Help with 325ix 5-speed swap?

[applecran]

Yup, lots of extensions, top bolt on the 325iX tranny is suppose to be a real biatch. Needs about 3 feet of extension, universal and a torx.

Not needed, but if anyone has a transmission dolly or something simmilar, bring it with ya!

Looks like my swap kit came with a new shift knob, but they forgot the shifter boot, if anyone has one let me know.

See you all tomorrow.

[DS Rook]

I have a spare black leather one from an e36 I think. It was in the M3 when i got it so it should work, at least temporarily. LMK and I may have time to swing it by if you need it.
Cheers
Todd

[applecran]

Originally Posted by DS Rook I have a spare black leather one from an e36 I think. It was in the M3 when i got it so it should work, at least temporarily. LMK and I may have time to swing it by if you need it. Cheers Todd

thanks todd, that would be great. If you can swing by, if not I'll grab it later.

Adam

[applecran]

Hey guys

Little update.

Tranny is in. Real biatch.

I spent most of the weekend running around getting random parts that I was not sent that I needed. That sucked.

Also, the tranny that was shipped to me was damaged in shipping, so I had to go to (un)Affordable to get another one.

Still need to get the hardest bolts into the tranny, then the easy stuff. Will be finishing up on Sunday (that is the plan).

Big thanks to (in no specific order) to all of you who came out, especially Lincoln, Eugene and Ian for some long hours. Could not have got as far as we did without you guys.

[Weeman83]

My pleasure, Adam (was it really? hahaha). It was a good learning experience had by all nonetheless I am sure.

Sunday saw Luis (evo3) and Tim (Sha123456779) pulling a long shift too, althought Luis's nice clothes limited his scope of work to....passing wrenches and working jack handles

[320Colin]

so whats the story? car runs and moves?

[Black_E30]

You're welcome Adam - I enjoyed helping out. Thanks for being a good host with the beer, pop, coffee, and pizza, and cardboard floor.

Did Linc get to "add Celcius" again with torch on day 2 ?

[applecran]

Originally Posted by Weeman83 My pleasure, Adam (was it really? hahaha). It was a good learning experience had by all nonetheless I am sure. Sunday saw Luis (evo3) and Tim (Sha123456779) pulling a long shift too, althought Luis's nice clothes limited his scope of work to....passing wrenches and working jack handles

Yeah, Luis and Tim were great at making sure we could stay under the car and they basically guided and jacked. Tim got dirty too, and in his nice clothes!

No more torching was done on day 2.

Car is not running yet. Tranny is on, but not fully bolted.

Sunday coming up we will finish that and finish hydraulics etc.


Good news, theEuroDepot is going to credit me all the money I spent on parts that they either sent wrong or did not send at all. No arguments or anything. So good for them for taking care of their client in the end.

[Weeman83]

Nice. Then go buy some new guibo nuts and bolts that they never sent. I don't trust the reused ones we have on there now, especially the lock nuts, and ESPECIALLY the one bolt that I anniliated with the impact....

[applecran]

The one with the Lincoln style head?

Yeah i'm going to order them today.

Nothing new to come till sunday. Work and kids keep me busy during the week.

I have 18 new guibo bolts, and a new exhaust hanger for the one that broke ordered from park shore. Sunday morning I'll be back at it with my buddy Mike. Anyone interested in getting to really hard tranny bolts, hooking up clutch lines, bleeding the clutch/brakes, installing exhausts or installing guibos is free to come and check things out and lend a hand.

[Weeman83]

Anybody in tune with reassembling the center console should drop by too. I took her apart good.

[applecran]

Going back at it today.

Anyone have tips for bleeding the clutch? I have a pressure bleeder, not sure if that is necessary or not though...

[applecran]

Status update

Tranny in (bolts only took us an hour... 4 feet of extension)
shifter on (had to lower the tranny after bolting up the cross member...)
new vacuum lines from brake boster
new throttle body gasket
dip stick back on (did not realize it was off till i saw it on the table )
brakes and clutch blead
wiring bypass stuff done (just need to test)

todo still
exhaust mounted
center guibo bolts (they are on back order)
bleed cooling system
oil filter stuff (i have an oil leak there, going to replace whatever it is I need to there while the car is up)

So, next sunday I'll finish up.


Linc, do you remember the rubber exhaust hangers at the back, we can only find one, did one get wrecked or did I lose it?

Thanks again guys!

[Patrick]

I've done this conversion before. Good on you. There are so many nice ix's out there and too few are manual. I'd have to agree about those top bolts... I used every extension i had - both 3/8" and 1/2". Well worth the time and money though. Swapping the pedals can be a bit of a ***** too...

[cameronR]

I just finished the 5 speed swap on my E36 this past Christmas. I learned quite a few things about the oddities of BMWs!

Things I did right:
-pre-wired ignition and backup lights before tearing car apart
-bought all the right parts except one

Things I did wrong:
-failed to buy a guibo (thought my autotranny would have a good one, but it didn't have on at all!!)
-failed to realize I needed to mix and match driveshaft parts (wasted 3 hours scratching my head)
-M42 and M50 cars have different shifter linkage (new parts on backorder)

The result is a great car, which is a bit of dragster, seeing as it has 3.91 gears.

If anyone needs an A5S 300J autotranny - let me know!

Cam