After about a year of E30 owning bliss, I decided that the 4 cylinder I opted for was simply not cutting it. I found a perfect donor car: a 1998 BMW Z3, ripe for picking as it had the two-year-only aluminum block M52B28 single VANOS, along with a ZF320 5 speed manual.
The bandage of me creating utter chaos in my driveway was not quite pulled off yet, so I was graciously allowed to tear down the car at my girlfriend’s parents house. Astonishing, really, as the house was in Pebble Beach and her previously Police Chief father was painted to me as a no-nonsense kind of guy. Guess he has a soft spot for car guys, especially if they’re dating his daughter! Eventually, the drivetrain and anything I thought I needed was pulled and loaded into the trusty ol BMW X3.
With about a week until Monterey Car Week, and the realization that I already paid to have my car on display at Legends of the Autobahn along with being in-between jobs, an extremely educational week was in front of me. Luckily, most of the parts were already procured. I had already created a bench rig with a computer PSU simulating a car chassis so I could flash the ECU to delete the immobilizer, and all of the now gold-dipped components from a variety of different BMWs and even a Porsche required to swap the car was already sitting patiently in my garage.
With the help of a few friends, everything was in the car and ready to go. We even learned how to weld as there was no way I was going to get an appointment at a muffler shop in time. About 30 minutes after the car finally got taken off of jack stands, we were on our way to Legends of the Autobahn to park the center of a week of hard manual labor onto some prestigious golf course land.
People loved the story, however I don’t remember a single thing as we all were extremely sleep deprived and was even able to take a nap next to the VIP area. The project got some media coverage by a chapter of the BMWCCA and Cocomats, who make some lovely floor mats.
I drove the car with the swap for a month or so, but some troubles led me to park it. It may not be the definition of safe when I have to put a half bottle of brake fluid into it every morning, but that’s no fault of the engine swap itself. Would I do it again? No. Did I do it again with a few differences? Yes.
