ILC's E46 wagon

[B C]

Did the rear diff have to come out? Are you switching ratios or was it just easier for the driveshaft removal?

[i_love_cars]

Snap said:

Did the rear diff have to come out? Are you switching ratios or was it just easier for the driveshaft removal?

switching ratios definitely is one reason - i originally wasn't going to when I bought the 330xi trans, because sourcing the awd manual diffs was more legwork and technically unnecessary - the manual is a 3.23 and the auto is a 3.46. 

But since I'm getting a complete setup from the dude who's parting out his 325xiT manual, i figured i may as well put the 3.23 since I'll have them now and it will be proper as a more "complete" manual swap.

[i_love_cars]

Didn't get much time on this last night as I had to adjust my original plan which was to just use a support bar for the engine, then lower the trans and profit. There's no DIY on doing an AWD auto trans removal so I'm winging it and hoping that experience will guide me. I tested the waters to see how low the trans would go before hitting my stupid AWD subframe which is totally in the way of basically everything. So unfortunately because one of my goals is to do this without fully removing the front subframe, I need to raise the engine. So out came the hoist. 

The torque converter has been unbolted and the trans cross member is off. Supposedly the front diff comes out if you just remove the 4 main bolts on the subframe and also the engine mounts, when combined with the fact that the strut knuckle will be loose from removing the axles. You should be able to lower the subframe a few inches without undoing the 20 or so other bolts holding on random suspension shit on the stupid AWD subframe then, getting enough room to remove the diff. 

So knowing that, I think the first thing I'm gonna do here is try to keep it simple and just get the engine mounts out of the way and try to raise the engine and hope I get enough tilt on the trans to get the top bellhousing bolts. Assuming that works out, I'll put a jack under the subframe and remove those 4 mounting bolts and see if I can lower it enough to get the front diff out. 

I really, really, really don't want to take the front subframe off if I don't have to. I won't be getting to anything until late afternoon today but I will have a second set of hands helping me speed things along. I'm still planning to have everything removed including pedals and shifter by the end of the weekend. 

[i_love_cars]

transmission came out last night, and got a start on axles. I'm pretty tired so I probably won't hit it super hard tonight but at minimum i'd like to get the torque converter off, leaking rear main, etc. and prep everything for my new SMFW/clutch assembly that's arriving shortly. 

[B C]

That's long enough to be a 12 speed!

[YoungCR]

Yeah it's damn near a 4l80e in size haha. Hard part is over!

[Jdesign]

Mandatory pic when doing such a swap..

[B C]

I drove over my auto trans and stabbed it with the bucket of a small Komatsu multiple times. Those trans cases are more robust than I would have thought.

[i_love_cars]

The trans looks long but remember that the xfer case is attached still. I took it all out as one unit. So it does look enormous

[patsbimmer1]

i_love_cars said:

The trans looks long but remember that the xfer case is attached still. I took it all out as one unit. So it does look enormous  

That's what she said...

[i_love_cars]

So, this is still happening, just been waiting on my parts provider to finish parting out his car. Everything is packed up and ready to be picked up by UPS Freight. They are still on holiday rates so we are just waiting until (hopefully this week) they go back down. Shipping should be about $340 for 410 pounds on a 48x48 non-stackable pallet. Not bad. 

[i_love_cars]

Ok so I've been super lazy about this. Billing 120 hours a week right now across 3 clients so time has been exceedingly short. I had to force myself to take some time off on Thursday/Friday last week to legitimately get this car back together. Final detail on the M3 for winterization is Nov. 4th so I am trying to make sure I've got this thing back on the road by then.

At this point, all I have left to do is bolt up the driveshafts, brake calipers, exhaust, and pedals. I'm halfway done with soldering the wiring for the clutch switch and the reverse light, there's not much to do there so I don't expect that to take much time. As long as I can get a solid 2-3 hours this week, I think I can have it all back together and put some fluids in it. Waiting on a couple random clips from ECS that will arrive later this week. Then as long as it doesn't grenade, I will try to get it over to Kummrow for re-coding.

