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RealOEM lists two different Giubos for my '81 E12:

26111107832 D=96MM/12 '

26117511454 LK=96MM/12
only in conjunction with
-- Hex bolt M12X1,5X56 27101220647
-- Spacer sleeve 26111225048

The 832 variant is about $207
The 454 is about $124, plus the spacer sleeves (about $45).

Which is my better option? What's the deal with the spacer sleeves?

I'm inclined to pony up for the BMW part, but if there are strong recos for aftermarket, I'm all ears.

Happy New Years, gents.

-Eric

528i-1981 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 10:55 pm RealOEM lists two different Giubos for my '81 E12:

26111107832 D=96MM/12 '

26117511454 LK=96MM/12
only in conjunction with
-- Hex bolt M12X1,5X56 27101220647
-- Spacer sleeve 26111225048

The 832 variant is about $207
The 454 is about $124, plus the spacer sleeves (about $45).

Which is my better option? What's the deal with the spacer sleeves?

I'm inclined to pony up for the BMW part, but if there are strong recos for aftermarket, I'm all ears.

Happy New Years, gents.

-Eric

I just had the Giubo changed on my car, but it's 5 years older and an automatic, so I will just say the box was marked Fichtel and Sachs, and there were no spacers included.

Happy New Year Eric.

That spacer sleeve is located in the nose of the driveshaft and unless you remove it, which is not easy, you'd never really know it's there. I have replaced them at least once, while not normally a wear item if the guibo is used too long after failure it can be damaged. Or if a bolt is missing as was the case on my E28. But typically you don't need to worry about it. If it is bad you get added vibration as the D/S is no longer located properly.

As to which one, I'd lean towards the 454, but if you have the 832 currently you will need new bolts as it's thinner, 14MM it would appear. But it's much easier to work with and probably less prone to vibration. I was having D/S issues on an E28 I had and even having an extra stiff 154 contributed to extra vibration compared to a soft one, I can only imagine what the 832 would have been like. And they used the 454 well into this century so even though it looks weaker it's probably stronger or at least strong enough.

Thanks gents. My giubo hasn't failed yet but has several cracks that are converging. As I'm going to drop the exhaust and d/s to upgrade the shifter, now is the time. I'm planning on replacing the center bearing while I'm down there - is there anything else I should replace (other than nuts and bolts)?

Do some research, but I think a E34 center support will fit and be stronger. It seems to be a direct interchange on E28s, which of course are very close relatives to E12s. Not saying it will fit, but I suspect it will.

That would have been a great idea, but I ordered the OEM CSB from WallothNesch along with the giubo and some other bits.

Is pre-loading the CSB essentially just pulling it forward 2mm? I've read conflicting advice on whether this should be done with the giubo bolts loose or torqued down. Would that matter a whole lot if everything was unstressed?

The Blue manual references a special tool, which looks like a circumferential band around the giubo to compress it. In the picture, the giubo looks like an older style, and I've not read about anyone using a big hose clamp or tourniquet:



There is also conflicting advice about which direction the bolts are inserted. In the picture above, they are alternating, others say put them all in one direction. I'll plan to ape the Blue book, but am curious whether this matters as long as there's symmetry. I know that the arrows on the giubo should point to a flange.

I've definitely had to use hose clamps to compress the guibo. The problem is regular hose clamps aren't really heavy duty enough. I've managed, but it's always a fight and the clamps are pretty much trashed after one use.

I have a few worm-drive hose clamps that I could try at the same time. McMaster Carr has bolt clamps in a bunch of sizes that can take 75 ft-pounds at the bolt. I'm not sure how that translates to circumferential compression. What's your gut say?

Unless you're reinstalling the older, kind of flanged doughnut type, you don't need them. You don't need to clamp it to remove it and new it comes with a clamp on it, non reusable, to use installing it. But you have to remove that clamp once you have it installed. But if sometime later you need to pull the driveshaft and reinstall it, then you need the clamp. 75 pounds? I dunno, just that I have to crank awfully hard on conventional hose clamps.

That's helpful. Thanks Mike.

528i-1981 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:44 am
Is pre-loading the CSB essentially just pulling it forward 2mm? I've read conflicting advice on whether this should be done with the giubo bolts loose or torqued down. Would that matter a whole lot if everything was unstressed?

I missed this initially. Yes it's important to preload the center support. I've gotten to the point where I do it pretty much as much as I can which is typically 1/8-1/4" What it does is stiffen the shaft to keep it located better in case of stiff U joints or out of balance. Nothing is going to fall apart if it's not, but you will probably get more vibration. Some people with stiff U joints end up gluing fuel line into the hollow to stiffen it. I haven't gotten that far, but I do scoot it up as far as it will go.

Thank you again, Mike. Today I made some major progress with the wife out of the house and the new QuickJacks giving me plenty of space. Yesterday I called Uncle and took the E12 to my repair shop to get the #$@%#$@ nuts off the exhaust flange studs. After a few hours of heating with MAP, penetrating oil, hammer blows and "damaged nut removers" it was clear acetylene was the next move. They had them off in less than an hour, saving the studs and rethreading them, and send me on my way. Today, I removed the exhaust, heat shield, drive shaft and giubo and was happy that there was no horrors in terms of rot. There's some surface corrosion that I'll deal with. The giubo was toast.

I am concerned about the fluid at the transmission end of the shifter linkage. It's pretty wet. What's the remedy? I'm putting in the AutoSolutions short shifter so the linkage is coming off - and I'll probably repaint the platform.

UPDATE: It appears that the selector fork in the Getrag 265 has a seal that can be removed and then a new one pressed in with a 15mm socket. I've ordered that seal and will replace.

Here's where I am.



The selector shaft seal on the Getrag 265 was a major job, and not for complexity. The old one took hours of patient picking to remove, and installing the new one required freezing the new seal overnight and heating the area around the selector shaft. Even then, no gentle tapping but a solid hammer blow got it seated. Doing this with the transmission still in the car is a challenge, but there's enough room. Supporting the transmission and lowering the rear after removing the crossmember will help, especially with visibility.

I should have everything back together by the weekend. The Auto Solutions shifter is a big upgrade, especially on this car where the shifter was pretty well spent.

Everything is back together. In the picture above, the shift linkage is not installed. If anyone in the future installs the Auto Solution short shifter, note that the linkage bar is beefier than stock, and it will be impossible to install after the console platform is bolted down. So fit everything together before tightening bolts.

I've only had the car on a short test drive so far, to ensure the driveshaft wasn't unhappy. The difference with the new shifter is major. I put this upgrade on the same level as replacing the stock sway bars in terms of the degree of improvement. It's like a different car. A new Giubo and CSB also has made the drivetrain tighter and quieter. The only downside is that the shifter geometry is now a bit farther forward, so that your knuckles hit the cigarette lighter going into 3rd. I'll just replace that with a dummy plug, as I've turned the glovebox flashlight connection into a power source for USB charging.

Congrats on the short shifter - it really does change the car, doesn't it. I put in a Z3 1.9 shifter in and it feels like you go from a tractor to a Miata transmission.

Does your shifter have a bend in it near the pivot? Wondering if you can bend the whole thing back a little if it's steel and not aluminium.