BMW 4.6 M62B46 engine in 2000 BMW 740il PROJECT/SWAP

[E38750iL]

Me and a good friend of mine who bought one of my cars i recently purchased and found out that the cylinder walls are messed up are thinking of starting the 4.6 liter engine from a 2004 BMW x5 4.6is , guys keep in mind this is the same engine Alpina used in the e39 5 Series Alpina B10

Now here is the deal , its either we buy a used 4.6is engine or we use the engine that is on the car and bore the block.

Anyone with infos on this swap , ever done before ?

We are documenting every single detail with pics and DIY

[m3studio]

What is the cost for the motor? I would certainly love to do a 4.6L swap.. Its the same motor pretty much but its got 350HP.. That pushed the X5 to 60 in 5.9s.. The mount points and such should all be the same. Its basically the same motor but bored to 4.6.. here is some info:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ow8ULQj-lc[/ame]

My advice: GO WITH THE 4.6L you'll LOVE the power.

[dafi740]

why not the 4.8 IS engine..?

[franco90]

Me and a good friend of mine who bought one of my cars i recently purchased and found out that the cylinder walls are messed up are thinking of starting the 4.6 liter engine from a 2004 BMW x5 4.6is , guys keep in mind this is the same engine Alpina used in the e39 5 Series Alpina B10

Now here is the deal , its either we buy a used 4.6is engine or we use the engine that is on the car and bore the block.

Anyone with infos on this swap , ever done before ?

We are documenting every single detail with pics and DIY

please let me know if you need any help.

[E38750iL]

why not the 4.8 IS engine..?

Well we were thinking about that the only problem is that is a n62 engine which will need a whole different wire harness and DME and keep in mind that this engine is complete different so i am 100% sure that the harness will need some extra work since its a N62 and the line up wont be there (plug and play). the m62b46 also needs a different harness but thats about it the cost for a 4.6 is around $3500 , 4.8 $5700 with 50k miles

We looked everything through and we are going to take apart the 4.4 m62tub44 engine , take the block to the machine shop and take the exact bores and stokes that the 4.6 . Bigger piston walls , new pistons (a set with rings is $800 on ebay) the machine shop is asking $900 and the rest of the work will be done by us.

any ideas if that will work ?

[tekazgtr1984]

Sounds like a sick swap!

If you're simply increasing the displacement of the block, I don't see why it won't work. I definitely hope you go through with this.

[E38750iL]

Sounds like a sick swap!

If you're simply increasing the displacement of the block, I don't see why it won't work. I definitely hope you go through with this.

We are starting this project tomorrow since im going to be off for the rest of the month.

Thats what i thought ,there shouldnt be a problem with just increasing the displacement and putting everything back together.

keep in mind this wont just be a 4.6 engine , it will fit the standards of the B10 Alpina engine !!!

[mcallister]

Ok, sorry if I am slow, but, are you just going to bore and stroke the existing motor out of your buddy's car you sold him? This is great stuff, and glad to hear that the E38 will continue on!!

[IcemanBHE]

Boring? Trouble with eating pistons/block.

Be lucky to get 10k miles.

Now...Im interested if your going to cut the block and install liners...

[Timm]

Sorry to put a downer on this, but, you cannot rebore the block, the finishing to the bore surfaces is performed using an etching process. Reboring will leave a non-bearing surface which (like Ice says) will rapidly deteriorate. There is not enough material between cylinders to fit a steel liner.

The M62B46 used a different crankshaft to increase the stroke as well as increasing the bore. You will probably have more luck transplanting the M62B46 engine

[franco90]

BUMP any pics on project

[cura]

We actually had the same idea got the motor from England cylinders had scoring on the inside the cost of a block for a 4.6is is 6500 so we went ahead and got a m5 motor more hp than the 4.6. Check it out s62 in 740i been done by impressive auto. The swap is very easy to do if the car is a 2001 plug and play older cars you have to mess with the harness. Good luck with your swap.

