How long did your swap take?

[bmwpower]

Assuming you have all the parts (or most of them), how long did it literally take to get the car all complete?

What job took the longest?

[rede30]

1) 528 days till start up
2) having to go to school

[1990m3]

About two months the first time...lots of it was waiting for parts and i only worked on it on weekends.

The second time I did the swap, had all the parts ahead of time. Installed the motor and drove the car the same day. Done and done. If you have the parts and know how it goes quickly. It's really not very complicated. I'd rather do another swap than rebuild an engine

[matt]

Under a week... or ~5 months, depending on how you count.

[BeirBrennerE30]

drove it into the garage friday night after work... drove it out sunday night around 1 am... drove it to work the next day

[Mr.SWISS]

About two months the first time...lots of it was waiting for parts and i only worked on it on weekends.

The second time I did the swap, had all the parts ahead of time. Installed the motor and drove the car the same day. Done and done. If you have the parts and know how it goes quickly. It's really not very complicated. I'd rather do another swap than rebuild an engine

+1

[PiercedE30]

Pre-planning a motor swap is the ONLY way to get it done in a timely fashion.

[gazellebeigem3]

Pre-planning a motor swap is the ONLY way to get it done in a timely fashion.

this homo has good advice.

mine took a week to swap in and get running (working sporadicly), but about 5 months of a slow build up of parts and prep work to the motor.

[grib]

I started in Nov. 2006 and am still working on mine. By no means have been working on it every day, or even every weekend for that matter.

I have been very meticulous about getting the right parts, cleaning everything up and doing it just the way I wanted. Having said that, it's on the road now but I am still working out some problems with it.

It all depends on the "scope" of your swap. Obviously an S/M52 with OBD1 conversion will take longer then a straight M50/S50. There are easy and hard ways to do most of the swap tasks. If I were to do it again, I could probably get one done in about 3 weekends. If you want to get it done fast - buy as COMPLETE of an engine/tranny set up as possible (better yet, a complete parts car) or you'll find yourself literally piecing together and combing for individual brackets...

[smonkbmw]

we did E30groupies in 2 weeks. he had preordered/stockpiled everything ahead of time though.

[bmwpower]

Thanks. So this definitely sounds doable in a short amount of time. Just as long as you stockpile the parts before the swap. That makes sense.

Any more?

[equate975]

A year

Poorly planned and 70% of the time I wasn't working on it.

[mazur]

IF i had all I needed to complete the swap before beginning it, I'd say two very long days.

[equate975]

IF i had all I needed to complete the swap before beginning it, I'd say two very long days.

Yeah, if I was to do it again, and actually got ALL the parts I needed. I think it can be done in under a week assuming there are no huge surprises.

[PiercedE30]

Shit, you can pull the old motor and put in the new motor in under a day. Then on day two you can finish the wiring.
But, if you are like me, and want a factory fresh motor, then it will take a while.