BMVETTE

	Getting the Motor: It all fit in the back of my 2002 Dakota pickup. I purchased an engine hoist because getting this engine into that tiny BMW was going to require many dry runs, so renting a hoist was out. Plus I had to get it out of my truck somehow. The last picture in this row is the finished product. Here's how it got there:
	Initial Fit: This was going to be a tight fit. The firewall tunnel was very narrow, the cross member was positioned rearward, the master cylinder was in the way of the left bank of cylinders, and the steering assembly went right through where the left headers would go. No sweat. At least the E30 fuel pump pressure was correct for the LT1 (45 pounds) so there was some good news.
	Modifying the Sheet Metal: Whether you use an automatic or manual transmission you will need to modify the firewall around the bell housing to get the engine far enough back to clear the cross member (with a modified oil pan below) and give you a better weight distribution. If you use an automatic trans, you will also have to modify the tunnel. As you can see, it took a five pound sledge and a lot of trial and error to get it right. Plus, some of the frame had to be cut away, although that part of the frame is no longer needed to support the mount (I hope!) I welded the end of what frame was left to give it more strength (not shown in picture.) Then I used body filler on the new shape to hopefully protect it from the elements (not as big a problem in California), make it look better, and to maybe add some sound deadening back because the firewall mats had to be removed to make room.
	Making the Motor Mounts: I decided I wanted the motor mounts to attach to the frame at the same spot as the stock mounts. This way I knew the steering would not be impeded and I felt it gave me the most room to play with for other things like the charcoal canister and fuel filter (both of which I was able to leave in their stock positions.) On the driver's side I modified the BMW mount by cutting a 45 degree pie shape out, bending it that many degrees and welding it, then welding it to the flange part of a Chevy mount. The passenger side was made from parts of Chevy mounts tacked and then welded. Both terminated at the original spot for the BMW rubber mounts. They make stiffer stock mounts for BMWs but I decided to go with the original stiffness and work my way up if necessary. So far they are holding up and they're so easy to replace, I'd rather take a chance with the BMW mounts and save the space Chevy mounts would require. The only unknown is what the the added weight will do to the mounts, but aside from some vibration at idle, there doesn't appear to be any down side yet.
	The Transmission Mount: I used the original BMW metal, trimmed it to fit, and welded spacers so it could bolt to the original points yet cradle the trans at the carefully chosen spot. Actually it was the only spot, given that the transmission has to bolt to the motor and there is only one place the motor can be without touching something. To support the rubber mount, a piece of a Chevy trans cross member was welded to the front BMW cross piece and cantilevered to the rear one for added strength. There wasn't room to have any of the body mounting points forward of the rubber mount.
	The Console: The BMW donor vehicle was a stick shift but I was installing an automatic, which made things interesting. I could have gotten the console and shifter from an automatic E30 which could have been made to work, but I already had the Chevy console and shifter, it had implications for the ECM, and I knew it would work with the transmission ( I thought) so I decided to adapt the Chevy parts to fit. That meant combining parts of both consoles around the modified Chevy shifter which I bolted to the tunnel after riveting some sheet metal over the stick shifter hole. Then I positioned the lower part of the BMW console over the shifter and pop-riveted the top part of the Chevy counsel to it with flexible plumber's tape. This way I could manipulate it in place and it would stay put long enough to test the shifter throw. Once satisfied, I shaped some plastic blocks to fit and pop-riveted them to both halves. I put some fiberglass mesh over that and applied some spray insulation foam so I could get a rough shape. Then I trimmed that, fiber-glassed both the outside and inside (not shown), covered that in bondo, and shaped it to my liking. I painted it with primer and Rustoleum textured paint and it looks good. But there was a problem...
	The Shift Cable Was Too Short: I didn't test the shift cable before I went to all this trouble. It turned out it was too short! I discovered that there was a '96 Caprice with a floor shifter by surfing GM Pars Direct. I hoped that the larger car would use a longer cable. I found one in LA and the parts guy there was nice enough to measure it for me over the phone. It was 3 inches longer! Bingo! But he wanted $50 for it so I ordered one from GM Pars Direct for $25 (he wasn't 25 dollars nice.) When the part came, it looked identical to the Camero one I had, except for the length. But the socket connector on the Caprice's transmission end was for a smaller ball and the part was discontinued by GM. So I found a similar one at a wrecking yard and drilled out the rivet ends in both lever balls, transferred the small ball to mine and welded it in. Finally done, it fit fine.
