E36 Driveshaft too long on my E30 M50 swap

[rosphill]

I am installing a 1994 M50TU and Getrag 250 tranny into a 87 325e.
Procured a 94 driveshaft from a manual 325i. The rear DS bolts up and the two CSB bolts in the frame just barely work as in they are in the very very end of the slot in the carrier bearing's mount. The front part of DS is also too long and it looks like it would need 2.5 " cut off to work proper but I think the rear DS would need 3/4-1" cut off in order for it to pre-load the CSB at all.
Thinking about having the the front cut 1.5" and the rear cut 1" in order to get my 2.5" combined and have them to fit together and preload the CSB. There is no way to get DS installed in it's current state. Not sure what is going on because I thought this DS would just work from everything I've read. Really would appreciate some input on the matter.
Thanks so much. :)

[Schwarz325]

I think you need the automatic trans driveshaft

[rosphill]

Re:

I thought I had to use a manual driveshaft that matches the early years 92-95 E36? Was told that by a couple different people on R3V. I can send this E36 driveshaft back to where I bought it from, but need a definitive answer on what will work I guess...

[dude8383]

I think you need the automatic trans driveshaft

No, you'll need the manual driveshaft. I have the SAME exact setup as the o/p you must be doing something wrong.

Do you have the E30 CSB on it? Also, the driveshaft length is adjustable.



See the big nut? Loosen that up and adjust to fit.

[rosphill]

Yeah I had the E30 CSB pressed onto the rear part of the E36 driveshaft. Flipping it around "might" give me another 1/2" not sure, but I'm looking at 2.5-3" too long overall so that won't help me :( Even with the locknut sleeve loose and the front DS slid all the way down on the the rear part it is still way too long to get it into the car. Tried everything I could think of...even dropped the tranny some and took tranny mount off to give more clearance.

[dude8383]

Can you take a picture of this stuff? I'm having a hard time believing that its too long.

This is the very same setup that I have.

Getrag 250 => Guibo => E36 325i 1st half driveshaft => E30 CSB reversed => E36 325i 2nd half driveshaft => 3.25 LSD

[rosphill]

Yeah we have the exact same setup except my car is a eta with a 2.93 ratio final drive. I won't be back to working on the car until Friday or Sat, but I can snap some photos of the driveshaft.

The Ebay salvage yard I ordered this new DS from hasn't been the best experience. Emailed them three times for info about the DS and finally had to call a cell phone to talk to them. They had no pics of it and said it came with "everything" including the guibo, which it didn't. Wasn't packaged well at all just kinda rolling around in a giant box full of packing paper, and took over two weeks for me to get it. At this point they would have to pull off a service miracle for me to even give "neutral" feedback on the transaction...

How did you go about installing your DS? Maybe I'm missing something, but it sure seems like I've covered every angle when I was trying to install it.
Thx

[FredK]

It's not the easiest to shoehorn the driveshaft up there. It's sort of like when you are trying to slip on a pair of shoes without untying the shoelaces.

I put the four bolt flange on the diff first, then while the driveshaft is sagging, angle the front end upwards towards the transmission, with the guibo at least loosely installed on the transmission output flange. The driveshaft has a nose bushing that fits fairly tight on the transmission output flange center pin. It may actually just be that you're having trouble with this tight fit.

With the proper amount of choice of cuss words, the driveshaft *should* fit.

[dude8383]

With the proper amount of choice of cuss words, the driveshaft *should* fit.

Yeh, I found that to be the most helpful when installing mine ;)

[F34R]

I use a lift...get everything bolted together and then lower car down on engine and bolt the subframe in and tranny mounts. Done in 10 minutes!

I know this is nothing to help.