BMW Engine Change

[paoloh]

I have a 99 E36 Compact but at that age they are fitted with an E46 engine.

How easy would it be to fit an E36 engine ( maybe a bigger one )?

It is a 316 that has the later 1.9 engine.

Any help would be great

[disco!!!!]

what code is the engine
i would have thought it would be running the M44 1.9 that was fitted from 1996
if this still is the case then its pretty straight forward (if you are swapping to the same engine)
the wiring is pretty easy, there is a big X20 connector beside the fuse box. Disconnect that, the ecu, coil pack etc and the wiring harness will come out with the engine

it will make your life a hell of alot easier if you pull the gearbox out with the engine and swap the box over the new engine whilst its on the floor, there are a few bolts at the top of the gearbox that are a real pita to access when the engine and box are still in the car, on that note the 3 nuts and bolts which connect the propshaft to the gearbox are impossible to get off (i think they were torqued to about 3 million Nm from the factory) i used some loctite freeze and release along with a breaker bar and a long spanner to remove them.

past that its all pretty straight forward, unbolting the front of the car (bumper, slam panel, valance etc) will give you alot more room to work with

if you are swapping to a different engine then you need to think about the ecu, ews, age of the donor car etc