[E38750iL]

We really wanted to do some work instead of just getting the engine and like i said before the cost will stay low too.

We asked a machine shop and they did not mention anything about having a problem doing this and if anything happens we have warranty anyways.

[cura]

where did you buy your motor from we are looking for one very hard motor to find.

[Timm]

We really wanted to do some work instead of just getting the engine and like i said before the cost will stay low too.

We asked a machine shop and they did not mention anything about having a problem doing this and if anything happens we have warranty anyways.

They won't have any problem making the bores bigger, it's making them a bearing surface that is the problem. And don't forget you need a new crankshaft from the M62B46 as it is different to the one fitted to the M62B44. If you use the 4.4Ltr crankshaft you will end up with the a 4.5Ltr engine!

[jbimflyer]

Too many adaptions to make! My project will be easier... E39 m5 motor swap.

[m5james]

There is not enough material between cylinders to fit a steel liner.

I beg to differ as that's EXACTLY what I had done to my engine about 6yrs ago.

Replying to the OP in regards to the swap, there is one other member on here (forgetting his name) who did the 4.6is swap as well as a 6spd conversion...you should try to find him and/or search around for his posts. There is also a guy on M5board.com who did a 4.6is crank and cams swap in an E34 540, then w/ all the engine work he's done has increased his output to 4.9l and then supercharged it as well. It's quite an active thread actually as he's had TONS of issues w/ the shop that did the engine work, and ironically it's a well known BMW shop.

I'm going to guess I've spent about $19k total for my engine rebuild, 6spd swap, diff, suspension, etc since I've done my engine swap. In the end though, considering how cheap it is...I still wish I would have just done an LSx swap. Parts are FAR FAR cheaper, there is TONS of information out there, and tuning is stupidly cheap, which is the biggest problem I've had w/ the future FI mods I want to do to my engine. You can ask anyone, I love BMW's (spare me the flaming of using a different engine in our SACRED BMW's ), but when it comes to my 7, I own it strictly for it's looks and interior room...if I could have spend 1/2 as much and gotten easily 1/4 more HP in a physically smaller engine, I would have done it, and I suggest the same to you. You never know what you're going to get yourself into once you start trusting people to rebuild engines, and while I've lucked out w/ mine, I see more and more horror stories like the guy from M5board about once reputable shops doing terribly shody work. Sadly, even the shop who rebuild my engine has outsourced and no longer does their own rebuilds, so I'm thankful I got it done when I did. Doing an LSx swap is so common nowadays that you can't really go wrong, and they almost look similar enough (looking at the intake manifold standpoint) that some people might not even notice the difference other than engine room and you wouldn't be able to fit the cute little BMW engine cover on there anymore. Seriously, I wish I would have...

Too many adaptions to make! My project will be easier... E39 m5 motor swap.

I've been hearing stories of that for swap from countless people throwing out the idea for 10yrs...I've still only seen it done once. Swapping the motor physically isn't the issue since the M62 and S62 are the same block, but just like you said...too many adaptions to make, as the S62 has far more electronics, individual TB's, etc.

[E38750iL]

I beg to differ as that's EXACTLY what I had done to my engine about 6yrs ago.

Replying to the OP in regards to the swap, there is one other member on here (forgetting his name) who did the 4.6is swap as well as a 6spd conversion...you should try to find him and/or search around for his posts. There is also a guy on M5board.com who did a 4.6is crank and cams swap in an E34 540, then w/ all the engine work he's done has increased his output to 4.9l and then supercharged it as well. It's quite an active thread actually as he's had TONS of issues w/ the shop that did the engine work, and ironically it's a well known BMW shop.

