Used BMW engines, shown in the light.

A VIN is the vehicle identification number. It is the factory name of one car, not of a model. Bayerische Motoren asks for it because the badge on the back of the car is a nickname. The VIN is the full name. Without it, a match is a guess, and this store does not sell guesses.

Count the characters. A modern VIN has seventeen. Letters and numbers are mixed. The letters I, O, and Q are left out, because they look too much like one and zero. If your string is shorter than seventeen, you have copied a part number, a plate, or only a piece of the VIN. If it is longer, a space or a dash crept in. Write it as one line.

You can find it in three calm places. Look at the bottom corner of the windscreen on the driver side, from outside the car. Look at the sticker on the driver door frame when the door is open. Look at the registration papers. All three should agree. If the windscreen and the papers do not agree, stop and find out why before you buy an engine. The wrong VIN sends us down the wrong path.

Read it twice. A single wrong character can point at a different car. Zero and the letter O are the classic mix-up, even though a true VIN avoids the letter O. People still type O by habit. B and eight, S and five, and one and the letter I cause the same trouble. Read the VIN aloud to someone else if you can.

What the VIN is not: it is not the engine code printed in big type for you to decode at the kitchen table. Some digits describe the maker, the plant, and a check character. The useful part for an engine buyer is that the whole number lets a person look up the build of that car. That look-up is our job. You do not need to become a VIN scholar. You need to send a clean copy.

Send it before you pay. Say which listing you are looking at, in words we can match, such as the E90 N47 or the G30 B58. We compare that listing with the car the VIN describes. The answer is yes or no, plus a short reason if it is no. A no is a good result. It saves you the cost of the wrong iron.

A VIN check is free because it is part of the scheme of work, not an extra product. We would rather turn a sale away than crate an engine for a car that cannot use it. If someone asks you to pay for the check itself, that is not this store’s order of work.

Keep a photo of the VIN as well as the typed line. A photo lets us see if a character was misread. Do not send a photo of the whole registration document if you do not need to. The seventeen digits, the car year if you know it, and the listing name are enough to start.

When the answer is yes, write down the engine code we name. That code, not the badge, is what should be on the engine when the crate opens. The VIN got us to the code. The code is what you check with your eyes.

Bayerische Motoren sells a used long block, unless a card says it is a kit. A long block is the heart of the engine as it left the donor car. It is not a rebuilt engine, and it is not a box of new parts with an old name.

Inside, you should expect the block itself, the cylinder head, the crankshaft, the pistons, the connecting rods, and the camshafts. These are the parts that make it a long block rather than a bare block. Valves live in the head. The photos on the card show the outside, so you can see the turbo, the manifolds, and the sensors that are still attached. If a part is in the photo, it is part of what we pack. If a part is not in the photo and not in the words, do not assume it is hidden in the crate.

What we do not do: we do not open the engine, fit new pistons, and call it rebuilt. A rebuild is a different product, with a different price and a different promise. If you need a rebuilt engine, this scheme of work is the wrong shop. We would rather say that plainly than dress a used engine in new language.

A short block is a smaller idea. It is the bottom end, without the head. We do not sell that as if it were complete. If you only needed a head, or only a turbo, say so. A long block is the heavy middle of the car, not a single spare.

Ancillary parts cause the most confusion. Alternators, power-steering pumps, air-conditioning compressors, and wiring looms may or may not travel with the engine. The rule is the photo and the sentence on the card. A loom that is not pictured is not a surprise gift. Ask before you pay if your workshop needs a named part.

For a normal BMW replacement, your workshop will move some parts from the old engine to the new one, or use the parts that arrived. That labour is their scheme of work, not ours. We are responsible for sending the unit we showed. They are responsible for fitting it to the car. Keep those two jobs separate so a delay in the workshop is not mistaken for a missing part in the crate.

Oil, filters, and coolant are workshop materials. They are not packed as a kit unless a card says so. A used engine should be filled and bled by the people who fit it, to their own standard. We do not ship an engine full of oil.

When the crate opens, compare three things with the page: the code, the photo, and the list of what was included. Do this before the engine is lifted into the car. The scheme of work asks for that look on day one. A problem found on day one is a store problem. A problem found after a long installation is much harder to see clearly.

Petrol engines on this shelf follow their own timeline. Do not use the diesel letters as a map. A B47 is a diesel. A B48 is a petrol. The number is close. The fuel is not. Bayerische Motoren keeps them in separate sentences for that reason.

The famous sixes start, for many buyers, with N54 and N55. N54 is the earlier turbo six, often with two turbos. N55 is the next six, arranged differently. Both can sit in cars that say 335i or 535i. They are not the same engine. If your car is one of those, the VIN is the only calm way to know which card to open.

B58 is the newer petrol six. You meet it in later 340i, 540i, and many X cars. It is modular, in the same broad era as B47 and B48, but it is petrol and it is a six. People like it because it is strong and smooth. Liking it is not a match. A B58 does not replace an N55 just because both are turbo sixes that feel modern.

Smaller petrol engines use other names. N20 and N26 are four-cylinder turbos from the previous era. B48 is the newer four. B38 is a three-cylinder. N43, N46, and N52 are older petrols you may still need for an older car. MINI adds W10 and W11 from earlier cars, and N14 or N18 on later ones. If the car is a MINI, say so. The scheme of work is the same, the aisle is different.

The V8 names to know are N63, and the S branches S63 and S68. N63 is the twin-turbo V8 used in larger BMWs. S63 is the hotter M version. They share a family feeling and they are not interchangeable by hope. S55 and S58 are sixes for M3 and M4 cars, not V8s. The letter S means a high-power branch. It does not tell you the cylinder count. Read the number too.

