| greymarket323i |
Posted
Sunday, Jul 15th 3:46am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 7
e21 |
OK IM GONNA CUT THIS SHORT. I SWAPPED A 5SPEED FROM AN ETA ONTO MY 323I M20 AND DROPPED IT ALL INTO MY 32OI. I HAVE IT all in bolted up and running good. other than the little fact that the drivelines 2 inches to long. i was just gonna do a cut reweld and balance but no shops will touch it i know of one thats done one for the same reason samedriveshaft and they say they dont do it anymore. something about the halfshafts cant be disasembled and reasembled and a bunch of bullshitt. i went to like 4 shops thats specialize in this and they all say they cant.
so now im pissed the car has been sitting for about 3 weeks just cuz i dont know what to do at this point.
i was thinking of getting some thick stock aluminum or steel and moveing the diff back the 2 inches i need.i could make it solid and all but can the diff safely be moved back 2 inches will it mess anything up. will it all line up ok?
my car is a few hours from where im at and i dont plan on going to her till i know we can end this so. if anyone could look under there car and give there 2 cents on it being moved 2 inches back id apreciate it
]thanks
shawn |
 |
|
| davethedog |
Posted
Sunday, Jul 15th 12:21pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 177
Northants, England
E21 320 |
Where are you?
I know a company in the UK that I believe would easily shorten your driveshaft.
|
|
|
| jbob |
Posted
Sunday, Jul 15th 12:28pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 388
AZ, USA
81 320i |
where do you live? seems like you need to find a driveshaft-specialty shop that'll be comfortable doing this modification...it's not a hard modification, but does require the right tools & competent tech.
and what driveshaft are you using? N. American 320i's had 2 to 4 different lengths depending on the transmission & year.
I would not recommend moving the differential at all...while driving, those halfshafts are about straight. If you move those angles so they're never about straight, you'll add wear to the CV joints. IMO, try to do it once & do it right: get the correct driveshaft to work with this swap. |
|
|
| greymarket323i |
Posted
Monday, Jul 16th 2:58am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 8
e21 |
in oregon. i found 2 shops that specialize only in driveshafts and do this. but they are being stupid and bitching about it being forign and not domestic. that the halfshafts on domestics have pins or something and they can rempove them and they said bmw basicly spun the shaft and the part of the shaft where the halfshaft is they spun em real fast and fused them together instaed of makeing them removeable. they say they have no way to grab it to balance it. they say that the size is an odd metric size. and they all suck. it pisses me off because the one shop did it for a guy with the samedriveshaft and reason!its the us 5 speed driveshaft off an 83. i went to the wreckers for about 2 hours measureing driveshafts closest i could find was still an inch off. |
|
|
| jbob |
Posted
Monday, Jul 16th 3:24am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 389
AZ, USA
81 320i |
ah ok...where abouts in Oregon? I bet there's at least a few shops in the Portland area that can shorten a driveshaft without any fuss.
you could also try a driveshaft from a 77-79 320i 4-speed. Not sure how much shorter (if any at all) it will be. But, maybe you could run a custom flex guibo, or get rid of it all together (which could give you at least another inch of clearance) |
|
|
| greymarket323i |
Posted
Monday, Jul 16th 5:50am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 9
e21 |
yeah the guibo has been removed. thats one of the first things i did it was off by more. the 4 speed is too long. ill keep looking ill find someone. |
|
|
| melloh |
Posted
Monday, Jul 16th 7:24am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 580
California, USA (San Jose)
1980 320is, 1991 318is |
there is an e30 community specifically based in the northwest and most members are from oregon from what I can tell.
http://www.bmwpugetsound.com/sigs.htm
They're listed here along w/ others. I believe this is the local BMWCCA (who you can also contact). I'll bet they can help. |
|
|
| imaradiostar |
Posted
Tuesday, Jul 17th 3:48am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 1068
Nashville, TN
81 323i, 82 525i, 85 524td, 90 535i |
My shop uses driveline services of Portland. We've never seen problems with their work and they do a lot of custom stuff. They'll be doing the driveshaft for my E34 getrag 265 conversion.
jamie
|
|
|
| greymarket323i |
Posted
Wednesday, Jul 18th 3:22am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 10
e21 |
thanks for the hint.
ok so i called driveline services of portland they say the way they have to do it is cut off the halfshafts replace them with domestic style and rebalance sjorten blah blah blah. they say its the only right way to dio it unless i can find a 320i driveshaft with low miles on it. he said when the hit 100k and up the bmw halfshafts get loose and they cant balaNCE IT CORECTLY IF I HAD A LOW MILE ONE THEY COULD DO IT BUT THE CHANCES OF FINDING ONE MIGHT BE SLIM TO NONE. for the rebuilt driveshaft 500 bones ohmy.gif .to rich for my blood.
