The next 29 days were fast moving and I made a great deal of progress. I told my wife that the project would take me 6 months to complete and that she would be able to park her garage in the garage before the first snow fall of the year so I had to work quick!
Let me give you a tip before I start. In a project like this, I would save EVERYTHING from the donor car (no matter how small) even if you don’t think you will need it. In the process of reassembly, I kicked myself repeatedly for buying stuff that I threw away; it was a complete waste of money and unnecessary. If you have the space, save everything! You will end up using more of the donor car than you think. For example, I had to buy a second set of M3 cowls and bunch of random rubber trim that I threw out. Secondly, my donor car was an E93 and while I didn’t know by this point how I was going to complete the swap, the fact that it was a convertible posed its own unique challenges. Differences in coupes, convertibles, and sedans can be mostly coded away as the modules are shared across the lines; however, the wiring itself is different and the location of the modules changes which adds work on the backend. For example, the convertibles have different safety features and airbag locations. Knowing that now, I would have looked for an E92 but in the grand scheme of things it didn’t add THAT much time.
I’m not going to bore you with 500 pictures of me taking the car apart. In short, I took EVERYTHING apart aside from the hardtop. Every wire, bolts, nuts, module, and sensor came off. The disassembly process was a piece of cake. I lucked out that the car had no rust whatever so nothing was seized or stripped. I was blown away. The most frustrating part of the disassembly was dealing with the brake lines. Every single fitting was seized and didn’t budge. It was kind of ridiculous. It was a first for me to have ALL the lines be seized; the same repeated itself with the recipient car. I could’ve tried to exercise more patience with the lines and applied even more heat, but at the time I thought f it and kept moving. In the middle of all this work, I found a recipient which forced me to accelerate the disassembly.
Second tip: depending on how you want to complete the swap, I would take care with the hard brake lines not damage them. Also, do not damage the hard fuel line as you will need that.
Third tip: You need to keep the CAS, DME, and key since all 3 are matched to each other. If you’re missing the key, you can get another one from the dealer provided you have title in your name. Else, you can send your CAS to a locksmith and they can create a copy for you. This is a hassle that can be avoided all together.
Fourth tip: this goes without saying but label everything. The wiring harness is unruly and its easy to get lost. Aside from taking photos, the labelling helps when you’re tired and just want to know quickly what the wire is for/what it plugs into.
Timeline:
9/2 – Disassembly starts
9/20 - Recipient found
9/24 – Wire sent to Seller
9/26 – Drivetrain removed
9/27 – Recipient car received
10/1 – Donor car taken away
