Yesterday my son, Evan, and I installed a Getrag 265 in my 1987 745T. The Getrag 265 is found mostly in 1980s BMWs, and is known to be very strong. Seam McMullen sells adapter plates which mate the Getrag 265 to the red block bell housing used on the M46 or M45. The picture below shows two of the three Getrag 265s which I own. One of the adapter plates is shown in the picture.


I had the front half of a drive shaft lenghtened 8.25" about two weeks ago. It was done by a driveshaft shop and balanced as an assembly. The 8.25" increase in length is perfect, and you can use the number if you wish to have your driveshaft worked on prior to project start. It cost about $162.

I bought a clutch assembly from SPEC. It is a performance clutch for daily driving, and I am very pleased with it. The disc is just a Volvo 9" with a BMW spline. It was $330 with shipping. I used the BMW throwout bearing and ground the sides for the Volvo throwout arm just enough to accept the BMW part. The modified throwout arm is on the right. No other modifications were needed to the clutch or actuation mechanism.


The picture below shows the transmission mount which I made. The rubber mount is for 1986 and earlier 740s. It cost $12.20 from IPD. I have a welder and welded the brackets to the crossmemeber.


I used the BMW shift housing. It was lengthened 3.25", and is positioned exactly where the M46 shifter was. Initially the longer BMW shift throw gave trouble with knuckles in the radio. We solded this by changing the length on the shift rod (not shown), and Evan modified a BMW shifter into a short throw shifter which really helped.


The finished product:


The transmisison shifts nice. It is noisier than the M46, and has the idle rattle which Metric Mechanic reports is typical to many Getrag 265s. The shift pattern is centered, right to left. The M46 shift pattern is inclined slightly towards the driver. I am going to modify the shift rod so the shifter is inclined towards the driver like the M46 shifter. Driving at 3000 RPM in fifth gear gives about 73 MPH, while the M46 gives about 77 MPH. I like the M46 OD ratio better. If you bought a Metric Mechanic modified 265, you'd get a 0.77 OD ratio, which I'd prefer. First gear is taller than the M46, and I like that. The SPEC clutch is truly outstanding. I recommend it to anyone with any manual transmission.

Some of the noise may be coming from the attachment of the BMW shift housing to the chassis. I may modify that, or use a modified 240 series M46 shift linkage similar to what Peter Linssen, of MVP, has in his car.

Since only four bolts hold the Getrag to Sean's adapter plate, it is easy to install and remove the transmission, much easier than dealing with the M46 assembly.

I have two more Getrag 265s to test in my car, and at least one will be sold, possibly two. My son wants one for his car. The Getrag 265s have a great deal of value to anyone with a manual transmisson equipped M3, 500, 600, 0r 700 series BMW. They are stronger than about other manual transmission ever installed in a BMW. Then I will probably install an M90, or go back to my M46 with a SPEC clutch.

I enjoy projects.
--
john