Gemma
RMS Regular
- Messages
- 10,077
So I picked this car up the day after valentines day, I joke that's it my present to myself haha
Anyway back to topic
The night I purchased this I made a random comment to my partner that sorta went like
"If I had of known I was gona buy an e36 so quick after selling the r34, I wouldn't of scrapped big red (for those who dont know big red was my e39 528i manual that i owned and dailied for 8 and half years) cause how funny would it be to put big reds engine into the e36"
He looked at me and said "hahaha, do it
"
So off i went and started the research on what I needed to swap a 5 series engine into a 3 series.
A loom
An ecu
An e46 radiator
A ZF gearbox
A 328i prop
The journey began of swapping the engine.
Took the engine out of the e36, went to where big red was, took the engine out of her, back to the e36 and began installing big reds engine into the e36.
Tbf everything went pretty smoothly and a pure Learning curve for all involved.
4 full days of working at her with my best mate who knows his way round bmws like the back of his hand and my partner who was coming home from working 12 hour shifts and getting stuck in.
There was plenty of coffee drank, buns and pizza ate, debating, shouting, swearing, engineering, fabricating, hoses cut and heads scratched but it was all good fun.
The e36 is now running the 528i engine and I'm happy as a pig in Sh*t
The next thing I've lined up for her is to change the terrible headliner. Bagged myself a freshly retrimmed black headliner with rear and front quarter black panel trims with black sun visors etc
Have a new windscreen with the green anti glare sunstrip sitting ready to go into her direct from bmw.
Am i wise doing all this work for a 528i engine? Probably not but sure what else would you be at on Easter week haha
how I justified it to myself was that I know the 528i engine inside and out. I had her meticulously maintained for eight and have years. She ran flawlessly so why not? Lol
pictures in order of before engine swap to her driving back to the shed on the 5 series engine
Anyway back to topic
The night I purchased this I made a random comment to my partner that sorta went like
"If I had of known I was gona buy an e36 so quick after selling the r34, I wouldn't of scrapped big red (for those who dont know big red was my e39 528i manual that i owned and dailied for 8 and half years) cause how funny would it be to put big reds engine into the e36"
He looked at me and said "hahaha, do it
"So off i went and started the research on what I needed to swap a 5 series engine into a 3 series.
A loom
An ecu
An e46 radiator
A ZF gearbox
A 328i prop
The journey began of swapping the engine.
Took the engine out of the e36, went to where big red was, took the engine out of her, back to the e36 and began installing big reds engine into the e36.
Tbf everything went pretty smoothly and a pure Learning curve for all involved.
4 full days of working at her with my best mate who knows his way round bmws like the back of his hand and my partner who was coming home from working 12 hour shifts and getting stuck in.
There was plenty of coffee drank, buns and pizza ate, debating, shouting, swearing, engineering, fabricating, hoses cut and heads scratched but it was all good fun.
The e36 is now running the 528i engine and I'm happy as a pig in Sh*t
The next thing I've lined up for her is to change the terrible headliner. Bagged myself a freshly retrimmed black headliner with rear and front quarter black panel trims with black sun visors etc
Have a new windscreen with the green anti glare sunstrip sitting ready to go into her direct from bmw.
Am i wise doing all this work for a 528i engine? Probably not but sure what else would you be at on Easter week haha
how I justified it to myself was that I know the 528i engine inside and out. I had her meticulously maintained for eight and have years. She ran flawlessly so why not? Lol
pictures in order of before engine swap to her driving back to the shed on the 5 series engine
