E30 Zone

hi there... just nearing completion of upgrading my 1988 320i to a similar aged 325i changing engine gearbox and diff, with rear disc brakes etc... does anyone know the proceedure for notifying the dvla of the change in 'cc'.

been told that if i tell them, they will request an engineer's report and may place my car on a 'q' plate..which i dont want.

has anyone any knowledge of what the dvla do in cases like these?

thanks for any help you can give me.

iv done it the past

all i did was send v5 in with new engine no

never had no grief at all

Daz

Yeah the DVLA don't give a toss, although you are obliged to tell them.

As said, they'll just send you an updated V5C

Your insurance company might want an engineers report, but the car will not be put on a Q plate!

If you changed enough parts from one to the other, the other could assume the reg-no of the donor car, but you'd need to take all the running gear and engine accross for that to apply, and even if you did, there's not really any way for them to tell as they're all E30 parts.

In the last month I swapped my 325i engine into my 318i touring. Insurance company just noted the change of engine size and charged me a bit extra - no engineers report.
My new insurance document says 318i touring - 2500cc.

Havent been able to tell the DVLA yet, as the V5 got lost in the post from the previous owner so Im still waiting for the replacement V5 from the DVLA - then I have to send it back to them with the change of engine

Turbo-Brown wrote:If you changed enough parts from one to the other, the other could assume the reg-no of the donor car, but you'd need to take all the running gear and engine accross for that to apply, and even if you did, there's not really any way for them to tell as they're all E30 parts.

I thought that only applied to kit cars when building an SDV kit - the car is unregistered and either is put on a Q plate or the reg from the donor vehicle.

out of interest, where is the engine number?

jmc330i wrote:In the last month I swapped my 325i engine into my 318i touring. Insurance company just noted the change of engine size and charged me a bit extra - no engineers report.
My new insurance document says 318i touring - 2500cc.

Havent been able to tell the DVLA yet, as the V5 got lost in the post from the previous owner so Im still waiting for the replacement V5 from the DVLA - then I have to send it back to them with the change of engine

Turbo-Brown wrote:If you changed enough parts from one to the other, the other could assume the reg-no of the donor car, but you'd need to take all the running gear and engine accross for that to apply, and even if you did, there's not really any way for them to tell as they're all E30 parts.

I thought that only applied to kit cars when building an SDV kit - the car is unregistered and either is put on a Q plate or the reg from the donor vehicle.

Must admit my memory's a little hazy, but I looked into it when I started doing the GT6 conversion and it seems that even with a monocoque if you change enough bits over you need to re-register it, but I do stand to be corrected!

it works on a points system, its all here on dvla;

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regrebil.htm

dazleeds wrote:iv done it the past

all i did was send v5 in with new engine no

never had no grief at all

Daz

That's all I did when the 306 engine went into my 205.

I also asked the guy when I was getting my E30 mot'd. He said all that they need is to see that the dvla has been informed.

m-dtech wrote:it works on a points system, its all here on dvla;

http://www.dvla.gov.uk/vehicles/regrebil.htm

According to this my car needs testing and re-registering on a Q plate as the only parts in that list that are original is the body (most of it) and the steering column (does that count )

DVLA seem very tight with these regs - it would appear that I'll have to re-register my 320iSE soon. It's already got non-standard suspension and diff, add an M50 w/gearbox and an E36/Z3 rack (planned for later this year) and officially it won't be the same car anymore.
Incidentally, does anyone know if I can officially designate (re-register?) the car as a '325i' after putting in an M50B25?

And this annoyed me - "and some tricycles (e.g. Robin Reliant) that are written off"
Its a 'Reliant Robin' for goodness' sake. Nobody says they drive an 'Escort Ford' do they? You'd think such an august body as the DVLA could get it right.
Yes, I did use to drive a plastic pig. Good fun, too.

I'm using a new unregistered (nver stamped) bodyshell to build my E30 track car, this means, if I 'recondition to new' or use all new componnts I can have a new (current)registration mark.

BMW_YARD wrote:I'm using a new unregistered (nver stamped) bodyshell to build my E30 track car, this means, if I 'recondition to new' or use all new componnts I can have a new (current)registration mark.

This has been discussed on the kit car foruns, and I think the answer is yes.

dont. lol, you could drive about all year with the 325i engine in if you want, as we all know to the untrained eye she will look like a 320, thats until you put your foot down that is, if anyone says anything just say... i bought it like that. badge her as a 320, she will be a real sleeper. or just send the engine number to the dvla.

Brianmoooore wrote:

BMW_YARD wrote:I'm using a new unregistered (nver stamped) bodyshell to build my E30 track car, this means, if I 'recondition to new' or use all new componnts I can have a new (current)registration mark.

This has been discussed on the kit car foruns, and I think the answer is yes.

Or if you use one donor car it can assume the reg of the donor car, but all the bits must be from the same car, not just cars of the same age.

handpaper wrote:DVLA seem very tight with these regs - it would appear that I'll have to re-register my 320iSE soon. It's already got non-standard suspension and diff, add an M50 w/gearbox and an E36/Z3 rack (planned for later this year) and officially it won't be the same car anymore.

I asked on a kit car forum last year about the finer points of registering a non registered Westfield and from what was said then I really dont think an M50 conversion car will need re-registering, even if all the suspension etc is changed, because the converted car has already been registered. Also, not all of your bits came from the same car.

Your car will still be officially a 320iSE, but with an engine change and different suspension etc. You can change the description on the V5 to 325i, but as the chassis number hasnt changed it will still be a 320iSE.