What is the state of the art for late-ish model swaps with no-stories usability?

[somecarguy]

Yes this is a bit of a mushy question but I'll try to be as clear as I can.

I've always enjoyed daily driving and maintaining engaging older cars. For a while an E30, now a 964. I like a challenge and unusual projects and often think about a swap. Because I have my hands full with truly old cars (912, Alfa) I'd be paying a shop to do the swap. My wife has a Z4 and I'm awed by the N52 for its light weight, power delivery, cool tech yet basically classic feel. I'm more attracted to something like this or even a even newer motor than the "typical" S54 etc. Light weight and efficiency do matter to me.

I've read tell of N52 swaps but its hard to tell if these are perpetual projects with little nits that never get resolved or if this swap and others have been, to a reasonable extent, 'solved' by the after market.

Swapped into what you ask? I love all Golden Age BMWs - E30, E23, E24, E28.... just thinking on what my next fun daily might be.

[BimmerBreaker]

I don't think there is one clear answer to this question because there isn't "one" way to swap a car. Different people doing swaps will have different tolerances for what functions and what doesn't. Some people just want the engine running in the chassis and don't care about ABS or traction control. Some will even be ok deleting Valvetronic which is part of what gives that engine it's character. Others will want the full functionality, with the engine communicating like factory with the stock gauges and inputs which is what it sounds like you are after.

As far as an N52 into an E30 - similar has been done with an S55 in an E30 but that was done by a whole team of engineers and really knowledgeable, smart people. And it still didn't have full proper functionality of everything last I checked.

IMO the most difficult part of this is integrating the CANBUS network system with the analog systems in the E30. Those newer cars/engines have so many different modules that are all communicating with one another. The "easiest" way may be to simply swap over the components from the N52 car that you want (ie. move the complete ABS unit with all it's sensors to the E30 chassis). I've looked a little bit into N52 swapping Z3's or E36's and it seems like the N52 powered first generation Z4 would be the "missing link" there, in that the Z4 was essentially an E46 and people have made E46 engines work in E36's. As such it would be a process of finding what BMW changed for the N52 vs. M54 Z4's and making those changes to accept the swap. None of it is really "easy". S54 swaps are more common because they are well documented and make great power. However they are heavy and nowadays very expensive. If people find a way to feasibly swap N52's into this generation of car (E30) then I expect such swaps will become a lot more popular due to how cheap the N52's are to find these days

Oh and if you are paying a shop to do the swap... I'd definitely be looking at well documented swaps. You don't want to get into deep hole with some shop where you are $15k into a swap for them to tell you "it's not running and we have no idea why"

[ZEKTI]

N52 E30s have been done and I too like that motor. There are standalone ECU's (AEM) available that will run it or a correct chassis harness can be used.