How many of you actually have a reliable swap?

[N2MYE30]

DD for 2 years. With some teething issues the first 2-3 months for a vac leak, all has been trouble free.

[NickL]

Completely DIY here and its been one of the most reliable and fun cars Ive ever owned. Never a problem with it, many 10 hour + drives, some hard driving in the tail of the dragon, and just your every day cruising. Love the S52, great motor, but I want more haha.

[dude8383]

DIY'd twice. First one blew up and have put on about 17k the S52 I have now.

Have built 3 for customers and they're all running without issue :D

[Wanganstyle]

Ours Has been reliable the last 14 hours of racing.

Random history long motor ( cheap junk per lemons rules) to begin with and it blew a head gasket with about 9 hours of racing.

Head was built and bottom end leaked down; then re assembled.

I'd suggest building the head before installing and leaking down the rings; inspecting the bearings and replacing rod bolts if you have the means.

I much suggest leaking down the engine at a minimal; our lemons unit did not get any service and we had to / will be doing it later as there was literally no time; went 24v 10 days before a race weekend with 2 events (3 days)

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[JCarp90]

I've been driving on my swap for 5 months now without so much as a hiccup. The ONLY thing I wish I would have done was tidy'd up my harness BEFORE putting my engine in and spent more time cleaning my bay. Other than that, my car has never even thought about leaving me stranded. And I have to say I drive the shit out of it. I put it together to drive it and that's what I've been doing. If I want to do a donut, I do a donut, if I want to do a clutch kick at 5k, I do it. Mini van driver looks at me funny? Race them to the next stop light.

In all seriousness though, I would do it again 100%.

[ZekeTheSneak]

I have had trouble getting mine squared away but even bad valve stem seals it ran great. Never a hickup.

[TimKninja]

I bought a $700 wrecked E36 m3 with 190k on it. The head or whole engine had been replaced at BMW at some point. Parted out the entire M3, made all my money back. Only into the swap for less then $500.

Finished the swap in April-May and now it's October 14,000 miles on the swap itself . Not a problem Except for a vacuum line and some weird hesitation issue that's on and off.

It's my only car as of right now and I trust it to go anywhere. Just drove to
MD for H20i and back. 1200 miles, no problems .

Only things that annoy me-
-Gripforce stage 2 clutch I went with . Too grabby, engagement is too close too floor. Wish I went with OEM
-gearing of the ZF320 isint my favorite. Too high on the highway. Wish I had a 6 speed .
-exhaust sounds awesome but is too loud .
-gas mileage kinda sucks. I can only get at most 25 MPG and I really have to baby it. If I drive normally I get 22, mostly highway.


Those are just small things if I really wanted to nitpick. I'm really glad I did the swap. It's a blast.

[dude8383]

I bought a $700 wrecked E36 m3 with 190k on it. The head or whole engine had been replaced at BMW at some point. Parted out the entire M3, made all my money back. Only into the swap for less then $500.

Finished the swap in April-May and now it's October 14,000 miles on the swap itself . Not a problem Except for a vacuum line and some weird hesitation issue that's on and off.

It's my only car as of right now and I trust it to go anywhere. Just drove to
MD for H20i and back. 1200 miles, no problems .

Only things that annoy me-
-Gripforce stage 2 clutch I went with . Too grabby, engagement is too close too floor. Wish I went with OEM
-gearing of the ZF320 isint my favorite. Too high on the highway. Wish I had a 6 speed .
-exhaust sounds awesome but is too loud .
-gas mileage kinda sucks. I can only get at most 25 MPG and I really have to baby it. If I drive normally I get 22, mostly highway.


Those are just small things if I really wanted to nitpick. I'm really glad I did the swap. It's a blast.

What kind of diff do you have? I just switched to a 2.93 (coming from a 3.25) and have been quite happy with it. Not a major sacrifice in terms of performance.

[hwy84]

....The ONLY thing I wish I would have done was tidy'd up my harness BEFORE putting my engine in and spent more time cleaning my bay.

+1 in a big way!

I kind of thought I'd "rough in" the engine, and then clean things up as I was troubleshooting, but once it fired up, there wasn't really any troubleshooting to do, and so my ugly engine bay isn't getting any love.

My S50 swap with G260 has been dead reliable for me - no weirdness, no issues, basically might as well be my old E36 M3 as far as how much attention I have to pay to the motor. (which means - change the oil, and drive it).

I have done autocrosses, track days, and countless canyon runs, and the only thing I am considering changing is the diff. 3.73 is too tall for me. I want my 4.10 back. :twisted:

[agent]

I put it together to drive it and that's what I've been doing. If I want to do a donut, I do a donut, if I want to do a clutch kick at 5k, I do it. Mini van driver looks at me funny? Race them to the next stop light.

Win.

[20gmr]

just put one together for a customer and he drove it from pa to florida a week after completion no issues. My car went to sowo ( in georgia) from pa and no issues. i did however get a vacuum leak at h20 this year, my vacuum line going into the ix boost had a torn grommet so far only issue lol

[2mAn]

20mgr, how many hours do you charge to do the swap?

[TimKninja]

What kind of diff do you have? I just switched to a 2.93 (coming from a 3.25) and have been quite happy with it. Not a major sacrifice in terms of performance.

I'm at 2.93 now .
I had a 3.73. Which was rediculous an unusable on the highway, but retardedly fun .
Then went to a 3.25, ran that for 10,000 miles , still was a bit Too high
Now I have the 2.93.

A perfect setup would be the 3.25 with a 6th gear . I'd kill for that. No I wouldn't actually it's definitely not worth life in prison. Rather if I had the money for it I'd run an e46 m3 6 speed and the 3.25. I hate how the ZF doesn't have an OD gear. It is nice to be able to pass anyone on the highway with no downshifting needed tho .i really wish I kept the G260.

[agent]

Out of curiosity, what are your RPMs at 80mph with the 2.93?

[e30austin]

I bought my car with a weekend swapped (ie: ZERO parts replaced/serviced) high miles M50TU/G260/S3.73. A couple weeks after I bought it, the trans took a shit. Had it rebuilt, took a shit 2 months later, so I bought another used unit. Been on this last trans for almost two years and 30k. The only things i've really had issues with are CSBs, but it could be because of my 300k worn out driveshaft (sarcasm, it totally is.)

The M50 NEVER left me stranded. I beat the piss out of it on the regular and it pulled excellent until the day I removed it for my S50.

I put my S50B30 US in approx ~15,000 miles ago. The only issue I had with it was because of me being cheap and reusing my old shitty radiator and kept having an overheating issue and bubbles in the system. Once I replaced every single component, it was perfect. I literally replaced every seal/gasket except for the head gasket. Overall, I spent almost $5000 on my swap, mainly because I wanted to buy everything new and not worry about having shit come up later on because I didn't want to replace it.

I would consider my swap to be reliable. Even before with the high miles, tired M50, I still considered it completely reliable. I never had it not start on me. I've driven this car every day for 2.5 years with a 24v, and it's never skipped a beat.

Just my $.02.