Dlux BMW E21 build

[Erik D_lux]

On to the motor and trans mounts....


I have never completely understood how people make their motor or trans mounts when making custom poly mounts. Either you tack weld everything in, pull the poly bushings, weld it up and hope it does not warp/pull (it always seems to IMO) or you just weld it in with the poly bushings and melt them at least a little bit.


Well, this time I wanted to come up with something that works a bit better so I made some aluminum bushings for mock up. This way I can fully weld the mounts while in place and then when it all cools, I will toss the poly bushings in. This makes it so its a perfect fit and no poly bushings will be harmed.
I also made all the aluminum bushings a bit wider so the poly ones will slide right in.

[Erik D_lux]

I put the heater core and interior back together. I noticed I didnt grab any good pics of the mods I did to the heater core so I took some and will drop it here just in case it helps anybody along with their swap.

[Erik D_lux]

Here is a shot of the shifter installed and the tight clearance. It will only have about 1/8" of clearance over the drive shaft ouput on the back of the shifter and the part that does the shifting itself.

Also some shots of the old pan installed and fitment over the front subframe.

[Erik D_lux]

Time to deal with the shifter! What an ordeal!


Its funny to me how things have changed so much from the last time I did a build. Now, it seems impossible to go to a junk yard (at least for these newer cars, and older cars). Now, it looks like you just order everything off the net, which I am good with for the most part.


My original plan was to just order a stock shifter and modify as needed. So, I went to order the shifter from somewhere like GMpartsonline.net (or many of the other variations). They rejected my order telling me they must have a VIN or they wont sell to me. Ok. I will just order from another yet similar website. Same thing! Nobody wanted to sell me a shifter without a VIN, even though I would explain to them what I was doing with the parts. Frustrating. I cant stand the stupid rules that are in place in todays society. I dont know why they cant sell it to me and tell me its my risk.


So, I sprung for the MGW short throw shifter. It was quite a bit of work to get it to where its at and I am still not 100% it will work as needed. Hopefully I dont end up with an expensive shifter that I cant use!


First, they dont supply the part that does the actual shifting, just the arms to hold it to the trans. Upon some searching, I couldnt really find a yoke that was a perfect fit so I had to machine some out of 7075.


I made the connecting rod to the two yokes out of stainless for corrosion sake. It was decently heavy so I decided to be mindful of how much weight I am putting on and I gun drilled the connecting rod.






Second was that I had to cut the connecting arms way down. It is much shorter now.






Wish me luck that it fits well. I dont know that I have many more options as far as fitting. This should put it in the exact same spot as a stock shifter. I only have 1/8" of room around the trans housing and driveshaft so it will be tight!

[Erik D_lux]

Finally back at it after many obligations!


I went to install the oil pan and found that it warped inwards. Bummer. I planned for it warping so it would not want to be flat but didnt expect it to pull in so hard. I bet it was a good 3/8" off.


So, I got to do the pan again. No biggie. Plus, I found that I actually need a newer Chevy Traverse pan since it has the oil low senor like the donor motor does.


This time, I bolted the pan to some 1/8" sheet metal so it didnt move. I didnt dare weld the inside as I dont want it to warp so wish me luck that there are no leaks. If there are, I will try some JB weld or RTV on the inside.


I also installed the windage tray and modified a oil pickup to fit in the tiny space I have left.

[Erik D_lux]

More pics





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[Erik D_lux]

Probably the biggest issue with fitting the LFX motor in the E21 is the motor height. I set out to solve this problem by cutting the oil pan.

My plan was to cut the oil pan to fit around the subframe/steering rack. The first problem I ran into was that the Camaro pan tapered off in the front so if I did section out the back, there was not a ton of room for oil in the front.

I started looking at other cars that had the LFX motor and found that the Buick Enclave had a pan that was a low profile towards the trans and the bulk of the oil was held in the front. Ok, great start.

