2002 330i motor swap

Hello, I am having some trouble identifying the motor I purchased for my car. I bought a 2002 330i motor from a salvage yard, and I don't think it's what they say it is. The motor fit just about fine, but it's slightly different. I was thinking maybe its just a slightly different year 330i but I can't find any information from the serial number online. I compared the oil pan to other ones from other BMW's and the one that is on my engine matches a 525i oil pan. Could somebody possibly please give me a hand in identifying what motor I have installed into my 330i?

look in the back side on your engine (toward the #6 cylinder) and you will see sticker/vin stating the engine type. other than that, it is really hard to tell the difference between the M52TU/M54 engine apart (when just comparing the engine w/o any accessories).

you can tell the 330 from the 325 by removing the intake manifold and looking at the shape of the ports. One is a D shape and the other is just oval. another method is remove the valve cover and look at the camshafts. look for the P/N on the camshaft. the P/N on the camshaft is how I verified that I actually bought a M54B30 ZHP engine and not some regular 330 or even a 325 engine.

I hope this helps

Thank you for the tips, I'll have to give it another look

Also, on the intake manifold ports, is the 330 D shaped or the 325?

Originally Posted by seanmccarthy

Also, on the intake manifold ports, is the 330 D shaped or the 325?

please search my "m54b30 intake manifold swap" thread for pix and answer. I dont remember the answer from the top of my head so I have to find my thread and look for it myself

I will take a look, thanks again

again, it is very hard to tell the difference with just the bare/bone engine w/o any attachment/accessories. however, assuming you bought the engine with the accessories then you will know that the 330 has the following:

purple injector. all other m54/m52tu has black fuel injectors
3.0 throttle body. 325/323 has 2.5 inch throttle body.

It was basically just the block that I bought, almost stripped clean

Originally Posted by seanmccarthy

It was basically just the block that I bought, almost stripped clean

darn it. gosh...your safe bet is look at the intake manfold port then. however, don't mean to make you anymore paranoid but anyone can put a 330 intake manifold in their 323/325 though (just like what I did).

your safest bet is to remove the valve cover and look at those camshaft.

brb...with pix of ZHP cameshaft

Post a few pictures or give the numbers

I can have pictures of it tomorrow, the serial number I found on it was 33622895

OP...here is some example of the 330 ZHP camshaft numbers/

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...4&postcount=93

OP. If your 330 throttle body (3.0 inch) fits your intake manifold then you have a 330 intake manifold. no need to remove the intake manifold just to look at the ports.

also...don't get too paranoid about the drain pan. all M54 drain pan are different on the 3, 5, x series. see my thread for references on the pan

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...&postcount=110

I am replacing the intake manifold on the new motor with a good one from a blown 330i motor. I'm going to have to compare it to some of those pictures tomorrow

You have been incredibly helpful. I will update tomorrow with my findings, if any, and a few pictures

Originally Posted by flashtwosix

OP...here is some example of the 330 ZHP camshaft numbers/

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpos...4&postcount=93

OP. If your 330 throttle body (3.0 inch) fits your intake manifold then you have a 330 intake manifold. no need to remove the intake manifold just to look at the ports.

The pictures in this thread, are they of a 330i motor? (I'm sorry, I'm not very mechanically inclined, and kind of new at this) If so, the intake manifold ports were also D-shaped on the new engine. I know that's not a 100% indicator of having a 330i motor, but it's a pretty good one, right?

Originally Posted by seanmccarthy

The pictures in this thread, are they of a 330i motor? (I'm sorry, I'm not very mechanically inclined, and kind of new at this) If so, the intake manifold ports were also D-shaped on the new engine. I know that's not a 100% indicator of having a 330i motor, but it's a pretty good one, right?

The pictures in the url I provided are indeed from a 330. However, the pictures of the intake manifold port is found on another thread. I haven't look it up yet but I think the title is something like m54b30 intake manifold swap

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