Manual Swap: will a front manual drive shaft and rear part of a auto drive shaft work

[AlexSutherland]

Swapping my 325i from an auto to a manual in a few weeks. I have a parts car that I pulled the engine and tranny with the front part of the driveshaft attached. The rear of the parts car has a large amount of rust and I stripped two of the bolts on the connection between the rear driveshaft and differential. I don't care for the differential, it's rusted to the point of no return. I really don't want spend the time getting the rear driveshaft loose. My question is can I just use the rear driveshaft from my current car?
Parts car: 325e 1987
My car: 325i 1991

[lukeADE335i]

Yes - there is sometimes a half inch difference in length between them, but that can be adjusted on the splines of the driveshaft, so it will work out fine.

[AlexSutherland]

Re: driveshaft

Thanks Luke!

[Elysian]

The halves are balanced together aren't they? If so you may need to have a driveshaft shop rebalance.

[TobyB]

As long as you clock them correctly, it's worth trying it first.
it 'usually' works out ok without a rebalance.

But yes, the German way would be to have it balanced. I've had trouble
finding a local shop that will spin it over 3k rpm, which is really pretty slow for
our cars...

t