[holyshash]

Recently I was surfing through Youtube when I came across a video where they were swapping a W204 C250 with a C63 V8. This made me wonder if it was legal to swap engines in India. I looked up for the answer to my question, but I could not find a proper answer to it. Thus I opened up TeamBHP and tried finding a thread related to it but all I found was an old thread from 2008 which again, did not have a proper answer. All I found was:

• You can swap an engine if its from the same manufacturer or it has the same amount of power.
  
• You can swap engines if you can get the right permissions from your states RTO, which seemed to be the right answer but upon looking deeper, many disagreed with this and said that one cant swap the engine without transferring the chassis number.
  
• A petrol to petrol swap is allowed but not a petrol to diesel or a diesel to petrol.

I don't have any other place to confirm weather this information is true or not. If there are any members who work at the RTO or are aware about this topic please give me an insight if its possible or not to swap engines legally.

Lets say I want to swap a W211 E280 petrol with a 6.2L M156 V8 from a W211 E63, is it possible to do this legally?

Many said that the police or government don't look that deep into your car, but if I want my car insured, I must know if its legal to do so. Driving an illegal car is not worth the risk in my opinion.

[GTO]

Nope, there is no 100% legal way to do it. Those who do engine swaps follow the "rather than ask for permission, it's better to apologize if caught" philosophy. The best way to get a new engine is to rebuild your current engine. Second choice, get the same engine (preferred from the dealer / OEM). Anything else is illegal. And frankly, from the authority's point of view, it is impossible for them to classify just any & every engine swap as being roadworthy or not.

[holyshash]

Originally Posted by GTO

Nope, there is no 100% legal way to do it. Those who do engine swaps follow the "rather than ask for permission, it's better to apologize if caught" philosophy. The best way to get a new engine is to rebuild your current engine. Second choice, get the same engine (preferred from the dealer / OEM). Anything else is illegal. And frankly, from the authority's point of view, it is impossible for them to classify just any & every engine swap as being roadworthy or not.

The 'better to apologize if caught' mentality might work with the police but what about insuring your car? In case of an accident or any other mess up, how can one justify the engine swap or how can you explain it to the authorities that you are missing a chassis number
I can't get the same engine for the W211 because the stock engine is perfectly good, the swap is to be done for a V8 because there is only 1 original W211 E63 in India that has been recorded.
I am from Ahmedabad, the police here are lenient in terms of mods though.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by holyshash

what about insuring your car?

No, you cannot. In smaller accidents, Insurance may not bother much (depending on the surveyor).

Also, I don't think in our country we have an ecosystem as we see say in USA, heading to a place and getting a brand new or used V8 or whatever.

the swap is to be done for a V8 because there is only 1 original W211 E63 in India that has been recorded.

Am sure you will be aware that it's not just the engine on newer cars but almost everything, from electrical to mechanicals that you will need changing. In most cases, the costs of such will be prohibitive.

The best thing to do is to find a car that already has something you like and take it from there.

[DicKy]

Like the Arabs memes go "Police not there, habibi everything legal"

Only legal way is maybe for your engine to be damaged and the same spec engine changed from the dealer.

You can try to be legal by illegally etching/drafting the old engine number/chassis number into the new one, but that would work only if the engine layout is same. Like putting a 1.5/1.6l four cylinder engine in a car that had 1.2/1.4l engine. A casual glance wouldn't make out the engine difference, especially if rest of the car is stock.

But a V8 in a car that had an inline-4 in the first palce. Any self respecting MVD official can find that out. Nope. Possible in India, but never legal in India.

[dhanushs]

Plenty of us here have done engine transplants. All should be well till you end up in an accident, or go for fitness of your car. Insurance guys will deny insurance cos of the swap. Fitness also demands the car be in the original condition.

However, you can approach the RTO if your current engine is beyond repair and AFAIK, there are clauses which allow you to replace with a different engine - If - the original engine is no longer available, provided the engine is of a similar spec and from the same OEM.

[nithishsaba]

The complexities regarding engine swap is well discussed but what about a transmission swap?
Like if a car had both an auto and manual transmission, swapping the former with the latter is legal?
Or swapping a car with 5 speed to a 6 speed?
I couldn't find any documents available online regarding this.

