How much street legal is your engine swap?

[petroscf]

I am not sure how important an issue is this.
When you do an engine swap, for an M52 for example, or for another M10 or for S14 etc., what have you got to do in your countries, in order to be street legal?
Is an MOT just enough? Insurance? do insurance companies have to know about the new engine? What laws exist on swaps?

[healeyneil]

In UK the registration authority usually need a receipt to show the engine isn't stolen ( really) If the car has its MOT, you don't need to redo it. You do need to tell your insurance about any mods you do.
Shortly my Baur will be going for its first MOT in 15 years, now with its M42 engine. There is an argument that it should be fitted with a catalyst. I hope not !

[Jeroen]

In Holland they usually are pretty easy going. Mods within MOT requirements are pretty ok (like to brakes, suspension, etc).

However, an engine swap to an engine of a different type (i.e. M10 to M52) makes the car's registration invalid, which makes it possible for authorities and insurance to blame you for anything that might cross your path and not provide insurance coverage. So if you get involved in an accident you may be blamed, even though you did not cause this, as you took part in something that was not road legal. If others get hurt in that same accident and your insurance does not cover, it may get very costly.

The way to go: visit the road authorities and have them check the engine mod and process this on the registration, this is also required if you achieve an increase in output -with the original engine type- that exceeds 40%. Usually, when they see a thorough job has been done, they will not make a big fuss. If they feel you may be on the limit what is possible or allowed, or if they suspect amateur work, you need to go through a costly full roadworthyness check. Doesn't happen too often these days anymore.

And over here for engine swaps you also need to prove where the engine came from to prevent stolen engines from being used.

[Mark3]

As Neil said, as long as you inform the DVLA then anything is possible. My Chevy V8 powered Supra is all road legal and MOT'd. Luckily it's a 1990 Supra so the emissions aren't too tight

[petroscf]

Well, here in Greece things are really strict, and that is the reason (well, part of the reason) I haven't yet decided what to do on my car. If you read the law, in theory, all mods (even on brakes!) should be registered with the authorities. But ok, this is not the problem, they wouldn't really search if you have different calipers (let alone that these are better ones)
However, when it comes for an engine swap, what the law actually says is the following: If the engine was fitted on the shell by factory, the swap may be registered (so let's say from M10 to another M10 or M20 in what concerns E21).
If one wants to swap for an engine which was not fitted by the factory, then what is allowed (and thus may be registered and legalized) is +/- 25% capacity and +/- 25% power. So practically, this makes it very difficult to swap for an M5x for example, or an M42 etc, and be street legal without having told some people some lies
And also a letter from official BMW dealer (some say it is ok from a technician- but I am not sure of this) that everything has been done properly, and also MOT, but from the state MOT centers, not the private ones. (The state ones are just a tragedy)-which makes things worse, as official BMW would practically not give a letter for a swap they did not do themselves
Of course, as Jeroen stated above, not having a car registered makes the car's insurance invalid if in case of an accident for example, they find out.

[healeyneil]

What happens if you import a modified car into Greece? I ask because a few years ago I sold an Austin Healey Sprite (that I had fitted a Lotus 907 engine into) to a man in Italy. He was adamant that he could register it there, but could not have built it himself !

[Jeroen]

I believe that EU legislation says that a DMV approval from one member state should be approved by the other member states which creates a lot of opportunities, but soon after they added some limitations, for example that the vehicle has to meet local requirements. If these are more strict, like not allowing any modifications compared to the original model approval for that country, you can't have any mods. That is the case in Belgium for example. If polyurethane bushes were not in the original model approval, they are not allowed.

Apparently in the past a lot was possible in the UK, for example with projects, one offs, kit cars, etc. UK approval or running them through the UK for approval was the way to go, but that's more limited now.

Most recent import experiences goes back one week, went to the Dutch DMV (RDW) to import a car from Germany. All they did was check if the chassis no, engine type and mileage matched (by the way: as a test also by checking the car's engine management), if there was a model approval for the type of car and that was pretty much it. However, car still needs a MOT but that's the same MOT as any other Dutch car gets. So if I showed up there with a heavily modified suspension, a big brake kit and some engine tuning, no one would have raised the flag.

