BMW M57N2 to 8HP Swap Kit

Complete BMW M57N2 to 8HP Swap Kit

We now supply the ZF 8 speed kit as a standalone package for builders doing their own conversion. The gearbox is programmed for the application before it ships, so you are not left configuring an integration module: the kit is plug and play and needs only basic wiring ability.

Read the fitment notes below before ordering. This kit is for aluminium block M57N2 engines only, the last of the BMW M57 family.

What an M57 8HP swap kit normally costs you in time

The mechanical side of putting a ZF 8HP behind an M57 is the part people expect to be hard, and it is not: it is an adapter, a sump, some fittings and patience. The part that stops projects is making the gearbox behave. An 8HP is not a box you bolt on and drive. Out of a donor car it expects to be told what to do by a vehicle that is not there, and the usual answer is a third party control module that has to be configured, which means learning a piece of software before you learn anything about your own vehicle.

We take that step out by programming the gearbox for the application before it leaves here. What arrives is wired in rather than set up, and the level of skill required drops from competent with diagnostic software to competent with a crimp tool. The OBD diagnostic port wiring is part of the package too, so the gearbox can be interrogated once it is in the vehicle.

What’s Included

• Supplied second hand ZF 8HP automatic gearbox
• Gearbox programmed for plug and play application
• Brand new genuine ZF transmission sump
• Gearbox wiring harness
• Gear selector wiring harness
• OBD diagnostic port wiring
• AN10 gearbox oil port fittings
• Starter motor cover
• M57N2 to ZF 8HP adapter kit
• Installation support

Direct Fit

• BMW M57N2 306D3
• BMW M57N2 306D5

This conversion kit is compatible exclusively with aluminium block M57N2 engines carrying engine codes 306D3 and 306D5.

Please note that this kit is not compatible with earlier cast iron M57 engines. Development of a steel block conversion kit is currently underway but is not yet available.

Check your engine before anything else

This is the one thing on this page that will cost you money if you get it wrong, so it is worth being blunt about it. Two engine codes fit: 306D3 and 306D5. The earlier cast iron M57 engines do not, and there is no adapter you can buy from us today that changes that. We are developing a steel block version; it is not finished and we will not pretend otherwise.

So find the code on the engine you own, not the code in the advert you bought it from. If you are still buying, our brand new M57D30TU2 is a 306d5 and matches this kit. The M57N we list is the earlier cast iron generation, so pairing it with this gearbox is not something to assume: ask us first.

What you still have to solve

This kit joins a gearbox to an engine. It does not put either of them in a vehicle. There are no engine mounts here, no transmission mount or crossmember, no cooling, no gear selector mechanism, and nothing at all for the transfer case end of the gearbox.

That last one catches people out. On a Land Rover, the output of the 8HP still has to meet an LT230, and that is our 6HP and 8HP to LT230 adapter. On a Nissan Patrol it is the Patrol transfer case adapter. Plan both ends of the gearbox at the same time.

If you would rather buy one kit that covers the whole vehicle instead of assembling it from parts, the Defender M57 8HP conversion kit is the complete version of this idea, engine included.

Purchase a brand new M57N2 engine