	The Master Cylinder/Brake Pedal: There is no way to put an LT1 in this car using the original master cylinder and booster. Mike Collins pointed out that there is a Bosch Hydraboost that is used in many cars and trucks (mine came from a 2004 Mustang Cobra) that operates off of the power steering pump. It has a much smaller foot print and plenty of performance. Getting it to fit is another story. In the E30 you have to move it as far toward the fender as possible. I had to take a divot out of the shock tower, but other boosters may have hookups that wouldn't require that. Oddly enough, once the new booster was positioned, it actually lined up with the center of the BMW pedal. You'll have to play with welding tabs on the pedal and come up with a way to accommodate the large hole in the plunger of the booster. I used a large grade 8 bolt and some nylon spacers. I had to rivet sheet metal to the firewall and make new holes for the mounting bolts and the plunger. You'll want the hoses and the proportioning valve from the Mustang too. One hose will have to be spliced into the return and the others are in-line with the power steering high pressure side. I had to adapt my brake lines from single to double flare which requires fittings that I found at a Sacramento brake reconditioner.
	Exhaust: There was no way I was going to get the exhaust to exit the driver's side either out the back or middle of the head. Others have made headers that snake around the steering shaft but in California I had to use the original manifolds and catalytic converters. The driver's side converter is a coffee-can sized thing hung directly off the manifold. It originally snaked under the oil pan and "Yed" into the other side way down passed the other converter. No way that was going to work. Rancho Chevy gave me another passenger side manifold to experiment with for the driver's side. The flange was different and the air injection would be on the wrong end, but that's just a challenge. I bolted it up and made a new flange for the converter. I positioned the converter at an angle so the exhaust would snake under the front of the pan then up and over the cross member, around the starter, behind the oil pan then straight back on the drive's side of the trans. That took a bunch of scrap bends and almost all of my welding gas. There is a junction near the starter which was from a Chevy gasket-less connector. I wrapped the pipe in insulation where I thought it was too close. The manifold I used on the driver's side had a hole for the EGR tube near the output flange. I needed to move the Air Pump fitting to the new front of the manifold so I tapped that hole for pipe thread and put in some copper fittings. I killed two birds at once since I had to plug that hole anyway (on the driver's side) and find a way to connect the air pump fitting. I made a plug for the old air injection spot. On the passenger side, I used the stock manifold but I had to modify the down-pipe to make the angle right and extend it to the converter by about a foot to clear the transmission. From there Midas Muffler ran two 2.25" pipes back to a dual-in/dual-out Magnaflow with two chrome tips. It's truly a dual exhaust, but both outlets are from the same muffler because on the right side there wasn't enough room between the battery box and the spare tire well. Space for exhaust is at a premium in these little cars. It's quiet at speed, but you know it's a V8 at idle and on acceleration. I get some weird looks from people who know what a V8 sounds like but can't tell where it's coming from.
	The Air Cleaner: As luck would have it, the stock plastic air box dumped out right where the anti-lock brake controller was removed. The controller didn't work anyway, and I was never going to pay the money to fix it, so it was gone. I fashioned a small bracket with a captive bolt that bolts to the radiator support and the box lined up perfectly. I got a 45 degree 3-inch pvc drain pipe fitting and painted it black. It fit perfectly in the Chevy air box and a standard K&N type filter was glued in the other end with GOOP. If you have never used GOOP you owe yourself a treat. This stuff sticks to anything, remains pliable but firm, can be painted, can be removed but won't come off on its own, and is not water-based. They have different types for auto, home, marine, etc., but I can't tell the difference. You wouldn't want to use it on gaskets because it sticks so well, but if you're in the Baja and need to keep oil in your engine, it will do the job. The air box had a long snorkel that apparently is supposed to muffle the air intake. It hit my radiator so I shortened it and glued it in with GOOP too. I love that stuff! There was a cover over the back of each fender's headlights. Without them, the grill is exposed around the headlights. I decided to leave them out to get more air into the engine compartment and provide cold air to the air cleaner which is right behind the left headlights.
