And now for something completely different (Blackknight530i Range Rover 4.6is swap)

[blackknight530i]

Hey everyone! I'm at it again with another swap project. This one is a slight bit unconventional and a bit unique, even for me . Last November or so, I was given the opportunity to buy a 2005 Range Rover with the M62TU in it for an absolute steal, though it did come with some complications of course. The car is in pretty good condition for the most part, but will need some paint correction and possibly even some paint in a couple places, but the interior is in very good shape and the leather still feels nice and soft. It has 124k miles on it and I got it from Texas, but it appears to have lived in Virginia for a time as well. I haven't done a full history on it to know for sure though.



So, how did I get it so cheap? Well, the PO said he had a radiator hose burst on it and he thinks it overheated and blew a head gasket or possibly warped the heads or both. He said he shut it off before it overheated too bad, but he said he did a compression test and it failed. Ended up having it shipped to my friend Denise's house as she had a few M62TUs that she wanted to learn how to do work on so she could practice with mine. Shipping cost more than the car, just to give you a hint on what I paid for it. It basically sat there for nearly 7-8 months as we both had a bunch of projects and didn't have time to work on it.

After selling my 530it6 wagon and my 330Ci and my 540itA in the last several months, I had some money and time to consider working on the Range Rover, so I trailered it back to my house. At the same time, I also talked with a friend of mine, purplecty, who had a friend local to him with a 4.6is engine out of his X5 and would be willing to make a great deal. It has 120k miles on it and has had the guides done about 3 years/15k miles ago, so I decided to scoop it up. The plan is to swap over the oil pan and wiring harness from the Land Rover M62TU to the 4.6is M62TU and swap it in. In theory, it should be a pretty simple swap as I've read about others doing a 4.4 X5 engine swap into a Range Rover without much trouble.

Some of you might be asking how to make the electronics work. Well, first I will tell you that while the DME is a ME7.2 from Bosch, the BMW software tools don't like the software on it and you can't even really read error codes properly with it. I was able to read out the tune from Galletto and I spoke with Dima at DUDMD Tuning and he was able to not only transfer the 4.6is mappings to the Land Rover DME, but he also did a performance tune on it as well. Since it's the original DME, I shouldn't need any EWS deletes or anything like that. If anyone is considering this swap in the future (I know, it's a longshot, LOL), they should definitely talk to him about making the DME work.

So yesterday, I decided to start disassembling the engine a bit to see what refresh parts I would need to order for it. this includes things like oil pan gaskets, valley pan service kit (doesn't appear to have been done before), timing cover and vanos gaskets (either failed due to aftermarket gaskets or reused the originals), valve cover gaskets (apparently Victor Reinz don't hold up well), front and rear crankshaft seals, belts, tensioners, and spark plugs.




Not too bad looking under the valve covers.

This project will be updated kind of sporadically for a bit as I've also got the S54 swapped 530i project and getting a lift installed in the garage going on, so this comes after all that. I may pepper in some engine refreshing in between though.

[purplecty]

Hey everyone! I'm at it again with another swap project. This one is a slight bit unconventional and a bit unique, even for me . Last November or so, I was given the opportunity to buy a 2005 Range Rover with the M62TU in it for an absolute steal, though it did come with some complications of course. The car is in pretty good condition for the most part, but will need some paint correction and possibly even some paint in a couple places, but the interior is in very good shape and the leather still feels nice and soft. It has 124k miles on it and I got it from Texas, but it appears to have lived in Virginia for a time as well. I haven't done a full history on it to know for sure though.



So, how did I get it so cheap? Well, the PO said he had a radiator hose burst on it and he thinks it overheated and blew a head gasket or possibly warped the heads or both. He said he shut it off before it overheated too bad, but he said he did a compression test and it failed. Ended up having it shipped to my friend Denise's house as she had a few M62TUs that she wanted to learn how to do work on so she could practice with mine. Shipping cost more than the car, just to give you a hint on what I paid for it. It basically sat there for nearly 7-8 months as we both had a bunch of projects and didn't have time to work on it.

After selling my 530it6 wagon and my 330Ci and my 540itA in the last several months, I had some money and time to consider working on the Range Rover, so I trailered it back to my house. At the same time, I also talked with a friend of mine, purplecty, who had a friend local to him with a 4.6is engine out of his X5 and would be willing to make a great deal. It has 120k miles on it and has had the guides done about 3 years/15k miles ago, so I decided to scoop it up. The plan is to swap over the oil pan and wiring harness from the Land Rover M62TU to the 4.6is M62TU and swap it in. In theory, it should be a pretty simple swap as I've read about others doing a 4.4 X5 engine swap into a Range Rover without much trouble.

