Hi everyone, I used this forum to perform an auto to manual swap however I wasn't able to find reasonably priced (or with decent mileage) Getrags and also found the ZF's higher torque capacity appealing. So I wanted to share my experience mating a ZF 5SPD trans to an M20. Although I did use these forums to find this information, I didn't find it all in one place so I thought I'd compile it as I'm sure due to the growing rarity of G260's this will become a more common swap.
The parts:
M20 Flywheel + bolts (sourced from e30 M20 parts car)
M20 Starter (was already on the car)
'98 328i Pilot bearing
e30 clutch and pressure plate
Long TOB - 21511204525
'98 328i slave cylinder
'98 328i clutch push rod lever
zf 5spd trans from a '98 328i (I only know this due to the vin sticker found on the trans)
Custom lower trans brace
e30 5spd trans mounts (although I had the e36 ones as well, they are identical in relevant dimensions)
e36 Flex disc (this came with my trans)
E36 '98 328i driveshaft (I got the front part with my trans, got rear half elsewhere and had it professionally balanced)
e30 center support bearing
e30 pedal assembly and clutch master cylinder
e30 rear shifter bracket
e36 shift carrier
custom DSSR
My takeaways after doing this swap/ hindsight advices are as follows.
-Find a much much later gen ZF, apparently there is a date where after the Pins/ lean recall does not apply, this cost me a pretty penny due to being Canadian! The only place that sells the entire kit is bimmerworld and the trans top cover caps are NLA from BMW. I tried pieceing the kit part by part but the caps were the shortfall.
-All the crap about reversing a different trans mount/ using the OEM 5spd mount is just that, crap. I have not been able to find anyone who makes the trans mount for this application, hence I made one myself. This isn't hard however in hindsight I would have used thinner gage steel than what I did, I thought to use Aluminum but realized eventually that would likely tear. The springyness of steel is required. When you are making this part, the most important thing to address is driveshaft angle, thats a whole other topic.
-If your in Toronto, see Tony at Cardanic to get your driveshaft in order. There isn't anything related to a driveshaft that guy can't do. They changed Ujoints and welded in washers to keep them in place then balanced it all for a very reasonable dime.
-You will need a different diff ratio eventually, for now my car has a 3.73 and it feels like a go kart on the street with this trans in it. It doesn't bother me much at all for now as this cars a sunday funday car but eventually I can see this being something I will address.
Feel free to reach out with any questions! May the forums live forever!!!..
The parts:
M20 Flywheel + bolts (sourced from e30 M20 parts car)
M20 Starter (was already on the car)
'98 328i Pilot bearing
e30 clutch and pressure plate
Long TOB - 21511204525
'98 328i slave cylinder
'98 328i clutch push rod lever
zf 5spd trans from a '98 328i (I only know this due to the vin sticker found on the trans)
Custom lower trans brace
e30 5spd trans mounts (although I had the e36 ones as well, they are identical in relevant dimensions)
e36 Flex disc (this came with my trans)
E36 '98 328i driveshaft (I got the front part with my trans, got rear half elsewhere and had it professionally balanced)
e30 center support bearing
e30 pedal assembly and clutch master cylinder
e30 rear shifter bracket
e36 shift carrier
custom DSSR
My takeaways after doing this swap/ hindsight advices are as follows.
-Find a much much later gen ZF, apparently there is a date where after the Pins/ lean recall does not apply, this cost me a pretty penny due to being Canadian! The only place that sells the entire kit is bimmerworld and the trans top cover caps are NLA from BMW. I tried pieceing the kit part by part but the caps were the shortfall.
-All the crap about reversing a different trans mount/ using the OEM 5spd mount is just that, crap. I have not been able to find anyone who makes the trans mount for this application, hence I made one myself. This isn't hard however in hindsight I would have used thinner gage steel than what I did, I thought to use Aluminum but realized eventually that would likely tear. The springyness of steel is required. When you are making this part, the most important thing to address is driveshaft angle, thats a whole other topic.
-If your in Toronto, see Tony at Cardanic to get your driveshaft in order. There isn't anything related to a driveshaft that guy can't do. They changed Ujoints and welded in washers to keep them in place then balanced it all for a very reasonable dime.
-You will need a different diff ratio eventually, for now my car has a 3.73 and it feels like a go kart on the street with this trans in it. It doesn't bother me much at all for now as this cars a sunday funday car but eventually I can see this being something I will address.
Feel free to reach out with any questions! May the forums live forever!!!..
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