	The Radiator: Rancho Chevy gave me the stock radiator, but it was too wide. After many trips to the radiator shop, I emailed Mike at JTR. They make and distribute engine conversion parts for Jags, Volvos, S10 Pickups, Z cars, etc. I should have contacted them sooner. They have all kinds of parts and are willing to help. I got a radiator from them that had the output right at the bottom of the passenger side. They also have adapters for hoses and right angle bends which I used to connect to a hose I found at my parts supply store. The parts guys had begun to feel sorry for me, thinking I was some kind of nut, so I was allowed to rummage through all their stock for both radiator hoses. JTR's radiators come with a housing held together by aluminum bars that can be used for a fan mount or just left, like I did, to make the mounting strong. I made some studs to help make it easy to take the radiator in and out and my transmission cooling lines bolted right up with just a little bending. The car runs very cool. When I let it idle, so far only the low-speed fan has come on. But it gets 100+ degrees here in the summer so we'll see. I used the stock BMW cooling fan since it was already there and I didn't really have much room between the radiator and water pump. I had to use two relays to allow the Engine Control Module (the computer brain, aka,"ECM") control the BMW high and low speed fan relays because the ECM grounds the connections. BMW uses one big fan with two circuits; one with a resistor in line to slow the fan down until the temp rises. Two sensors in the BMW radiator control two relays at different temps. Since I didn't use the BMW radiator, I was lucky that the Chevy ECM also had high and low triggers depending on temp. Hence the extra two relays (see Wiring below.)
	The Oil Pan: There was no way the stock Chevy pan would fit. The E30 has the cross member much further back than the newer BMWs. I knew Walt had done it somehow, so I got some advise from him. Essentially you have to employ a five pound sledge to the firewall and transmission tunnel to allow the engine to be placed as far back as possible. But there is a limit to how far back you can go before the valve covers hit the firewall. I looked at many possible solutions, including a dry sump at $2,000+. I found a pan at Chevy2Only that had a flat bottom and big rear sump. I had to modify it a little and it works fine. It's close to the cross member, but I have room to shim the engine up a little. It turns out JTR has an oil pan solution that would not have required modification. Like I said, I should have called them sooner. They also have adapters for using the BMW temp sensor (I made mine from two nuts and a pipe fitting) and the oil pressure sensor (ditto.) Finally, I had to modify the oil pump pickup tube by heating it and bending it under itself. It works fine.
	The Wiring: What can I say about wiring? It's not for the faint of heart. A fuel injection swap requires a whole lot more butt-connectors, soldier and shrink tubing than the old days when all you needed was a coil wire, alternator lead, and the starter solenoid connection. To complicate matters, if you have to make the car California smog legal, almost everything has to be present, working, and correctly interfaced with the donor systems. Plus, if your better-half is going to drive it, it isn't done until the speedometer works and the tach reads correctly. In the BMW, the speedo works off of the differential so nothing has to change there (thankfully.) In the past, resistors were wired into donor tachs to change the readings. Now, Dakota Digital makes all kinds of electrical adapters, including speedo and tach converters. But I digress. The wiring is going to take some time and good bifocals. You will need all the wiring diagrams you can find because most aftermarket manuals aren't accurate or complete. OEM shop manuals are the best, but they are expensive. There aren't any commercial online versions for the hobbyist, but there are some helpful people out there who have taken the time to post some hard to find information. For the LT1, 4th Gen LT1 F-Body Technical Aids was a big help. They have pin-outs, wiring diagrams, exploded views, and much more. I don't think I could have done this without that site. On the BMW side, I found a Russian site that had English-version wiring diagrams for many models. I couldn't understand anything else on the site, but it was a big help. I could go on forever about the wiring, but you just have to experience it yourself because there is too much to list. Email me if you have any questions or comments. I will leave you with an example of how enigmatic wiring can be: When I was wiring the cooling fans, my original goal was to find the wires that connect to the BMW high and low speed relays and