I have a 1994 740iL I purchased on eBay. It was purchased without an engine or transmission. I have read the horror stories about the Nickasil blocks and am just a little afraid of them. This car is pretty decent bodywise but I will not put a 7500.00 rebuilt engine and transmission in it when the car would only be worth 4000.00. So, I have a good V12 engine and transmissioin and also a 1988 750iL parts car. This swap looks to be very feasible but would like some feedback from any BMW techs or BMW gurus who could tell me if this is a good idea and what problems would I run into if I do this. I would appreciate all input.

You need doubble everything, 2 batteries, 2 dme's everything is double. It's pretty much 2 6 cylinders welded together. Its defentaly a project but putting a 4.4L engine in would be much easyer to do.

Wow. You are in for a shitload of headaches. You'd be much better off putting a used 4.0 litre alusil engine in it. If you need the casting number for an alusil engine let me know

Wow. You are in for a shitload of headaches. You'd be much better off putting a used 4.0 litre alusil engine in it. If you need the casting number for an alusil engine let me know

Well, I really would like to replace the engine with a V8 instead of the V12 simply because it would be a lot easier. I have a line on a Nickasil engine with (supposedly) 64K miles. I can buy it pretty reasonably but I don't want to get stuck with an engine that needs or will soon need a rebuild. I would appreciate the casting number for the Alusil engine if you could pass it on. Any idea on a ballpark cost for an Alusil? Were there any common problems with the Alusil engines? What transmission will work with the V8 engines? I have a trans from a V12 that is good. Thanks for your help.

Casting numbers are on the right hand side of the block (Passengers)

1 745 872 is an alusil 4.0
1 745 873 is an alusil 4.4

The junk nickasil numbers are 1 725 963, and 1 742 998


The correct trans needs to be a 5HP30 (A5S 560Z)
97 went to a 5HP24 (A5S 440Z)