I also found out that the Enclave pan is overall about 1" shorter than the Camaro pan. Even better.













I gained ballpark of 4.5" with this mod. Plenty to fit under the hood and really bring the weight down.

[Erik D_lux]

The first thing I wanted to deal with on the motor swap was the heater core lines. They are directly in the way of the motor on the drivers side. I figured if I could bend the heater core lines up, they would be out of the way.

I thought this would be a simple task as I can just throw the torch on there, heat it up and be done in 5 min. Many of you might know what is coming next, LOL. I am about 20 hours into getting these lines out of the way but I am done now.

I went to heat up the heater core lines to bend them, thought "wow, there sure is a lot of crap on these lines to make them bubble like that", then straight to "wow, these lines sure bend easy" then straight to "fuck, these lines are not copper, they are plastic!"

So, yeah, I am a dumb ass, I thought the lines were copper but they are plastic and I burned thru them. It ended up being a blessing though.

I took the inside of the car apart including the heater box and fan. While I was in there, I found that the fan motor had a super clapped out bushing/bearing so I got caught up in a worm hole. The heater core also had tons and tons and tons of leaves and crap in there. It was time to be cleaned out for sure!

I tried to find a replacement motor, but I can only find one for Behr systems and not the Sofica systems, so I went to rebuild the motor. I turned the comm and made new bushings. You can see how clapped out the bushing was in the pictures. The brushes were about 1/2 life so they are still in there for now. I hope it holds up.






got the new heater core and figured out I could mirror the heater core in the heater box and this brings it to the passenger side where I have a ton more room.

So, yeah, not much of an update but a ton of hours were put into pulling the heater core and fixing that stupid motor.
If anybody knows where I can find a replacement motor for the Sofica system, I would appreciate it.
I am excited to get back to fabrication and hopefully things go a bit faster than this did.

[Miroteknik]

oh man

[gnmzl]

This just keeps getting better and better. Love what you did to the front CAs and sway. The original design is what has put me off the e21 chassis and you just made me realize how blind I was. Good work!

[Erik D_lux]

More pics

[Erik D_lux]

I got the motor/trans/clutch all situated and dropped it in the chassis.


As with any good motor swap, there are some issues to be resolved for sure but it looks right at home in there. I would say after these small issues are resolved, it is perfect? A lot of room along the sides and front of the motor, which I am really happy with. I dont like a super cramped motor bay.


Issues that I see so far that need to be resolved:
Brake booster (going to delete it all together)
Oil pan is too big
Heater core lines are right in the way
Not a ton of room for a radiator so I will push it forward and cut some of the body
Shifter might sit a bit too far back?


I got super lucky on the spacing between the subframe and where the oil pan will fit!


None are a huge deal from what I can see. After thinking about the shifter being too far back, I am not sure I will mind that. Being taller, I have to crank my seat all the way back and I would also like to recline my seat to give more head room but if I do both, it gets hard to reach the shifter comfortably so this might solve that issue?

[Erik D_lux]

LFX motor from a 2015 Camaro
33k miles
323hp
278 tq
Weighs approx 370lb, all aluminum
AY6 or MV5 6 speed trans

[Erik D_lux]

I got my Dlux rear Euro bumper bracket and installed the bumper.

I am really happy with the way it turned out and how easy it was to install and how perfectly aligned it ended up.

The bumper rubber was in so-so shape. It had some weird bubbling on it and the previous owner drilled thru it to install a bolt on the side so... I bought some new rubber.

While I had it off, I spent the time to really clean up the inside. It looks like it was painted white at some point and there was a lot of rust also. I got it cleaned up pretty good.

[Erik D_lux]

The swaybar may be the most overbuilt thing I've ever seen on a streetcar but that's cool LOL
Isn't it cool not having to deal with wheel/tyre combos that weight more than yourself? It's one thing I don't miss of my suzuki days haha

Yeah, and the 4x100 pattern has no real options, not like 5x120 anyway.