Manual transmission

[Henn28]

Looking for an overview of the manual transmission and transfer case that was used in the 3.0 early on. Talking to a guy with one for sale, and I dream of converting my 4.4/4.6 into a manual someday when the current auto-box craps out. It’ll be a while, hopefully since it it’s a 4ish years old remanufactured. However, the 4.6 in my car now makes about 50 more ftlbs than the 4.4 tranny I’ve got it hooked to is rated for, so who knows.

I think the manual is a ZF, and I’m told very stout and used by lots of guys making major HP from BMW motors. Is the t-case the same as on the V8s though? I can’t imagine it would bolt right up, but maybe an adaptor is available. It looks like the tranny was used in the m62 powered 535 and 735, but I wonder if the bell housings are different from our M62 version.

I’m thinking I might grab this tranny while it’s available and just hang on to it for the future, but don’t want to waste money that could go elsewhere on the X project. Thanks for any insight.