An E36 BMW M3 with a Chevrolet Camaro LS3 engine in China

Reading Time: 3 minutes

News like this to your inbox or phone?

Weekly summary to your inbox

Never miss and important news

Get Instant notification once the news is published.

- Advertisement -

An incredible smooth and speedy 1995 E36 BMW M3 coupe, seen in the Autobots Pitstop in east Beijing. The good Bimmer is painted in white and fitted with extra wide fenders, a black grille, black badges, dark headlight visors, darkened windows, and ultra racy matte gray alloys.

- Advertisement -

But it is under the bonnet what is best…

bmw-ls-engine-3

- Advertisement -

There it is! A mighty American Chevrolet LS3 6.2 liter V8 engine from a 2010 Camaro SS! Output is 400hp and 570nm, a big jump over the original U.S.-spec 3.0 six-in-line which had only 240hp and 280nm. Transmission is a GM TR6060 six-speed manual.

bmw-ls-engine-4

The engine swap was done in 2013 (YouTube) in the Unites States by a company called ClassicDaily, which seems to hate BMW engines, as it has done loads of BMW-to-LS swaps.

bmw-ls-engine-5

The LS3 is only slightly bigger and just a bit more heavy than the BMW engine, so fitting it in was not as difficult as it might seem, according to the swapper. More photos of the process can be seen here (in Chinese).

bmw-ls-engine-6

Originally, the vehicle was fitted with the brake system from a C6 Chevrolet Z06 and the brakes (discs and calipers) from a Porsche 996 911. After the car arrived in China the brake system and brakes were replaced by a completely new system by StopTech. The suspension was upgraded TC Kline Racing double adjustable Coilovers.

bmw-ls-engine-7

The interior is original bar for the radio, and in absolute perfect shape.

bmw-ls-engine-8

Door sills.

bmw-ls-engine-9

Happily, the BMW hasn’t been modified to much on the outside, making for a very dangerous sleeper. Only the front and rear fenders were widened to hold the wider tires, and the rear bumper is custom made. The exhaust pipes are as modest as on the original, with two tiny shiny tips on the left.

bmw-ls-engine-9a

Getting some sunshine.

Autobots Pitstop is a busy company. They maintain and repair speedy cars, they tune and modify these speedy cars into even faster vehicles, they prepare race cars for track work, and they are an official dealer for, among others, Akropovic, ABT, AC Schnitzer, Brabus, and Heico. And at this very moment they are also working on my Beijing-Jeep Cherokee supercar. More on that in a later post!

bmw-ls-engine-9b

The German-American beauty in the shop.

bmw-ls-engine-9c

She just received some maintenance and should be back roaring on the roads of the capital very soon…

- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

4 COMMENTS

  1. LS swaps can be found in every corner of the world… there’s probably an LS-swapped W124 roaming the streets of Pyongyang. The biggest mystery of the car is, how the hell did it get into china and even registered?!

  2. I guess the guy lived in the U.S. and had the car registered on his name for at least 6 months there before he came back to China. Returnees can bring one car that was registered to them …

  3. 400 hp at 1000 rpm… had a ’68 Camaro RS, great design but missing the joyful 6400 rotations of Alfa or BMW… Meanwhile I’m still content with my all-black 318i e36 cabrio, 30 mm lower, removed rear headrests and on fine 19″ styling 89 rims to bring out the car’s sleek shape – call me yesterday’s man

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

- Advertisement -