E61 daily driver project
 

the time has finally come, I've procrastinated long enough. A little background info is in order I guess. Longtime member but my first post. bought my E61 in the winter of 2016. 87k miles in decent condition. Fast forward 2025 235k miles. regular maintenence and service work along the way. Major stuff in spring of 2023 replaced the engine as well as rebuilt the front suspension. I would have rebuilt the transmission while I was in there but had already spent about $6500.00 and 2 months at that time and like the Title says its my daily driver. I have other cars but do really enjoy the wagon for daily duty. Now for the next chapter of the story... Since the transmission started showing signs of Its age I set about a solution. So the logical thing to do in my mind was to source a low mileage 2007 530xi sedan with a 6 speed manual transmission. Now your probably thinking easier said than done. Well after searching for a good while I found one. Now begins the next phase, swapping the trans, transfer case and front and rear diffs into the wagon. I want to say that the forum has provided invaluable info as i have used the info from all the fine members found here. Since this is my first BMW I will definitely need the experts on here to help me see through this next project.

Weekend update. Donor car has yielded the transmission and transfer case. I am now looking to service trans and transfer case. The shifter needs rebuilding as well as a new
clutch kit to source. My plan is to convert to a single mass flywheel and clutch. There seems to be some confusion as to the kit that fits this car. Can anyone shed some light on
the differences of the clutches for these BMWs ? And what clutch kit would work the best?

Quick update, swap is complete. I finished the final details two weeks ago and have put 1400 miles on it so far. Thanks to Tom at Euroenvy in Concord, North Carolina for doing the coding.
It was a lot of work, but worth it in the end. Swapping the frt. and rr diffs with 3.23 ratios netted about 525 to 530 miles to tank fill. RPM is 2000 at 55 MPH and shows 26.4 MPG in town
and some highway.

I'm sorry no one commented on your saga but I'm glad to see you were able to accomplish what you set out to do. Post some pics when you get the chance.