Hey 50s I finally had the option to put a hoist at my house, which made it so much easier. As far as I’m concerned you being underneath the car, you’re an absolute legend. I followed your instructions and it worked perfectly, I take my hat off to you. I love your work

Kudos to you 50sKid for inviting us into your garage and taking the painstaking time to meticulously explain the detail. You bought a 330i and it turns out you may have unwittingly bought a dog (assumptions assumptions), which was good news because it gave you lots of material for your youtube channel and she's taught me things (Ed being humble and sitting down). If I'm getting it right, this is a project car for you... thus extra motivation for all the teardowns you do (I wonder what's your other car). So, at first, the torque converter was leaking, then you did the rebuild where it broke the bearing (I heard that groan when you checked it), then it got a recon pump and TQ. You did the valve body, then upgraded the body (nice work there). You'd put in a new DG drum and new clutches in the box. At this point you're in Autobox God Mode for the Enthusiast. There's no need to know more (and an assumption that you now have very little motivation to change your darstidly automatic ways). Now I see that you're gutting it to add that coveted stick!(I know you want it) My question is this. You've taken me on a two year journey with you and nowhere do you ever explain why you'd decided to go analog. What was your motivation for switching to a manual box, deliberately making the car something it is not? I'm the proud owner of your car's twin sister. A one month old 231 000km (145 000 mi) 02/10 330i A/T with less than 1 000km (600 mi) personal kilos on it and I've written a list of what's wrong with it the size of steak knives (I'll spare you the detail). It turns out I may have unwittingly bought a dog (you know what they say about assumptions), which could be good news (court's still out on that one) and she may just teach me a thing or two (Yeah. Before you buy anything, first make sure you check it out properly). Last Sunday on the way home, after a spirited drive from church 30mi away through twisties and highway, then into the city getting caught up in traffic with all the anciliaries at full capacity, I started hearing a thump as the box downshifted as I came to standstill at lights and I know something is wrong. As I'm dropping off my entourage (suburban driving) I'm now finding that the car no longer wants to accelerate from the lights. It's like first is engaging, can't find it, let's try second, it's not there, third, no, fourth, here we go (it stalled a few times). As soon is the wheels start rolling, it manages to find second and I'm proppelled like the bat outta hell I always wanted to be after Sunday church... but I digress. When it's moving, the shifts are all there. All this happened in automode and I wasn't in a mood to play with it (Sunday's my day off). Left it parked in the garage to think. Last night disconnected the battery for 30 mins, did learning tests, drove it very respectfully to go see a client. Car is fine. I did an apprenticeship with BMW when E46 was the staple, only to move into finance the day I qualified as a "technician". Today you're more in tune with the product than I am... and I can confirm that I've learnt more about ZF auto-transmissions from yourself and this dude jjrichar at E46fanatics. Someone (because I'd rather say no names) has not been entirely truthful about about the condition of the car I was sold (besides no point crying over the 330i you've just acquired for next to nothing.... figures). From the gunk stuck in the air filter and the colour and level (3 pints short over 3 000 mi) of the oil I have discovered that the last service wasn't done, but monitors were reset. No prizes guessing that the gearbox was never opened. Maintenance was done purely to keep the wheels turning. I ask the question, because I intend treating my car with the same amount of respect you treat yours (I want to look after her but she will do what I tell her). I am also looking for the shortest (ahem cheapest) distance from A-B (Putting 150 000km (90 000 mi) on this car) ith reliability in mind. From my research of four late nights of 50sKid and jjrichar I have come to the conclusion that replacing the gear oil and filter will temporarily fix my problems for now. A valve body rebuild soonest (could be longer due to tool and space constraints) at the next service interval in 20 000km (12 500mi) would go a long way to preserving the integrity of the box(Sonnax, o-rings, possibly solenoids). When it fails, which hopefully won't happen within my ownership lifetime, I will have to make the decision to rebuild or to just do what you're doing here. Which way do I go if it comes time to decide? Greetings from Sunnyside South Africa :)

Nice video. Finally somebody had the guts to show us the whole process. Please, inform all the part numbers you're buying for this swap, because it would easier for us, abroad, to buy them on line

Jason has the best videos! I saw like 6 BMW clutch videos and my man Jason was the only one to show you the exhaust manifold bolts removal and removing the tranny bolts.

Here's a tip in case you do break those studs on the exhaust manifold connectors. Once you grind them off with a cutting wheel use a concrete drill bit to drill those studs out. I tried to use Cobalt bits and all kind of stuff and last resort was concrete bits... drilled right through those things.

thank you so much for this series. I've been wanting to do mine for years and I think I'm going to start it now that I found your videos.