hook them up to the Chevy ECM control wires. While researching this, I noticed that there weren't any ground wires connected to the relays. Instead, there was a switched positive feed and a feed from the starter solenoid circuit to the low-side of the relay. No ground!? Since the ECM needs to ground the low side of the relays to work, something did not (or would not) compute. What made even less sense was the heater blower motor worked only intermittently. It was only when I realized that the heater motor was also run off a relay that had a starter solenoid connection instead of a ground that it occurred to me that the starter solenoid circuit wasn't being used to supply power to the relay, it was supplying the ground! OK... stay with me here. Since the starter solenoid itself is grounded, when it doesn't have 12 volts running to it from the ignition switch (i.e. any time except during start) it acts as a conduit to ground. Won't it trip the starter solenoid when the fans come on or the heater is turned on? No. The low side of relays uses such little power that it can't possibly cause the starter to engage by directing its power through the solenoid to ground. Why was the heater blower motor intermittent? This is where that faint-of-heart thing rears its ugly aorta. I used a typical heavy-duty relay to trigger power to the starter solenoid. The ignition switch trips the relay which then provides power to the solenoid. Since the fan and heater relays were wired into the starter solenoid circuit at the ignition switch, they were now trying to find their grounds through the heavy-duty starter relay, instead of the starter solenoid itself. The heavy-duty relay had just enough resistance that the fan and heater relays barely worked, and when they all tried to work at the same time, they were more ground-needy than the heavy-duty relay could supply. In order for the fan and heater relays to work, they had to be wired into the starter solenoid side of the heavy-duty relay and not the ignition switch side. Once I changed this, the fans and heater worked fine. Why would anybody do this instead of just connecting the relays to a ground source? The answer to that helps you understand the Germans' near world domination. Since there are 12 volts supplied to the starter solenoid during start (cranking) from the ignition switch, the fan and heater relays have no ground so they disengage. This means the fans and heater don't operate during cranking so there is more power for the starter. Whew! That was a very long way to explain why I had to use relays to trip the fan relays. The ECM supplies a ground signal to trip them, but the BMW relays don't want separate grounds, they want to share the solenoid. Ooh the solenoid is sooo good! I'm not sure that is allowed in Texas. But in California, it's not only legal, it's encouraged. My heart is feeling faint.
	The Final Drive: I took out the two piece BMW drive shaft. I decided to have a one-piece shaft built. I always convert the import car multiple-piece drive shafts to a single shaft when swapping in American iron. I never understood why imports use complicated drive lines with center bearings etc. I guess they are a little smoother, but it never seemed like it was worth the hassle. Driveline Specialties in West Sacramento, California, has done my last three shafts. I took them both shafts. They built one for me and modified the BMW end to accept a serviceable u-joint (I guess the BMW units can't be replaced). The bill came to around $300. Every time I do this the drive shafts cost $100 more. They gave me a lesson in drive shaft geometry that made me wish I had thought about that before I positioned the engine and transmission. It seems it is important that there be some misalignment between the transmission and the differential along one axis for the drive shaft to work smoothly. It is also important to not have misalignment along two axes (up and down and side to side.) Since I really didn't have a choice where to locate the engine and transmission, I decided not to worry about it. Maybe that is why imports use the two-piece. No worries about the evil axis. I did find another reason the E30 needs a two piece... . It has to go through a hole in the rear suspension before it gets to the differential. How did I miss that? Fortunately I was going to replace the differential with a 2.93 posi-traction unit so I could install the shaft while the rear end was out. Hope I don't have to service that modified BMW u-joint any time soon. My feeling is I'll blow up the used rear end before the u-joints wear out. Although, the differential does seem up to the task so far. The engine turns 2,150 RPMs at 70 MPH in .70 overdrive. You wouldn't expect that from a 2.93 final drive ratio, but the BMW has small 22.5 inch diameter tires.
