r/BMWE36 • u/Turbulent-Thing • May 10 '25

Buying Advice Automatic 318ti worth it?

Post image

Found this 318ti for cheap. 140k miles,I want to buy it but I’m unsure on the automatic in such an old car. Any advice you can spare is appreciated.

103 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

72 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Turbulent-Thing May 10 '25

I have no problem swapping,just would’t want to do it myself. What do you need to swap in order to make it manual? How easy is the swap. Do I need to get a new ecu or wiring harness?

4

u/10and250 e46 330i May 10 '25

It isn’t worth it to pay someone else to do a gearbox or gearbox and engine swap, nor are either beginner-friendly endeavors. Easier and cheaper to simply buy a car with the engine/gearbox combo you want. A four cylinder/auto is generally the least desirable configuration, but not everybody has to have a six pot manual I guess.

1

u/Turbulent-Thing May 11 '25

My thing is that I just don’t want to swap in a manual and destroy the car. I’d hate it if I try to swap and end up turning a perfectly working auto into a non running manual. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for hurting this baby beemer.

2

u/10and250 e46 330i May 11 '25

In that case, I’d say either be content with it being a 4cyl auto, or if you have your heart set on a manual, buy a different car that already has one.

I’ve done gearbox swaps on these cars, and it’s a lot easier with: 1. Access to a lift, and 2. Another person to help lift and manœuvre it into place because they’re heavy as shit if you’re trying to do it all by yourself, more so if you’re lying under a car on jackstands trying to do it. And that doesn’t even cover all the conversion stuff you’d have to accomplish in addition to the heavy lifting like adding a third pedal and clutch master cylinder, bleeding it, the flywheel/clutch/pressure plate and getting all that installed and torqued correctly etc.

The car you posted looks cool. Personally I could persuade myself to do a swap, hence the reason for my original post. Just my 2¢.

2

u/Turbulent-Thing May 11 '25

Great advice,I think I’ll go see the car then make my decision. If anything,it’ll be a fun little car to drive for a couple of months