Bell housing machining: The stock manual box used 2 C-clips and rubber caps to hold the Reverse and 5/6 gears detent pins. Machining the grooves for the C-clips is not easy and people had tapped threads for 2 bolts instead (some used the NPT plug bolts which I think could crack the thin and soft aluminum female threads) . I found the following method is good and looks nice. I wish to give credit to the creator but I forgot where I got it.
Detent Cap: An M22 thread is tapped into the detent hole where an OE E46 M3 differential drain plug is used instead of the original Getrag manual transmission rubber cap and circlip. This is done for ease of install and final aesthetics. The rubber caps are fragile and often get torn or bent in the process. The differential drain plug is a perfect fit and has the correct depth for proper detent spring compression.
Detent Cap: An M22 thread is tapped into the detent hole where an OE E46 M3 differential drain plug is used instead of the original Getrag manual transmission rubber cap and circlip. This is done for ease of install and final aesthetics. The rubber caps are fragile and often get torn or bent in the process. The differential drain plug is a perfect fit and has the correct depth for proper detent spring compression.
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