Thank you so much! I'm doing a manual swap this month, this is so valuable!

Some frustration today reaching those top bolts, but I just removed the engine mounts tonight and I'll go at it again after work tomorrow. I really like the way you think things through and if you make a mistake, oh well - try it another way. Thanks for the videos.

Jason, thank you for being such an incredible human being. I was spending some time underneath of my E46 this evening. Your words about "really rusty" were great to hear, I'm sure for many people dealing with oxidation issues but I must say that even what you speak of as witnessing as being "very rusty" sounds quite mild. I can tell you first hand that my exhaust connection is so far gone that you would have to go straight to advanced tactics. Allow me to describe the condition, really I should post pics on E46fanatics - The nuts that are 15mm, some were unrecognizable for even their hex shape, diminished to a dark red/brown dome, so far gone that a 12mm would not exactly fit but jam onto the nut finally providing friction at least. Perfectly seamless with the flange metal, like tiny replica volcanoes. It was obviously futile and only for experimenting to gauge how badly rusted it was. The flange junction had flaked up to nearly engulf the gasket completely. I think I was able to get one of the nuts off by somewhat conventional means but with great coaxing, and retiring for the evening after just that one. The other three I had to get clever with a dremel. One of them I was able to grind flat on opposite faces and then use a torch then vice grips+breaker bar. Others the angles were impossible to access even with the flexy extension and a tiny bit - you know that top one on the starboard side. So I remove what was left of the nuts to expose the stud threads and they look like they were in the ocean for a long time. And even with the nuts removed the junction still will not budge, like it has been welded together. Solid. I considered doing some air hammering but I would hate to ruin a set of O2 sensors - no surprise there, those too are rusted in place. The trickier one has lost some mass so even my 22mm O2 socket does not fit as snug as it does on a fresh one. This is not my daily, occupies a garage spot as a long term hobby of 14 years now. To learn how to figure out the tough stuff as it comes up just for the fun of it. Your videos are a tremendous help and encouragement to the whole automotive community. Keep up the good work and stay cool.

you can explain really good, I am a beginner and I could understand almost everything and I think I'm ready to swap my 325I E46, THANK YOU!!!!!

dude i love your videos they are really good, keep it up!!!

excellent video, I was wondering what the shafts looked like. Have to do the bearing for xi soon lol.

Love to see a video on replacing your center support bearing

great job.. to bad I did not have this channel back when I had my manual 330ci or the automatic 320i

He thought the tranny couldn't tilt down further due to the stiff engine rubber mounts, but I believe the problem is due to the front cross member Stop Buffer in between the oil pan and the cross member and you can see part of it between the oil pan and his thumb at 22:13. Removing the stop buffer and the engine can tilt back further. Also, no need to remove the whole driveshaft: just unbolt and lower the CSB then push the front of the driveshaft backward using a screwdrive between the tranny output flange -- this cause the driveshaft splines to slide into the rear half of the driveshaft, then the front will get off the tranny flange pilot pin. Use cable to hold up the driveshaft to prevent damaging the CV or universal joint at the differential. At 25:30, the last top bolt is too hard for him to crack loose, because it's the only bolt that holding the tranny to the engine and there is no tranny jack to support its waight. The 150 lbs tranny cantilivers on this single bolt. It's lucky that the bell housing or the engine block didn't crack off at this bolt. With a jack supporting the tranny, this bolt would not be that hard to loosen. Also, at 23:25 we can tell that the candle wax wasn't pulled into the nut threads by the heat at all.

You did this on the ground your awesome since not everyone has a hoist

This is pretty helpful. I just wish you had a video for the awd xi!

YES yes yes! keep the vids coming! im doing this swap when i get home, to my 325i

Excellent video! Besafe bro! Kind of nervous to see you removing the bolts without any jack support.

Thanks so much for this series and your dedication to quality videos! Removing my transmission tomorrow for my 5 speed swap. Do you remember roughly how high you had your car on jack stands to clear the automatic transmission? Or how extended your jack stands were (1/2 up, 3/4 up, etc)?

I have a 2003 330xi 6 cylinder, 3 liter, automatic transmission. Sometimes it will jump from 5th gear to 4th gear while I’m driving. At that point it’s stuck in 4th, but I pull over, kill the car and let it sit for 30 seconds and it resets the transmission. I had a fluid and filter change, but didn’t help. I’m thinking it may be a solenoid or something simple. The code reads 5th gear fault, which tells me nothing. Your info would be greatly appreciated. I watch a lot of your videos when I’m doing work on my car, and you are very informative. Thank you! David Courtney.