TAKEN FROM TRICORDS SITE
"Another choice is to use the slip-yoke driveshaft out of an '84 E30 318i. This driveshaft's center bearing mounts are in a different location though, and a bit of welding on the underside of the car will be required."
does anyone know about this can it be verified i know of one 84 e30 318 and i dont wana drive 2 hours to find out its still to long or wont work. anyone have any ideas
|
|
|
| TJ |
Posted
Wednesday, Jul 18th 10:44am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 31
NY, USA
82 528e2i 84 320i/4 80 320i |
If you have a 323i with a 325e gearbox then the 325e driveshaft should be a closer match I would guess. I wonder if there is any hang-up other than the center bearing attachment location.
Since I have both the e30 and e21 here I can go out and investigate after it stops raining. |
|
|
| BarryA |
Posted
Wednesday, Jul 18th 9:55pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 198
Sacramento CA
81 320 |
You're up against the issue of the driveline shop being able to stand behind their work.
A big part of the problem is due to BMW using non-replaceable U-Joint bearings that are "staked" in place rather than being held in with circlips or snap rings, which means that machining work is required just to replace the u-joints. For the driveshaft shop to warrantee their work, they've got to "rebuild" the rest of the driveshaft (i.e. replace the u-joints and center bearing assembly) IN ADDITION to shortening the overall length, welding on the proper Guibo flange to match your transmission, and aligning and rebalancing the whole assembly.
There's some specialized tooling involved and a fair amount of expertise and labor, not to mention the cost of two u-joints and and a center support bearing assembly. Last time I bought u-joints they were over $50 per, so figure at least $150 for two u-joints & a center bearing assembly - that means you're actually spending about $350 for their expertise and the guarantee of a vibration free, correctly fitting unit that works properly the first time it's installed. |
|
|
| imaradiostar |
Posted
Friday, Jul 20th 3:15am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 1069
Nashville, TN
81 323i, 82 525i, 85 524td, 90 535i |
Could be wrong but I'm pretty sure the 318i and 325e driveshafts used a different size flex disc. If anyone wants to know for sure I can check in ETK or with Worldpac. I have nothing to back that up, just thinking off the top of my head.
I agree with the above statements as well- there is a lot that goes into building a driveshaft correctly. Driveline Services of Portland (www.driveshafts.com) is extremely professional and they replace the stock u-joints with user replaceable parts.
That being said, if you have to change the length of an existing driveshaft and have access to a lathe, a dial indicator and a mig welder you can shorten your own driveshaft with a decent amount of success. I spent some time talking to Jim at Metric Mechanic about my E34 Getrag 265 swap and he told me how he's modified the length of quite a few driveshafts this way. I hope I can remember this correctly- I think he puts the driveshaft to be shortened in a chuck in the lathe and trues it up with the dial indicator so he can cut it accurately. He tack welds the end of the driveshaft on then checks with the dial indicator to make sure it's true- if not you can still knock/grind the tack welds of and try again. Like I said- not sure if all of the above is correct but I think that's how it was.
jamie |
|
|
| TJ |
Posted
Saturday, Jul 21st 10:23am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car] |
Member
Post nr. 32
NY, USA
82 528e2i 84 320i/4 80 320i |
Aside from the center bearing difference I see no reason why the 325e driveshaft wouldn't work. If you have to weld a bracket up in there I guess that might be a pain since you can set the carpet on fire, etc. but the differential input flanges look the same and the length should be correct.
My '84 "320i" as I call it is a 325e with a 320i engine and tranny. The driveshaft is 2" too short (solved with a spacer) so it figures that yours would be 2" too long. |
|
|