Older petrols still matter. M54 is a common six in E46 and E39 cars. M52 and M50 came before it. N62 is an older V8. If your car is from those years, do not shop only in the B58 aisle because that is the name you have seen online. Shop the era your car actually belongs to.

A simple study method: write fuel, then cylinder count, then era. Example: petrol, six, N generation. That phrase should match the card before you fall in love with the photo. Then the VIN checks the version. This is the same scheme as the diesel line, with a different alphabet.

Prices sit higher on many petrol sixes and V8s because the engines are newer or larger. A higher price is not a sign that the scheme changes. You still look, match, hear the shipping fee, and only then pay. The photo still has to be the unit in the crate.

One more petrol caution. Turbo hardware is not a shopping shortcut. People hear twin turbo or single turbo and think that phrase is the whole engine. It is one feature. The family letter, the cylinder count, and the VIN still come first. A twin-turbo V8 and a twin-turbo six are not neighbours you can swap because the phrase matched. Say the full code, then send the VIN, then look at the photo again.

Some buyers are not replacing a BMW engine with the same BMW engine. They want an M57 diesel in a Land Rover Defender. Bayerische Motoren treats that as its own scheme of work. The engine can be right and the kit can still be wrong if the order of choices is skipped.

Choice one is the Defender itself. A 90, a 110, a 130, and a 127 are not the same body. Length changes what has to fit. Say which one you have before you choose a kit. A photo of a Defender in a field is not a chassis name. Write 90 or 110 in words.

Choice two is the M57 version. The family includes calmer and stronger tunes, and technical updates often marked TU or TU2. Power figures you will hear are roughly the 163, 184, 193, 204, 218, 231, 272, and 286 horsepower steps, depending on the exact engine. You do not need to chase the highest number. You need the version your kit and your use actually call for. More power is not a better scheme if the rest of the kit was drawn for a calmer engine.

Choice three is the gearbox you will keep or the gearbox you will add. Common names in this work are the R380, a ZF automatic, a GM automatic, and a Getrag box from a donor. The adaptor and the clutch story follow this choice. Pick the gearbox before you pick the adaptor. The other way around builds a pile of parts that do not meet.

Choice four is left-hand or right-hand drive. It changes the space around the engine and the path of some parts. Say it early. It is a small sentence that prevents a large mistake.

Choice five is how complete the kit should be. A long block is only the engine. A fuller kit can add mounts, a sump for the conversion, an adaptor plate, a loom and ECU plan, a clutch and flywheel, and a written list. The fullest kits include a gearbox as well. Each step up is more of the scheme done on paper before the crate, and a higher price. Buy the level you understand. Do not buy the longest list if you cannot say what each line is for.

The order, again: body, M57 version, gearbox, driving side, kit level. Then the price, then payment, then the crate. We do not start by selling you an adaptor and hoping the engine appears later. The engine and the kit are chosen together.

This page is the scheme, not a fitting manual. Bolting an engine into a Defender is workshop work, with its own measurements and its own risks. We are responsible for sending the parts the card names. Your workshop is responsible for the fit. If you do not have a workshop that has done this job, solve that before you pay for the heaviest kit.

When the crate arrives, check the list against the parts on the floor before anything is modified. A missing adaptor is obvious on day one and muddy on day ten. The scheme of work ends, for us, when the agreed parts are in your hands and they match the page.

Money is a late step in the Bayerische Motoren scheme of work. It comes after the look, after the VIN, and after the shipping number. If you remember only one thing from this section, remember the place of payment. It is not a deposit to start a search. The search is already done.

The engine price is the number on the card, in euro. It is not a starting bid. Shipping is extra and it is said in words before you pay. Add them. That sum is what you are agreeing to. A workshop’s labour is a third cost, and it is theirs, not ours. Do not fold their hours into our price, and do not ask our price to include a job we are not doing.

Pay only when you can say the code out loud and you know it matches the VIN. If you cannot say it, you are not ready, even if the photo is beautiful. Beauty is not a step in the scheme. The code is.

After payment, the crate follows the packing gate in the previous section. You receive a tracking note. Use it. A silent week is a reason to ask, not a reason to assume the worst or the best. The journey is door to door on the usual roads: Europe, the UK, and the USA. Farther places are a question you ask before you pay, not after.

On arrival, look before you fit. This is still our scheme, for one short moment. Compare the engine with the page. If it matches, the workshop scheme starts, and our shipping scheme is complete. If it does not match, stop and tell us before parts are modified or the engine is mounted. A clear day-one note is the useful note.

Warranty, when a card or a reply says you have one, is up to twelve months and only on the terms we actually state for that engine. It is not a promise that a used engine has no past, and it is not a promise that covers a wrong installation or a wrong car. Read the sentence we give you for that unit. A warranty that is not written down is not a warranty.

What sits outside the warranty in any honest scheme: damage from a bad fit, missing oil, a car the VIN did not describe, and parts we never said were included. What sits inside, when we have said so, is a fault in the long block you were sold, found in the agreed time, and reported before the story gets muddy.

If you are unsure, ask one question at a time. Does this code match this VIN. What is the shipping number. What is in the crate. Is there a written warranty on this unit. Those four questions are the whole money section of the scheme. Bayerische Motoren would rather answer them slowly than rush a payment.

Then the page can end. You have the order of work: look, match, price, pay, crate, check, and only then the workshop. The photos can keep moving. The order should not.