Cost on e30 5 speed swap?

[steven g]

Want to do this on a new to me E30. Anyone in the Chicago area want to do this ?

[jeffnhiscars]

I bought a swap kit from Matt (ragtope30) including new hydraulics. He had the donor in his shop so it was a no brainer to bring the car to him. I brought new clutch, csb, guibo, trans bushings and seals, fluids, AC cable, rms, pan gasket and RHD 7 lb flywheel. etc

We did it in a very long day and I'm in for right around $2k.

I highly recommend getting a complete kit rather than trying to piece it together.

Ps he just sold my old trans today so I'm getting a rebate :)

[nando]

Every pu$$y these days wants an automatic BMW - "the paddle shifters are just like a manual", "ATs are faster anyway" (ok Michael Schumacher).

The point is, no E30 deserves an AT - you gotta make it happen. ;)

[Eric Giles]

I just completed a manual transmission swap this past weekend on my newly acquired '87 325is. It had an automatic transmission that had failed, and I originally just bought the car for the interior- but I needed it to be movable in the meantime. I intentionally went the least expensive route, and found someone relatively local that was parting out an e30.

I got everything I needed for $450. The clutch had plenty of life left, so I reused it. I spent less than $50 on some new minor maintenance parts that needed replacing.

It proves it can be done cheaply, BUT.... normally I would NEVER do this swap without at least using a brand new clutch kit at a minimum if it was a car I planned to keep.

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[Blackthorn]

Well im in the middle of one on my new shell. I picked up a rust bucket 89is that ended up having been in a worse rear end accident than i was willing to work with. Picked up an auto 91i for my doner shell (motor was done). The 91 had been sitting for 15+ years so i needed to replace a few parts but i picked clean that 89 for the parts i needed for my swap. If you refresh everything (like most will tell you to do) it can get expensive.

But im right now out 900 for both of the cars. Which gave me a working motor, 5 speed swap, LSD, and various other bits. Then i replaced the TB, WP, Gaskets, plugs, center support bearings, and picked up a complete bushing kit from Condor. The parts set me back about 600 which the majority of it was the full condor bushing kit (400). If you have the patience id just call around the local junkyards.

LKQ here in texas i would pick up the support parts (pedals, driveshaft, shift linkage, and various aux parts) for under 120.

Id pick up a used 5 speed from a place that give you a warranty for 2 - 300 bucks. I payed 275 for mine as i thought my 89is had a bad tranny.

Then your going to want / buy new the clutch, master, and slave cylinders. Which will run you about 3-400 bucks.

For all that your putting into the car id probably just do a motor swap with a compatible 5 speed. Like a m / s52 with the zf 5speed which directly fits into our cars. Your still going to have to pour some money into refresh parts but you get a whole lot more for your money.

This site is a great place to handle this kind of job yourself. Dont pay a shop 1000s of dollars for something you and a mechanically inclined buddy can handle in a weekend. If you were here in Houston id say drop on by and see how easy it can be.

[N2MYE30]

Used G260, driveshaft, pedals.
Turned flywheel
New clutch kit
Everything else new
<$950 and did it in my garage on stands.

[straight6pwr]

to do it properly? budget $1500

lot of people here seem to have a bragging tone on how they did it so cheap with super deals, and 'got the hook up' and the like.

there are some many more little parts involved in this than trans/driveshaft

you should really get a lot of new parts, not just take the junk from a yard. you don't want to redo all that work!

new stuff should include:
clutch master cylinder
clutch slave cylinder
clutch rubber line
flywheel (maybe reuse)
clutch
trans throwout bearing
trans input shaft seal
engine rear main seal
guibo
center support bearing
exhaust hardware
all your shifter bushings
new transmission fluid
...i'm sure i'm missing stuff

i did a 5sp swap on my e34 touring and did all these items. its nice to know i will have no reason to pull the trans for years and years.

[SoEm0]

Mine was around $550-600. Got the trans and drive shaft from local pick n pull for 180. Found a fly wheel at a different jy. New clutch and pp. Local machine shop hooked me up and lightened my fly wheel and balanced it with my pressure plate for 50

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[TobyB]

Or rather, we are all optimists...

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[c0rbin9]

As a general rule, it is more expensive than what everyone on here will tell you.

[325ESFTW]

E30 manual swap

It depends on location where you live and if your able to do your own work on your car.. I just went today to the salvage yard and got the whole manual swap for the E30 for $300.00 ..that includes transmission ,pedals,master and slave cylinder,transmission,clutch,flywheel,shifter with all hardware,and driveshaft.. plus manual transmission subframe and mounts ..

[RondoAcapriccio]

It depends on location and parts availability but here is a general breakdown.

5 speed swap sold on forums - approx 400-600... consider 800 shipped.
That's the bare minimum if you do your own labor.


Then if you want to refresh the consumables... budget another 600 or so... so you are looking at around 1400 if you do the labor.. add another 500-800 if you pay a shop.

That's the truth.. I'm not going to bullshet you about finding deals here and there. Sure you might find one, but you might not. Also I don't think I would want to spend the time in the JY pulling the parts, so I'd rather buy it on the forums.

[AwakenNoMore]

I'm going to be spending about $1k. I already have my clutch kit, trans, pedals, driveshaft, hydraulics and shift linkage. Still have to grab a flywheel and tons of small preventative maintenance bits.

[jwiles]

^completely agree 700 is a safe number if you find a deal on tanny like that. other wise if you go to bava and decide to fist your self your going to be looking at about 500 in replacement parts. little tic tac stuff that adds up. the swap doesnt take long at all. once the down pipes are out of the way.

[Poorboyz]

My buddy bought a beat up E30 5 speed for $300, got all new seals for trans, fluid, new rubber parts, new clutch and slave, etc...He spent about $700 total. We did the swap 2 weeks ago and took us 8 hours. Neither of us had done one before. I'd have to say the worst part (for me) was the pedals.