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02-24-2016, 08:32 PM | #1 |
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Clutch replacement in driveway
Driveway Clutch job tips
This is not a DIY but more of a supplement to other ‘incomplete’ DIY or just another guys perspective. It is 100% doable. I had several people tell me no way or I was going to be miserable and its not that bad. Time: With another mechanically inclined buddy it took me 20 hours. Bear in mind I went at a reasonable pace, took food breaks, was working on my back, and I am OCD about my car so I triple checked every single bolt. Absolutely Need: -Another person, preferably skilled -You will definitely need some tall jackstands. The standard jackstands you see in the back will be fine but they will be maxed out… so I do not recommend that. Get the big ones I have for at least the front. (**The negative rake will actually make it easier to uninstall and install trans. )Those are 24 inch stands and I was nowhere near that and was comfortable enough to do this. Athough, 6 inches higher would have been ideal. -Make sure you have all your tools. Obviously your torx and e torx, range of ratchets, connectors, extensions, breaker bar, sockets, deep sockets, wrenches, etc. This common stuff should be standard for a transmission job. Uncommon Stuff: -An impact gun would make bolt removal easy but is absolutely not necessary. I bought what was supposed to be a heavy duty 300ft/lb ryobi and it did absolutely nothing. A breaker bar will go a long way and will give you a better feel of the bolts. -T60 (its needed for the flywheel bolts. -E18 – needed for the long aluminum trans bolts (my replacements from ECS were T16 not sure why) -22mm wrench for 02 sensor – No, you do not need an o2 ‘special tool’ -Extra long extension. I prefer one long one (1-2 ft) then multiple small ones. All with knobbly ends (the one where each end gives you about 10-20 deg wiggle) – this is needed to reach around from the back of the transmission to the top bolts that connect the trans to the block. -Zipties -brake cleaner for flywheel and pressure plate -Buy new long replacement bellhousing bolts (x5 +1 medium one) -Buy flywheel bolts (x8) -Buy new pressure plate bolts (x6)’ All of mine seemed like new and I believe I could have easily reused them but why bother. Trust me you will not want to do this again, unless you have to. Do it right the first time. The bolts were not very expensive. On to the job: ******Follow the HPF n54 clutch youtube video. It is basically 95% complete. Watch it twice before you start and have it guide you. The guys explain it very well and make the job very easy. Before removal take pictures of the way the undercarriage cover brackets, and transmission wiring/02 sensor brackets are installed. Take a picture of the slave cylinder. Seems simple but after a long job the last thing you want is spending extra time figuring exactly what position those couple things go in. Hiccups/Process: - The HPF video is a little confusing because he adds in talk about bolts you do not remove. To keep it simple: The very top of the trans will have 2 bolts you must remove. One is an e12 located just slightly left of dead center. The second is an e14, located just about dead center. The e12 is easiest to remove with a super long extension coming from the back of the trans. The e14 I did both ways, with a swivel ratchet and coming from the back of trans with super long extension. I spent hours fidgeting with these before I had a buddy suggest a long extension. -Place a block of wood between oil pan and sway bar. Since my front was lifted higher than the rear the engine did not tilt as forward as expected right away, but when left overnight it was sitting tight on that 2x4 block. (don’t over think it) just any size 2x4 that will keep the oil pan spaced from any other metal. - Place a jack ½ inch under the trans during removal – after you tilt is counterclockwise be prepared to wiggle – a lot. - You DO NOT need a special flywheel locking tool so you can loose/torque pressure plate and flywheel bolts. Simply grab the crankshaft at the front of the engine with a deep socket and fit a slender breaker bar and have your buddy hold it in place while you take the bots off and on. -Don’t forget Loctite (red is recommended) – just 1 drop - I only have 28k miles so I kept the original throwout bearing (this one only because after market was plastic) and pilot bearing (I read its quite difficult to get out…once again I only have 28 miles, not worried about these bearings.) If you have more than 50k I would suggest you replace both. Find a DIY for the pilot bearing. (It might require a bearing puller/dremmel.) -***If your engine tilts forward after you unbolt the trans and remove it, you will have to use another block of wood (as the first one is stuck) and find another spot and slowly jack it up and tilt it back to the original position. There should be a max of 3-4 inches between top of sway bar and oil pan at this point (this should be sweet spot to get trans back in) there should be no need to go over 5.” -No need to remove guibo – you’re