How long did your swap take?

[MR 325]

I've been collecting parts for mine since November or whenever it was that I bought the car. Mind you I only collect parts when I have extra money though!

Once I sell the 325e I have on the market I should be able to buy the rest of the stuff I need. The motor will take one day for prep, one day for install, and hopefully one day for wiring. This all depends on how it goes and how motivated I am though, lol.

[BeirBrennerE30]

also a tip... its much easier and faster to wire everything up when the engine is out of the car and on a stand. That when when the engine is in and you have limited room all you have to do is attach power and ground, run the ecu through the firewall and plug in c101

[MR 325]

also a tip... its much easier and faster to wire everything up when the engine is out of the car and on a stand. That when when the engine is in and you have limited room all you have to do is attach power and ground, run the ecu through the firewall and plug in c101

Well I personally am going to make my own adapter anyway so I don't think it matters.

[Mike B.]

I've always thought something like this from Pegasus Racing would make the wiring up the C-101/X20 pretty simple and quick. A nice terminal strip and cover it with a plexi-box.


The key to getting the swap done quickly is having all the parts on hand and ready to go before you start.

I find that it's the little stuff like reworking the shaft on the E21 booster, creating a mount for the oil dipstick tube, mounting/wiring an electric fan, bleeding brakes & coolant system, etc... that adds a lot of time.

[ldsbeaker]

I've been collecting since about March. As soon as my E28 is ready to go/running, I'm basically going to tear my E30 apart, apply new paint, and then do the suspension, brakes, interior, and M30 swap. I hope that I can do it in about 2 weeks. (I'll take vacation)

[Van Westervelt]

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

And this was with several day breaks, working, and other than the pulling, dropping, and mating of the tranny, was done mostly solo.

All in it was about 25-30 hours of work. I also did way more than is needed. IE: Steering rack swap, MC swap etc etc etc.

This was also my first time pulling a motor :P

[mazur]

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.

Wiring? I bought the two harness connectors and made my own adapter in like 30 min. way before I began the swap.

Search "wiring x20 c101" and you should find the thread for the correct wiring.

[bmwpower]

Wiring? I bought the two harness connectors and made my own adapter in like 30 min. way before I began the swap.

Search "wiring x20 c101" and you should find the thread for the correct wiring.

Cool. I didn't know you could buy the harness connectors. I guess that's where that place (treehouse maybe) got them and made their $400 adapter.

[matt]

Mine was even quicker... I just put an e30 connector on the M50 harness.

Easy as pie, when you have the tools.

[bmwpower]

Mine was even quicker... I just put an e30 connector on the M50 harness.

Easy as pie, when you have the tools.

Even better. What tools do you need?

[BeirBrennerE30]

Even better. What tools do you need?

wire cutter/stripper
soldering iron
solder
shrink tubing

[Mike B.]

Mine was even quicker... I just put an e30 connector on the M50 harness.

Easy as pie, when you have the tools.

Yep, this is what I do. A new connector and about 15 pins is all you need (plus the tools mentioned above). It should cost under $30 and take under an hour to complete. Spend $$ on a good crimping tool.

I push out the pins from the x20 connector with a small punch and then re-use the rubber weather plugs on the new connector.

Make sure you document the wire pin locations/colors on the x20 before you push out the pins.

[matt]

wire cutter/stripper
soldering iron
solder
shrink tubing

Only the cutter/stripper, actually. You need the BMW wiring harness kit, and a good ratcheting crimper.

I bought a new connector and pins from BMW. I used the BMW special pin removal tool to get the pins out of the X20 connector, cut, stripped, recrimped the new pins on the wires, then I used the BMW unlocking tool to open up the new connector, inserted the new pins, then locked the connector again, then put it all together and everything worked, first try.

I've been thinking about putting a DIY kit to do the same thing up for sale on the site, but I think THR probably does a better job of this than most people would for themselves, and the last thing I want to do is tech support for every damn person on the forum because they gave me $50 for a connector and some pins.

[bmwpower]

Only the cutter/stripper, actually. You need the BMW wiring harness kit, and a good ratcheting crimper.

I bought a new connector and pins from BMW. I used the BMW special pin removal tool to get the pins out of the X20 connector, cut, stripped, recrimped the new pins on the wires, then I used the BMW unlocking tool to open up the new connector, inserted the new pins, then locked the connector again, then put it all together and everything worked, first try.

I've been thinking about putting a DIY kit to do the same thing up for sale on the site, but I think THR probably does a better job of this than most people would for themselves, and the last thing I want to do is tech support for every damn person on the forum because they gave me $50 for a connector and some pins.

Could you list up the part numbers for the BMW tools, connector and pins and such?

[Mike B.]

Only the cutter/stripper, actually. You need the BMW wiring harness kit, and a good ratcheting crimper.

I bought a new connector and pins from BMW. I used the BMW special pin removal tool to get the pins out of the X20 connector, cut, stripped, recrimped the new pins on the wires, then I used the BMW unlocking tool to open up the new connector, inserted the new pins, then locked the connector again, then put it all together and everything worked, first try.

I've been thinking about putting a DIY kit to do the same thing up for sale on the site, but I think THR probably does a better job of this than most people would for themselves, and the last thing I want to do is tech support for every damn person on the forum because they gave me $50 for a connector and some pins.

Unlocking tool?? I just inserted the pins into the new C101 connector until the locked into place with a click.