DIY: Auto <---> 5 Speed Swap Lots of Pixs!!!

I’m not going to list every single tool and socket I used, but the tools you will need should be a decent socket set and have a variety of types and sizes.

First off I would like to thank edsmax for swinging by and checking out my progress and lending a hand, Blackspec for helping me via PM with my several questions, DankBMW for listing most of the parts and info and xmltok for providing the hookup to start the car without the automatic transmission

Overall the parts cost me ~ $2900 (But please keep in mind that, that included 2 - 5 speed transmissions, If I hadn’t bought the first transmission lot it would have only cost me ~ $2350. Most of the parts I bought brand new at www.circlebmw.com

I did this myself and with the help and tips from some members online that I kept exchanging emails and PM’s with. Overall my car was sitting for 3 months even though the install only took about 14 days (I had to wait between the weeks that it would rain all week and days I had off from work to actually work on the car. Anyways here is the pretty much complete parts list, some aren’t included because I went aftermarket for some things such as UUC SSK + DSSR, Clutch Stop, and Clutch Line.

Parts Needed:

5 speed Manual Transmission - $600
Driveshaft - $100
Flywheel - $550 came with my first transmission + Resurfacing - $60
New Clutch kit (Comes with Clutch Disc, Pressure Plate, Clutch release bearing and new pilot bearing) - $324.70 (That’s with overnight shipping since I was impatient and couldn’t wait)

Because I went aftermarket on these parts I don’t have the OEM part #’s listed:

UUC SSK + DSSR - $345
UUC Clutch Stop - $20
UUC Clutch line - $29
UUC Transmission mounts - $55

Miscellaneous Brand new OEM BMW parts and fluids – approximately $816.30

Here are all my receipts:









































Tools:

Clutch Alignment Tool
Socket Extensions (about 30” of them)
Good Torque Wrench
Breaker Bar
Large Adjustable Wrench
Vice Grips
Metric sockets ranging in sizes from 7mm to 22mm (Some deep sockets in particular 13mm socket for exhaust bolts)
Torx Sockets
Allen Sockets
E - sockets (The female star sockets for transmission bell housing to engine housing, you will need 3 different sizes)
Blow Torch w/ mapping gas (Not necessary but may come in handy for really rusted exhaust bolts like mine)

Step 1:

Get the car on ramps and or jack stands (I personally had the front on ramps and the rear on jack stands 2 - 3 ton craftsman jack stands) and put your ebrake on.

Step 2:

Disconnect the battery (I recommend that if you have power seats to either remove the front drivers seat or remove the seat bolts first. This way you have easy access to installing the clutch lines under the carpet and new clutch/brake pedals when the time comes. You will be able to lie down making it must easier and a little more comfortable)

Step 3:

Removing exhaust, I’ll be honest between this and removing the auto transmission, were the most aggravating maybe due to the fact doing this on a slanted dirt driveway with only 13 – 14 inches of clearance. Anyways start by supporting the exhaust with jack stands. I had one at the exhaust manifold, one at the center of the exhaust system and the last at the muffler.

Now start by removing the exhaust bolts, I started at the rear at the 2 hangers with 2 - 13mm bolts on each side I believe they were.







Working towards the center mounts of the exhaust system, remove these 8 – 13mm bolts.





















Now starting at the bolts at the exhaust manifold there are 4 I believe they were 13mm as well. You will need a deep 13mm socket for these. As you can see these are rusted and seized beyond belief. It took me 2 days just to remove the exhaust system because I ended up buying a torch to get the bolts red-hot in order to remove some of them.



As you can see I used some penetrating oil, but that did little to nothing and I was only able to remove 2 of the bolts. These bolts along with the flywheel bolts, diff bolts and driveshaft to transmission output shaft bolts should always be replaced





To get the rest of the bolts off, I had to torch them since they were just crumbling and stripping. In fact these were suppose to be 13mm nuts but for one of the bolts the 13mm socket was too big and for the other the socket was too small because of all the rust deposits I was only able to fit a 12mm socket and 14mm socket on each respectively.







The remnants of the bolts and gaskets maybe this is why they both should be replaced.





Separated but yet still attached by rust. Got my brother to wiggle and pull the exhaust from the rear while I pried it free at the manifold

Getting ready to lower and remove.







Finally removed!















Step 4:

Removing the heatsheilds, driveshaft and transmission cross member. There are I believe 4 – 13mm bolts holding the larger heatsheild on that covers most of the driveshaft. The other heat shield has I believe 3 – 10mm nuts.

