my m50 swap in progress... pics (no 56k)

[FredK]

Ya, I figured I might have to do something like that.

[SchnellerVert]

Car payments suck ass. Engine swaps for under a G rule, with added bonus of a newer and aftermarket parts supply.

[DanGillan]

wont be under a G, but still cheap

[DanGillan]

Fuck, every day i go to work in the morning, class in the afternoon and then work on the car at night, and pick up parts during my lunch break or late nights, this is one hell of a job to source and get all these parts as fast as im also doing the swap, and keeping up with all the work. its going quick and its worth the hard work. i started to grow out of my car, it wasnt exciting anymore, but after all this maintenance work and the motor swap the car should feel better than ever and i cant fucking wait to drive it.

[SchnellerVert]

Getting to point of where it can be done for that. The most expensive part is probably exhaust and clutch stuff followed by new gaskets all the way around. You did add all new gaskets correct?

[DanGillan]

nope. gaskets are pretty new. i bought the motor complete with a new head 10k ago, so no point taking the motor apart, i did new exhaust manifold gaskets, thermostat and housing with gaskets, plugs, belt, new coolant hoses, new intake manifold vent valve hose, new intake elbow, new e36 motor mount arms, new pilot bearing, and that's about it as far as motor maintenance, the whole motor only has 90k on it, and its non vanos so its solid as a rock, should last me a while.

yea the exhaust will be the most expensive part of the swap in my case, except the new parts order fromt the shop of course.

[FredK]

Yes you could do a welfare swap for less than 1K. Some of the things might be suspect though. The gaskets don't go bad that easy, especially on lower mileage engines. You might need to change the valve cover gasket and rear main seal, but that's about it. Everything else is just maintenance parts like Dan already replaced.

If you had a welder you could do your own exhaust on the cheap. But otherwise this will cost quite a bit.

I guess the key is to get a complete as possible engine, otherwise you'll screw yourself buying everything separately. A harness and DME run around $200 - 250 by their lonesome.

[DanGillan]

no way 1k. not to do it even somewhat "right" some things along the way that you dont expect you'll need. maybe if you do your own exhaust and dont replace anything, just drop in a complete motor, do the bare essentials and weld up your own exhaust it may be possible, but that's hack and not a way i would reccomend doing it becuase you'll end up doing more work later anyway, but it will be harder becuase the motor will be in the car already. its worth spending the money, enough to do it right, but not more than you really need.

more than that... i payed $120 for a harness, and looks like a DME will cost me $200ish. DME is killing my fucking budget.

im taking the exhaust to a shop. its quicker and easier and not much more expensive, i'll probably bring them the cat and have them bend an exhaust with the cat put in.

[SchnellerVert]

no way 1k. not to do it even somewhat "right" some things along the way that you dont expect you'll need. maybe if you do your own exhaust and dont replace anything, just drop in a complete motor, do the bare essentials and weld up your own exhaust it may be possible, but that's hack and not a way i would reccomend doing it becuase you'll end up doing more work later anyway, but it will be harder becuase the motor will be in the car already. its worth spending the money, enough to do it right, but not more than you really need.

more than that... i payed $120 for a harness, and looks like a DME will cost me $200ish. DME is killing my fucking budget.

im taking the exhaust to a shop. its quicker and easier and not much more expensive, i'll probably bring them the cat and have them bend an exhaust with the cat put in.

You are obviously not looking in the right places.

I have seen complete engine with harness and accesories for $450 range. Ecu's for $85 you just need to search smarter.

www.car-parts.com has alot of this stuff and if you buy the whole engine sometimes they will give you a break on costs. IE sell me the complete engine with dme and loom for an extra 150 please sir....

Exhaust, Should not be that bad all you need is custom pipes from the down tubes to the cat section if you plan on using it. All the rest remains E30.

Alot of the parts could have been garnered 2nd hand with the exception of things that wear out.

[DanGillan]

i bought the complete running engine with pan and all accessories and wiring harness for $200. but i also bought the e36 harness, and I do use car-part.com. and the downpipes -> cat back section with a cat in the middle will cost about $2-300 at any decent exhaust shop to be done properly with hangers and flanges.

the thing you're lacking is the actual doing of the swap, you'll run into things a long the way, and sure, maybe you could get it done for under 1k, but i'd rather spend a little more, still not too much, and do it right the first time.

[FredK]

Yeah, I mentioned it is POSSIBLE to have a sub 1K swap. You'd have to have numerous hookups and you'd have to utilize used parts everywhere. You would essentially not touch the engine. I wouldn't trust it though. Maybe if you already had done a clutch job on your 260, replaced the CSB, and have a lower mileage radiator, you can just bolt things up. But usually, this isn't the case.

If you get used hydraulics and brake booster I could see closer to the 1K budget. If you don't replace any of the cooling hoses except the upper and lower radiator hoses, you are asking for trouble. For maintenance parts like ALL cooling hoses, belts, genuine BMW water pump, spark plugs, etc., you're looking at a few hundred bucks.

Shit Dan, if I knew you were gonna get new engine arms, I would have sold you my spare set off my parts engine!

In early December I talked to Joe Kravetz about getting a used DME/harness from a NV M50. He was quoting $250 for both. You should email him to see if he still has it. It's a 325i DME though. jkravetz@nycap.rr.com

[DanGillan]

yea luckily i already had a fresh radiator and clutch :) saved a few bucks there, low miles on both, radiator will be good for a long time, clutch set up will be swapped out within a year to a better set up when its time to do the clutch anyway.

[permit]

The OBD-II manifolds fit, I was just saying they're not exactly identical dimensions as OBD-I ones.

As for the A/C, I wasn't completely sure on what they did, I just handed them the car and told them to make it work. I believe it was just one hose though.

[KangamangusDriver]

What are your plans for a brake setup?

[DanGillan]

Im going to run the modified e21 320i booster with stock master cylinder and i still have my zimmerman x-drilled and some pads. nothing special, solid, slightly better than stock brakes, they're plenty.