For Sale: 2003 BMW 330i with a 6.2 L LSx
by Christopher Christopher
Published in engineswapdepot.com
This 2003 BMW 330i is for sale in Detroit with an asking price of $27,000. Under the hood sits a 6.2 L LSx V8 made from a LS3 block and everything else is from a L92 from a Cadillac Escalade. The engines has minor upgrades including some head work and SMC Performance cam which helps produce 459 horsepower to the rear wheels. Behind the engine sits a T-56 six-speed manual transmission with upgraded internals and a LS7 clutch connected to a BMW E46 M3 LSD rear end via a one-piece aluminum driveshaft. The owner daily drives the vehicle and everything works except the MPG guage, traction control and cruise control.
Body
- 127k miles (swap completed at 121k miles)
- Good condition — no rust
- Paint — 7/10 (black tends to show every scratch and swirl mark)
- Interior — 7/10, leather in good condition. Re-wrapped alcantara wheel, newer shift knob, ZHP specific trim and alcantara shift boot and park brake boot
- ZHP specific front and rear fasia ad lip spoiler
- Both foglights replaced (these tend to crack regularly)
Engine
- L92 (truck version of LS3) pulled from and Escalade at 70k miles
- An ear on the block broke during build so I sourced a brand new LS3 block and swapped everything over
- New rings and bearings
- Full head rework including new LS3 valves (hollow stem on exhaust side) and aftermarket springs and pushrods
- Mild cam from SMC performance
- Vorshlag headers with dual 3″ exhaust
- Vorshlag engine mounts, but changed to lower durometer polyurethane to improve NVH
- New water pump, alternator and A/C compressor. Turn One P/S pump
- Customer C&R radiator with 55mm core and a 16″ Spal high volume fan
- Z06 oil cooler
- LS7 clutch
- Holley hotrod oil pan with optional baffling
- 459hp at the rear wheels (see dyno sheet)
Driveline
- T56 trans from a 2002 Camaro
- Upgraded to carbon synchro rings, bronze shift fork pads and iron 1-2 shift fork
- Hurst shifter grafted to the stock BMW shift level
- 3″ diameter one piece aluminum drive shaft
- E46 M3 210mm diff with LSD and larger M3 half shafts
- Vorshlag trans crossmember modified to accept stock F-body mount (really reduced NVH over what was essentially a solid mount from Vorshlag)
Suspension
- E46 M3 front LCAs and spindles
- E46 M3 rear trailing arms and adjustable LCAs
- TC Kline DA dampers with camber plates and height adjusters. 450lb/in from springs and 500lb/in rears
- Turner adjustable sway bars front and rear
Wheels
- 18 X 9.5 Apex ARC 8 wheel in hyper black all around
- One wheel has a scuff mark, but all are straight
Brakes
- Stoptech ST-40 calipers
- Stoptech 355mm floating rotors all around
Controls/wiring
- GM E38 standalone ECU
- All tuning was done by Phil Hoeffler (aka Dr. Phil) with a focus on drivability vs. absolute peak hp numbers
- I have an HPTuners setup and all of the tune files that would be included in the sale
- EFI Connection engine harness (all new connectors, wires, etc.)
- Using stock BMW DBW accelerator pedal so placement for heel and toe is stock
- Using an Arduino setup from Thaniel to convert CAN signal between GM and BMW protocol to run the cluster and A/C function. I have an on/off switch in the glove box for the Arduino so that it does not interfere with data logging.
- Analog gauges in center console for water temp, oil temp and oil pressure
Source: Craigslist (screen capture of ad) via ESD reader