24V AWD Swap Knowledge Base

[flyboyx]

Custom right axle with E34 inner part and CV with a E46 middle and outer might work. But then it will cost money so the benefits will probably none :P

even if you could get it made for free, this will not work either. the area where the axle spline meets the hub is COMPLETELY different.

[Nisse Järnet]

even if you could get it made for free, this will not work either. the area where the axle spline meets the hub is COMPLETELY different.

I meant custom middle shaft, not E46 :P My bad!

[flyboyx]

ok, i guess i don't really see the point of doing so. the center axle shaft of an e34 doesn't have any moving parts so i don't see how it could go bad. the splined ends of e30, e34, and e46 axle shafts are all different so no parts will interchange. i am talking about the internal splined ends inside the cv joints.

this is kind of hard to explain, but the e46 shafts that i used to own(before i destroyed them by taking them all apart) seemed to be made of cheaper materials if that makes any sense. e30 and e34 units are milled on an expensive machine. the e46 part seems to have had the splines molded into the shaft. mine were refurbished units that were supposedly oem. the ball bearing set up in the axles are all completely different and all 3 axles have different size ball bearings in them. i see it as a total shit show.

it would be easier to score a one night stand with Keira Knightly including a long hard session of ass to mouth.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Maybe i can make the right axle fit by shortening the carrier bolted to the sump? As long as the total axle lenght is almost the same. The left E46 axle should be 605mm total lenght and right 926mm. Im going to measure the E34 axles tomorow. The track width is very similar, so im guessing axles will be close as well.

As everyone else said, it won't work that way.

As I said in the first post of this thread, you need to keep the FDA (Front Drive Assembly) from whatever application you choose together. If you use an E34 pan, then you need to use an E34 oil pump, pickup tube, diff, and inner CV joints. Same for E46, E53, etc.

You also need to keep the hub & bearing assemblies together... use the outer CV's, bearings and hubs from the same application.

Then have a company like Strange or Mark Williams make you custom shafts to connect the inners you selected to the outers you selected.

Or cut the original shafts apart and weld up tubular axles using mix/match ends.

[stonea]

Does anyone happen to know if the internals of a e30 M3 rack fit in a ix rack? I'm sure no one does and I kind of doubt it would work. If it did, I know the cost vs benefit wouldn't equal out, but I've just been thinking about it recently.

[flyboyx]

never even thought to think of this. i used to have an m3 rack in addition to my extra ix racks that i have laying around.

[nando]

Won't work - they are completely different.

[stonea]

Won't work - they are completely different.

I figured, it was worth a shot

[nando]

E46 xi can work. Garagetastic can make a steering coupler for it, need to mod the subframe and bore out the struts to fit the larger E46 balljoints, which need to be shortened a little bit. Its a LOT faster than the E30 rack!

[Sebbe]

Here is the manual as promised, only the german version. I will try to make a quick google translate version also. Ive only read some of it, but it seems the 525ix is a lot more sophisticated than i thought, the transfer case and rear differential is actually PWM controlled. Not on/off as i thought.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=65376560416306367097

[stonea]

E46 xi can work. Garagetastic can make a steering coupler for it, need to mod the subframe and bore out the struts to fit the larger E46 balljoints, which need to be shortened a little bit. Its a LOT faster than the E30 rack!

Will it work with the stock drivetrain? I thought there was clearance issues, but its been a while since I looked into all of this.

[nando]

the input shaft is further from the diff so it should clear just fine. It didn't clear the E34 diff in the E34 pan, but that's because the E34 diff is a couple inches further forward than the E30. The E34 diff wouldn't clear the E30 rack either, at least not without modifications to the oil pan or pushing the engine further back.

[Sebbe]

quick google translate version without pictures http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php...71304050979414

[Nisse Järnet]

Here is the manual as promised, only the german version. I will try to make a quick google translate version also. Ive only read some of it, but it seems the 525ix is a lot more sophisticated than i thought, the transfer case and rear differential is actually PWM controlled. Not on/off as i thought.
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php...60416306367097

The download doesn't work very good, file is corrupted it says :S File size is wrong so it appears that it only downloads a tiny bit then stops :P I'll try later.

[Sebbe]

it only worked on my pc, not my phone.
these links are better:
full german PDF: BMW_525ix_manual
translated word doc: 525ix_manual_translated