what propshaft for conversion?

[Rav335uk]

Hi, need input as to which road to go down regarding a propshaft for the m30 conversion?
Some on the forum have said the following:-
1. E 36 2.8 prop complete.

2. Front half from the m30 connected to the rear of thr e30.

3. M3 complete prop,rare as rocking horse sh*t.

4. Lastly, a custom made prop.

Opinions and input required.
Cheers

[oze30]

1 is too short.
2 is doable, roughly 100quid from recoprop
3 do some searching. I found 2 for quite good money.
4 $$$$$$

[ric325i]

1 ive been told fits as same length as m3 (ive been told)

2 is the way most people go and is what i have right now (might be up for sale in a few weeks)

3 if you can find them then happy days (still about the same as number 2)

4 number 2 is pretty much a custom prop.


you've done your searching as you have found the right stuff needed

[DRIFTBOY]

The E36 328i prop must be from a manual car, otherwise it will be too short.
And you'll need to turn the centre bearing round.

[oze30]

Hmmm.. That's what could be wrong with my prop then. Does anyone have the lengths of auto/manual E36 328 props?

[fuzzy]

a custom made prop only cost me £100. e30/cosworth . i supplied them the the e30 prop to cut and weld to. not that expensive .

[jmc330i]

Hmmm.. That's what could be wrong with my prop then. Does anyone have the lengths of auto/manual E36 328 props?

1492mm manual
1345mm auto

[oze30]

Cheers.
I think mine is the 1492mm. I remember measuring it and commenting that it was close to an M3 length. From memory, the M3 one is 1490. BUT the M3 has more adjustment left. The E28 has roughly 10-15mm of engagement.

Is there another prop that's slightly longer?

[ric325i]

can you not get the engine further back? position 3 is the best way

[oze30]

can you not get the engine further back? position 3 is the best way

erm.. not unless i fab up new mounts and cut my bulkhead away!

[jaffro]

can you not get the engine further back? position 3 is the best way

erm.. not unless i fab up new mounts and cut my bulkhead away!

we got rics in position 3 without much hassle

[oze30]

Er.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

can you not get the engine further back? position 3 is the best way

erm.. not unless i fab up new mounts and cut my bulkhead away!

we got rics in position 3 without much hassle

[scottidog]

Im going to invent a rocking horse that actually shits, would make millions. ££££££££

[Rav335uk]

I'm having probs with getting mine into pos 3 aswell on beefys mounts, any other ideas?????

[ric325i]

take a look at my thread my engine is position 3. right far back.

if that makes a rocking horse that shits well i guess i have a rocking horse that shits.

[ric325i]

sorry that remark /\ was not the most useful. a few rums turns the brain to mush.

if you have beefy's mounts then position 3 is obtainable the problems start after that with the rear mani pressing against the bulk head and causeing issues with the exhaust.

position 3 is good for the rad but a pain in the nuts for the exhaust. i spent a long time trying to make the exhaust fit as it change lots with the steering mech and teh bulkhead. its always going to be tight with that big lump though.


to get it in postion 3 a light adjustment with the bulkhead, i dont think i did too much with my touring??? and then to get it that final move back me and jaffro beefed the engine back. using the e30 jack on the front of the engine and the crash pannel at teh front i pushed the engine back.

its hard to get the backwards movement. no need to cut bulk head its just a case of how much you want the engine in position 3

[Jhonno]

for position 3 you are supposed to 'massage' the bulkhead iirc

[ric325i]

for position 3 you are supposed to 'massage' the bulkhead iirc

you might as well as you wont wanna take the lump out to do it if you cant get it far enough back.

its mainly the upper drivers side just on the tunnel. if your remove the sound deadening in teh tunnel that will help.

actually the thing that stopped my engine going back was the 3 very small clips which hold the sound deadening to the tunnel. tinny little things but they stopped the engine being where i wanted it.

