I am a bit of a noob when it comes to engines but am working with a friend of mine on doing the LS1 conversion for my BMW E36 over the summer, he is experienced and his dad owns an autoshop.

I have seen some LS1 E36s and read writeups by a couple different sources, but when asking the friend's dad if he would help us out with the conversion over the summer - he was stoked but suggested the 350 Ram Jet... my friend says the dad has a bias towards using the Ram Jet, but since its my car and my money thats financing of coures its my choice.

Why would most of the conversions have been done with the LS1 and not the 350 Ram Jet?

Some links to info about both engines:

Ram Jet http://www.high-performance-engines.com/ce11.html

LS1 http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/148_0311_chevrolet_ls1_engine_swap/
http://www.high-performance-engines.com/ce10.html

The Ram Jet is a cast-iron block 5.7L (350 cubic inch) engine, while the LS1 is an aluminum block 5.7L (350 cubic inch) engine.

The Ram Jet is rated at 350HP, the LS1 at 320HP from the same vendor for crate engines.

In practice, the biggest difference will be the weight (iron vs. aluminum). Both are tunable through various products that will allow you to hook up a laptop with some software and re-map the computer, both have a gazillion aftermarket goodies that help them make crazy HP.

Another consideration is availability. If you're buying a crate motor, both are readily available. If you're buying a used engine, good luck finding a ram jet. Used LS1s are all over ebay, craigslist, and your local bargain post. Not quite a dime a dozen, but readily available for those with cash.

The Ram Jet seems very similar to the LT1, which is an order of magnitude cheaper than an LS1 (search ebay), and very similar HP and Torque numbers, but in a cast iron block. And they are readily available on ebay, craigslist, and your local paper. The weight penalty of going with an LT1 vs. an LS1 is something like 140lbs. This would be significant on the track, but I doubt it will be that significant on the street.

4-speed auto (4L60E), 5-speed manual, and 6-speed manual (T56) are all available, so that's not a problem.

It's your money, as you stated, so you make the final choice. But forcing a mechanic to learn on your car can be more expensive than going with their first choice of project components.

HTH.

And you will going at the ram jet without the experience of those before you....

yeah, I made that post here and on an LS1tech.com - when the dad mentioned the 350RJ I was wondering if it was aluminum or not but I couldn't find any technical resources like you did stating whether or not it was.

So thank you - yeah, I am definently going to stick with the LS1. It was also state on the LS1tech forum that the handling if the bimmer would suffer with the 350RJ and be better as a rally car than a curving car.

The ram jet motor will probably be too tall (hood scoop) As others have said, don't bother with it. The LT1 motor is another orphan, not worth the effort, also might present hood clearance problems. Go w/ the LS series. The current Jegs catalog lists an LS2 6.0L crate motor for $5495

is the LS2 on jegs carb or fuel injected?

Fuel injected