Decided to swap the m30b35 swap in my car with one of these... went with a 4.0L v8 for ease of electronics / lack of vanos etc... instead of the newer ones.. I will also weight it like I did with the b35 drivetrain to compare it's real-life weight etc. I noticed the back of the heads have round warranty seals/stamps... is this normal or is this an indication of a replacement heads? Where is it? Oh there it is! Going in this:
Great sounding project. Euros do this kind of swap all the time into E30s. Glad to hear someone state side is taking on the endeavor. Next up will be 12 zylinders!!! Yes keep us posted with lots of pics!!!! Does it weigh more than the M30?
Hello Grant, Some say it's actually lighter, and I will weight the whole thing before it goes in the car. The total corner weight weight of the car as is is 2500lbs with half a tank of gas, w/o driver in it, full interior (but w/o side skirts installed, or spare tire/wheel/jack/ac compressor) I'll keep you guys posted and thanks for kind words! Jean
One thing I would strongly advise is replace all of the wear items first It will never be this easy again once the engine is in the car!
Of course, I have already made a list of a few pages long just after browsing through realoem and adding part numbers for every plastic/rubber part/gasket/guides/rails etc.. Just like on my previous swap, everything will be cleaned up/re-sealed etc before it goes in. I might leave the bottom end alone though, we'll see.
When you think about leaving the bottom end alone... ..ask yourself if you want to have to remove the engine again to get at something down there. Just a thought.
Also replace the valley pan gasket. It is not so much a gasket as it is a new plate with gasket material made onto it. Do that along with the valve cover gaskets, intake gaskets, and crankcase breather and you will be happy you did while it was out of the car. I usually remove the rear coolant bridge to do the valley pan gasket because the water pump had often been replaced already. You definitely should since you probably won't be able to access that bridge with the motor in your car. Not much you can do with the bottom end but definitely check your oil pump bolts (probably should safety wire those since they back out) and the oil pump sprocket nut. Of course, do the gaskets for the timing cover, etc while you are at it.
Having done this job on an 03 540i, I will deff. do this and more before it get's installed. Plan is to take everything apart, basically every gasket/seal/hose and also timing chain guides will be replaced. I am just not sure if I want to touch the crank and rod bearings and rings, I've done this before on the m30b35, but not on the v8 as it's all aluminum I am not sure if it's ok to do w/o any special tools basically or if it's one thing that I should just leave alone.
It can't hurt to check the bearings, but there really isn't anything you can do about the rings. You can't hone the bores yourself like you can with an M30. I'd leave it alone.
Just to clarify something - modern BMW V8 engines are NOT made of aluminum. Nearly all BMW V8 engines, V10 and V12 engines, as well as N-class sixes, are made of nickel-silicon alloy or high-silicon content alloy. Mistaking this material for aluminum could be a very costly, and potentially irreparably damaging, assumption.
Alusil is an aluminum alloy comprised of ~70% aluminum. Nikasil is a coating plated onto the aluminum alloy bore. Both of these can be correctly referred to as aluminum blocks, though if you wanted to be specific you would say aluminum alloy block. I cannot foresee any circumstance where "mistaking" one of these for an aluminum block "could be a very costly, and potentially irreparably damaging, assumption."
The N52 and N53 engines have an aluminum alloy core (cylinder liners and some plumbing) cast within a magnesium alloy block. The N54 and N55 motors are aluminum alloy with cast iron cylinder liners. None use Nikasil bore coatings, nor any other modern BMW engine to my knowledge.
Thank you for the clarification, NotTheStig. What was I referring to was to not assume that all BMW engines are conventional all-aluminum block construction.