Some of you might be asking how to make the electronics work. Well, first I will tell you that while the DME is a ME7.2 from Bosch, the BMW software tools don't like the software on it and you can't even really read error codes properly with it. I was able to read out the tune from Galletto and I spoke with Dima at DUDMD Tuning and he was able to not only transfer the 4.6is mappings to the Land Rover DME, but he also did a performance tune on it as well. Since it's the original DME, I shouldn't need any EWS deletes or anything like that. If anyone is considering this swap in the future (I know, it's a longshot, LOL), they should definitely talk to him about making the DME work.

So yesterday, I decided to start disassembling the engine a bit to see what refresh parts I would need to order for it. this includes things like oil pan gaskets, valley pan service kit (doesn't appear to have been done before), timing cover and vanos gaskets (either failed due to aftermarket gaskets or reused the originals), valve cover gaskets (apparently Victor Reinz don't hold up well), front and rear crankshaft seals, belts, tensioners, and spark plugs.




Not too bad looking under the valve covers.

This project will be updated kind of sporadically for a bit as I've also got the S54 swapped 530i project and getting a lift installed in the garage going on, so this comes after all that. I may pepper in some engine refreshing in between though.

Subscribed!

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Damn! 2 swaps going on at the same time! Badass!!!

[R Shaffner]

When you're done it will be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the 4.6 M62TU, the S62, and 4.8 N62 compare to one another -- from all perspectives, as an owner, driver, and mechanic.

[blackknight530i]

When you're done it will be interesting to hear your thoughts on how the 4.6 M62TU, the S62, and 4.8 N62 compare to one another -- from all perspectives, as an owner, driver, and mechanic.

Well, I can't yet comment on the 4.6, but the S62 is by far the best sounding and most powerful, which is pretty obvious. I'd put a S62 in all of them if I could keep the 4WD systems. I'll reserve judgement on the 4.8 N62 for a bit until I get the transmission serviced as the transmission really lets the engine down as of right now. I'm told that once it has some good LiquiMoly fluid and a new filter, it should shift a lot better, so I'm hoping that's true. The N62 does sound pretty good, but just not quite as good as the S62. The M62TUB44 that was in my 540i wagon with the 5HP24 was actually very nice, though lacked a bit in the bottom end torque department. Hopefully the 4.6 makes up for that, but it will be in a pretty heavy car, so who knows how it will feel. I've never driven the Range Rover, so I can't even begin to comment on how it's supposed to drive and even when I do get it running, it will have a more powerful engine as well as a performance tune, so not really apples to apples.

One thing I will say is that the X5 platform is the absolute worst to work on for a mechanic. There is no room for anything and it requires taking so many things apart to get to 1 bolt that's hidden. I don't know if that's just a N62 issue or if the M62TU X5s have the same issues, but it's really awful to work on it. The Range Rover seems to have a lot more room from first glance, but I haven't actually got it up in the air yet to see for sure. The whole car is a lot bigger than the X5 though, so I think it will have more room to work in. I'll come back to these thoughts by the time the swap is done and hopefully by then the X5 will have had it's transmission service by then.

[purplecty]

The 4.6 with the tune should wake it up even more. After driving my Dinan 4.6iS and getting into my stock e38 4.4 it feels like it is dragging ass. The stock 282HP vs. The 350ish HP is night and day difference. With the tune it should feel even better off the line...

[R Shaffner]

I was intrigued, and jealous, when I first read the specs and engineering details for the N62. My son-in-law bought an '07 550i and loved it for 3 years, until it started leaking oil and coolant everywhere. Fortunately, he got the 5-year warranty from CarMax. That $2,500 warranty saved him more than $21,000 in repairs over 5 years. He sold it just before the warranty expired, sick of having to take it in so often. (I think he got a good price because it had a complete repair history, and no leaks, when he sold it.)

As I've learned more about the 4.6 M62TU, I've wondered why BMW went through all that trouble with the N62, since the output from the much simpler 4.6 was so close. (Given the choice between two solutions that yield similar results, it seems that BMW will often pick the more complex solution.)

[ChrisMelnyk]

As I've learned more about the 4.6 M62TU, I've wondered why BMW went through all that trouble with the N62, since the output from the much simpler 4.6 was so close. (Given the choice between two solutions that yield similar results, it seems that BMW will often pick the more complex solution.)

