swapping engines

goldenwonder

are you able to swap your cars engine with a different make engine.
as in put lets say, a mondeo engine into a xsara?
or would the connections need to be of the same manufacturers if you dont want way too much hassle.
or a hyundai coupe into an accent?

O.A.P

Yes everything is possible if you have the money. Its usually not a good idea though but they are exceptions.

goldenwonder

so stick to whatever engine your cars made for then.
cheers

what are you thinking of doing op?

goldenwonder

what do you mean OP?
i was thinking of putting a bigger or better engine in my car

anthony4335

Good question ,was wondering that myself, ie could you simply drop an BMW 2.0 diesel into a Lexus is200? Doubt it would be worth it

biko

OP = original poster/thread starter

You cannot just swap engines between different make cars.
Engines are different sizes and fit snugly in the bay they were made for, if you swap it then parts will be sticking out in places and prevent the engine to fit into the new bay.
Also the places were the engine bolts to the bay/chassis will be different.
Even cars of same make but different years can have problems.

It is possible but a lot of work, even with similar engines.
Some info from wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_swap

stevenmu

Your engine is also mated to a clutch, gearbox, driveshafts etc. Even if these somehow fit to the bigger engine they wouldn't be rated to handle the extra power and wouldn't last very long, so you'd need to replace them with suitable parts. Also for belt powered accessories (alternator, fans etc), it may not be easy to simply run a belt from the new engine to them, they may need to be at least remounted on new mounts within the engine bay if not replaced as well.

Like O.A.P. said everything's possible if you have the money, but I'd say in most cases it's far more effective to simply trade your current car against one with the bigger engine.

mickdw

It would be madness to attempt to put another manufacturers engine into your car. A modern engine would require that most of the original cars electronic systems would have to come with it.
I do remember taxi drivers putting nissan diesels into S class mercs a few years ago though.

HashSlinging

Drove a ford escort mk2 with a toyota twin cam engine, great little car no mid range pull though.

Fishtits

The physical aspect could probably be overcome. But, when it gets down to the electronics, which control everything... NASA couldn't sort that one out.

Its getting better, but until CAN (ISO 11898–1) is universal, swopping bits won't work easily, even then there will be programming issues.

stevie.enright

anthony4335 wrote: »

ie could you simply drop an BMW 2.0 diesel into a Lexus is200?

If it was an straightforward job I don't understand for the life of me why you would want to go through with that one

Muckie

It is a lot of work, once drove a 1983 BMW 320 that had a Nissan
Bluebird diesel engine in it mad i know but it drove grand! Anything
is possible.

Ferris

I've seen a e30 with a mitsubishi twin cam turbo in it and a couple of lads over on sxoc have put Chevy Ls1 engines into s13 Nissans.

As the lads said anything is possible but some very new engines would be more complex, especially the newer BMW 'fly-by-wire' engines.

abcdggs

Presuming it would be easy to swap an engine, would there not be awful issues getting it registered taxed and insured. or would that be relatively easy?

Midnight_EG

Nobody has asked yet I dont think, OP, what car are you looking to swap into, and what engine into it?

2 Espressi

I think the OP is a bit of a dreamer. If you have to ask if an engine swap is possible, then you haven't a clue what's involved. There's no such thing as an easy engine swap.

ianobrien

Swapping engines in RWD cars are easier (I'm ignoring wiring & ECU's for the moment) than FWD due to having to direct the power backwards in a RWD, and not to the two sides in a FWD.

In RWD, you have two main options - take donor gearbox or use existing car's 'box. If you swap 'boxes (probably easier due to bellhousing/clutch mismatch) you still have to make engine & Gearbox mounts, propshaft matching, exhaust, fuel lines, coolant hoses etc to worry about.

FWD is much harder as you generally have to take the engine/box combined, and the position of the package is governed by the position of the diff in the box (I imagine) due to driveshafts matching the previous setup. With this (eg Mondeo engine into Xsara) you could easily end up with the fan belt wanting to share the same space as the inner wing. Then, after you have that done, after dropping in the engine, the handling could very well be compramised and understeer/wheel tramp could result. However, swapping engines where they share the same engine block is considerably easier.

The problem with modern car ECU's means that the only sure solution is to get an aftermarket ECU (eg Omex, DTA etc) and get it mapped. That can be a whole nightmare in itself.

In the Classic car/RWD Rally Car scene, engine swaps are common place, but there are engine mounts, bellhousings, exhausts, rads, coolant hoses & knowledge available off the shelf for the common swaps. I did consider a dropping a Zetec into the Mk2 Escort at home (I considered it for about 20 minutes), and the stuff I needed (apart from the engine) were engine mounts, Sierra 'box, gearbox mounts, exhaust, swirl pot, High pressure & low pressure fuel pumps, rad, coolant hoses, fuel hoses, clutch cable, throttle bodies, accellerator cable, rolling road session... Also, some structural modifications were needed - to relocate the gearlever hole.

This was an easy swap as they go, as the stuff needed was engineered, designed, proven to work with my proposed engine/car and available. If they were not, they would have to be all custom made, with the associated price.

If you are thinking of doing it yourself in a FWD, and if you have to ask how, you probably are not able to to it (not wanting to insult or anything). As an aside, if it's a modern car, you'll end up with a car that probably worthless & impossible to insure.

groupb

I think some people have swapped john deere engines into Audis & VWs for their 1.9 engines to improve refinement! :P

Webmonkey

groupb wrote: »

I think some people have swapped john deere engines into Audis & VWs for their 1.9 engines to improve refinement! :P

I've seen the opposite. Quick tractors.