M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: Big.D on August 22, 2013, 02:56:18 PM
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Hi All
My 95 318is engine has given up the ghost i have purchased a donor veihicle my question is this is it possible to pull the engine wiring loom out with the engine that way there is no awkwardness of working out what connector goes where.
Also one final question has anyone done an m42 to m44 swap before is there any differences i should look out for?
Any Help would be greatly appreciated
many thanks
Dale
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The harness is surprisingly easy. There's a ground strap from the motor, the positive connections at the junction block on the passenger side firewall, and that big honkin' C101 round connector. That's it - BMW engine swaps are great!
I haven't done an M44 upgrade, but IIRC to get the motor installed you'll need to swap the oil pans and the intake manifold. If you have a later model, the drive belts are different; you'll either need to make it all serpentine or all v-belts. Grab the steering rack while you're there - the E36 has a quicker ratio.
The biggest difference is the injection electronics. The M44 crank sensor is in the rear of the block, the cam sensor is slightly different. Unless you swap the lower timing chain cases it's best to wire the whole M44 into the E30, wiring harnesses and all. To do that you'll need the EWS stuff - DME, EWS module, ignition key antenna ring, original key and wiring harnesses.
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Hi Dave thanks for the advice thats lovely. As for the m44 conversion i there might have been a bit of confusion what i was asking was that if i could put an m44 instead of an m42 as one of the donors im looking at has one. I'm guessing id need to change ecu is there any other issues involved?
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You would need to bring over the whole wiring loom and ECU to swap in an M44. If you have an E30 chassis you will also need an early M42 oil pan setup. E30 M42 is front sump, E36 M42/44 is rear sump.