Swap Medium Case diff into 318ti

[CameraCourage]

I have a medium case LSD and I want to figure out a few details before I go for the swap.

Looking at Pelican parts I see that there is a different wheel bearing for e30 6spd cars than there is for the 1995 318ti. Also, the half shafts that are in the car currently have a 30mm axle nut, the 6cyl e30 half shafts have a 32mm axle nut. so i am deducing that I will probably need to change wheel bearings, maybe hubs? Does anyone have more info?

I have looked at a handful of writeups (http://www.318ti.org/notebook/diff_conversion/) and nobody mentions this so I could be over thinking it, but I don't want to find this out when I get it apart.

Thanks in advance

[CameraCourage]

I just talked to a BMW mechanic who pulled out his book and told me that there are some date ranges to anticipate on half shafts. earlier (pre 9/85) have a smaller diameter which sounds compatible with the 318ti. I need to do a bit more digging. I am sure someone here has done this so if you have info I would love to hear about it.

[wolferj-RIP]

Don't over-think it... Been done many, many times by members here, myself included. No need to change the wheel bearings, either...

The shaft diameter isn't the issue, it's the half-shaft length. I used e30 m3 half shafts, but any 6 cyl e30 half-shafts should work. Shim the ABS sensors. You have to swap the diff side flanges and use the originals from the ti, but they simply pop off and press in.

Here are some better examples of setups used that don't require the frankenstein approach of the write-up in the notebook article.

http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28958

[CameraCourage]

Thanks for that. I assume that just means the axles have a different size nut, but not a different size thread? I'll be doing a bit more measuring but I got a bit spooked and knew I needed to drive the car this week so i didn't pursue it this weekend... plus the PS pump blew on the other car so I had to replace that.