How do you drive a car in NY without first or reverse gears? :dunno: Must be pretty scarry. I think, unless you are doing the work yourself, you should check with your indy to see if they are comfortable with doing this. Interesting thought, but I'd stick with the automatic...or trade for a stick. I would also be a little concerned about resale value as well.

1) yes it is possible. A e39 540i 6 speed manual transmission would bolt on to your engine, you just have to change the rear output shaft to have it mate properly to the transfer case, new flywheel and possibly the bell housing.

2) your current bmw computer that controls everything is useless, wiring harness useless, any misc control units, useless. New wiring harness = very expensive, dsc, tracation programs, etc etc etc would all not function correctly, there are aftermarket alternatives that will bypass these obstacles but very costly. If this were an off-road vehicle only, go for it.

As far as cost, it would be far cheaper to grab a reman auto transmission as even though it is physically possible to change out the auto box for a manual, it will be far more costly than servicing you now retired autobox, not to mention doing a swap will be far more time consuming.

Say a pressure plate and clutch disc alone is roughly $1000, this doesn't include clutch pedals, or anything else, these parts will add up quite quickly.

:bustingup :bustingup :bustingup ok see this is why i said i'm 100% hahaha. I think you made my mind say NO!!!! Thanks a lot Really made me think about everything and it was worth it

The 535 (Europe only), E34 540 (5spd) , E39 540/M5 (6spd), 740i (Europe only) and the 840csi all share the same/similar manual transmission. I'm currently converting my 740iL to a 6spd, but its not as easy as simply bolting the trans and driving. I have to order parts only available in Europe...new brake and clutch pedal set, master and slave cylinders for the clutch, transmission itself and a custom made driveline. The way around the computer for 7 owners is to flash the ECU w/ 540 software so it doesn't freak out and give 'Trans Failsafe Error' codes everyday while driving it. The problem w/ the X5 as Swiss mentioned is the transfer case and the X being AWD, then you've got a while different issue w/ the ECU since the only X in a 5spd is the 3.0. If you converted it to a RWD only and bypassed the AWD (god only knows how the computer would react, let alone if it'd even run correctly w/o seeing the transmission) system all together. Unless you're willing to spend at least 2-3k in parts (lowball estimate), you'd be able to bolt a 6spd to your X. Your honestly better off getting onto Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market or Bavarian Engine Exchange & Rebuilt BMW Parts 's junkyard division and buying a used trans if you're not willing to fix the one you have now. Shops like Koala Motorsports quote at least $10k to do this job, but I'm doing the work myself, so i'll be into it about 1/4 to 1/2 that after its all said and done.

E53 diesels also had the option of manual boxes, a five-speed pre- 2004 update and a six-speed post update. The post update diesel had more torque than the 4.4 V8 so it should handle the V8. This may be an option but it still doesn't make for a simple conversion.

true, except for the bell housing on the transmission, not compatible.

Can't change the bell housing?

Yeah, I was gonna say...isnt the diesel an I6? To be honest, I have no clue :-/ I'm still learning a few things here and there about the US X5's vs other countries.

Yep, 3.0-litre I6.

This I cannot confirm... It is possible, but seems like it wouldn't be cost effective now that you also have to source a v8 manual transmission bell housing.

I think the other problem is that it would be pretty tough to just take a bell housing and not the entire transmission... Just my two cents