I'm thinking about getting a datsun 510 and doing an engine swap. I'm coming from driving BMWs all my life and I'd love to swap a 2.8l M52 or the 3.2l E36 M3 S52, hell, even an E30 M3 S14 motor into a 510 and then have my way with it and the 510 seems pretty easy to work on . Couple of questions.. Has this been done before, if so, details please! What are the measurements of the engine bay on a 510? I'm assuming I'm going to have to have a custom driveshaft fab'd; what are the dimensions of the stock 510 driveshafts? Any issues going from carbeurated to fuel injected? Lastly, what about the tranny's? Dimensions of the stock transmission? Any insight is appreciated, I'll keep this thread updated if I go ahead with the project. Keep in mind this car is going to be a daily driver for me, but I'd like to be able to autox once in a while too

you might want to make your own baffled fuel tank. Other than that its up to you how to shoehorn the motor in.

I'd use the smaller dimensioned motor. S14 could be smaller than S52.

Use BMW cluster and wire everything passenger side glovebox/floor.

Why do you think i should do a seperate, baffled fuel tank?

edit: S14 is smaller than an M52/S52/M50/S50. M/S5x are all 6cyl whereas the S14 is a 4cyl. Maybe I'd do an M20 Turbo, as the M20s are for more commonly found than the S14s

yea that would be sick if you pulled it off cuz i've never seen it done before. i've seen rotarys and even american twin turbo motors but never a BMW. goodluck with it if you do decide on the project.

Ive seen 510's with BMW swaps... I think it would be great! Hope you come around doing so.

Anything will work with enough time and money, that said, putting one in a dime would bit a PITA. Unless you sit the motor WAY back you can kiss handling good bye since you're going from a 250 lb motor and 90lb tranny to a 400 lb motor and 125 lb tranny (if you're going to go with the iron block S5x motor). At any rate you're probably going to have to section the firewall anyway, since it's a couple inches longer than the L with is a little longer damper to flywheel than the RB. There is a guy that is doing it to his 260Z, a S52 swap out of an E34 and he's going to have to clearance the top of the valve cover since it's a tight fit there. This all being said it's going to be a huge fab job and you're going to have to be super dedicated, it's not going to be a 6 month project. But why not, give it a try... always good to see something a little interesting.

Hmmm, those questions seem pretty amateur..sorry dont mean to offend, just couldnt think of another way to put it. Since you are asking these types of questions, it basically means you have no idea what you would be getting into. You will have major issues with all the things you mentioned.Can you imagine an S52 BMW engine mated to a 30+ year old datsun 4-speed transmission? Makes me laugh. You have A LOT to learn.(by the way, you cannot give away a 4-spd datsun trans, thats how crappy they are...)

If you do get a 510, just do some simple bolt-on mods, maybe swap in a common motor like a KA24 and just take it step by step and you will learn.Or, instead of blowing all your money on a swap that would never see the light of day and end up getting sold off half way through, just buy a 510 with a motor swap already, like an SR20DET.Nissan by far has the best selection of hot 4-cylinder RWD engines of any manufacturer. And they all can make plenty of power to make a 510 really fun.

Forget the inline 6's, the 510 has a super short engine bay, any six cylinder is going to go way back into the firewall and your shifter will be in the back seat and you wont have any room for your pedals because the bell housing will be right there. It would require major metal working, custom parts fabrication, custom wiring, custom engine management, etc. ... And since no one has ever done it, you would be completely on your own. Expect to be into it at least $15k and 5+ years, I guarantee you would lose interest in it because the problems would be so huge and expensive.

If you really want a car with a BMW straight 6, then swap one into a E30 M3, heck it is just like a 510 (kind of....). And I have seen pictures of it done.

seems like a stop backwards, considdereing how the 510 destroyed the 2002 in trans am racing

the straight 6 is a squeeze but all the other 6's have been made to fit and I've seem the bmw 6 in an RX7 so why not