difficulty in swapping engines

[Court M3]

Besides from the engine wiring harness and ECU, what else do you need for an engine swap?

We are going to swap an 88 325i into my friends 85 320i starting Saturday. First time tackling on such a big project so wish me luck.

[rs4pro3]

If you have the donor car that is good, In the swaps I've done I've noticed you always find small little things that need changed. So it's good to have a donor car on hand. Just make sure to unhook everything first, AC lines, collant lines to firewall, wires, resivor tank, radiator, power steering lines, fuel lines. Try to swap as much possible with the engines out of the car as you can.
I so wish I had a back up car as I could start my m30 engine swap this afternoon. :evil:

[Court M3]

Good thing about this one is he is selling me his complete Mtech II kit once we are complete. More money for the fed cost :twisted:

[Court M3]

Around how long do you guys think this will take?

[rs4pro3]

1-2 hours to yank the engine, then say probally 3-4 to get it in and everything hooked back up(not including trannyies).

[atmh]

leave the a/c and the power steering pumps in the car. its easier to take them off the engine than to disconnect the lines.

I just did an '86 325es engine out of a parts car and into an '84 325e. So I pulled two engines and put one in. I would say that to do it RIGHT, if you have not done it before you need more time than that.

I wrote down everything daily, here is a shortened version of what I did:
Exhaust removal (it was pretty new in the parts car, pretty bad in the good car, manifold to downpipe bolts were a pain in the arse) accessory removal is easy, shift linkage is a pain, hydraulic clutch is not bad, but bolts are fairly hard to get at. Cooling system is a cinch.

Definately remove the water pump and replace it. Its so much easier with it out, and worth replacing. Also definately replace the timing belt. I did these after I got the good engine in the good car. With the hood removed its pretty accessable, and with the engine mounted in place, its easy enough to work on. I removed the water pump before removing the engine, put the new water pump in after the engine was in the good car.

Clean the engine up while its out if you like. I cleaned it up and painted it black with POR 15. I also painted some spots in the engine compartment with POR 15 that were just beginning to rust. Its my attempt at preserving my car, better stop it sooner than later. I also painted the exhaust with high temp paint so it won't rust out. That was a questionable waste of time if I replace the exhaust system for a high flow system within a year or two.

It took me and 3 friends probably ~6 hours to get the engine dropped in and pretty much in place. I removed the transmission with the engine because it honestly seemed easier that way. We put the front wheels on a roll back "wrecker" truck and "jacked" it up. The engine hoist was on the truck and we pulled the engine out. The front of the car needed to be jacked up so that the transmission could hang down. The engine and transmission together need to be pulled out so the front of the engine is almost verticle to the back of the engine. It bent the front engine jacking point loop thing pretty good, but it held strong.

Putting the acessories on will take longer than taking them off, of course. Getting the V-belts on can be somewhat hard if the gear system is kinda worn out. I found that if you push the teeth on the bracket into the gear on the bolt thing, it works best....still can be hard to get some of the belts on though.

I had a gasket leak on the water pump after I got it all back together and filled with coolant (definatly buy new stuff) so I had to take it all apart and put it back together again. Make for damn sure that the gasket is lined up correctly, it will only cause pain for you if it is not. I also had to change the wiring harness on the engine between the older one and the newer one.

Had to change one of the coolant sensors as a result of that, but for the most part it was pretty easy.

The exhaust sytem was a pain to get on by myself. Getting the bolts lined up sucked. Make sure you neversieze the exhaust bolts if nothing else

I had an issue with the engine skipping. As it turned out the number 5 fuel injector wire wasn't even hooked up.

Also, getting the wiring harness to be positioned correctly was kinda a pain. First it got stuck between the engine head and the fire wall, then it was a pain to get in correctly where it goes in the fire wall. make sure to soap it up real good so it will slip in nice and easy.

My parts car had cruise control, my good car does not. the system doesnt affect anything though, all I had to do was remove the cruise control cable and not hook anything up in its place. I can't really think of much else at the moment. Just would like to let ya know that if you haven't done an engine swap before, its gonna take you more than a day probably. if you work good and have all the proper tools and experience, you could probably get it done in a day. Good luck.

[atmh]

also wouldnt be a bad idea if you can spare the time to rebuild the engine. after I got my engine it, I heard noises that sound like a worn out wrist pin, which means some pretty extensive bottom end work. If you can spare the time, I would recommend doing connecting rod wrist pins, bearings and piston rings. Also would be a good idea to seat the valves. But thats only if you have the time, I know I didn't because I am impatient, and now I am thinking of buying another engine, rebuilding that one, turbocharging it and then putting it in...

I also replaced the transmission mounts. You probably should do that, they are pretty acessible, which reminds me I still have to put one of them in...Mine were in terrible condition due to oil getting on them and such. They should be hard rubber, not soft and spongy

Also DEFINATELY buy a bently book if you don't have one. If its important the car runs shortly after doing this swap, then try and leave a lot of time for you to go to the local parts store to buy stuff you might need but didn't anticipate needing. Once again, good luck.

[Court M3]

Good thanks for the writeup. Does it make a diff that the donor car is auto and recipient is manual tranny?

[rs4pro3]

Are you going to use the auto or manual tranny? just swap to what ever flywheel is needed, at least replace the Input tranny seal and rear main engine seal while you at it. I've yanked multiple engines so that what time frame I based it off of.

[Court M3]

Donor car has bad tranny, receiving car has bad engine.

[rs4pro3]

Just swap everything over then, the hardest part will be wiring the C101 connector.