After doing some googling, I think it is just fuel economy

The combined fuel economy is a 14% improvement over the 4.6 with higher hp

e53 fuel economy.png

* I realize the transmission gained an extra gear, but both probably played a part.

[blackknight530i]

So, got to work on the M62TUB46 this weekend and got a pretty decent bit done, but we're not really in a hurry, so it's kind of nice to just take our time with it.

Started on the valley pan since it was pretty easy to get to with the intake off already. After that, we moved on to the coolant passage gasket on the back of the engine, along with the crossover pipe gaskets and o-rings for the coolant pipes that go over the valley pan. Then we cleaned the valley really well as it had a bunch of corrosion and crud built up.



Next we moved on to the rear main seal replacement. I'm glad we are going to be pulling the upper and lower oil pans as well as we couldn't get the bolts that go into the rear main seal housing to start. We are hoping that once the oil pan is off we can get those to line up properly.



Finally we decided to take off some of the accessories that we'll be swapping over anyways and get to cleaning the tons of grime off the engine. We got to work with some Gunk Heavy Duty Gel and some nylon brushes and scotch brite pads for some of the nooks and crannies. I think it came out pretty decent. Not perfect, but it will do and looks a whole lot better than it did.





We took the A/C compressor off and won't be using it since the bearings in it sound shot. The water cooled alternator won't be used either as the casing on the front had what appeared to be either RTV or JB Weld around the pulley and the one on the Range Rover motor is in much better shape. I'm hoping we can keep the A/C system connected when we swap the engine to keep from having to get it recharged later. I've got all new tensioners and belts to go on. Power steering pump will be taken from the other engine as well. Maybe we'll start moving over some of the accessories from the other engine before taking the engine out just to make it go a bit quicker, but who knows. Might be easier to just wait for the engine to be out.

Still need to change the timing cover gaskets, valve cover gaskets and send the valve covers out for powder coating. I found a shop here in Charlotte that can media blast and powder coat them both in wrinkle black for $320, so that will be sweet. They've done a ton of these VCs before and know how to prep them properly.

Overall, it was a nice Saturday and I'm so glad to see the engine all cleaned up.

[purplecty]

Things are coming along nicely!

[blackknight530i]

Kind of a small update on the project over the last few weekends. Sent the valve covers off to get powdercoated in wrinkle black, which came back looking pretty good. I had a local shop in Charlotte do the powdercoating. The magnesium valve covers tend to get lots of pits and flaking metal shavings with age, so the wrinkle coating helps to mask a lot of that, but they will never be perfect.

I also had to order some new valve cover gaskets as I'd somehow forgotten them in my last few orders.

Went ahead and did the front crank seal, which wasn't too terribly difficult, though it was fun trying to take the "Jesus Bolt" off. A MAP gas torch and an air impact gun made decent work of it. A standard seal puller removed the old seal and a 54mm socket worked well enough to get the new seal tapped in. Haven't torqued the new crank bolt yet though as it will need the crank held and I don't have a flywheel or transmission on, so not sure the best way to do that. Might have to wait till it's back in the car.

It's basically to the point where it's ready for accessories to be swapped over from the Range Rover engine, so I need to start removing some of those if I can from the car, but it might be easier to just wait till I have the lift in the garage and roll the chassis in to do that. Just depends on how bored I get and how much time I have to do it .

[adm750]

nice man !!

[blackknight530i]

Hey everyone, been a while without updates, I know. We have been working on the garage in full force lately getting the ceiling raised up and ready for the lift installation so we can make these projects happen sooner. We got the first LVL beam installed yesterday and have the posts installed for the other beam. Then it's time for the connecting joists, wiring, drywall, mud, and paint. Then we also need to cut out the 2'x2' squares in the concrete to put in deeper concrete footings for the lift columns, which need 28 days to cure before we finally get the lift installed.

It's been a long time coming, but it's going to be so worth it when done. Doing it ourselves is saving a lot of money and is really a bit of fun hanging out with some buddies and building something.

Here are some pics from the garage renovation process:

[blackknight530i]

Well, it's been a while since you guys got an update, so I wanted to share the progress that's been made over the last couple months. Unfortunately for you guys wanting to see Range Rover swap stuff, it's more garage stuff, but we're getting very close to getting back to that. The ceiling joists have been raised completely to their new 12.5' height. There are a few pieces remaining before doing drywall, but most of the wiring is in and wired to the new subpanel. Lights are installed and half of them are wired up so far. I went with 28 6" 14W LED slim recessed lights. I was originally thinking that I would want them on a dimmer, but with only half of them hooked up so far, I think it's a ton of light, but not too much, so I think I'll just wire them all up to the same switch instead of needing to divide them up to two dimmers due to load ratings.

