LS swapping a German car?

Found this '95 BMW 740i with 98k miles on craigslist for $1000 that allegedly needs a new engine. Interior/exterior is otherwise in decent condition.

My sister wrecked my Mazda 3 while I was at college last year and my folks said they'd get me a bit nicer car next summer. Was thinking of buying something like this ("luxury" car that needs a new engine) and LS swapping it to use as my daily driver (like pic related) instead of buying a dinky little Honda/Nissan/Toyota/Mazda/Subaru economy sedan.

As I've never done an LS swap before, what I want to know is:
>How much do LS swaps into German cars typically cost in total?
>Can I do so for around the same that it would otherwise cost for an economy car ($5-7k)?
>What typically needs to be done to make it happen?

Five hundred bucks and an afternoon

Other than a $500 engine out of a Chevy Tahoe (or something nicer if it fits the budget), what hardware would I typically need to get it up and running BMW/Audi/Mercedes?
>Get engine mounted in car
>Hook up transmission
>Get all the doodads working correctly with the new engine (gauges/indicators/components that run off the serpentine belt/throttle/intake system/exhaust/etc)

Look up e39 LS swaps and you'll find all your info there on bimmerforums and other places. You'll need headers and mounts and maybe some other bits but all can be done and has been.

LS swaps are far from rare.

LSx swapped E36 M3's are GOAT.

>not swapping the cheaper 330i cause you are throwing the engine out and probably the trans and probably the suspension out anyways
>paying more for nothing

If you have to ask, it's not something you can just do easily on your own. You're gonna need custom crossmembers fabricated for the engine and transmission, which may involve modifying the subframe, the wiring harnesses will need to be merged, the transmission tunnel might need to be hammered out to fit a different transmission, if you use the original tranny you're gonna need an adapter plate to make it mate to the LS, the splines on the BMW tranny's input shaft might not match up to the LS, etc.

It's a fuckton of work and money with a good amount of skill and creativeness necessary. Something like this won't make a good babby's first engine swap. It'll be much easier, faster, and cheaper to build the motor that's already in it. Have it bored out, put in forged pistons, mill the heads, get a valve job done, more radical cams, maybe even a turbo. It'll be much less of a headache.

///Ms have higher spec'd suspension parts and whatnot that you don't get with your regulsr BMW.

>///Ms

>Wider track
>Revised suspension geometry
>Stronger hubs
>Differing sway mounting points
>Thicker roll bars

Replicating all that is going to cost as well. You're going to throw out whatever gearbox is in there regardless, but you'll make more money back on the M3 ZF 5spd / G420 6spd.

Most words don't only have one letter, so the plural looks weird without the clarification.

Then what do you recommend?
>swapping a shitbox would be polishing a turd...fucking cancer
>swapping a car designed for performance (like a WRX)...good luck finding a cheap one, let alone one that needs a new engine
>swapping a RX7/RX8 has too many complications due to vastly different engine design
>mom refuses to let me have a convertible or coupe (eliminates Miata, Z3, 350Z, etc as possible choices)
>dropping a modern LS or 302 into a classic car involves dropping shit-tons of cash towards restoration; I'd prefer to have an interior/exterior that doesn't need additional work

Why cross shop an economy car with a v8 swapped pig fat boat?

Buy the BMW/Merc/Audi you want but instead of putting an LS in it, rebuild the engine that's in it and modify that.

>expensive replacement parts
>over-engineered German engineering
>you have no idea how well the previous owner maintained the engine
>future potential expensive repairs out the ass
>not a 300HP+ stock LS beast with plenty of upgrade headroom for stupid amounts of power
Sounds like a money pit. From my experience, repairing broken things in general is a fucking money pit. Replacing the problem component with a different one that you know works well/reliably is always better.

European engineering is always over-engineered to the point of being problematic (namely British and German). Damn, do they run nice when they work, but parts always fail prematurely due to critical design flaws that have you wondering what the actual fuck they were thinking when they designed them (like putting components in locations such that "normal operating conditions" run dangerously close to their maximum ratings).

Reason I'm not chosing a muscle car is because insurance rates are out the ass because the owner demographic consists of primarily reckless delinquents who can't fucking drive for shit. As such, my insurance rates to drive such a car at 20 (will be 21 by the time I get the new ride) are through the fucking roof because them.

GOYS GOYS GOYS
Is the Infiniti G35 a better option? Could I make it work with the G35X?

