2001 E53 4.4L 6MT swap?

[williamx5]

Good day all!!

I think I missed it by thaaaaaaaat much!!

There are two lessons to make note of here!!! One is to measure twice (or six times in my case for the drive shaft) and cut once!!! If being one and a half millimeters off from perfect is close enough, I am close enough!!!

The other important lesson here is to be PATIENT and wait for the parts to get installed, then mod the others!! I aligned the trans and center support bearing for the drive shaft, like I had planned, but now the shifter arm is too short... Because I didn’t WAIT for the drive shaft to get finished... I ALMOST need to buy another shifter arm and start over with it... I might be able to add some aluminum stock I have at work and weld it, but.........

Okay, pictures...

Here is the drive shaft with the trans resting on my cross member support...





Look how tweaked this is!! Not what I was looking for!! Kinda discouraged at this point, but things get better!!



And the huge gap at the top (I only tightened the bolts for the drive shaft... the trans bolts are free to move as I spin the drive shaft)...



Lowering the trans without the mounts installed... This is also why I didn’t gusset the last part of the cross member...



And a little more...



And the final even measurement... TOP...



BOTTOM...



This is a little close, but.......





Okay, don’t make fun of my hack job pinning the shifter arm!! Please... I don’t think this would last long either... It is amazing how much stress is exerted on this arm... This is third gear...



And this is fourth...



The next three are my selector rod adjustments... This one is closed up as far as it will go and still be aligned...



This is ONE revolution out...



And one more revolution... Hardly noticeable...



And the fun part!! Kinda!! This is my son’s old shifter... This would be considered a short throw by comparison to the stock 3.0L X5 version... So, while it doesn’t have the crazy bend the stock X5 has, it doesn’t move as much either... Has anyone bent the shifter without destroying the isolation rubber?! I might try that!! This is third gear...



And Neutral...



And fourth gear...



Well, that is all I have for now... I get to go back to the drawing board for the shifter arm... I think I can weld up the selector rod at the third rotation out... But, it might be better if I wait till the arm is done before welding up the rod...

So, what do you guys and gals think?? Almost there!!!

I’m looking into getting a POWER SUPPLY to do my coding... A bit of research indicated that a basic “charger” won’t cut it... Hence the reason I haven't coded anything yet... I’m looking at getting an IOTA DLS-75... It is a bit cheaper than the alternative... Some crazy German unit costing nearly $470... The IOTA is about $150 or so...

Cheers for now!!!!