Yea i posted at mye28.com as well, like to cover as much ground as possible. a friend suggested that the head swap would be easier compared to an engine swap but ive never done a head swap and would rather do it on a non-daily driver, i know its within my abilities, but as i said ive never done one before so im scared i might mess it up. when i was driving the car last month, it was getting oil into the coolant reservoir and the No.6 Spark Plugs was coated in Oil (there's yer sign). i was driving it last week and heard a loud bang/crack and thought i ran over something or something broke off the car. i checked around but nothing seemed wrong. until i can do a further investigation i assume it now to be something with the head, since there is now 100% oil in the coolant reservoir. With an engine swap...My first bmw was a 1984 e30 318i (m10b18), gift from my dad. the engine was blown upon arrival and came with a "new" working engine. I removed the old engine (engine hoist), removed the Transmission (experience from working at AAMCO) and attached the Transmission to the "new" engine outside the car then, dropped both in, attached the important misc. parts, electrically tshooted the wiring harness, and then troubleshooted the fuel system. i ended up having to perform almost every test on this car and remove the transmission 2 more times in the 3years i owned the car for a vent plug and shift linkage....and this was not a daily driver but allowed me to learn how to do the work myself. After all that i am definitely more confident with my ability to remove/install an engine than working on the internal parts... I already have a place that has an '86 325e engine and am planning on picking up on saturday 5/6/2011, i have the engine hoist and the necessary pans for collecting the miscellaneous oil and Personally i like to leave pans of coolant for the neighborhood cats and misc animals, sometimes if im lucky the kids will play in it but ill look into a hazardous waste drop ...After i get the old engine out i plan on taking it apart and using it as a foundation to learn how to properly check a head and block...and if the head/block are warped or cracked ill have to get a new one of those anyway so an engine drop seems like the best/safest way to go... BTW have you seen the m20b27 engine in a 528e!? it looks so small and cute you can literally sit inside the engine bay and have a picnic ! Unlike my 88 325 which is so crammed in there, you'll lose more than a finger messing with that thing..ill take a picture for you guys, she's a bute THANKS TO ALL
