fitting to an -AN6 at the bottom of the steering box

I had a high pressure line made up at the local hydraulic shop

Heater valve and hoses are worked out.

Started on the wiring.... I had to change the routing of the wires to reach the PCM. A handful of wires will have the be lengthened and some were removed.

First step was to remove all the tape from the harness. This step was not very fun.... Harness laid out and ready to pull unneeded circuits and depin the PCM connectors.

One connector depinned

Both depinned....that's a lot of wires.

I then pulled each connector and circuit out of the bundle, cut any commons (pwr/gnd) and coiled each wire up and put it aside. Sorry no picture of this.

Then I started plugging the connectors back in on the engine and routing the wires. Injector and coils were first as they were pretty much still all in one big bundle. You can see here that the harness will come out the front right of the engine. The PCM is down by the AC drier.

Once all the wires are where they need to go I'll bundle them all together with tape where ever wires enter and exit the harness. The entire thing will then either get covered in split loom or split mesh....still unsure which to go with at this point.

I had to have some lines brazed for the AC system so those should be here today and I can get that wrapped up. Lines crimped, etc.

I have a smaller spintech muffler in route that will be here Thursday so I can tuck the exhaust up a bit more. I wasn't happy with 4" or less of ground clearance. I should be able to get about 6" with the new muffler. That should be fine.

Things are getting close....

This is gonna be a sweet ride when the swap is complete...youve done a really good clean job so far, looking forward to the startup post!

You have great knowledge and skills. Props. I'm looking forward to video!

David

Looks tight on the CSB mount. It was a little closer on our V8 E30, and after one lemons race we can see where it was rubbing. Of course we also just found out that we had a bad transmission mount, so I'm sure that contributed some.

Great project. Looks very professionally done.

New muffler came yesterday....I was able to gain 2" of ground clearance. There is about 3/8" between the driveshaft and the muffler. Debating dropping it down a little bit...The driveshaft can't really move tho...

What do you all think?

Here is the clearance to the drive shaft. Sorta hard to see but there is about 3/8"

I got the centers back from the powder coater. I am very happy with the color choice.

Got sot some mesh wrap for the harness.

Looking incredible as usual.