Anyone know a good engine swap shop Nor Cal?

[=======Live Fast!]

I'm interested in doing a s62 swap in my e30 and would like to find a shop that has done this particular swap before. It also needs to pass bar ref inspection as well which means it requires use of a lot of stock parts. Thanks

[THMotorsports]

Look up CA tuned in west Sacramento.

[=======Live Fast!]

Look up CA tuned in west Sacramento.

Thanks. I just called them and they said the swap was "ambitious". I'd really like to find a shop that's done it before to avoid a 1st time learning curve.

[george graves]

http://www.ryangmw.com/

Forum member, good guy.

[E30_Narek]

http://www.ryangmw.com/

Forum member, good guy.

Is he also the guy that makes the splitters?

[george graves]

Yep. Same guy.

[=======Live Fast!]

http://www.ryangmw.com/

Forum member, good guy.

Agreed however I talked to them and they have yet to do a s62 swap. I'd honestly have no problem taking it down to as far as LA if I can get a shop that's done it before.

[nando]

I think the problem is the BAR requirement. I don't think I've ever heard of one being BAR'd, although I suppose it's possible somebody has.

The hurdle I'm thinking of is the exhaust. Will the cats clear the E30 engine bay?

I'm thinking an S54 might be easier to get done and pass BAR just because it's so much more common than an S62 swap.

[nrubenstein]

I think the problem is the BAR requirement. I don't think I've ever heard of one being BAR'd, although I suppose it's possible somebody has.

The hurdle I'm thinking of is the exhaust. Will the cats clear the E30 engine bay?

I'm thinking an S54 might be easier to get done and pass BAR just because it's so much more common than an S62 swap.

Definitely easier. That said, the S62 cats are beneath the car stock, so header clearance isn't an issue. (Well, not an issue because of the cats.)

[jpod999]

I know of one BARd 32v swap and it was done by a guy down in San Mateo. You are going to have a very difficult time finding someone who has done a BARd S62 swap.

[Bimmerman325i]

OP, hopefully you have a big pile of money to throw at a shop....

I got my S54/E36 through BAR, starting with an OBD1 chassis. There are three main issues you need to solve, regardless of engine, for BAR. The Refs are not dumb, they are sticklers and they know the cars (and will pull parts diagrams if they don't).

0) the new engine must be from the same, or more stringent, emissions class-- this means, say you have a SULEV E46 car with a blown motor, and want to put in a LEV rated E46 engine-- instant fail. Check that the S62 and M20 are in the same class first!!

1) must have all original engine/intake/exhaust parts, from MAF through to the last set of cats, unless there is a documented CARB approved part. Some shops extend this to mean stock from air filter through to cats.

2) must retain/install all the donor car's emissions controls. For an S54, this meant the Secondary Air Pump, Cats, DMTL and Charcoal canister. I also went overboard and installed OBD2 E36 fuel and vapor recovery systems (fuel tank, fuel vapor tank, fuel filler neck) just to make sure the DMTL/Charcoal would work properly. I'm not 100% sure this was necessary, but I don't know of anyone who kept the OBD1 fuel tank/evap tank and successfully BARd an S54 swap yet either. This also means you need to fully OBD1->2 convert the car, and have all emissions monitors set (not faked). They clear the codes as they do the BAR process, and if any monitors come back up as 'ready' instantly...well you just failed.

3) electronics and software must be stock. EWS delete and other coding deletes changes some checksum or flag inside the code that the scan tools the BAR ref uses will pick up on. Gpeterson can explain this better than I, as he ran into this issue and knows the coding better than I. The BAR Ref didn't flag my swap with this issue, so YMMV.

The S54 and S62 are similar era motors/emissions, so a lot of the same issues I had you will have.

If you pay a shop to do it, you will pay an astronomical amount. A local paid for a BAR legal S54/E36 (OBD2 starting chassis) swap, and after a bunch of attempts it passed, but the shop bill was over $17k-- and it didn't have working cruise control and they didn't attempt to do DSC. I can't recall if it had working AC factory style or DME-bypassed AC. Their swap took 14 months.

The plus side of a BAR legal swap is everything pretty has to work as if it came from the factory. The process encourages you to not cut corners, so you will have a more reliable swap in the end. Probably; it's still an old BMW with custom crap in it.

[nando]

Yeah there's a CARB checksum in the DME. However, it would actually be fairly simple to defeat. There was discussion about it on MSS54 quite some time ago - I don't remember the details though.