SWAP in France (question about the homologation)

[9gasl]

Hello.

I'm here because I would like to know how is the <<engine SWAP>> situation in France.

I'm writing from Italy, where it's not possible to tune or modify cars, especially without the written consent from the carmaker.

My situation is that, where I live, the governments killed the diesel wich are not EURO6, and however the EURO6 are the next to be banned... I had to get rid of my fam. motorhome and an EURO6 is just crazily priced, especially since they will expire about in 2026... it would be a crazy loss of money. Of course the carmakers will never consent to this since they literally live on the forced demolitions of people's cars.

 

I would be glad to swap a motorhome's diesel engine with a gasoline one. This is not possible in italy, while once in germany was an easy task but now it's not anymore because of new rules, and you have to face a very expensive emission test (starting from 3500 euro) while many tuv ask for the carmaker's consent.

UK, instead, was a good option before the BREXIT.

 

I see in internet and TV that in France there is still some freedom. For example, there is a guy in internet who swapped a golf 1.4 with a 3.0 (youtube: "coupable de tout"), so

I would like to know if in France RIGHT NOW it is possible to swap the engine of a car with another one WITHOUT the CONSENT of the carmaker and WITHOUT such an expensive emission test. I mean, if a vehicle is a deisel EURO2, the required emission test should be the one fo the normal tecknik control in which they test if the engine respects the emission of an EURO2 gasoline engine.

 

My project could be a ww based motorhome, swapped with a gasoline 1.800 5 valves turbo (later a LPG system could complete the work). A french guy could register it as his car in order to register the modifications, then I would buy it.

Once it is homologated in Franche, here are FORCED to accept it.

 

So,... what is the situation in France?

 

Thanks in advance for the answers

 

[misato]

hello. sorry nobody could answer you before.

 

"coupable de tout" ( "guilty of everything" ) clearly said in one of his video that he was forced to destroy his first ever modified car. (think it was an opel tigra ?)

 

you seem to think only about emission registration, but in france, you have a registration document for your car / motorhome / truck / motorbike / whatever that has an engine   ( "carte grise" ) that clearly says the energy (gasoline / diesel), the displacement, and the power of the engine

so swapping one diesel engine for a gasoline one is essentially forbidden. you can try to do it anyway, but once you encounter police, they can immobilize your car and force you to destroy it.

(as the swapped car doesn't comply with his registration )

plus as your car isn't what its registration says anymore, your insurance doesn't work (you're insured for a certain model of vehicle, and you modified this model)

you could also have this problem if you just modify your ECU to add power to your engine.

 

you can take your swapped car to some specialized administration to register a new model, but it's time consuming and costly :

https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/homologation-des-vehicules

 

but maybe in some other country, it's easier and once registered somewhere in europe, your vehicle is registered for all european union countries