Auto To Manual Conversion

[mmclaren]

I Have been talking to zionsville autosport to help me with parts for this conversion..
This is a definite and will be going ahead soon once we figure out the differences between european models and American
My car is a m43 318i where the US had a m42 and m44..
From what i have been able to tell the driveshaft lenght is different..
Also on the zionville website they told me to go for the e36 ZF Getrag..
My question was they didnt specifiy a 4 cyl model for it.. they say its ok for E36 1998-99 323is, 1992-95 325i, 1992-95 325is, 1994-95 325i Conv., 1998-99 323i Conv.
I can't see there being much of a problem with it in a 4cyl since they are all the same chassic design..
My main question is does anyone know if i can just buy a local second hand drive shaft from a manual bmw m43 and fit it into a m42/m44 gearbox?

If anyone knows of other companies that support the conversion can they also post it, zion are extremely slow to answer and dont seem to care if they get my business or not

[97alpineM3]

The best thing to do ... is fit the drive shaft with the gear box... if it doesnt match up... you can get it matched up at a machine shop... if you got some money laying around to do that... otherwise... start looking for tuners out there... there are pleanty... start emailing everyone.. and sooner or later.. you will find a kit that either converts the drive shaft from one to the other... or they can point you in the right direction... I my self am not all that familiar with the euro trannies... and compatability....

Good Luck,

Les