Expert: John Kingery - 2/18/2008

Question
hi i have a 1989 BMW 325. and i was woundering i could change the transmision from auto to a stick shift. and how much that would cost to do

Answer
You can, but I would guess it would be significantly cheaper to sell yours and buy one with a stick.

You'll have to figure cost yourself, based on where you can get the parts and how much you want to do vs. pay to have done.

I have heard several guru's on this say that by far the best way is to find a donor car.  There are hundreds of little parts (mounting brackets for little things, springs, etc.) that you'll never get if you try to get parts only.

So if you really want to do this, find a junked '89 with a good manual tranmission, and start into it.

I'd recommend against it.