Member
Long time member hoping to get some advice from you all. I have a 1999 323i that has a m54b30 that was swapped into it by the previous owner. According to him the engine came out of a e39 530i. I got the car for almost nothing, because the engine has no compression on the back 2 cylinders. I plan on fixing this motor so I have a spare, but in the meantime I was able to grab a junkyard motor for a few hundred dollars that runs good and has low mileage. The only issue is it came out of an X3 , and the oil pan has a hole in it for the front axle I assume.
My question is can I just swap the oil pan from my bad engine over to the donor motor?? Will I run into issues with the oil pickup tube?? I assume they will use the same oil pan gasket since it is the same engine.
If you know of any other issues I may run into please let me know. I am used to LS swaps and everything is basically interchangeable, I am hoping the M54 is the same way. Thanks!!!
IMG-9976.jpgIMG-9978.jpgIMG-9998.jpg
Last edited by chiropaul; 02-07-2021 at 10:30 PM. Reason: text was missing
Member
Bump for actual question, first version the text was missing.
Sim Simma
Moderator
Yes it interchanges. They didn't change the block for AWD applications
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Ok great. That's what I figured but it's always nice to get confirmation!! Do you know if the oil pickup is different on the AWD vs RWD applications?Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker
Sim Simma
Moderator
It most likely is different, you just need to swap the pickup tube with the pan
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I’m in the beginning of my e36 318i m5430 swap.
I wish there was a sticky or dyi for this swap. If anyone knows ,please let me know.
Sim Simma
Moderator
Mines not a DIY per se but I document a lot of the changes here: https://www.ascfabrics.com/m54e36
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I figured I should help any future M54 swap people out with some pictures of the oil pan and pickup differences from an AWD X3 M54 engine and the e46 RWD version. As BimmerBreaker said, yes they are interchangeable but the oil pickup tube is slightly different and some of the oil pan bolts on the AWD car are different than on the RWD.
In the first picture, the bottom oil pickup tube is the one from the X3 and it has a slight rearward tilt, whereas the pickup tube in the RWD e46 is pretty much facing straight down. The RWD one bolted right into place without issue.
Regarding the oil pan bolts, people should be aware that there are 2 long bolts in the X3 AWD oil pan located where the axle shaft goes through the pan. These are not used on the RWD e46 pan, one would need to source 2 replacement bolts to make this swap work. I was swapping the pan over from my other bad motor, so I had all the bolts from it and just used them. But if you were planning to use an X3 AWD engine in your swap and didn't already have a motor to take parts off of, you will need to buy new shorter bolts to replace those.
Pretty easy job overall. I got this engine for $400 out of an 2007 X3 with pretty low mileage, and it ran well before they pulled it. The same engine out of a 530i or other car was at least double the price, so this may make doing the M54 swap cheaper, and open up some options. Hope this helps someone in the future.
Last edited by chiropaul; 02-21-2021 at 07:07 PM.
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