Auto to 5speed Transmission Conversion Write up(56k no

[etxxz]

well...i hope the thread starter stll has the pics in which case PLEASE find another host...or let me know i will arrange it all for you. its a good thread.

[Digitalwave]

He hasn't posted in FOREVER.

[SpecRaceM5]

I will be doing the swap next week hopefully, and will be sure to get a bunch of pictures and fill in any blanks to get a good write up together. I'll post it up if I get the car back together!

[Marvin]

Check this for the auto to 5speed conversion.

Im still working on downloading some of the pics.

http://www.freewebs.com/ancheta_e30workshop/autotomanualconversion.htm

[SpecRaceM5]

Looks pretty good. I got mine done. It really wasn't that difficult, but I took some short cuts. The hardest part I would say is getting the transmission bellhousing bolts off and on. I would recomend pulling the motor if you plan ahead and doing any seals on that while your at it. Maybe lump it into one bit overhaul project. I personaly cut 2 holes in my firewall to get the top 2 bolts with ease. I plan to make a removeable bell housing for future clutch jobs and transmission swaps if neccesary. My car is however a track car and has no heater core or carpet in the way. If I were to do this again on a car with a full interior I would pull the motor. I am actually going to do this swap again this weekend probably on another car of mine.

As for the pedals, I have an air bag car and I could have gone the easy route and just pulled the brake pedal off instead of the whole assembly and replace it with the clutch and new brake pedal. I assume this works with non air bag cars as well and I would deffinitely recomend going this route.

The wiring is much simpler then it was made out to be. Maybe it's again because my car is gutted and most of the useless wires are gone. I found that there was 1 ground and 1 extra wire when I changed the shifter. The reverse light was a simple, un-plug from the old shifter and plug into the new shifter, but there is an extra wire (I don't recall the color that needs to be conected to the green wire on the reverse light. One way or another the green and black needs to connect to the green and yellow for it to start.

I also found that when they say remove the throttle cable (there is one that goes to the transmission on auto's) it means REMOVE IT COMPLETELY! Don't just dissconnect it. Mine got caught on the way down and made for an interesting removal.

I also found that doing this on a lift, when I went to put the new center support bearing in for the drive shaft, the car had settled and the holes did not line up. I had a hell of a time expanding the transmission tunnle to get them to line up, but with some patience, and trying a million ways to expand the tunnle, I got it done. I used a combination of scissor jacks, pry bars, and punches to get it in.

Nothing else really comes to mind when doing this swap other then get all the parts you need ahead of time and as many tools as you can to make the job go smoother. I made several trips to get fluids, tools, and parts. It took me a week to get it done, but if I were better prepared I would say I could get it done in a weekend.

If anyone has any questions about the swap, feel free to ask. You can PM me as well as sometimes I miss old threads I post in.

Cheers,

Brian

PS. BENTLEY MANUAL IS YOUR FRIEND!

[92 mtechnic cabrio]

Holy Crap Marvin Is Back

[delatlanta1281]

we did this swap, and everything was fine.... until we started the car and put it in gear. The car barely goes into gear when running, when you get it in, the clutch is engaged even with the pedal to the floor. What the fuck?

[FredK]

How confident are you that your hydraulic system is fully bled? Does the pedal come back to the top? How did you bleed the system?

[delatlanta1281]

pretty confident, the shaft is coming out 3/4 of an inch. It has been bled a TON of times. The process was pumping and tightening the the slave from below with someone in the car on the clutch pedal with the car off. The pedal comes all the way out. it feels like the clutch in my car just that it is more than slightly engaged the whole time. The higher the gear the easier it is to shift into. Reverse is the roughest.

[delatlanta1281]

Pilot bearing?

[FredK]

Nah, the pilot bearing barely does anything, except to stabilize the nose of the transmission input shaft.

Bent shift fork? Damn I hope you can figure this out without pulling the trans.

[delatlanta1281]

No. If bleeding the master What are the proper steps. it is new as well as the slave.

[delatlanta1281]

bump for help!

[FredK]

I pressure bled a completely dry hydraulic system, and it works great. Try borrowing a pressure bleeder if possible.

[delatlanta1281]

Ok I posted the following on the Bay.

Ok
From the beginning.
Car = 1990 325 IS
Tranny = 1988 325 I vert.
Clutch = single mass
Flywheel + single mass
New master
New disc
New Slave
New bushings
Pedals done with helper spring adjusted
Wiring complete

3/4 of an inch of travel for slave cylinder.
System bled completly


Symptoms.
Car goes into gear with no problem when off.
When on it "clicks" into gear with the brake on.
With the brake off and pedal to the floor it rolls in 1st, 2nd, and reverse.
the release is right for an e30, but the disengage doesn't happen halfway down the throw like mine or any other I have driven.

Possibilities in my eyes are....
Fork is worn. (not too likely)
Wrong clutch disk?
Other than that I am at a loss.
The car is "driveable" but it seems the longer you mess with it while running the harder it is to get in gear. We reverse bled the system with a syringe from the bottom up. we pushed fluid through the system five to six times.

we centered everything but didn't use a centering tool, the trans was greased and slid in like a dream.
Throwout bearing is the right number and meets Bentley's specs as does the flywheel.
That's it, I am at a loss. My buddy is actually driving my e30 (our third car) 30 miles every day since this started. While he is one of my best friends, if you guys understand the traffic in Atlanta it's really only a matter of time before "crunch"! So...... yeah.