Home made M30 prop?!

[Ziggy]

by the way, ref your prop, have you tried this method?

http://www.jaredsquires.com/ndp/335i/m30/page10.html

Seems all too easy... even if it needs balancing afterwards it's way easier than getting one chopped up / finding an m3 prop...

[fowler]

just doit prop erly chop and balance etc

[gareth]

too easy mate... the US spec E34 props must be different.

this is a E30 M3 prop next to a E34 535i one


no spline on the E34 prop

[Toby_Unna]

This is another one of those things where I was grossly misled by others. According to the people on the R3VLimited Forums and the BMW E30 Tuning Seite I had to go through this whole ordeal to cut the front knuckle from the 535i manual driveshaft, have it welded to the original E30 driveshaft and then have the driveshaft rebalanced. I was sweating like hell over this because according to most custom driveshaft companies BMWs have these unique U joints that most shops don't have the equipment to balance so they have to send them out.

i agree with gareth. i've read this before and come to the conclusion that it's not possible, using european parts at any rate.

having a custom prop made up by a decent company (such as reco-prop) is no big deal mate, and costs barely more than buying an M3 prop.

as I remember Andy335touring's prop cost around £130 and has survived several years of hard use. just do that.

[Ziggy]

Figured it'd be something like that!

Ah well! Custom prop it is then, would just have been nice to be able to get all the bits together before I take the car off the road - can't imagine they'll take too long over it though.

[Toby_Unna]

as there's being a decent amount of adjustment in the prop anyway, someone might be able to give you the necessary length (i'm sure it's been mentioned before), and you could get a 325i prop and get the job done beforehand?

[Ziggy]

Yeah Ed (I think!) told me the length - it's on my conversion thread somewhere! Hardly worth it though - I'll be very pleasantly surprised if the rest of it's done before I get the prop back!

[fuzzy]

This is another one of those things where I was grossly misled by others. According to the people on the R3VLimited Forums and the BMW E30 Tuning Seite I had to go through this whole ordeal to cut the front knuckle from the 535i manual driveshaft, have it welded to the original E30 driveshaft and then have the driveshaft rebalanced. I was sweating like hell over this because according to most custom driveshaft companies BMWs have these unique U joints that most shops don't have the equipment to balance so they have to send them out.

^^ agreed. i've read this before and come to the conclusion that it's not possible using euro parts.

having a custom prop made up by a decent company (such as reco-prop) is no big deal mate, and costs barely more than buying an M3 prop.

as I remember Andy335touring's prop cost around £130 and has survived several years of hard use. just do that.

my custom prop cost me under £100, all welded and balanced.

[Ziggy]

Hokay... I couldn't resist having a look at the E28 M535i prop in the garage, & it looks exactly the same as the M3 one in Gareth's pic above! I'm assuming the length's different, but I'm back to wondering why the american bloke's idea won't work! Pics in a sec...

[oze30]

I think the length is 1490mm or there abouts

[Ziggy]

Shortest it goes down to is 1515mm - too long, but I expected that... Anyone know how long the front section of an E30 prop is? The way the two halves of the prop fit together looks just the same as on a 325i prop, so the only way I can see it not working is if it's the front section of the E28 prop that's too long (750mm from flange -> far end of splines).

I'm very likely to be overlooking something obvious here!

[Toby_Unna]

well worth trying though Jon

finding an m3 prop/measuring and getting one shortened is a pain if there's an easier way...

[ed325i]

The front half of a e30 Auto prop is shorter then a manual one.

[Toby_Unna]

e28 autos have a front UJ instead of a guibo though. are e30s different?

[gareth]

regarding the prop M3 part lengths, this may help:



direct links for better resolution:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/ ... 888e77.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/ ... 7cc25b.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/ ... eb5183.jpg

[ed325i]

e28 autos have a front UJ instead of a guibo though. are e30s different?

The e30 auto prop is the same as the manual one just shorter.

[Ziggy]

regarding the prop M3 part lengths, this may help:

From that, it looks like my E28 M535i front section is the same length as your M3 front section, & it obviously has the right fitting to go on the back of the gearbox! So unless there's a difference in the splines such that the 325i rear half won't fit it, I'd call that a result. Cheers!

[gareth]

give it a go!
that would be a rather neat solution

[Ziggy]

give it a go!
that would be a rather neat solution

It would indeed! Won't take a minute to try it out anyway, so it's worth giving it a go

[johnl320]

regarding the prop M3 part lengths, this may help:

From that, it looks like my E28 M535i front section is the same length as your M3 front section, & it obviously has the right fitting to go on the back of the gearbox! So unless there's a difference in the splines such that the 325i rear half won't fit it, I'd call that a result. Cheers!

Ziggy,
I've also got the front half of a E28 M535i prop to pick up next week, God I hope you're right. If you are then all I need is a new support bearing
I've never prayed before but I might start.
good thread

john

[Ziggy]

Ziggy,
I've also got the front half of a E28 M535i prop to pick up next week, God I hope you're right. If you are then all I need is a new support bearing
I've never prayed before but I might start.
good thread

john

Well I'm fairly hopeful... Free is always a good price!

[alan335i]

i got away with using the standard prop from my 325i sport,no mods ,just had to slide it back on the splines,and swap the flange on the e34 gear box with the one of my e30.

[leedg]

Did you get any luck with this ziggy?

[Ziggy]

Not tried yet... car's on the road 'til next weekend (current plan!), then I'll start pulling things apart & I'll be able to try it out!

[leedg]

very interested in this, will have to keep an eye on this, good luck

[tomson]

very interested in this, will have to keep an eye on this, good luck

Me too, im subscribing

[Ziggy]

If I forget to update here (& nobody else tries it in the mean time), check my thread in the engine swaps section

[BristolBulldog]

i could jsut get away with not having my prop shortened, but it was literally at its minimum length, and a little movement would see it break its mounts.

got it shortened, re-balanced, and had the joints adjusted up for £98 all in at chards (the joints arn't bm, they were drilled out and replaced for their standard ones ages ago).

[Ziggy]

E28 M535i front half fits directly onto my E30 rear half, & goes down to 1450mm - we'll see if that's short enough, but it seems pretty promising to me!

[Andy335Touring]

E28 M535i front half fits directly onto my E30 rear half, & goes down to 1450mm - we'll see if that's short enough, but it seems pretty promising to me!

So you just need it balanced now then ?

[Ziggy]

Yep!

[gareth]

result!

i'm tight so if it was me, i'd try it as-is first

just in case there are unknown issues with it... also, if it's fine and balanced well enough, it's cheaper

[Ziggy]

It's definitely going on the car as-is, to make sure it's the right length & I haven't missed anything! Will give it a quick drive I expect, but tbh I'll almost certainly get it balanced anyway just for piece of mind's sake...

Now I just need time! And some bolts would help... Ah well, they're on the way from the fatherland as I type...

[gareth]

as far as i know, each part of the prop must revieve a balance independantly before assembly so there's a fair chance it'll be ok. of not, you'll know soon enough as it rattles your buttocks off!

[d6dph]

You may even like the vibration, Hire the car out for lonely housewives