The only unexpected thing I have run into with the swap was that for some reason, my car didn't have the support bracket for the shift fork bushing welded on at the back of the trans tunnel. Other auto e46s do seem to have this, so I was confused. I had to request the guy I got all my parts from cut it out from his car and send it to me. So then I welded that up only to discover that there must be minor chassis differences between his 2001 325xiT and my 2003, because the way the metal was formed, the bracket was hanging about an inch too low and collided with the guibo off the transfer case. So I took the xfer case back off (annoying), broke the welds, and cut the bracket plate down enough that it could sit nearly flush to the top of the trans tunnel. At that point welding wasn't gonna work because even at the lowest possible heat setting, based on the new location of the bracket, the welder was eating through the metal on the car (thin spots). So i ended up drilling a hole and just bolting the support bracket up. After that, positioning seems fine, and the shift lever is now centered like it should be and all gears seem to be ok for engagement. With the subframe back in and the trans crossmember bolted up - with everything fully straightened the bracket now sits between the guibo and xfer case so no collisions, and sits a bit higher. 

At this point, I've gotten to the point where I can retrospect a little bit and if I had to do this swap all over again, I can say that because I don't have a lift combined with the fact that I was swapping out differentials as well, I would 100% pull the motor/trans. A lot of people don't swap differentials when they do an e46 manual conversion, and if you don't, then there's no need to touch the subframe and at that point I wouldn't worry about pulling the motor. I did swap the diffs because I wanted a complete swap that included proper gear ratios. My touring auto was a 3.46 and the manual is a 3.23 - due to that, I was forced to lower the subframe to get the front diff and when you're talking about removing both the trans and the subframe, it starts looking more attractive to just pull the motor entirely and bring the transmission along for the ride. That is, of course, if you don't have a lift. 

There's just not a lot of room to work when you've got multiple jacks (3) like I did at one time in play to jockey shit around or balance things, it gets a bit tedious. I spent a lot of time moving in/out/around the car and was thankful I'm only 34 years old. Timewise it is probably a wash if you pull the motor entirely, but you gain in the fact that overall everything is just easier to work on. 

subframe had to come down a lot in order to get the front diff out, so I took the opportunity to do the oil pan gasket, etc. 

Subframe back up with new mounts, etc. xfer case and trans in, rear diff mounted:

Finally able to take the engine support brace off and have room up top again as it officially is supporting its own weight now:

[suspenceful]

Looking good! Nice to see an E46 get some well-deserved attention around here.

I'm borrowing an E90 M3 today and thought of you. These V8s sure are music to my ears.

[B C]

Looks like you are kicking some ass on this thing!

[GunMetalGrey]

This sounds like an awful lot of work,but the final product will be worth it! 
Looking good

[YoungCR]

Quite the undertaking! Nice job man, idk where you find the motivation on top of your work too.

[Jdesign]

Damn that looks like a lot of work. I bet having a lift you could have changed you timeline immensely. Sounds like you are on the home stretch now though!

[i_love_cars]

I love this forum because you all realize the (stupid) amount of work for this swap. I'm not sure I'd do it again, but I can say that at the time i was bored because i had 0 project cars. Who knows what will happen in spring season, now. 

I just tried to crank it over to prove the wiring out and we have success!  Initially the security system engaged because I didn't have the EWS pin all the way in, but after fixing that it was instant crank. The car is still on jackstands so I didn't fully let it start but it should be good I think as it was happy to try and crank over. 

The only remaining thing is the fucking exhaust studs on the cat. Having a tough time getting those off in order to put on the exhaust with new hardware. So i'm open header right now and honestly tomorrow morning if I can't get them off with heat, I'm probably going to just drive the car .5 miles down the road to the local shop, give them parts, and say "here, install this" and make it their problem. 

I'm excited but still cautiously optimistic because I still have to actually prove the car can move under its own power.

[stealthbimmer]

i_love_cars said:

I'm probably going to just drive the car .5 miles down the road to the local shop, give them parts, and say "here, install this" and make it their problem. 

I'm excited but still cautiously optimistic because I still have to actually prove the car can move under its own power. 

Been there done that. Sometimes sanity is more valuable than money.

[i_love_cars]

shit is working. I'll be dropping the car off on Monday at Kummrow for both re-coding and getting the exhaust bolted up. Super pumped right now and very excited to hopefully be able to legitimately drive this thing soon on the regular.