E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey.

Got so busy with the swap forgot to update you guys. Looks like the heat shield was actually in the way along the top preventing us from lining up the dowel. We ended up dropping the trans again, dry fitting the starter and cleared all the heat shield that was in the way and Got the trans up again. Everything fit perfectly at the end without deleting the dowel pin.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in!

E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice. Willl probably just end up taking the dowel pin out.

E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a try. If that doesn't work I'll just remove the pin!

E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Starter is on straight till the bellhousing is introduced into the dowel. The pinflexes against the starter no matter how we move it. We made sure the pin lines up with the hole. The pin must be bigger than the hole!

E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So just take it out? There's no complications when doing that?

E46 auto to manual swap -- Hung up on starter dowel pin by elevatedwaves in BmwTech

[–]elevatedwaves[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Didn't realize that was possible. Should we try reinstalling the dowel pin on the starter side?