yes, maybe custom sump, modification of the firewall, modification of the front subframe, possibly changing the steering setup.....
you could be looking at a minimum $20k for whatever the engine in the entry level 5 series is. M5, well you might as well just buy an E60 M5 and call it a day.
now that looks expensive, but a new 5 series costs what $110k or more? suddenly $20k looks cheap.
But a $20k build, you could put something a lot more fun in there
But if you are doing it for fuel economy reasons, $20k will buy you 10,000 litres of Petrol and 100,000kms, you would have to do close to a million kilometers to get close to breaking even
As for modification, the reason is economic fuel consumption and 180+ hp engine...
What I would like find out trough this thread is how would someone do this modification, would it pay off in terms of having the body one likes + powerful and yet economic engine.
So we determined that suck modification would be possible, but is it worth it ?
You will find that adapting an engine from a 20 yr newer car is not going to be easy. Todays cars, like the f10, have tons of electronics integrated into the engine management body and transmission systems. You will need a pretty good computer programmer to convinvce the new engine that it wants to run in the old chassis.
Just find an e34 525i with a five speed. It has ~200hp and will get 25-30 mpg. If you need more power turbochage the M50 engine and if you can keep your foot out of it you can maintain mpg and have 300hp when you want it. Changing rear end gear ratios to lower highway cruising rpm will also net you some fuel savings but until after you add the turbo because you will need some of the power to pull the taller gears efficiently. This meathod has been used succesfully, plenty of build threads you could follow step by step to easily acheive your goals. It is still going to cost you at least $5000 USD to turbo a $1500 car though.
There are MUCH better ways to get power and economy than trying to swap in something so far removed technology wise.
Its been laid out for you, unless you have both cars a degree in programing and happen to be a fabricator with there own shop..
Its not a feasible task.. And all the new age attributes are lost..
Choosing the 20-30 year old model better does not make it easier except a bigger car more room.. Lil easier..
The upshot is this is not,cost effective, labor effective or an effective increase in power and economy.. Its waist of time technical exercise that would only be done to show its possible.. And be of no benefit other than being new..
You will get better power, power gains, economy and not waist thousands by dropping this silly idea and getting a normal e30/e34 or going with a more trended swap/ upgrade path
Part of the problem is different locations. I have NO idea what BMW models are in Croatia but, we probably have never heard of most of them. Vintage BMW diesels are very rare in the USA, and I am not familiar with any of the newer diesel models.
As mentioned, the more generations the car and engine are seperated by, the more complex the potential swap.
Or get the body of your choice and do a swap nearly as modern but not quiet as new that the way has been forged for you..
Or do the 525i turbo like suggested before.. Its brilliant but i think i could turbo it for closer to 3000USD
The list of more sensible options goes on and on..
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