E46 gearbox/differential/driveshaft compatibility 320i/328i/330i

[megastihl]

Greetings

I own a E46 320Ci M54B22 manual (not sure but I think I introduced my ride here a few months ago). Recently I got a very good deal on a totaled E46 330iA, and I bought it to swap the engine. “Why not just buy a 330Ci?” you might ask. Because in my country the road taxes for bigger engines are outrageous, so I rather buy a car with a smaller engine to swap it later on, with no visible difference under the hood.

Now, the donor car was an automatic and I want to keep the manual gearbox. My 320Ci has a getrag 260 iirc. I would like a 6-speed ZF from a 330i, but these are expensive as hell around here, so I decided to go with a 5-speed ZF310/320. My getrag is still in working order, but doesn’t shift as smooth as it should.

I know the 328i and 330i have the same manual gearbox, but have different driveshafts, so I assume the transmission output flanges are different. Same deal with the differentials. They both have the 2.93 ratio, but since they have other driveshafts, I assume they have different input flanges (are these interchangeable with my 320Ci diff flanges?). And I don’t have a clue about the 2 output flanges/shafts.

So: I have a complete E46 320Ci with getrag 260, 100% stock, which I am driving now, and would like to fit a ZF 5-speed gearbox and a 2.93 diff with the lowest cost possible. Can I get advice on which combinations are possible? Because I can get a ZF box from a 330i, one from a 328i, and a diff from both aswell, but haven’t found a driveshaft yet.
A 3.07 diff would also do the deed, but same story goes.

Are all of the above compatible with my 320Ci driveshaft as long as I replace the flanges on the new diff/gearbox with the ones from my old?
I just want to make sure of this so I don’t end up with a hybrid combo of stuff that won’t fit in the first place, and avoid situations like owning a gearbox from a 328i, a differential from a 330i and a driveshaft that fits neither.

Anyways, advice would be welcome
Thanks in advance!

[dworthy]

The output shaft flange is all the same on those transmission, it is the differential input shaft that is different only on the 330i as it uses a CV joint, and not a U-joint.

Have a look:

320i:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...557&series=E46
328i:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/part...560&series=E46

As you can see there is a 20mm difference in length, not sure why it is like that as you can see some models could use both.

[megastihl]

Thanks for the reply. So transmissionwise it doesn't matter, but I will probably be best off buying the diff and driveshaft of the same car and not mix shit up.

[dworthy]

Yeah, that would keep things simple Also make sure you get the gear ratio you want as each car had difference thru the years.

[megastihl]

Yeah, that would keep things simple Also make sure you get the gear ratio you want as each car had difference thru the years.

iirc the gear ratio of the gearboxes vary very little. The difference is mainly in the differential

[dworthy]

Yes, it will be in the diff, as you plan on getting it as a package deal, just know the ratio from each year as the 325i in YM01 had a different ratio than the 325i in YM03.

[megastihl]

that latter I didn't know. Thank you for sharing this

[dworthy]

Also here is a neat website I found while looking around for gear ratio info: http://www.bokchoys.com/differential...calculator.htm

[megastihl]

Already seen that one