just giving yourself extra work. -One of the shifter assembly clips gave me a hard time for well over 30 minutes. Take your time. Pop the back part back of the shifter assembly into the groove; it should make putting the clips in the front much easier. Here’s a bunch of pics! Good luck fellas. -Hokejka CLUTCH/FLYWHEEL review (Spec 2+ and factory SMFW) Clutch: The pedal feel is much improved. I felt as if the stock pedal feel was way too soft and was nto linear. It seemed even softer in the section the clutch actually grabbed. IMO this is much better and feel is much more linear and overall a little stiffer. I do not like a very easy/soft clutch, (its hard to control). The people complaining about the spec being 'too stiff' or 'hurting their leg' are being ridiculous. It is not stiff in anyway. Drive a jeep. My girl drives 6mt jeep full time and has never complained about the clutch and its at least 2x as stiff as the spec. I am very happy with it. -mile 30 - grabbiness is just about stock. Flywheel - revs climb higher faster. Rev matching is perfect. Flywheel is perfect for my style of shifting/driving. Was not happy with stock DMFW. - my car sounds like a tractor with the A/C on. With A/C offf chatters a tiny bit. I can imagine where people would get annoyed with this one. It does not bother me. If I could chose I would rather it be quiet but knowing what performance and reliability benefits I get from a SMFW I am completely content. I might raise the idle to 900rpm. That seems to be the sweet spot to eliminate chatter during idle. While revving the chatter is intermittent to about 1500-1700rpm and then goes away. Once again chatter is a tiny price to pay for the fact that I can hold 600lb/ft of torque reliably. FIRST POST: Looks like I will be changing my clutch and flywheel in the driveway. I can't find a lift. I refuse to let anyone else do it for me, let alone $$$ when I am very capable of doing a lot myself. I don't foresee the need for any special tools? Beside getting the car as high as possible. Any advice? Last edited by hokejka; 04-05-2016 at 02:03 PM.. Reason: Finish Job: Update |
02-24-2016, 10:40 PM | #2 |
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It looks like a bit of a job, but still doable
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02-24-2016, 11:49 PM | #3 | |
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I did it on jack stands, was around a 12 hour job: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1191143 Get a friend, this will be a real nightmare without a 2nd pair of hands. Getting to the transmission bolts you need 1 person holding the wrench and one person guiding the socket to the head. You need a load of 1/2 wobbly extensions. Once we got the transmission to the floor, there was no way of sliding it out from under the car without scratching it up. So we rolled the transmission out from under the car The big transmission bell housing bolts are E18. My E18 socket was too thick walled and I ended up having to machine down my socket on a lathe. Just make sure the socket you are using isn't too thick, otherwise you are stranded. Make a flywheel lock tool, you have no chance of torquing anything down without it. I ground mine out of steel which was a bit overkill. I could have just cut a steel box section and drilled a hole for a bell housing bolt and that would have worked fine. Also make sure you have a clutch alignment tool Its hard to get the car high on jack stands. I had a transmission jack adapter but it was crap. Ended up just using my low profile floor jack and a block of wood to lift the transmission. back into the car. You need a flex head ratchet to get the top bolts off. Make sure you use all your strength in keeping the socket on the bolt head square. Otherwise you risk stripping the etorx heads. Once broken free, mine came out easily enough by spinning them out with my fingers. Be prepared for stripped exhaust bolts. I had to clean up the axleback bolts with a tap and die cos they were so soft and I didn't have new ones. Get new exhaust gaskets Remove the shifter boot and knob and remove from the car. This will allow you to completely remove the shifter linkage which sits above the transmission. This gives you much more room to wiggle the transmission free. If your gear shifter is a little sloppy, replace the bushings as it will be super easy to swap them out. Kind of regret not upgrading them now. Good tools will make your life easier. Make sure you have a full etorx set. Electric ratchet will make things easier. I have an impact but was really only useful for the T60 flywheel bolts and propshaft bolts. Any other questions i'd be happy to answer for a fellow diyer. Your arms will be all scraped up, your face will have crud on it but it will all be worth it.
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02-25-2016, 12:04 PM | #4 |
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Thank you so much for the details. I just found jack stands that go up to 23.5 inches! so that should be plenty room to move around. What do you think? Comfort is not an option for this so Im not even thinking about it.
