nsogiba

I'm nothing more than an amateur mechanic with an engineering/manufacturing background, and I love detailed build/progress threads, so here is my humble attempt at documenting my current project.

Everyone loves LS swaps, but this time it's replacing the existing LS in this thing:

2000 Fixed Roof Coupe


I bought it to mainly enjoy as a street car and not really modify since I went off the deep end with my BMW...which I did up until now.



But here we are almost 2 years later and naturally I can't just leave things alone, especially after spending lots of time here:





Did a bunch of lapping days in the summers of 2016 and '17 and got the itch for more power. Beat up on a lot of cars at the track, held my own against some stock new Vipers and R8s in the corners but they drove away from me on the straights, pretty frustrating. I did the math for a heads/cam upgrade on the existing motor and by the time you add in all the supporting hardware and a tune, the gains just weren't worth the expense - especially when a big jump in displacement and head technology is available for not much more. With the exception of valve reliefs in the pistons and sodium filled valve the L92 is identical to the LS3, once you delete the VVT. The plan is a stock bottom end, mild mannered cam with a broad powerband, bulletproof valvetrain, stock LS3 intake, etc. Really as close to an OEM+ setup as I can get.



Nothing wrong with the current LS1, actually runs quite strong for 125k miles. I plan on sticking it in storage for a future project unless somebody makes me a great offer on it.

So here we go. Hop in the car and go see a man about a thing an hour away



2008 Escalade with 78,000 miles is giving its all-aluminum, 6.2L L92 heart after having a tree fall on it in a windstorm.









A few weeks later I had her strapped up and ready to come home



I really didn't feel like dragging the cherry picker out of the shed so a bit of wiggling with the lift arms and it came right off the trailer.



The cool thing about using equipment that you haven't touched in years is that sometimes your "past" self is smart enough to keep the bolts for LS engines zip tied to the motor stand.



Wife: "So you're telling me you're going to take apart a perfectly good running car, again?"



I pulled off the water pump and the exhaust manifolds - was unlucky enough to snap off 2 bolts, one below the surface of the head. Think I'll try the welder trick for that one, we'll see how it goes.

Efx

Down that road again... Nice swap, will keep reading your progress!

FrankLP

Sids04

Nice ! I have contemplated this swap too

knewblewkorvette

Vetteman Jack

project. Looking forward to seeing the next installment.

Proletariat designs

Awesome, can't wait to see the progress on this. Reading your FRC progress thread is what convinced me to start my own!

Tsumi

I want to do this one day. Probably what will happen first is stuffing an LS3 into an E39 wagon though.

Shaolin Crane

I'm just about to start a similar swap, just need a few more things to finish assembling my LS7.

Rob 02

Will a stroker crank be going in there? If your going to step up the cubes why not take it a step further?

nsogiba

Not really looking to go nuts with this setup. Just looking to build a strong foundation for a fun street car without completely emptying my pockets. A 500cc jump with much better cylinder heads and a cam realistically should put down at least 100whp more than I'm making now (about 330-340whp).

Now, that's not to say that I won't try out an LSA supercharger a few year down the road when I get used to the NA power.

Rob 02

I am afraid to supercharge without forged internals. I know it is done with good results by some but I am a fan of reliability.

Anyway, I am a huge fan of this kind of build. There should be plenty of NA HP for the street.

Enjoy!

nsogiba

I built an LS E39 sedan a few years ago and had a lot of fun with it. Very comfortable car with big power.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...-bmw-540i.html

BlackandTan2004

Awesome! Excited to follow along! Best of luck!

Tsumi

Very nice. I want a wagon because I want something that can haul more than my Corvette, and a sedan won't do. An SUV wouldn't be as fun to drive either and not get as good fuel economy, though I have been tempted to try and take a Trailblazer SS and make it a manual. Manual 4x4 would be an interesting beast. Other wagons I've been looking at are the Volvo V90 and Buick Roadmaster.

dbgoodwin

subscribed.

Nsogiba probably has the best progress threads of all time. I read his entire BMW thread and FRC thread straight through in a night.

blackmachdown

Yes!!!

Subscribed!!

red03vette

subscribed! its gonna be awesome I'm sure.

nsogiba

While pulling off the truck manifolds I broke 2 of the bolts, both on the passenger side. One was about 3/8" above the surface, not a big deal. The other was about 1/8" recessed. I never have luck with the "drill it and then proceed to snap off a bolt extractor" method so I pulled out the MIG and welded a nut onto the tall stud.



The little guy beneath the surface actually wasn't bad at all. I built up a puddle of weld until it stuck out about 1/4", and cooled the cherry red blob quickly with a spray of water. The hope was to thermally shock it and break the bond on the threads. Then welded a nut onto the blob, and again shocked it with water.

30 seconds later:

STALION

subbed