SMG to 6MT Conversion

[pawelgawel]

Don’t use a donor bell housing - see my post about the damage it can cause. Convert your BH to match.

so this issue was with original MT BH with SMG box.. the BH i have was original SMG so technically it should be fine i think. Also there are many shops that prep donor BH and just swap it with a core. I haven't heard of others complaining about this issue. You still got me thinking now... technically these are same dimensions and shouldn't pose any problems normally.
Considering Ill have both BH side by side, I could measure the lengths and make sure its equal. If there is a difference I can always swap out the items into My original BH after I get it machined.
I was hoping to use this one to save myself the time and not tie up the hoist for longer than couple days

[pawelgawel]

The GPS will tell the DME if the transmission is in neutral. I always add them in my conversions, but if you want to address some coding differences and don't plan to pull it into neutral with the cruise on you'll be fine.

Id like to make it as OE as possible, it its only $100-$200 difference, I think its worth it.

[George Hill]

Id like to make it as OE as possible, it its only $100-$200 difference, I think its worth it.

My thoughts exactly.

[ATB88]

Id like to make it as OE as possible, it its only $100-$200 difference, I think its worth it.

The cost wouldn't be my concern rather than the need to carefully tap threads into your gearbox without messing up and without allowing metal shavings into your gears. I did it and looking back I wish I would have saved myself the headache.

[pawelgawel]

you can stuff that hole with some paper towel as the tap doesn't go past a certain point, then just pull it out... also flushing the trany once its up is no big deal either.

[sapote]

so this issue was with original MT BH with SMG box.. the BH i have was original SMG so technically it should be fine i think. Also there are many shops that prep donor BH and just swap it with a core. I haven't heard of others complaining about this issue. You still got me thinking now... technically these are same dimensions and shouldn't pose any problems normally.
Considering Ill have both BH side by side, I could measure the lengths and make sure its equal. If there is a difference I can always swap out the items into My original BH after I get it machined.
I was hoping to use this one to save myself the time and not tie up the hoist for longer than couple days

It's only safe to use the original BH came with tranny and not from any other boxes regardless MT or SMG. If everything has the same dimension for all of the boxes then the factory shouldn't use any shims to shim the bearings. The fact is they are not and including the bearings, therefore the bearing needs to be shimmed for each box. They needs critical preload using shims and this is very critical to have long lasting and quiet bearing. In this case the input bearing is sitting between the BH and the box, and so if the bearing is compressed due to incorrect dimension then it will be noisy and damaged soon.

[sapote]

Do you know 5th gear is the most quiet gear as it is connecting the output to the input shaft without any driving/driven gears. So 5th gear causes minimum stress on the bearings.

[pawelgawel]

Im just looking around for the parts to use my own BH, and here is a kit on ebay:

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/BMW-M3-e46-M...torefresh=true

has 2 bushings that are not shown on RealOEM, do we need those or is this something extra? also where can I get the large gear spring and the bearing?
Ill try to call this seller and see if he would ship it to Canada, otherwise I need to scavage

[sapote]

The 2 pins (5/6 and R gears) are sliding inside the 2 bushings. There is a kit at FCP with a bush, blue cap and lock ring for less than $8. I will post the part #. Bearing and big spring from McMaster.

[pawelgawel]

fcp has this kit
https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-23311228393kt
and found the bushings..

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-shifter-detent-pin-bushing-repair-kit-genuine-bmw-23117542726

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-bmw-parts/shift-pin-bushing-kit-priced-each/23117542726/

[pawelgawel]

found this today for anyone having same questions

https://www.mforum.net/forum/e90-m3-sedan-e92-m3-coupe-e93-m3-convertible-2008-2013/diy-ab/511-diy-smg-to-6mt-bellhousing-and-transmission-modification-revised-2020

[pawelgawel]

for the Canadians out there, since most distributors will not ship small items like this to us, here is a link to the Canadian distributor for the bearing and spring.

Bearing: https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/B...analytics=cart.
https://www.bearingscanada.com/608-N...pan-8x22x7.htm
Spring : https://www.grainger.ca/en/product/T...analytics=cart

[S3diment]

If I post my google doc with the parts, FCPEuro link, and price would anyone be open to checking it for accuracy? Really checking for those parts that are OOS or superseded.

[sapote]

I will

[pawelgawel]

anyone here machine the housing themselves?
Decided to purchase a drill press for my dads shop, figured it'll come in handy for many things anyways.. would like to see if anyone had done this and if there was any issues along the way