I'm going to guess I've spent about $19k total for my engine rebuild, 6spd swap, diff, suspension, etc since I've done my engine swap. In the end though, considering how cheap it is...I still wish I would have just done an LSx swap. Parts are FAR FAR cheaper, there is TONS of information out there, and tuning is stupidly cheap, which is the biggest problem I've had w/ the future FI mods I want to do to my engine. You can ask anyone, I love BMW's, but when it comes to my 7, I own it strictly for it's looks and interior room...if I could have spend 1/2 as much and gotten easily 1/4 more HP in a physically smaller engine, I would have done it, and I suggest the same to you. You never know what you're going to get yourself into once you start trusting people to rebuild engines, and while I've lucked out w/ mine, I see more and more horror stories like the guy from M5board about once reputable shops doing terribly shody work. Sadly, even the shop who rebuild my engine has outsourced and no longer does their own rebuilds, so I'm thankful I got it done when I did. Doing an LSx swap is so common nowadays that you can't really go wrong, and they almost look similar enough (looking at the intake manifold standpoint) that some poeple might not even notice the difference other than engine room and you wouldn't be able to fit the cute little BMW engine cover on there anymore. Seriously, I wish I would have...



I've been hearing stories of that for swap from countless people throwing out the idea for 10yrs...I've still only seen it done once. Swapping the motor physically isn't the issue since the M62 and S62 are the same block, but just like you said...too many adaptions to make, as the S62 has far more electronics, individual TB's, etc.

Thank you very much , very useful informartion ! After hearing this we will do a complete engine swap end of story

where did you buy your motor from we are looking for one very hard motor to find.

we are getting one from houston

Too many adaptions to make! My project will be easier... E39 m5 motor swap.

John my friend when will you start the swap you have been talking about it for ages

[m5james]

I know swaps like these are cool, but sometimes they get rushed for the sake of impatience or needing to get the car back on the road. Even swapping from a stock engine to a mildly modified rebuilt engine, my 7 was down for about 3 months from beginning to end. If you've got another vehicle to drive in the meantime (I drove around a POS 1990 S10 Blazer 2dr w/ 250k on the ODO), I still think you should look into doing the LSx swap since money (as it is for everyone) is a concern. Between your wiring issues, having to goto BMW to get things coded (and their raping of an hourly rate), etc, doing an LS swap is so well documented between the 3 and 5 series cars I've seen on YouTube, LSx forums, etc and how affordable standalone ECU's are, I'd bet you could get away for less outta pocket in the end, not to mention a healthy HP increase even over the 4.6is engine. 6.0l LS's are a dime a dozen, used in Corvette's (aluminum) to Denali's (iron). I've got an X5 as well, and even when that motor drops, LSx is the way I'm going to go. Just sayin...

why not the 4.8 IS engine..?

Numerically it makes sense, but Alpina actually made the 4.6 while BMW made the 4.8, so the 4.6 seems a little....cooler.

[E38750iL]

The engine is 3500 , transmission should bolt up because the b10 alpina had the same tranny.
For the coding we have alex who codes these things in no time , also the harness will be done by him.

Lets see how this turns out.

[m5james]

Transmissions are the same since it's the same block. If you can, get your hands on the torque converter as well since the 4.6 has a higher stall.

[E38750iL]

We already ordered a torque converter from a 740i sport , does that sound ok ? Diff is going to be a 3.15 LSD

[m5james]

740i sport is a higher stall as well, but I'm not sure if it's different in anyways than the 4.6is...compare part numbers on www.realoem.com A 3.15LSD will be a nice upgrade, but a 3.46 or 3.64 would be better What/where is the 3.15 coming from?

[E38750iL]

its from a 95 740

[m5james]

Ehh, it's been a while, so I'm not sure if that's a direct bolt-in and/or even a true LSD. Sure, RARELY I could lay down two solid strips in the stock 2.92 open diff that my 7 came w/ stock, but that by no means it's an LSD...if anything, it's maybe a like 5% LSD vs a true LSD you'd get at some place like www.diffsonline.com. In 95 the motors we're M60's and only 4.0, and they used a 5HP30 transmission vs your current 5HP24, but I can't say for sure about that diff. I'd suggest doing some searching around in the E38 subforums before you purchase that, otherwise I do hope it works out.