Engine (straight) swap

[Zayyan]

How difficult is a straight engine swap?

What is needed in terms of tools?

What obstacles would there be along the way?

Would a complete idiot (myself) and a reasonably mechanically-minded person (my mate) be able to get the hang of it?

I'm just thinking about the summer when it'd be nice to get some E30s back on the road

[stulane]

If you get a hoist your be half way there...you can hire one if you dont have one but make sure you do all the work to the new engine before you put it onto the car, for example gaskets and clutch if your changing it.

You can remove and install the engine with transmission attached. its quite aweward on the 6cyl engines but not that difficult.

Dont forget to remove the engine, your have to take the exhaust off and disconnect the prop shaft, then remove all the parts around the engine for example rad, air box, coil etc etc

Then undo the engine mount bolts, dont undo the gearbox bolts until the engine is supported and the lift the engine out.

You should be able to do the swap in 1-2 days if its a straight swap, and if you already have the donor engine preped.

Hope that helps.

[tylerma]

are you talking like for like engines
or bigger for smaller?

[Zayyan]

Stulane cheers for that, you make it sound reasonably easy.

are you talking like for like engines
or bigger for smaller?

I'm talking like for like mate.

E.g. if I found an M40 318i with bent valves which was otherwise decent for example then found another with a rear-ender but a good engine....you can see what I'm getting at

[stulane]

Its not too difficult mate and if itÔš's warm outside then its great fun. Go for it, a same engine swap will be a good learning exercise and then you can move onto something more adventurous like an m30/m50 engine swap.

[tylerma]

Stulane cheers for that, you make it sound reasonably easy.

are you talking like for like engines
or bigger for smaller?

I'm talking like for like mate.

E.g. if I found an M40 318i with bent valves which was otherwise decent for example then found another with a rear-ender but a good engine....you can see what I'm getting at

yeah I get ya
if its like for like then I dont see you having any issues
so long as you remember how things come apart
they should go back together pretty easy.
(I know its stating the obvious but Bharat, Andrew and myself had never done it before
but we changed my head in a day)

if you are talking a head change on one of them
make sure you get the right torx bit needed for the head bolts
(I got lucky found a snap-on van parked outside my local dealers and he had one in the back)
I will dig mine out and let you know the size only cost Ԛ£7.50 (result)

[Simon13]

we swopped Dave tourings engine over in a day basically, ignore too much talking cups of tea and other distractions, so it did spill into sunday for getting the new lump going for some drifting!

U can pull an M20 with gearbox out in 2 hours

M40's are simple engines and quite small compared to the 6 pot where there is not alot of room!

I'm sure u will be fine

[stulane]

...I dont see you having any issues
so long as you remember how things come apart
they should go back together pretty easy.

good way to do this is to take loads of pics - then you can look back and see how it went. get the proper manual (bently) to if your struggling - NOT the crappy haynes one.

[Zayyan]

Its not too difficult mate and if itÔš's warm outside then its great fun. Go for it, a same engine swap will be a good learning exercise and then you can move onto something more adventurous like an m30/m50 engine swap.

It does sound like it could be good fun. The learning and the saving of the cars from the scrapheap would make it even more so. Might even make a few pennies from it too though that wouldn't be my motivation

[tylerma]

get the proper manual (bently) to if your struggling - NOT the crappy haynes one.

this is true
My Bentley has a few dirty pages now

[stulane]

get the proper manual (bently) to if your struggling - NOT the crappy haynes one.

this is true
My Bentley has a few dirty pages now

ditto

bought the e36 one when doing my swap, well worth it..those manuals are on a different level to haynes

[Zayyan]

Stulane cheers for that, you make it sound reasonably easy.

are you talking like for like engines
or bigger for smaller?

I'm talking like for like mate.

E.g. if I found an M40 318i with bent valves which was otherwise decent for example then found another with a rear-ender but a good engine....you can see what I'm getting at

yeah I get ya
if its like for like then I dont see you having any issues
so long as you remember how things come apart
they should go back together pretty easy.
(I know its stating the obvious but Bharat, Andrew and myself had never done it before
but we changed my head in a day)

if you are talking a head change on one of them
make sure you get the right torx bit needed for the head bolts
(I got lucky found a snap-on van parked outside my local dealers and he had one in the back)
I will dig mine out and let you know the size only cost Ԛ£7.50 (result)

Sounds good mate cheers.

Was thinking about complete swaps as I've read a couple of times that it's easier than changing the head (though not sure how true this is? ) but any info would be useful.

Simon13 thanks for that....was only really thinking about doing 4-pots as then I could take them for a drive after as having finished a car and not being able to insure it to take for a drive would piss me right off.

Sounds like the M40s are a good start point then

[Simon13]

to some extent swopping the engines probably requires less mechanical knowledge than swopping heads.

As all u are really doing is un bolting everything, bolting it back up etc fill it and bleed the coolant up and off u go!

No worries about TDC and tensioners and the sequence for tightening the head bolts up and torque settings

[stulane]

What is needed in terms of tools?

What obstacles would there be along the way?

A halfords professional set is Ԛ£100, that'll cover most jobs

Dont forget there will be a few things to buy, unless your doing it simply by keeping all the old parts but doing it properly would involve replacing mounts, gaskets, belts etc. not particually expensive but my advice would be go direct to your BMW dealer and dont bother with motor factors. the quality is much better straight from BMW. I leant the hard way.

[Zayyan]

What is needed in terms of tools?

What obstacles would there be along the way?

A halfords professional set is Ԛ£100, that'll cover most jobs

Dont forget there will be a few things to buy, unless your doing it simply by keeping all the old parts but doing it properly would involve replacing mounts, gaskets, belts etc. not particually expensive but my advice would be go direct to your BMW dealer and dont bother with motor factors. the quality is much better straight from BMW. I leant the hard way.

Tools aren't a problem thinking about it, my mate has a ridiculous quantity of oddly-shaped metal.

How much is "not particularly expensive"?

I wouldn't be doing it for the money (not that I'd expect there to be any in it) but it wouldn't make sense to do it at a loss

[stulane]

Well we're not talking a lot of money

probably about Ԛ£100 upwards depending on what you leave and what u replace.

[Zayyan]

Sounds fine to me

Roll on summer

[stevetigger]

How do I remove my Prop??

[stulane]

How do I remove my Prop??

easier to remove the exhaust first then...

remove the heat shielding...
Unbolt from the diff (4 bolts) and then unbolt from the gearbox (5/6bolts) then remove the prop mount in the centre of the car and its off.

Easy