E39 Build: 6.0 LS. Coils. Burnouts.

[nsogiba]

I was getting tired of the "tall" gearing (even with the 3.62 M3 ring and pinion) so I decided to pull it all apart for a gear swap. The 3.62 is the shortest ratio that seems to be "readily available" in production cars - it seems that the 3.91 and 4.10 ratios in 210mm size are "Motorsport only". 4.10 was my first choice, but seeing the price tag made my head spin. Luckily, the 3.91 was offered for a few years in the E34 M5 (which is still absurdly rare). I got in contact with a guy who had his turbo E30 (with a 210mm rear swap) set up for drag racing that wanted a taller ratio, so we worked out a deal to swap ratios.

The older style 210mm ring gears use M12 bolts, while my E39 M5 center LSD carrier has thru holes for a 14mm. I had the option of ordering bolt sleeves through a BMW Diff shop but decided to get some experience in machining.

I ordered up some Tool Steel rod with a .5781" OD which gave me a nice press fit into the carrier, but had no thru-hole.


Carrier holes with chamfer


It took me a while on the lathe but I got a rhythm going and banged out a qty of 10. The thru hole was relatively large in comparison to the OD so I had to step up the drill size 3 times for each part. Very repetitive but fun.


I didn't want to reuse ring gear bolts with an unknown history so I ordered up some ARPs. Sleeve fit perfectly for the ID


Tapped in the spacers using a brass block and hammer to avoid damage


Threw on the ring gear and tapped it down using a rubber mallet. It's a very tight fit as you get to the bottom of the carrier flange and there is no room for rotation so you have to get it aligned with the thru holes correctly the first time. I was able to get it right on the first try. Like they always do, ARP included washers with their hardware and I wasn't sure whether or not to use them since the OEM bolts are flanged and don't use washers. After measuring the depth of the threaded ring gear bolt hole I found that I still had tons of depth to go even without a washer and decided to leave them out. Some red Loctite and 110 ft-lb torque gets me this:


I also replaced the front and rear pinion bearings and races while I was in there. Bought a HF 12 ton press and was able to bang it all out myself. The pinion probably didn't need this following step but I wanted to use our basement freezer, damnit.



Dropped the diff off to be set up at a shop last week, hoping to have it back in the car in the next few days.

[Darkyoshi154]

ohmyjesus. This is quite possibly the best thing on the interwebs.

[Miroteknik]

Such a thorough build. Love it man.

[royalife]

GO-FAST GOODIES! love this car. keep it up.

[nsogiba]

I wonder what kind of economy I get doing burnouts

BTW I have more go-fast goodies lined up. Steeper gears and lower profile tires for overall shorter gearing. It is shocking how much a tall sidewall tire kills the fun factor.

[MommysLittleMonster]

I calculated economy after a long trip recently:

15 mpg city beating the piss out of it
23 highway beating the piss out of it (cruising @ 80, a few triple digit blasts)

So basically you get 15/23 driving it normally.

That sounds par for the course.

[nsogiba]

Folks...this is not a drill...hold on to your drinks....we have gone completely legit

At the local oil change shop.




Ironically all they could find was a burned out rear plate bulb (which they couldn't figure out how to change, LOL).

So, that's a big relief to have that out of the way.

As usual, fuel consumption is very frugal - much better than all those pesky "other" hybrids




Just kidding, wish those trip computers worked.

I calculated economy after a long trip recently:

15 mpg city beating the piss out of it
23 highway beating the piss out of it (cruising @ 80, a few triple digit blasts)

[nsogiba]

Oh deer



Poor guy sprinted into the side of the car while I was doing about 50, don't think he made it. Needs a mirror, fender, possibly some small dents removed from the door. We can rebuild him - we have the technology. It just sucks that I literally finished all the bodywork a month or so ago (new paint on fenders, hood)

[nsogiba]

Do you have to contact information of the guy that fixes the pixels in the cluster?

http://www.pixelfixnw.com/

He had a deal going on for half off, but the promotion ended.

[aeok18109]

I read this thing so long ago...glad to have found it again. Epic thread and car sir. You make me want to LS swap my LS400 hahaha

[speakerboy]

Just read the whole thread, and you win the internet. Very nice build.and congrats on the powahhh!

[Camip]

Do you have to contact information of the guy that fixes the pixels in the cluster?

[nsogiba]

Got the body nearly squared away, it needs a good buff and wax but it's basically done. I had a hell of a time aligning the hood but finally got it to sit well enough. I also still have to have the other exhaust tip welded on and the gaping hole in the trunk area patched up. I also had some issues with belt noise that I will have to detail in another post.



Hit the dyno last night for some tuning. Despite 100% humidity we were able to finish up the WOT portion but still have work to do on the idle and part throttle. I had a few hiccups slow me down including some incorrect MAF wiring at the pigtail (due to the revised order of wires for the LS7 MAF) as well as some scaling/calibration issues, but l'll let the results speak for themselves. Last year I made 370whp/374ft-lbs on a stock 2001 Z06 cam, oem BMW exhaust (with cats), and small 3" stainless steel intake with stock van LQ4 MAF tube. This year I ditched the intake for a true 4" aluminum tube, much larger filter, and LS7 MAF. Exhaust is now a 3" dual system with an xpipe between the fuel tanks; one side dumps straight out the back with a close-off flange for quiet operation, the other through the OEM BMW muffler. Cutouts on each side before mufflers. Cam is a Texas Speed 228R - 228/228, .588/.588, 112LSA.



427whp, 400ft-lbs, with over 350 ft-lbs by 3000 rpm

I took some videos with both my camera phone and real camera but still need to pull the ones off my Nikon.

Click for videos:

Dyno Pull 1

Dyno Pull 2

Will be taking the car out to see some friends in Rochester this weekend about an hour away so we'll see how she does.

[nsogiba]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2WVnMOf2nc

she alive

i put about 60 miles on it last night. now that the springs have been heat cycled I'll change the oil tonight to get rid of the assembly lube and take it out for a bit more.

[laBeef]

WOW! Amazing. You have hands made of gold. Can't wait to see more.