How long did your swap take?

[matt]

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

Easy as pie, when you have the tools.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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)

[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.

[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.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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.

[mazur]

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

[equate975]

A year

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

[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?

[smonkbmw]

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