Engine swap registration issues

[Loyly]

Hello, just after some advice for a friend of mine. This is a tale of woe.

A friend has recently bought a Mk2 Golf with a 1.8T engine swap from another VAG car. He had kept the purchase a secret from us lads at work which perhaps meant I couldn't give him a heads up on this issue, anyway...

He has bought the car from a private seller, who told is a mechanic. The seller had used an engine from a trusted donor car but, I don't think he ever owned the donor. I suspect it was a breaker. The seller told him that he had previously tried to register the engine swap with DVLA who never got back to him. Now, I suspect this was horsest and I would suspect that the seller knew the DVLA had refused to register the change.

My friend bought the car for quite a tidy sum, and tried to register it with the DVLA. They refused to issue a V5, stating that they needed to confirm the details of the new engine block. He's stuck at the moment with a car that he can't drive on the road, can't insure and can't properly tax.

What steps does he need to take to register the swap and make it legitimate? He reckons he can confirm the identity of the old car with the seller and it should pass engineering scrutiny as the installation is of good quality and the shell wasn't cut or adapted to make the new engine fit. The DVLA has written back to my friend asking for the number of the new engine so I suspect they had updated their system when the last owner attempted to register the change.

I know the DVLA changed the rules on engine swaps a few years so that they weren't as easy to register and the IVA/SVA rules changed resulting in loads of unregistered homebrew conversions sitting in sheds and garages. I don't really know enough about the rules to properly advise him what to do.

[drjhill]

Not a definitive answer but this might help:

I did a plug and play engine swap at home myself and sent off V5 to DVLA to note the changes

They bounced it back wanting it "official, like" from whoever did the work.

My friendly indy (who did a few things to MOT the car, and know me well) gave me one of their letterheads and I filled in details of donor/recipient VRM, VIN etc etc and a "statement" of what had been done, which they signed

Sent off with covering letter, no issues

Does your friend have a tame garage who would do likewise?

I think DVLA like a papertrail that confirms legitimate ownership of all the relevant oily bits

HTH

[Mr2Mike]

This should be a piece of cake, there's no complicated IVA etc. required for a simple engine swap. The evidence required for the DVLA could probably come from an enquiry to VAG to identify the engine from the engine code.

[imagineifyeswill]

I had this problem 3 years ago, I did a like for like engine swap and I knew the number of the replacement engine, the reg and vin of the vehicle it came from, the only thing I didnt know was who was actually the rightful owner of the vehicle, I suspect it may have been an insurance company and it got lost in the system and was susequently sold cheaply to me. I decided to avoid the awkward questions and just didnt tell DVLA.

[lord trumpton]

imagineifyeswill said:

I decided to avoid the awkward questions and just didnt tell DVLA.

[Paulm4]

Mr2Mike said:

This should be a piece of cake, there's no complicated IVA etc. required for a simple engine swap. The evidence required for the DVLA could probably come from an enquiry to VAG to identify the engine from the engine code.

The 1.8T usually has the engine code stamped on the head, at the cambelt side, I think.
3 digit code (BAM, AUY etc etc) which if you Google will tell you power output etc.

[corozin]

Paulm4 said:

The 1.8T usually has the engine code stamped on the head, at the cambelt side, I think.
3 digit code (BAM, AUY etc etc) which if you Google will tell you power output etc.

They may also ask for evidence of ownership, i.e. a receipt of sale

[buggalugs]

I've always told the insurance but not the DVLA due to the massive ball ache involved, tbh I have no idea what the consequences of that are. Who checks the engine number when buying a car anyway? And if it's the same taxation class then why would the DVLA care?

[carmadgaz]

Swapped my Landie's 2.25 petrol for a 200TDi a few years back and spent a bit of time on Google going through it all.

As someone mentioned I got the garage that did the swap itself to write a letter confirming what they had done (but I believe you can just get a garage to confirm the quality of the installation after the event). Sent that along with the V5C and the 200TDi engine number and didn't seem to have an issue.

Then again I had acquired the entire Discovery (well it was a rolling rot box minus most of the interior) so I did have the V5C.

[anonymous-user]

This 'requirement' came into force a while back. When I fitted a new engine into my Skoda a few years back, I had the receipt from the purchase of the engine. I got a friendly local garage to check the receipt matched the engine etc and write a me an 'offical' letter stating that they had checked the engine number, receipt, installation etc and that it was all legit.

I sent that off to the DVLA with a copy of the receipt and the log book filled out with the correct info and all was dandy. Log book was returned with the new engine number and increase in capacity.

Should be a relatively easy thing to sort - did the seller have any proof of purchase of the 'new' engine? If so then do as above and that should be fine (in my experience).

[Loyly]

Skodasupercar said:

Should be a relatively easy thing to sort - did the seller have any proof of purchase of the 'new' engine? If so then do as above and that should be fine (in my experience).

I'm not sure what the paper trail is on the 'new' engine but my mate is going to chase it up. The DVLA have only asked him for the new engine number at the moment but I've passed on the advice from this thread and others to see that there is some sort of plan if the DVLA continue to faff on.

I really hope he can get this sorted as he's been talking about the purchase of this car for weeks. It was meant to be a bit of a secret where we all tried to guess what it was but if I'd known it was an engine swap job I'd have told him to tread carefully as some reading of the 'still a £€¥)£& on the logbook' thread tells me these sorts of modified cars don't get the free pass they once did.