E30 Zone

doh.. sorry i posted this in the wrong section before.. try again shall we?

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:57 pm Post subject: engine swap... how hard.. how much? (1987 D into 1991 H)

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Hello.. we have two e30's

1987 E plate 318i Diamond black 54k on it, all old mot's to prove it. think it needs a lot of tidying up for it to be half decent.

1991 H plate 318i Lux in sterling silver but with almost 146k on it. only a little rust on one arch otherwise very very tidy!

Questions

1- the swap.. is it straight swap? engines seem identical from what we can remember.. (cars are 170 miles apart at the moment)

2-is it managable for 1 person with a daft female for help? (engine probably due for a strip down anyway so may be ok?)

3-How much would a garage charge for this? roughly, and i dont mean a bmw dealer..

4- i assume a rusty shell with a 146k engine be worthless... so is the engine worth anything on its own.

5, how can i prove its got a low miles engine, the mot's only have the chassis number on it... could swap the clocks i guess...

6-are you sick of my questions now?

Cheers for any sensible replies!

Hannah

the m40 engine is quite compact and there is lots of room to work with compaired to the bigger engined cars.

i think that you could do this over a weekend if you have v little experience.

hire an engine hoist for a weekend and swap the engines complete.

is straight forward enough, prob need to swap the ecu and or parts of the elcetrical system but you have both cars so you should be fine.

a garage would prob charge around Ԛ£200-Ԛ£300.

ok, cheers for that m-dtech thinking of selling the cars as a "job lot" with lots of other bits to go with them.

but i was just wondering if an engine swap is worth the hassle. wud mean my other half's car going to the big garage in the sky... but least we'd have a saleable car.

ideally i'd love someone to restore his bm to its former glory, but its in the back of beyond and nobody would fetch it and give me decent price. (not roadworthy at moment!)

hannah

no one else up for replying? will help u edge nearer to ur next bm badge....