[blingsta]

The propshaft is the stage that im currently stuck on too.. i tried to change the output flange on my gearbox to the e30 flange but with no luck !.. the splines are different, prob coz my box is the e28 m535 dogleg box?? so ive got no choice now but to get a prop custom made.. problem is i want a really quick turn around time so i dont really wanna post and wait a few weeks! ive been told there is a company quite close to me that does custom props so i have to hunt for them! once the props done, i will probably get car towed to Torque exhausts and get them to custom make the zaust for me.. im prob looking at £600 before i can take the car for its first 335i drive !!

[ric325i]

oh man sorry i ddint realise you had a e28 box. as cool as the dog leg box is thats made that it a bit frustrating.....sorry for the wrong advise.

i actually have the prop you need. Kami has asked me to hold it for him but he has had me hold onto it for a long time now. he is also having my 3inch exhaust too. the prop is perfect for position 2 with the m30 front and e30 rear.

i will ask him to see if he still wants it but i have a feeleing he will. im sick of triping over it.

as for the exhaust maybe its cheaper (get some quotes) to buy an e30 m3 exhaust and just get them to make up your down pipes??? its what i did and will give you the same 2.5inch bore on the exhaust with twin pipes like the 5 series. keeps the straight 6 howl too

[blingsta]

i would love to pay you what you want for the prop, but the only trouble is, i dont know what position my engines in! im gonna take some picyures and post on here for you to see.... pm sent..!!!

[ric325i]

i have pm'd kami abou the prop see if he still wants it. can promise anything cause i said i would hold it for him. and now people know i have a prop your not the only one to pm me got a bit of a shock there! and they pm'd me quick too.

what mounts did you use?

[blingsta]

mate i bought the car from said they were from e30.de ?

[ric325i]

e30.de are the ones i have. the ones beefy copied.

on those mounts there are 2 holes in the mounts for the rubber mounts to go through.
position 2 uses the hole closest to the bulk head and postion 3 uses the hole closest to the front of the car moving the engine further back.

[blingsta]

thats the one.... my engine was mounted on the holes closest to the bulkhead, but then i couldnt fit a rad in, i think even the e28 rad would have been very tight!! so i moved the engine back so its mounted in the holes closest to the front of the car.. it now fits a rad from the e34 !... Ive also just found someone very close to where i live that can make me a prop, so all the measurements have been taken and it will be taken to him 2moro!!

[ric325i]

thats position 3

to get the down pipes on you need to take the rear mani off so umm enjoy. unless that exhaust place can make you somthing pretty. if your spending the money why not get a tubualr mani made to fit your down pipes

[blingsta]

Nah.. im gonna work with what ive got mate.. i'll give them the choice of either 2 rear manifolds, or 1 rear and 1 front with the down pipes and see which ones would give best clearance..

Would there be any downside of mateing the downpipes to a standard 325 exhaust system??

[Ziggy]

Would there be any downside of mateing the downpipes to a standard 325 exhaust system??

A 325i system is significantly smaller - whether it'd make much difference I don't know, but I wouldn't think it's worth trying tbh...

[jaffro]

i used a 325 system for the short time i had the m30 lol. the pipes slid inside the m30 pipes quite nice to get a good weld.

[blingsta]

i think thats what i'll do for now... just get downpipes made to fit the 325 system! should work out cheaper than getting it all custom !!

[jaffro]

like i said it worked fine for me. at the end of the day moneys the factor you can always upgrade at a later date

[blingsta]

spot on mate !

[Ziggy]

i think thats what i'll do for now... just get downpipes made to fit the 325 system! should work out cheaper than getting it all custom !!

How much will the downpipes cost you? The guys that did mine wanted the same price for the downpipes, as for the rest of the system up to the standard rear box mount. If yours are the same, why not just use the E32/34 downpipes & have a system that'll mate up to your 325i back box - a lot easier to upgrade it then, rather than having to have your custom downpipes modified again...

[jaffro]

i just used the e34 manis and mated my 325 zaust to the e34 down pipes easy job took 1 hour and had no probs just make sure you leave a lot on the e34 downpipes then you can cut a weld to suit

[blingsta]

yeah ive got the e34 downpipes cut just before the front box!,, i will take what ive got and let them decide what the easiest/cheapest option is.. i havent been quoted yet, but i will haggle hard with them as they have already done 3 full systems for me.. spent about 1k there already ..