Hey, my friend Tim ("BimmerTim") is putting a 3.15 LSD into my 98' 328is. This LSD came out of a 1995 M3. He is also putting the drive shaft from that same 95' M3 into my car as well. This M3 was a manual transmission (stock tranny) FWIW.

So he took my stock diff and drive shaft out of my car, and installed the 3.15 and M3 drive shaft. But when he was hooking them back up to my axles, he found out that they won't fit my stock axles:mad

We had started this project at 1:30am this morning, and he got to the point where it won't fit at about 4:30am. We decided that we would figure it out in the morning (today).

Since it took so long to get the diff and drive shaft installed, it would be dumb to take them both back out. So my car is currently in his garage, undrivable until I have some compatible axles.

I'm sure it sounds like IDK what I'm talking about, mostly because the skill level involved goes way over my head here:( So I'm going on what I remember him telling me...

SO MY QUESTION IS THIS:
Do I need to have the axles from a 1995 M3, or will the axles from any E36 M3 fit the 3.15 LSD? I'm almost certain the 96'-99' M3's had a 3.23 LSD, so I'm unsure of wether or not the axles from a 96'99' M3 will fit a 3.5 LSD.

I guess it's best to use the axles from a 95 that I know will work, considering they are also going to generally be the cheapest.

--------

Any help or info is greatly appreciated!

PM Tim (BimmerTim) or myself with anything you may deem helpful!

Thanks a million!

Can you change the output flanges of the diff?

I don't think so, he's a pretty clever guy and he couldn't think of any way to rig it up to work using my stock axles.

The output flanges (on the diff) are all the same 6 bolt pattern as far as I know. If they are different for some reason you can try to swap over the output flanges from your old diff to the new one. They are held in with a c clip and are fairly easy to pop out.

-Serge

First, only dif between M3 Axles are the early ones where small diameter and solid, the later ones larger but hollow. Mine came with the former, I now have the latter. They all fit the same. (was chasing a noise, that's why I have the later ones on atm. Kept the others as spares)

I have no idea about reg 3 series axles, suggest you compare part numbers on RealOEM.

And before you button up that LSD, I suggest you check it out, read the link in my siggy...