Heatsheilds removed and now easy access to the driveshaft bolts. To make it simple just remove the 3 bolts from the driveshaft to the flex disc (aka guibo) leaving the flex disc still attached to the transmission with give you something to hold onto while pulling the transmission out.



Hex nuts holding the center mount and bearing in place.





Removing center mount bolts..





Removing Driveshaft to flex disc bolts, I believe they were 18mm bolts.



Differential Bolts.





The differential bolts are star shaped and the sockets I had were labeled E-10, E-15, E-20 etc.. to like E-45 or E-50 don’t know the correct term but I picked up a set at AutoZone a couple years ago and they work flawlessly and are a perfect fit.

On the center of driveshaft there is a piece called the clamping sleeve. You must loosen this in order to drop the driveshaft. I think it’s a 46mm but since I didn’t have a wrench of that size I use a large adjustable wrench and loosened it. Once it’s loosened you can just loosen it or retighten it back by hand. Do not remove it and just slowly lower the driveshaft making sure the halves to do separate. (Just a quick note on the the driveshaft to differential. Although you removed the diff bolts, the driveshaft is ever so slightly pressed onto the differential but it is easily removable.



I did the same thing as with the exhaust, used a couple jack stands so the driveshaft wouldn’t fall on me, not that it weighs much anyways.



Cross member bolts I believe were 2 – 10mm for the rubber mounts and 4 – 13mm for the brace portion.













Driveshaft removed.









I supported the transmission with a regular floor jack. Wish I had a transmission jack but I had to make due with what I had. (Just a note: the engine will tilt when lower the transmission. What I did here considering I didn’t have the special tool engine supports. I used another floor jack under the oil pan of the engine. I made sure to use a piece of ¾” wood sandwiched in between in order to not damage the oil pan.





Removing Transmission (Caution this slush box weighs in at ~ 170 lbs)

Disconnecting the gear selector cable.

Working at the top of the engine, removing the micro filter housing to be able to see the transmission bolts at the top of the bell housing.









You can see 1 bolt here in this picture.



Another…



I removed the engine support brace to tilt the engine and transmission in order to access the bolts on top of the bell housing.













Disconnecting the Autos wiring harnesses.

given your experiance with this, how hard would it be, how much would it cost, and how long would it take to swap out my 5 speed on the 328Ci with a newer 6 speed tranny?

Great DIY, thanks for sharing.

Wow great work and DIY.... Thanks for sharing....

amazing amazing thread

top notch fanatic here, folks

Very nice work!!

great writeup. although tempting...i'd never try this...haha

insane! took forever to load the pages and all the pictures but it was worth it to read thru. Great job!

Thanks everyone for the compliments, I hope it does come in use for those who want to attempt this.

Just one wuick question to everyone though. Do the thumbnails load correctly? And when you click on the thumbnails do the full size pictures load correctly?

For some reason well on my computer at least, it seems sometimes the picture links don't redirect properly or something.

Thanks

Jared

All the thumbnails load correctly. You did the links to the full size pictures incorrectly. For example:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/%E2%80%...2.jpg%E2%80%9D

You need to remove the
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/%E2%80%9D and trailing %E2%80%9D after the link

Originally Posted by er1c

All the thumbnails load correctly. You did the links to the full size pictures incorrectly. For example:

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/%E2%80%...2.jpg%E2%80%9D

You need to remove the
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/%E2%80%9D and trailing %E2%80%9D after the link

Well thats just it, I didn't enter in the following text like you mentioned. For some reason it was altered after I made the posts. I had done a series of test threads in the test thread forum and got everything working correctly there.

It's funny because at first when I had to go back and edit a few posts I noticed all these extra unnecessary characters and just fixed them before I resubmited. Anyways good thing I have everything saved (working links and all) in a Word document.

Jared

Great job. Very impressive.

Got a side question about this exhaust hanger.


Do you happen to have part numbers? Mine rusted/burnt off.

Originally Posted by croat

Great job. Very impressive.

Got a side question about this exhaust hanger.

Do you happen to have part numbers? Mine rusted/burnt off.

On www.realoem.com enter the last 7 #'s of your Vin and look under exhaust system suspension parts. Heres the link to mine:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...21&hg=18&fg=30

But your parts may vary because you do have a different transmission than me and the parts for the hangers may or may not be the same.

Jared

Speechless. Fantastic work, really!

Sort of makes me think that there's hope for the 330Ci slusbox

wow AMAZING!