Originally posted by stonea
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A lot of good info here. The rear end ratio is the killer.
BMW doesn't do tall overdrives. The tallest top gear in any BMW stick is already the 0.81 fifth in the Getrag 260 (&265). IOW, a 6 speed won't give you any lower RPM on the highway than the trans that's already in the car.
At the other end, the 6 speeds do have shorter 1st gears, but a high powered engine in an E30 doesn't need a deep first. That's why I suggested swapping the CTS G260 gears with 3.46 first into the proposed frankentrans.
The ZF has a 1:1 fifth, and thus needs much taller diff gearing than the 260. While tall gears are available in the E46 diffs, they have to be swapped over to the E53 diff. The 3.07 E53 diff uses a different case than the numerically larger ratios in order to have clearance for the larger pinion. This means that even to have the parts to build a tall E53 front diff, one needs to get both the 3.07 for the large pinion case *AND* a Euro market E46 diff for the gears.
...*AND* build a matching rear end.
Overall, it's far easier to snag the 24V G260 case and swap it. You don't necessarily have to overhaul the trans, and the front case half can be swapped with hand tools and a steering wheel puller.
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