Legality.

[needsprings 3]

This might not so much be a question of legality, but if one had a m52b28 engine in a m52b25 body how likely is this to fail or get picked up on a general WoF check?

My understanding is that, the two engines are almost identical besides the internals and the exhaust. The only give away I can think of would be the engine number, which I'm thinking they might not go to such lengths to check. Cheers.

[polley 916]

No one will know dude. Will likely void insurance if something happened and they ever found out though

[thorburn 121]

+1 to what Troy said

http://www.lvvta.org.nz/documents/standards/LVVTA_STD_Engine_&_Drive-train_Conversions.pdf

see section 4.3

[hybrid 1043]

Legally yes you need a low volume cert for engine conversions

Technically you can put the engine in and no one will be the wiser.

The reason why isn't so much because tax, but in different model of cars there can be OEM upgrades to engine / gearbox fixings, suspension components, braking systems and electronics (ABS/ASC/DSC calibrations) to cope with the differences in engine power (although not a huge increase in your case) and weight (EG steel vs alloy block that can effect suspension and braking performances). These items are generally over looked / not considered when such mild conversions are done. This is the real reason why the LVVTA and certification process exists.

When I did mine and put an engine with twice the power and torque into a chassis that wasnt design for it, and it was my first time doing an engine conversion, I had put quite a bit of consideration into loads on components I was going to keep in the car. EG diff mount points.

[needsprings 3]

Ahhh thanks guys, was looking for ways to pep up the 323, but nothing seemed feasible really. I'm not to phased on insurance, and yeah I've thought abit about suspension side effects and just figured the difference would be negligible.

What about manual conversion? I know most people don't get certs, and pass their wofs just fine. But with the 323i I'm not actually sure if they came out factory manual, at least if they did they don't seem very common at all. I'm thinking that would could be a slight hindrance.

Thanks for the input aswell!

[polley 916]

Same with the manual conversion, no one will know.

[aja540i 1906]

you don't need a cert for a manual conversion if EVERYTHING you use is an unmodified factory part, doesn't matter what gearbox, or what model of car it's out of (323, 325, 328 etc)

[Mr Vapour 76]

As far as I am aware an auto to manual swap needs a cert. You are making a significant change to what the car you have came out of the factory with. You need to check the hobby car manual. But from my conversations with certifiers is it needs a cert.

Just get the cert. It will be about 350 and save you many issues .

If you went to sell it uncerted I would not buy it unless it was stupid cheap.

[Rubix 434]

As far as I am aware an auto to manual swap needs a cert. You are making a significant change to what the car you have came out of the factory with. You need to check the hobby car manual. But from my conversations with certifiers is it needs a cert.

Just get the cert. It will be about 350 and save you many issues .

If you went to sell it uncerted I would not buy it unless it was stupid cheap.

Manual conversion does NOT require certification when using factory parts.

[Mr Vapour 76]

Thank you huffer

http://www.lvvta.org.nz/knowledge_base.html

For those that don't want to follow link

Does an auto to manual gearbox conversion require certification?

Yes, all gearbox conversions require certification as the braking system has usually been affected with alteration or modification to the brake pedal-box.

Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk

[huff3r 347]

[Mr Vapour 76]

Taken from the lvvta quick facts section.

Like I said read the hobby manual.

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Edited June 13, 2016 by mrbrockzila

[M M 250]

It's not modified if you use a factory pedalbox.

[KwS 2425]

Interesting about the crossmember though, it needs a cert if the crossmember is changed (IE: if auto and manual ones are different). Also needs a cert if the drive shaft is modified (ie combining the standard auto rear half with a manual front half). Doesnt mention replacing the drive shaft though.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

unless the law has recently changed (in which case all manual swaps already completed it won't effect) then there is no need for a certification providing it uses all genuine BMW parts in an un modified way, and using the gearbox that would ordinarily be fitted to that engine e.g. a getrag box on an e36 328i would need cert as its not the correct ZF box.

however, there also the benefit of being such a multitude of cars on our road a WOF inspector or worst case a serious crash unit investigator is likely to never notice as well

[hybrid 1043]

[offtopic]

if the crash is serious enough, they can pull information including the coding data from the ABS module in the lab in wellington to determine all sorts of things. This includes what the car was shipped from the factory as.

[/offtopic]