Hello all, i recently purchased a 97' 850 GLE wagon with an already seized engine due to oil failure/low oil (ran completely empty, no knocks. but would not turn over once the key was taken out), i may be able to take er' apart and potentially save her from the inside out once the weather warms up here. But i am contemplating just purchasing a used engine with decently low kms as the current is pretty high as is. not sure itd be worth the cost in the long run oppose to starting fresh with a new engine. im just curious as to what i can do with my 97' 850 GLE wagon, can i throw the B5234T5 engine from an R into my current? i would like to keep is as original as possible, no aftermarket parts. having said that,id like to throw another 850 engine in it, prefferably a higher performance engine, as the base GLE is 142hp. what issues will i run into during the process, what are my realistic options without breaking the bank too hard?

thank you in advance for the help as im a young car enthusiast with little mechanical knowledge except at home repairs and a little engine disassembly. this is the car of my dreams, running or not i had to have it.

 

swapping in a turbo to a NA car requires installing the turbo's engine wiring harness and computer along with any related turbo engine specific bits. It's doable but not as straight forward as either swapping in the same engine model or another NA engine. Best way would be to see if you can find a donor car but given the effort and value of your car, I'd pull the old engine first to see if it can be rebuilt then replace like for like. PS there's nothing special about the T5R engine - its the same as the T5s more widely available - it just has a upgraded ECU ( at least in the 95/96 years - I'd need to research if the 97s replaced the 15G turbo with the 16T - either way if I was doing a swap, I'd install the bigger turbo just the same).