[Pennant1970]

I grew up in a world of engine transplants in the 1980s. I myself have "lent a shoulder" to lift engines in and out of bays. Mostly, it was Ambassadors being given after market Matador engines. I recall a couple of Padminis were dieselised (don't know what engines were used).

Enfield (Royal and otherwise) Bullets were given Kirloskar diesel motors from pumps occasionally. My mechanic fabricated a steel plate to marry one to a transmission of a bike from Eastern Europe during the pre-Glasnost era.

I am sure they were all regularised in the RTO. Have the rules changed so much in these years? Or are the interpretations different?

[Joe367]

If an electric converted car or bike can be legally registered in India, then why not engine swap? ��

[swift.surya]

Everything is legal until you get caught. Make what you will of that. But it is better to be safe than sorry. I've seen an ambassador rocking a K14 dualjet swap from a BS6 swift on instagram. Probably got permission from the RTO(I'm sure about it being the K14 because I've fiddled a lot under the bonnet of my uncle's dualjet swift, and so i know what it looks like). As DBhpian dhanushs said above, if your engine is beyond repair, with enough evidence from an ASC, you can approach the RTO and just hope they allow you to do the same. Also, the 6.3 V8 has an engine cover so no one would notice if you did the swap

[ads295]

I've heard from my RTO agent that the RTO agrees to change engine numbers at the time of re-registration if there's some proof that the engine was swapped because the old one bombed or was unusable. This is anecdotal though.

[deathwalkr]

Reminded of someone here who plonked a honda city (?) engine in a brio. Maybe you could search that thread and see how he went about it.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by holyshash

Lets say I want to swap a W211 E280 petrol with a 6.2L M156 V8 from a W211 E63, is it possible to do this legally?

Many said that the police or government don't look that deep into your car, but if I want my car insured

Generally these are the modifications allowed in India as ruled by SC (in 2019).

1) One can change the colour of the vehicle as the SC has said that changing the color of the vehicle depending on the customer’s will not deter a vehicle from getting registered.

2) Minor fitments that door protectors, decals, rain guard can be added.

3) One can change the tyres in affordable cars as the manufacturers usually offer different spec tyres for base and top variant.

4) The engine can be changed, but it requires prior permission from the RTO. If the protocols are not followed, the vehicle’s registration can be cancelled.

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In the 1980s, many Ambassador cars underwent modifications to switch their petrol engines to Matador F205 diesel engines (the removed petrol engine was sold for just Rs 850/- if it had an alternator ). Notably, some people even purchased new Ambassadors specifically to convert them to diesel. The engine modifications could be officially endorsed by contacting the relevant RTO. However, this practice was later halted due to safety and other concerns.

Prior to the discontinuation, a well-known specialist in Coimbatore, Mr. Kumaresan, had completed over 250 engine conversions, utilizing imported Isuzu D engines and updating the vehicles in the process.

When enquired now with an agent recently, these details have to be furnished.

Details of the replacing engine (is it taken from a scrap vehicle, if then disclose its RC with owner details, Chassis no., Eng no. etc., NOC etc., to avoid a stolen spare)

He concluded, it is better to get the same engine from OEM with original invoice and warranty and avoid the modifications. He emphasized to visit the RTO to get the things confirmed and hinted the money factor (hope u understand )).

[holyshash]

Thankyou everybody for replying!
After looking at the replies, it sums up that there is no 100% legal way to swap an engine, but you can swap it with the same engine from the OEM. Swapping with the same engine also requires proper permissions from the RTO and a lot of hassle which doesn't make it worth it to do so. Neither can you get insured on a swap fully unless you pull some strings.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Reminded of someone here who plonked a honda city (?) engine in a brio. Maybe you could search that thread and see how he went about it.

I will check it out, do you have a link to the thread?

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by holyshash

I will check it out, do you have a link to the thread?

Sure, here you go:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ty-engine.html (Mrs. Frankmehta's Honda "CRIO™": Brio with a City Engine!)