Insulation is up for the lower portion of the walls, but I still need to do the upper walls that go up to the new ceiling and of course the ceiling insulation, which will probably be blown-in.

I also need to run the low voltage wiring for the TV and speakers, as well as air lines for the pull down air hose reel.

We also decided to do an angled ceiling at the ends of the garage to give us some more of a cathedral like look with more room at either end for a car on the lift. This will require changing the angle of the garage door to match the slope of the roof. I need to find a garage door company that can do that for a reasonable amount. I have a side mounted direct drive opener, so it should just be a matter of changing the rails and maybe a new spring.

We also ordered the new Bendpak XPR-10AS-LP lift directly from Bendpak and it should be arriving the week of Jan 14th. It probably won't be ready to install then, but I wanted to get it ordered before the price changed in the new year. Apparently it went up by $200, so well worth the inconvenience of needing to move it around while we're working.

Hopefully the next update will have wiring done and drywall up.

Some pics of the progress:

















The lights are not permanently mounted yet as they will be mounted to the drywall when it gets installed, but I wanted to see how much light I would get and this will help us get some work done without needing work lights.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Awesome work! What a huge difference a higher ceiling can do to a space. Wish I wasn't so far away from you guys, Paul. Would be nice to hang out and give you a hand.

[ross1]

You'll love the height.
If you have removed a bunch of ceiling joists you'll need collar ties. Looks like the ceiling you constructed is attached to a rim joist and not attached much to the roof rafters.

[blackknight530i]

You'll love the height.
If you have removed a bunch of ceiling joists you'll need collar ties. Looks like the ceiling you constructed is attached to a rim joist and not attached much to the roof rafters.

There are 5 cross ties going from the walls to a new wall constructed on the house side above the lower wall. They are attached using straps to every joist. The engineer who made the plans only had us using 6 joists, but we doubled that and added the cross ties. Also, the beams at either end are attached to the roof rafters. Also, the old ceiling joists weren't attached to the roof rafters any more than these new ones. There were some angled supports that were just 2x4s attached to the rafters to a couple of joists that will be attached to the new cross ties.

[ross1]

The old ceiling joists serve(d) to keep the walls from spreading under roof load. I'll defer to the engineer sounds like you have it covered.
Where I live a 25#/SF snow load needs to be factored in.

[blackknight530i]

The old ceiling joists serve(d) to keep the walls from spreading under roof load. I'll defer to the engineer sounds like you have it covered.
Where I live a 25#/SF snow load needs to be factored in.

Yeah, we don't really get snow here in Charlotte.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

Something really cool came in today

[JimLev]

I’m jealous. 2 or 4 post lift?
My garage ceiling is only 8’ 3”.

[blackknight530i]

I’m jealous. 2 or 4 post lift?
My garage ceiling is only 8’ 3”.

2 post. XPR-10AS-LP. 10k lb capacity, asymmetric posts, low profile arms.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[blackknight530i]

Hey guys. Sorry for the long time between posts. Been a lot going on in my life lately (all good), but it has slowed the progress slightly on the garage. A ton of progress has been made in the last few weekends though. We just finished installing the drywall on the ceiling (the hardest part) and getting all 28 lights installed.




All the wiring is completed and we will soon be installing the drywall on the walls. Also, got a new garage door installed that not only is insulated and not broken like the old one, LOL, but they also increased the height of the rails and angled them with the slope of the ceiling so that it gives us even more room for activities .



Once we get the walls up, I hope to get the floors epoxied and install the lift, though that order might change.

So happy with how it's coming out and I'm really hoping to get back to doing car stuff. Been way too long and I've got projects lined up for a while once the lift is in.

[ross1]

"drywall on the ceiling (the hardest part)"
OH NO, taping is the fun part. (Should have staggered those joints, btw) Nice progress though.
My unsolicited $.02? Hire a pro to tape it, he'll hide your sins and will be well worth the $$ not to have "mud" in your eyes.

[JimLev]

I agree with Ross.
When I added the garage (30 x 26) and connecting section (8 x 18) to my last house I hired some sheetrock guys to do it.
Day 1, the complete addition was sheetrocked upstairs and down with 4 x 12 sheetrock.
Day 2, taped and muddled.
Day 3, I paid them.

B450EC13-6EDB-4665-B790-2D4AF63F0805.jpeg