Looking at a late 80s e30 325i, needs a transmission but its auo how hard is that conversion? I've replaced them before but never did a conversion
Looking at a late 80s e30 325i, needs a transmission but its auo how hard is that conversion? I've replaced them before but never did a conversion
Don't forget that it's not just the mechanical bits. You'll also have to find the interior pieces if you want it to look good.
While every car is different, in the couple of examples that I've participated in it has been exponentially easier when doing the swap from a full parts car. One option is always to go to a junkyard and pull off all the parts you need from a car there, but there will invariably be something that is overlooked. Same story when buying parts piecemeal or as a "kit". If you can find a manual trans car that isn't worth saving otherwise, roll it up next to the automatic and then go all Dr. Frankenstein on it.
I've done it 4 times.
It's easy, when you are working off a full parts car, particularly side-by-side.
ASSUMING the car was originally offered with a manual. You will find all the proper bolt holes to bolt up clutch pedal assemblies, etc.
It is not so easy when you are buying all the pieces separately. You will be missing hoses, bolts, mounting plates, trans mounts, etc.
An SVX was never offered with a manual. But even that wasn't horrible- it took some minor fab work.
It took me two weekends while still driving my car during the week to convert it to manual. And I had to fabricate my own clutch pedal and modify the trans tunnel as an 86 Crown Victoria was never offered with a manual.
I have also converted a 1980 Cressida that is similar to the E30, and was offered in a manual. Converted to manual in a matter of hours.
Oh, and occasionally even cars that were offered as both a manual and an auto will have some differences that require a lot of work or some fabrication. For example, on the first gen Neon there is a rear transmission mount on the MT that doesn't exist on the AT, so AT cars get a different K-member that lacks the bracket that is supposed to accept the trans mount. You can go without, swap K-members, or purchase/fabricate a bracket to connect to the AT K-member. So, even with a parts car, you might need to fabricate some bits or see if anyone else out there has already done the work for you to save some time.
Typically, though, if the car was available as either from the factor there won't be that much difference between the chassis. (Except, if I recall, the RX-8. I seem to remember reading that while the chassis was pretty similar, you pretty much had to swap the whole drive train. Not that that has anything to do with an e30, though...)
E30 is cake, as long as you have a donor car. Make sure your ignition pickup stuff is of soimilar vintage- Some trigger from the distributor, some have crank pickups on the flywheel.
You basically need a parts donor car.
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