E30+M50+ZF+E30 driveshaft= HELP!

[etxxz]

don't know if it was covered here...know that your tranny didnt take a crap from the m50. its from you, years of bad driving or just age and combination thereof. no need for all these parts unless you want the gearing from the ZF, get another g260... just fyi to save you some $$

[e30s52]

He already has the tranny.

[WADE30]

don't know if it was covered here...know that your tranny didnt take a crap from the m50. its from you, years of bad driving or just age and combination thereof. no need for all these parts unless you want the gearing from the ZF, get another g260... just fyi to save you some $$

I figured it wasn't the M50, it had only been in a week. It was also the first time I got to drive the car at all, the M20 in it was blown. So I guess it was the 220,000 well served miles on that did it. I would hope I didn't do enough bad driving in a week to cause that sort of damage...;)

And almost after $250 in labor to make the shifter straight, and a new Getrag 260. The cost of getting this ZF was $350, let's say I get a drive shaft at the most $150, they are basically equal in price. Just depends on preference.

And I tried twisting the selector rod and adjusting the shifter carrier, nothing worked in the end to make the shifter centered. Even my own fabricated transmission brace didn't sit the engine/tranny at the perfect area, even though I measured it perfectly.

All in all, what I am trying to say is getting a ZF was the best idea to me, cost efficient for the setup I am personally looking for.

[jahnaboi]

Just do what I did.

Purchase a 1988 325e Guibo (96mm) from BMA for around 30 - 35 dollars.
Get a 9/1986 - 1988 325e front-half driveshaft. Around 12 - 15 dollars at the junkyard.
Get a new e30 CSB - 30 -40 dollars.
Balance the driveshaft (should require close very little shaving to balance it) - don't know how much but it isn't much.

All of this works and is the cheapest with new parts you could possibly do. It is exactly what I am running.

[WADE30]

Is the new E30 CSB necessary? or can I use my old one? how long do they usually last?

[shiboujin]

Is the new E30 CSB necessary? or can I use my old one? how long do they usually last?

It's one of those "you're already in there, might as well" things. if your drive shaft is balanced and your CSB is fine, you can probably get away with it. But why?

Altho, I'm not one to talk, I reused my 1 year old one on my swap.

[mazur]

Yah, my E30 had over 250,000 miles and I re-used my CSB (though I'm not usre if it was the original) and still works fine after two years :)

I say if it spins smoothly no reason to replace it.

[WADE30]

A friend of mine just gave me his E36 M3 driveshaft but it's a six-bolt...I wonder if I could just use the front half? Or I guess I could take me stock e30 driveshaft and the M3 drive shaft to a shop and get the four-bolt rear welded on to the E36 M3 driveshaft then have it balanced.

[rThor432]

So that would mean you would want a driveshaft from a 325e produced no sooner than 5/1986.

Good man, thanks for checking for the man. I was just lazy and thinking of the dates that seemed right in my mind.

[WADE30]

From comparison of the M3 drive shaft and my stock E30 one, I don't think there a way to put the front half of the M3 DS on my E30 DS. The CBS is located before the U-joint on the M3 DS but located after the U-joint on the E30 DS.

I wonder if it would cost a lot to cut the front of the M3 DS and adapt it to my E30 DS then get it balanced. OR it might be better to keep most of the M3 DS and then cut weld on the rear of the 4-bolt E30 DS.

Can anyone of you older members enlighten me on this issue?

thanks!

Wade

[orangechicken]

How the heck do you get the CSB off an E36 M3 manual driveshaft (with u-joints)?!

I have a bit of a frankencar. It's an S52+driveline swap into a '91 318i. It has the CSB for the chassis (offset style from later E30s, not centered) but it's installed backwards. So I wanted to remove it, flip it and reinstall (to get rid of a vibration under load in 1st and 2nd and unloaded between 40-55mph).

I've got a bearing puller and it just appears to be pulling the outer race or the dust guard or something else that's *not* the bearing itself.

I've got it off the car now and will try again with the bearing puller but I think I've wrecked it unfortunately. This was supposed to be the *easy* part of the whole process…

Some pic:

[orangechicken]

Got mine off! That silver bit in the pictures is just part of the driveshaft, not the bearing. However, in the process, I wrecked the dust cap / support cup and nearly pulled the bearing out of its rubber housing. Looks like I'll be buying a new one!

[shiboujin]

Fuck it right in the waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles.

[M3PO]

I haven't been able to get them off without destroying it.

[DrLeadFoot]

Do you need to install the driveshaft backwards?