Links: Autohaus Arizona (Discount BMW Parts) AutoTap BMW Wiring Chevy 4th Gen LT1 F-Body Technical Aids Chevy2Only Dakota Digital GOOP GM Pars Direct JTR Stealth Conversions Mike Collins Mike's Site Mark (Me) Rancho Chevy Walt Bainey Walt's Site	Final Thoughts: Why did I do this? Because it's there. And I have a four second zero-to-sixty rocket to show for it. But the LT1 is so sophisticated it can still be driven like your grandma's Beemer. It was a very tight fit, and since I had to remove all of the rubber on the firewall, there is a little engine noise on acceleration. But one person's noise is another's music. If I were to do this again, I'd pay the extra $2,000 for the LS1. It weighs almost the same as the BMW six cylinder, although I'm told it is a bit wider than the LT1. I probably won't use an E30 if I do this again. I'm glad Walt and I have the only known V8 E30s on the road, but why go through all that grief if you can use the slightly bigger, more receptive, and more attractive later model. Another option would be to use the five series or one of the really cool looking 635s. That said, I've never been in a car this fast. I have a 2004 R1150R Rockster BMW motorcycle (I never even owned any BMW products before 2002.) That bike does 0-60 in 4.3 seconds. The BMVette feels faster and sounds so sweet at 6,000 rpm under full throttle. It's the ultimate sleeper. Here's what I have to still do: Connect the air conditioning. I got the parts from Autohaus Arizona to convert it to R134a. The Chevy compressor is already R134a and the BMW components can be used with that Freon. I do have to replace the expansion valve because it was diagnosed as defective by the air guy a year ago. This will get done even if I have to pay someone since it gets hot here and the motor puts out more heat with less room to dissipate it. Put in the anti-sway bar. There isn't any room for it behind the cross member anymore. The later BMWs have it in front of the cross member. I'm going to experiment with locating it in front or think of something else. Beef up the suspension. The Chevy motor weighs over 100 lbs. more than the BMW engine. I estimate that cost me about an inch in ride height in front and a tendency to bottom out over big bumps. I think my best hope is an air bag performance system. That way I can adjust the ride until it's perfect. Maybe they have a high tech way to deal with the anti-sway issue. Get it smogged. I bought a USB interface for my laptop and software from AutoTap to read the ECM codes and monitor the engine performance. The check engine light (CEL) was on when I first started the engine and there wasn't any way to tell what components were problematic without a code reader or taking it to the shop. Turned out one of the four O2 sensors was bad and the fuse for the air pump (it's electric) was blown. I think I just had too small a fuse at 15 amps so I changed it to 20 amps and it works fine. Now the only code that sets is for the traction control and it doesn't turn on the CEL. It should pass the smog test with flying colors. The LT1 uses an OBD2 system (on-board diagnostics two) which uses two extra O2 sensors to verify the converters are still working. Mine are at 99% efficiency, which is a couple percent above lighting-the-light. I have to take it to the State Referee Station the first time and then any smog station every two years thereafter. Get the Dakota Digital tach interface. Get better wheels and tires. Soon ... very soon! I'd like to get some tasteful ground-effects and a decent paint job. Blow the doors off a Porsche.
	Updates:
	April 27, 2005: None yet. It's still new.
	April 29, 2005: Took it to the State Referee for the smog test. I felt like an expectant father. Will it pass? Am I worthy? I hope it's a boy! The technician said he had never seen another BMW E30 with a V8. I already knew that. It took him an hour but I think part of that was just him having fun with it. $38.25 later and I'm street legal. The referee had a lot of questions about the conversion. Check out the new Vehicle ID. I stopped at Rancho Chevy to let them know I finished the installation. They warranty the engine and trans from the date you finish, not the date you purchased the kit. They gave me a 70s Corvette badge that I'm going to put on the right rear of the trunk. I'll paint it first. It will be the only clue as to what lurks beneath. Other than the disappearing taillights.
	May 7, 2005: I took the plunge and bought new tires and wheels. Les Schwab had the best deal; $78 for the tires and $88 for each wheel. I got the house brand, but I'm real happy with the performance. The tires are 1" wider and a lot sticky-er.
	October 2007-September 2008: My #1 son has been driving the BMVette during his last year at UCD. He needed a car and I have my motorcycle, so I let him use it. Talk about a leap of faith! I told him I care more about that car than him, so it had better come back in one piece. He thought I was kidding, but still, the car keeps humming along. When I get it back, I'm going to take it all apart and rebuild the engine and transmission. Also, that would be the time to upgrade the suspension and flair the wheel wells. not to mention put a good paint job and interior upgrades. I need to retire!