M50 Single Vanos - Another Gearbox question

[Ianb]

I purchased an old and very very rusty E30 off here over a year ago now to canibalise for it's M50 Conversion and consquently I'm not 100% sure what I've got ( although the car was running i couldn't drive it through the gears as it only had one brake caliper at the front with a hose clamp on the other !).
I've stripped it all and got it ready to fit in my shell however, the gearbox is a ZF and Has an orange sticker on saying ATF only - Could this be an E30 box or is it an E36, does anybody know how i find out ?
It does have Nos on it but stupidly I forgot to write them down!
Thanks

Ian

[daimlerman]

ZF 'box was fitted to E34 and E36 with M50 engine.

Be aware that you will need a diff with a ratio around the 3:1 mark to get a reasonable engine speed/road speed ratio.
E30 M3,for exanple,is 3.25:1..but try finding one at sensible money!
Some E28's have the medium case diff in a usable ratio,but will need E30 type driveshaft flanges and rear cover.

The difference with the ZF 'box is that it has a direct drive 5th gear,the Getrang 'boxes fitted to E30 have a direct 4th,with an 'overdrive' 5th gear.

[Jhonno]

ZF 'box was fitted to E34 and E36 with M50 engine.

Be aware that you will need a diff with a ratio around the 3:1 mark to get a reasonable engine speed/road speed ratio.
E30 M3,for exanple,is 3.25:1..but try finding one at sensible money!
Some E28's have the medium case diff in a usable ratio,but will need E30 type driveshaft flanges and rear cover.

The difference with the ZF 'box is that it has a direct drive 5th gear,the Getrag 'boxes fitted to E30 have a direct 4th,with an 'overdrive' 5th gear.

ZF box was mainly a 328i/3.0 M3 fitment.. Although *some* late 323i's seem to have come with them. The M50 used a Getrag box.

[daimlerman]

ZF 'box was fitted to E34 and E36 with M50 engine.

Be aware that you will need a diff with a ratio around the 3:1 mark to get a reasonable engine speed/road speed ratio.
E30 M3,for exanple,is 3.25:1..but try finding one at sensible money!
Some E28's have the medium case diff in a usable ratio,but will need E30 type driveshaft flanges and rear cover.

The difference with the ZF 'box is that it has a direct drive 5th gear,the Getrag 'boxes fitted to E30 have a direct 4th,with an 'overdrive' 5th gear.

ZF box was mainly a 328i/3.0 M3 fitment.. Although *some* late 323i's seem to have come with them. The M50 used a Getrang box.

My M50(1995 E34)came with a ZF 'box!

[Jhonno]

Yup, a rare one!

The ZF is primarily the 328i/3.0 M3 box.

[Brianmoooore]

Getrag or ZF, if it has an ATF only sticker, I'm fairly sure it will be an E34/36 box with a direct fifth gear.
AFAIK, no manual E30 ever left the factory with ATF in its gearbox.