bmwe21.net forums

so i'm off to see/buy this 323i tonight,

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C386704

I'm toying with the idea of having it converted to manual after enjoying it for the summer,

I know it's a pretty pricey example with low miles so it'd be a shame to spoil it so I wanted to ask your opinion on whether it's a good move.

For anyone that has, how much would it roughly cost for parts and how many hours labour?

If anyone has all the parts i need, keep me posted too!

I've done e30s and e34s in the past, not that bad a job as long as you have all the bits available. From my experience I'd recommend the conversion.
As well as the 'box, flywheel, clutch, pedal box, prop etc you'll need to check the ratio of your diff and play about with the inhibitor switch wiring.
I did an e34 back in January, exactly the same as an e30, did it at home in my garage took about 8-10 hours and that's working on axle stands with a shoulder injury.

Diffs normally are the same for manual or auto. You need the clutch hydraulics of course as well. The manual has a different throttle body but since that only means deletion of the auto box kick down pull down cable you can leave the one from the auto version on.