[petroscf]

I also believe that if a modified car is registered in an EU country and imported to Greece, it would be easier to register here-saying this without knowing the whole legislation of course.

In theory, any mods on the car (even a different carb), has to be registered. However, here nobody will bother with such things, and, a good justification is always possible, espcially concerning old cars, such as "my old brake calipers were rusty and I could not find easily the factory ones, so I fitted these wilwood 4 piston lol.
But with an engine that has a different number from chassis, things are different
(Of course if you find the right persons in the right places almost everything can be done...)

[Sam8888]

In Hungary, it is a major PITA and loots of money.

If your car was available with that engine it's easy, (for example m10b18 to m20b20) you just have to pay the difference of the REGISTRATION TAX, wich is about 100-150 euro in this example, of course you have to prove that your model was in production with that type of engine (official letter from BMW, which is another 100eur), and you have to prove that engine isn't stolen, and get a new traffic license, get new insurance, aaand a paper that proves that the job was done by a mechanic. This is kinda ok, but...

---if you want to swap like an m50 or something, you'll be lost in the universe of burocracy for sure. First you have to get the swap planned on paper by some engineer who is capable to do that, and thake responsibility for the plans. (good luck to find one) After the plan is ready you have to get to approval that by the Traffic Monitoring(??don't know how is that called in eng??), and after that the procedure can come like written above this... Pay the reg tax difference, get the job officially done etc etc...

Although there's a "graymarket" thingy (when your engine nr naturally corrodes ), and the russian roulette, when you just swap the engine and take the risk. Cop's doesn't really know what engine should be in your car (unless it's a Lada or something like that), although it's cylinder's number maches. I mean like don't swap a v8 into a 4 cyl model or like that.

By the law i shouldn't even allowed to swap a 4 speed transmission to 5 speed without permission. Even couldn't use another rims that is not written in the car's papers... Although if you have a car that not blingie and you don't use xenon headlights (cops really crazy about that), and it just looks like OK, you'll be fine, but there's always a "what if"...

When Hungary joined to EU, everybody thought finally things will be changed, but the only change was that you didn't had to have the engine swap planned by the engineer if your car was in production with that. Actually the registration tax is a serious income for the country, since Hungary is western EU-s used cars bin.

[petroscf]

This is quite much like here, if the engine was not put in the shell from factory, then things are getting more difficult. Not talking at all about such an engine with more than 25% plus power/capacity, then it is not legal.
What then can be done in order to fit an M5x ?

[brockzila]

Here in New Zealand there are strict rules around what you can and can't do to a point. Ie you can lower your car using captive uncut lowered springs fit a mild exhaust, wheels steering wheeel and performance mods that see 15% or less increase in powwer (may be 25).

Then if you do more than this ie coil overs, motor swaps trans, intake , induction, brake work half cage any welding or cutting
You then need a low volume certification. Simply you take it to and engineer who checks your work and ensures your car is safe and that the brakes match the level of power the motor ha. Or that there is no welding on vital components, clearence to the wheels, seat belt mounts for harnesses, so a basicly we can do almost any thing we want.

No full cages, no self fab components in brakes or suspension, e
But then

If you want to drive a full race car on the road. Mainly rally and Targa cars as they need to be road legal to drive from stage to stage. We can apply for a motor sport log book .Allowing full cage serious suspension mods and hydrolic hand brakes , full open exhausts. The rule here is that the car must be entered in to a minimumof one mother sport event per year.

[ruh]

Here in Denmark they are very strict. It is possible but they want full TüV approval on any changes, and power increases over 20% from the stock factory model of your car will be taxed. Can easily cost an arm and a leg.

In the past i have done it 100% outlaw style.. But as i have gotten older, my interest in cars has been more on the track. So my E21 is a track toy, and the mod´s are purely for the track.