I never heard the wax thing till Rob Siegel (The BMW Hack Mechanic) talked about it. He deals mainly with the old 2002s and has a book called the Hack Mechanic and a book on European electrical systems.

Do you have any suggestions for lowering the back end of the trans another inch or so ?? In working with my automatic 2002 E46 330i I have run into a problem and could use some help. I was replacing a failing transmission gear position switch on the side of the transmission and snapped off the end of the shaft that goes from inside the transmission and through the position switch because of a rusty nut that I ham-fisted. I have a replacement shaft but cannot remove the damaged shaft because it hits the side of the frame tunnel that contains the transmission. I have tried to drop the transmission a few inches to get clearance, by removing the rear transmission support completely and that helped drop the trans by an inch, but I need another inch or so to get the shaft out of the side of the trans. So, again, do you have any suggestions for lowering the back end of the trans another inch or so ?? Thanks for any help you can give here…..and please keep up the great work on your videos!

Love your detailed videos. But a propane flame near fuel hose line ? Or maybe i’m just paranoid (lol)

hi, I've been a new suscriber for your channel and been trying to catch up with the videos for a while. Really great content, the only bad thing on the channel is that is mostly related to bmws.. lol. I had the same same swap for my MB 190e (W201) But I haven't been able to find a donor.

Hey man, i was wondering what you did with your automatic transmission since you aren't using it anymore? im in desprete need of an auto zf 5hp19 which i know you previously had in your car

Hi Did a swap on a 2003 325 to manual Car drive nice and working fine But check engine light is on all the time after the swap Any idea what i need to do ?

Thank you for all this info

Can you take the transmission out without the torque converter?

I have an E36 but still watching :)

thanks for the video and infos, i swapped the gearbox but still transmission light permanently & can't delete by obd , ista or icom , any solution plz?

What are the model numbers of the 2 milwaukee electric wrenches you use? Thanks.

Good job, One step closer to happiness :)

I have a 02 325i a junkyard just got a 99 325i can i use the that manual or do i need a 02 plus transmission

I have a question, how do you get the cruise control and traction control to work again after the swop

Can u plz do a video on e46 325i P0709 code plz. My e46 has been parked for months because of this and no one will help me and I can't find any good info online. I sure would appreciate it

I have 2003 model 330ci gearbox changed and cruise control does not work. I can't find the reason ...

What kind of tool kits do you use at 19.11 ?

Hey. My car was bought with the conversion done to it and now I have a Transmission Range Sensor fault, the car is leaking power, etc. Did you run into this kind of problem?

I'm doing a swap now and my trans is stuck to the starter. It wont let go to save my life. All my bolts are out. :/

Are the steptronic and regular automatic transmissions in the e46, e38, e39 physically the same? Only difference is in the shifter wiring and control module?

What will happen if you change automatic gierbox and not reset

Loved it, made my decision easy, my Zf has a bad oil pump... manual swap or replace...replace.I am too old for all that shifting..

Love it!!

Great videos

We are having a really tough time getting those top e14s out. They are just so tight. An impact won't even break them loose, any suggestions?

Why didn't you place it on a ramp so basically what I'm trying to say is if you drive it up the ramp you can remove it easily I've done it on my pathfinder when I had a bad transmission

Question I got 99 e46 is auto. Wanna make it 5speed but I don't know what trams I need to use on my car.. pls help and thanks

Whats up 50skid,, So I have a 2005 E 46 325I car runs great I've always kept up with my oils and parts I ran into an issue yesterday my car runs fine I just can't go into reverse as soon as I turn on my car but if I let my car run for 10 minutes my reverse works I need help..

Do you have to worry about the fan when the engine moves?

Is the cross member the same for e46 and e39 for zf 5 speed?

How critical is it to match the year of the manual trans when transplanting? Ive heard that BMW actually changed some specs within a model year, so is compatibility a concern? Looking at a 2000 328ci automatic as a father/son project and would want to swap out the trans. Thanks.

Will this be the same for the GM 5L40E transmission?

holy shit that torch and wax trick is so decent. wish I'd tried that on my 16 year old pinch bolt before the head of the bolt decided to detach itself. doh!

You made it look easy lol

Low profile harbor freight jack instead of trans jack wish me luck

you not singned drive shaft... i think it will be shaking so hard when you drive higher speed...

Greatness👍

I think you posted this video a few weeks ago , or i am mistaken? @_@

Whats holding the engine in place if you take the mounts out?

25:17 lol

+50sKid what’s your email so i can get in contact with you. i have a couple of questions to ask you and maybe you can help me resolve my issue.

12:10 that sounds kinda like an m1 garand 😂😂😂😂

Should invest in some taller jack stands