Engine swap, please help.
 

Hey everyone I am new to this so I have no clue if this has already been asked. But I need help. My ti has a knock on it, and I recently bought a 1994 318is for the motor. But I need to know if it is possible to put the 1994 is motor in to my 1996 ti. I want to know if it is hard and if there is any complications. If you could please help I would really appreciate it.
Thanks for your time.

can you? yes it is possible to put it in.
is it 100% compatible? no, the 1994 is a M42 and the 1996 is a M44... meaning OBD-I vs. OBD-II so there are more complications in just trying to swap.
what you should've done is done some homework to make sure which motor to buy first.

Thanks marv17,
You are right i should have done some hw, I thought since it was the same 1.8 liter 4 cylinder that it wasn't gonna be too hard. But today we noticed what you are saying about the Obds. What am I gonna have to do to make it work?

the m44 is a 1.9

I thought they were both the 1.8. Is there away to by pass the obds

nope. the M44 motor has more sensors therefore the wiring harness has more to it than the M42 does. The only way I would understand of making it work is using the wiring harness and motor out of the M42 car and put it allllll into your car. But then you have the issue of passing smog because when connected to the machine it won't say what it supposed to.

anyone want to chim in to correct me if i'm wrong? because this is how i understood it all when reading up on M42 and M44 differences...


you might be able to swap the heads between the two motors, but i'm not 100% sure about that. and even some other parts like pistons and lower block. Bluebimma, CoolJess76, and john are the guys to ask about all these questions...

It's illegal, but it can be done. General rule is that the engine should come from the same year or newer. Some states are stricter than others as far as testing, but the EPA is a federal agency, so the laws apply to the entire country. The only problem is when you go to sell the car. You'll need to disclose that the car has an illegal swap or the buyer can come back and sue you. The M42 is theoretically stronger due to forged internals and is said to be better for forced induction or even a 2.1L stroker application. However, if you're willing to go through all that work, you're better off just rebuilding your M44. A straight over swap M44 to M44 is pretty cut and dry. M44 to M42 is gonna be a little more complicated and for just a little more money and effort, you can just as easily swap over an M52 2.8L 6cyl or for a few grand you can do an S52 3.2L. Anyway, to simply answer your question, yes you can convert it to OBDI. It's not recommended, but do what you like. This thread should be pretty helpful:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32610

Thanks alot guys. Yal are really helpful. I wish I would have done research before I bought the motor. But yet I am only 18 so I'll learn from my mistake. I origionally wanted to do an m52 or m50 swap but BMW motors are hard to find especially affordable ones for me since my parents won't pay for my stuff and the is motor was affordable and low milage.

you'd have to go with a M52 swap, not a M50.

M52 is legal and pefered since his car is OBDII, but an M50 is doable:wink:

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So do you think I would just be better off not even trying to do the m44 to m42 swap and just selling the m42 And see Of i can jet some Money Back And try to Find an m52? Or should i just go through with The swap.

Hey man, that's entirely up to you. I always encourage people to do the right thing and obey the law. Personally I'd probably part out the '94 318i if looks like you can make a decent profit off of stuff. As long as the interior and most of the parts are intact, who knows you might come out on top. Just know that it's a lot of work and time dismantling cars, you may want to just sell it outright. You'd probably make enough money parting out the 318i to purchase a wrecked 328i which you could then use the motor/tranny/harness/computer etc and part out the rest to recoupe all of your money. Or you can swap the m42 into your car and have a running car again, but then you're stuck with an illegal 4 banger swap:cool:

My 318ti still runs and works. Just the motor knocks all the pullies are loose and it leaks alot of oil. Most of the 94 interior is pretty good, it's got white leather seats and only the driver seat is a little torn.