G35 has an engine that is about as fast as an ls1 in it actually just keep it maybe fuck with the turbo and tune it for 400+ hp

You'll need
>Engine
>Transmission
>Custom driveshaft
>Front subframe
>Transmission crossmember
>ECU
>Custom wiring harness
>Custom full exhaust
>Intake, fuel, and coolant plumbing
>Various odds and ends

You'll also need to do a lot of cutting and clearancing, and you might run into issues with stuff like shifter placement. I'd conservatively estimate the cost to be around $5-7k for the swap, assuming a truck engine and transmission and you doing all of the welding and fabricating yourself. Double that if you don't have a welder and know how to use it.

I thought you said you can't have a coupé.

Also, this is the bare minimum to make the car run. I'd probably give up all hope of ever getting any of the electronics in the car working without the ECU. You may well have to resort to hotwiring he headlights.

there's a G35 coupe and sedan.

Should I make a sleeper? Suggestions?

>mom refuses to let me have convertible or coupe
>how do I ls swap?

Git out

Ohhh. I don't think I've ever seen one, and I'm glad that I haven't.

E38 is still nice without LS. It is not a racecar.

first things first people..... craigslist seller says engine with 98k on it needs replacing... thats the first damn thing to question. do a compression test.. talk to the guy... Owner either committed some very basic fuck up (which would tell you what exactly is fucked up in the engine)... or he's wrong and theres a more minor problem.... the whole reuild/ rebore/ head job thing shouldn't be neccesary on an engine with this mileage

Without memes?

$1500 for engine and trans for something with low-ish miles 150k or less and fairly stock no issues
$500 for adapter/engine mounts
Wiring loom if you didnt do it yourself would cost alot.
Would need a custom driveshaft so theres another $$$$
???

And then you have the issue of clearance for things like headers, firewall and other fiddly shit

Its doable but by no means 'easy'

Then get a fucking mustang or a camaro, because you obviously don't have a drop of the intelligence required to do an engine swap. Stop being a fucking sperg and listen.

I'm sure I could do it. I'm just trying to estimate the price of doing so before I take on the endeavor.

The ZF 5 speed in the E36 M3s is the same as every other M50/M52 car (328i/Z3 2.8/528i)

E46s aren't as fun to drive as a E36.

Yeah let me just spend thousands of hours instead trying to make a completely different engine with no known swap kit work with the original power steering/air conditioning/wiring aside from figuring out how you're going to mount it instead of spending a weekend swapping a motor using the factory service manual ($0 online)

You don't know shit about German cars, their engine is usually the most reliable part. At least on BMWs its anything made out of rubber/plastic or that has the word "pump" in it that fails. And once you change it its good for the next 10-15 years.

Get something RWD and OBD1 (1995 or older) for starters, OP. Ideally something that's already very commonly LSx swapped like a Mustang/Camaro, older GM pickup, G or B-Body GM, or RX7. Especially if this is your very first engine swap.

consider buying an entire engine/trans pull from a junkyard truck and putting that in there, would be cheaper than trying to use the trans in the car already since the stock LS ecu will also control the truck trans.
All you'd have to do is have a custom drive shaft made up which costs very little.
4L60e or 4L80e would work fine, be cheap and easy to rebuild/beef up.

This is fucking stupid user.

You'll still have a shit load of electrical problems, it's not like just swapping in a LS will suddenly make your 20 year old barge a reliable daily driver.

Buy an LS.

Just found a ''06 Mazda MS6 with 87k miles for $2700. Just by reading the post, it sounds like it needs some coils and/or spark plugs replaced. Probably going to get that.

he wasnt talking about the s

>remove everything from under hood of tarhoe
>including engine, Trans, driveshaft
>buy engine mounts if they exist
>put engine and trans in
>measure drive shaft length
>take the two drive shafts and the length and go have them done up
>buy a ready to run ls swap harness with something like a haltech
>niggerrig the throttle, or go with e-throttle
>sort out the engine cooling
>sort out the power steering
>sort out the charging system
>sort out the fuel delivery
>run a can line in and mount up a racepac dash

Yeah, just buy a fucking Crown Vic if that's how you see things.

Question.. Does the engine and transmission use an integrated ecu as an isolated system? Or does one ecu run the entire car? If you get an ls1 swapped in with your drivetrain, don't expect your traction, abs, and shit a whole hell of a lot of chassis electronic to go haywire or just not work if the car uses a common ecu

The ecu controls the engine and the transmission on the ls motors, you can run standalone computers fur each but that's hella extra money and OP seems to be on a budget.