Wild hair Idea! Vortec 4200 in a E34

[Jager3411]

I've got a 91 535i that I bought last summer. 95k miles. Needed a water pump and the previous owner was too old to actually do the work himself so I was happy to buy it. I had a little TLC done on the car by a co-worker at the time. Intending to do more this winter myself. But the transmission went out in October. So I've been puzzling over what to do with it since. My first reaction was to sell it for parts. But it's a clean car and that low miles it will be a long time till I see another.

So I'm thinking about a full drive train swap in the future now. And I'm kinda set on trying a Vortec LL8 4.2 litre. And even if I have to find a second hood to cut room. I don't want to ruin the one on it I'm wondering if it's hair brained wild to think I can make it fit sitting up right. The price on the the straight six out of the gate is less than half of a LS and with some work and upgrades I figure should still last me a good time without insane reliblity issues and I like the idea of keeping her a straight 6 but more affordable to work on with power to spare.

[Vladkurk]

Your better off fixing whatever’s wrong with the bmw than swapping a vortec 4200. People ditch those crappy inlines for ls motors. Yes, you might save some coin buying a vortec 4200 Longblock/trans combo but goodluck finding any aftermarket support for everything else needed for the swap. Your vortec 4200 gonna end up costing you more than an LS swap. Engine swaps ain’t cheap no matter what engine your gonna use but why waste all the money to swap in a engine that’s limited aftermarket support and an engine people ditch for LS motors? I got my 6.0 lq4 with my trans by parting out an express van I bought from auction for $800.


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[motorV8ed]

I didn't pick up on this: What is driving your choice or the 4.2? Do you already have one that you are trying to use? Why not put in a 6.0?