HOWTO: Getrag 260 to M42/M40

[Andrew 30]

As most of you know - my turbo lunched a gearbox. Aside from not being able to find a Getrag 240 for a 4 cylinder - I knew it would just pwn again.

The Getrag 260 is much stronger and can easily be made to fix with no comprimise in strength (this is the way to do it properly).

Let's dispell some gearbox myths. ALL types of E30 gearboxes bolt to EVERY engine (have not checked the m10 - but they probably do). It is only the angle of the engine (and consequently, gearbox) that is a problem.

M20 sit on an angle - M40 engines sit pretty much straight.

So on the 240 (4 cylinder version) and 260, geabox, clutch/flywheel/pressure plate combo - will work for any car. Slave cylinders from any model work in any car.

To make a 260 fit on (in my case - an E30 318iS with M42)

Take one getrag 260 - chop the front of the bell housing off on the bit that is round all the way around and weld it so the top starter motorbolt is at top dead.

Use the 240 gearlinkage and chop about 20mm from the bit that supports the gearlever, and 20 mm from the actuator.

Driveshaft needs to be loosened in the middle to make up for the missing 1 mm or so in the gearbox. Tighten again.

Mark Herbert at Herbert fabrication has now made a jig (that I paid for, ghey) - so he could do all this for $250ish inc GST.

OK - so one or two of the gearbox bolts don't go in (but they don't matter).

Last step, turn up the boost and find out how much power the 260 can take. For the record - my 240 didn't last long with 280 odd hp.

[Andrew 30]

Gus pwns e30s by the way. He didn't use the hammer once.

[Mike 1]

I've always had an idea that engines M20 and later shared similar bolt patterns, wasn't aware about different lean angles though between M20 and M42. Good to have that cleared up though. Does the M4x have same lean as M5x engines, eg could you have used a E36 328 box with less work?

I'm 90% certain that M10's are different but can take an M30 box without too much work. Might need to get gus and his hammer on the tranny tunnel or something like that.

Edited February 22, 2007 by Mike

[TronSpec 0]

Thanks for pointing this out Andrew. I went through all this when doing my swap only was with the 6 cylinder engines.

I actually left my bell housing alone and just cut and modified my shifter selector and chopped and modfied my gearbox cross member to compensate the new angle the gearbox was on. The bottom 4 holes on the bell housing didn't line up so I just drilled some new holes and bolted it up.

Only problem with not changing the bell housing for me is I can no longer fit any tools up onto the top holes of the gearbox housing as it's sitting right over by the tunnel. About a 5-7mm gap. Need to pull the engine half out to get the trans off. But engine doen't take long to pull. got it down to about 3hrs sitting on the floor next to the car. I've set it up so everything just unplugs. Exhaust, intake, wiring, clutch slave cylinder lines radiator, gearbox and engine mounts then she's out

Shot mechanic gus I've being itching to check this turbo out........

Edited February 22, 2007 by TronSpec

[ED1RTY 2]

Haha you are going to love it gary..

Awesome, this is like a breakthrough for NZ E30 People, do people on R3v etc know about this??

Should make em pay you for the info haha

[Andrew 30]

Thanks for pointing this out Andrew. I went through all this when doing my swap only was with the 6 cylinder engines.

I actually left my bell housing alone and just cut and modified my shifter selector and chopped and modfied my gearbox cross member to compensate the new angle the gearbox was on. The bottom 4 holes on the bell housing didn't line up so I just drilled some new holes and bolted it up.

Only problem with not changing the bell housing for me is I can no longer fit any tools up onto the top holes of the gearbox housing as it's sitting right over by the tunnel. About a 5-7mm gap. Need to pull the engine half out to get the trans off. But engine doen't take long to pull. got it down to about 3hrs sitting on the floor next to the car. I've set it up so everything just unplugs. Exhaust, intake, wiring, clutch slave cylinder lines radiator, gearbox and engine mounts then she's out

Shot mechanic gus I've being itching to check this turbo out........

The m20 box was on such an angle - there was no way it was going to even fit in the tranny tunnel, let alone the problems with the gear linkage

[BM WORLD 1264]

m10 is different , yes m30 box will bolt up to M10 engine , also M3 e30 engine .

butr different to all M20 , m40 etc .

i sold a conversion kit from a 95 318ti e36 , that went into a e36 320iA 4 door , they had no problems . just used the front half from the ti driveshaft fitted to the rear half of the 320i one .

maybe the m50 and M42 have about the same angle on them . in the e36 car .

i myself have fitted older 260 box from M30 528i 84 which has older metal shifter mech into my grey e34 535i that i sold , just cut and welded in some extra meatal to lengthen the shifter parts .

and had driveshaft modified . used e34 shaft and had new pipe and e28 end weled to the front section .