Most of the swapped Ti's here in SoCal are running M3 front shafts with Ti rear shaft. Most if not all of us have e30, e28 or e24 medium case LSD's which are all 4 bolt and bolts right up to the Ti rear section. The M3 front section obviously bolts right up to the ZF trannys and the spline mates up perfectly between the two sections. Overall length is pretty damn close to perfect. I recommend having it balanced at a machine shop and be sure to mark where the two shafts mate if you go this route. Congrats on her first fire!
Jess: Yeah, I think it will work. The downside is that my M3 shaft is a 6-bolt CV-Joint type. The 6 bolt type does not have the splined shafts, and cannot be combined with a 4-bolt shaft.
If you guys are running those shafts, I'm guessing the M3 or 328 front shafts will work, so long as they're 4-bolt types, seeing as the 328/M3 share the ZF box and engine block position. Now I just have to find one.
Ok, driveshaft problem is holding things up. Just tried a "custom" one that was "meant for a ti with a swap". It was a solid 2 inches too long. I've tried a bunch of different stuff and nothing wants to work. I need an over-all length of 58 and 1/8 inches, which equates to 1476.375mm. Shorter than any shaft listed on realoem except the M-Coupe, which is crazy-short. I'm going to have to go with a custom shaft if I can't make something work.
The length I need is 25" from the trans flange to the center of the support bearing, and 33 and 1/8" from the bearing to the diff flange. I've got a 25" front half of an M3 shaft, but it's the 6-bolt style. I've got the correct length of rear 318ti shaft in the 4 bolt style. The 4 bolt and 6 bolt styles are completely incompatible and will have to be chopped and welded on to combine them. If I could find an M3 or 328 front shaft, I think I'd be good, but so far no luck.
For those researching this issue for your swap, be aware that the drive-shaft discussions online are woefully full of half-truths and out-right inaccuracies preached as gospel (I guess what isn't?). For example, "Just use an M3 shaft and your ti shaft, they'll bolt right up!", but that's only if both shafts are the 4-bolt style.
It's so frustrating being so close while being unable to get this last, theoretically simple part to line up! The search continues...
I modeled my swap after Phamster's, and him and I bth used the M3/5 speed 4 bolt drive shaft. Works perfectly for our applications. We just extended it a little
Thanks for the replies guys! I don't suppose anyone has a 328/M3 4-bolt driveshaft they can measure for me? Can we measure from the front flange to the carrier bearing and from the bearing to the diff flange?
I may go scavenge the yards tomorrow if they're open. There's an independent BMW shop I'm going to check with on Monday at lunch to see if they might have a 328/M3 shaft in their pile of parts.
Thanks for the replies guys! I don't suppose anyone has a 328/M3 4-bolt driveshaft they can measure for me? Can we measure from the front flange to the carrier bearing and from the bearing to the diff flange?
I may go scavenge the yards tomorrow if they're open. There's an independent BMW shop I'm going to check with on Monday at lunch to see if they might have a 328/M3 shaft in their pile of parts.
I know Jess did the measurements plenty of times check his thread
I know Jess did the measurements plenty of times check his thread
Yeah, I've been over Jess's thread and it talks about how the ZF is longer, etc, but I didn't see any specific measurements regarding the length of the driveshaft from tip to carrier bearing.
Being on my 3rd shaft that will "absolutely fit", and being surprised by too many unforeseen variables (like how you can't connect a 6-bolt rear to a 4 bolt front, or how you can't use a 6-bolt input flange on a medium body diff in an E30 subframe (flange hits subframe)), I want to see that the hunk of metal is a certain measured length, regardless of what it came out of. Year variations, build-dates, different trannies, different diffs, etc make it a guessing game sometimes, but measuring tapes and micrometers don't lie
I'm interested in seeing if you could just get one machines custom just for you
I can have one made out of my 318ti and M3 parts, but not balanced according to the driveshaft shop. On top of that, I'd be using a lot of the ti shaft, which looks a lot less beefy than the M3 shaft. I'd prefer to find an intact one if possible, but if it comes to that, I can drop them off at the machine shop Monday evening and hopefully get it back by Thursday or Friday.
I didn't ask about having a completely custom shaft made, but it's worth a shot I guess.
Just FYI the M3 driveshaft is beefier than the 328's from what I heard from multiple junkyards. I have a 4 bolt M3 driveshaft that came out of a 98 coupe sitting in my storage, I can always get a pic of it next to the stock 318ti shaft and the measurements. According to Jim's swap manual, the M3 & 328 drivshafts measure 1492mm & the 323ti/325is(1995) have driveshafts that are 1512mm long. Hopefully this can help.
Thanks for all those willing to help on the driveshaft issue, and thanks for the offer of a picture Amr! Luckily, those who mentioned the straight M3 4-bolt shaft were right; the one I got from BF popped right in. Nice and beefy too. It arrived today and it went in like it was made to go there. Oh, and there's more good news:
The driveshaft went in The heat-shields went on The rear suspension went back in
And...
The car took its first drive!!!
Jumped on the highway and ran a mile or so and came back; I'm happy to report that everything went perfectly!!!
-Water temps heated up and stayed steady. -Brakes worked, aside from a niggling ABS issue when coming to a stop. -Clutch and flywheel worked according to plan -AWFUL engine tapping noise turned into a happy purr. -My ears are still ringing from the open headers.
I've got an appointment at the exhaust shop on Wednesday, so with any luck, I'll have a fully functional car again by Friday!
When I get a break, I'm going to post up threads on the driveshaft saga and one for my E30 rear-suspension bushing adventure. As BMW_Hatchback says, this information is sprinkled all around here and there. The trouble is, there is no one definitive thread and searching around can be difficult given the pure quantity of data. Hearing that "It's already out there" doesn't help a whole lot after you've been searching around in utter frustration. Better to have too many examples of good information (like pictures) than a sprinkling of individual pieces. I'll plan on referencing other threads and bouncing the write-up off of some of the other guys who have done swaps to make sure I've got my ducks in a row.
I can't wait to get back to my ti on a day to day basis again!
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