VTL is just read through your posts on the DIY clutch in the clutch section. Somehow I missed it initially so I posted here. I think i might pic up the electric ratchet to save some headache though. I am not sure about 2 things. I have an E-torx set but they are pretty standard. Is there anything beside the E-18 that needs to be thin walled.. do they even make a thing walled I could possibly overnight? My quick google didn't give me much. I have the clutch alignment tool that came with the spec clutch. Also what do you mean by flywheel lock tool. I replaced the flywheel on my e30 with m50 motor. It was very straight forward and simply unbolted and revolted with locktite. Can you explain the lock tool? |
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02-25-2016, 03:34 PM | #5 | |
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The lock tool prevents the engine from rotating when you are torquing down the bolts. You must use a torque wrench. I replaced the flywheel and the 8 bolts require 120Nm for tightening. Pressure plate needs torque + 90 degree angle so the bolts are stretched. Make sure you use new pressure plate bolts. What are you using for a flywheel? Are you going single mass? Reusing the old flywheel or new dual mass? I shaved my E18 socket to 20.25mm outside diameter. If you used a 3/8 E18 instead of a 1/2" E18 it'll probably be the right diameter. The socket has to be small enough to clear the bell housing. Otherwise you can mount the socket on a battery drill and use a grinder on it until its the right diameter if you don't have a lathe Nothing else needs to be thin walled. Milwaukee 2457 electric ratchet is what I have. Best tool ever! It's torquey and the trigger mechanism has very fine control, you can really control the torque finely by slowing it down. Make sure you get 5x new steel bell housing bolts. You cannot reuse the Aluminium ones as they are stretched permanently. The E18 Aluminium bolts are replaced with E16 bolts so that makes things a bit easier when reassembling.
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02-25-2016, 07:59 PM | #6 | |
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2011 135i M Sport 6MT LeMans Blue | Active Autowerke Gen II axle back | Berk d******* | N54 gutted mids | FuelIt Walbro 450 fuel pump | Pure Turbos Stage 2 | 3.5bar TMAP | Pure Turbos inlet pipe | BMS intake | BMS oil catch can | ETS intercooler | ETS charge pipe | BMS JB4 w/ ISO firmware | BMS backend flash stacked on PPK | Eibach springs | Whiteline rear subframe bushing inserts | cosmetic tidbits
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02-25-2016, 08:21 PM | #7 | |
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I will measure out my E18 and see how it compares in size. I got a single mass steel flywheel from factory. On the not so bright side I was setting everything up today for the install and laid out the flywheel and clutch/disk and noticed what they sent me.... I have read too many negative things about spec and against all of it I decided to go with them and of course they send me the wrong disk. So this is going to be quite a bit of a setback. I'm considering getting the Motiv twin disk. I have read only good things once their latest revisions. I will never max that clutch out. I like the idea of not having to worry about it possibly ever. This is a straight race disk... |
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02-25-2016, 08:29 PM | #8 | |
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I had to get my flywheel bolts from the BMW dealer because I was putting the clutch in on the same weekend and I needed it quickly. I'm also in Australia so my buying options are a bit more limited. FCP euro/ECS tuning will have the bolts that you need.
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02-25-2016, 09:01 PM | #9 | |
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02-25-2016, 09:45 PM | #10 |
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02-25-2016, 09:54 PM | #11 |
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02-26-2016, 11:43 PM | #12 |
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Vince Carbone... I owe you an apology. This has been very frustrating and your blunt comment didn't feel like it was meant to be helpful.
It is after all not a stage 5 disk. It is a 2+ disk but is unsprung. Mfactory supposedly does not pair their flywheels with sprung disks, only solid. Resemblance to stage 5 is there. This is the first time I've heard this and was really hoping for a sprung disk to offset the movement to a SMFW but I don't see any other options if I want to stick with a factory flywheel. Supposedly the unsprung disk should work will too. |
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02-28-2016, 01:41 AM | #14 |
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No way... 550i is solid hub. That's a bad choice for driveability and noise. Chatters really bad. Need sprung hub clutch disk to absorb some of the vibrations if going single mass.
I went with 550i + dual mass. Cost a bit more but very happy with it.
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02-28-2016, 11:59 AM | #15 | |
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That being said I will proceed with install. I have a long week ahead but I think Ill be ready to go next weekend weekend. I already got the 24inch jack stands.. they are massive! I do have a couple questions: - I will definitely order the 8x flywheel bolts to be safe. Should I also get the pressure plate screws and transmission mounting/bellhousing bolts? - What should I use to lock the crankshaft when I tighten down the flywheel? - What torque specs did you use on these bolts? |
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02-28-2016, 03:36 PM | #16 | |
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Pressure plate screws are normally included with the clutch kit, did it come in the box? If not then go ahead and buy them, they 100% need to be replaced. Torque is 15Nm + 90 degrees. Flywheel bolts are 120Nm. I also used red loctite. Torque specs all came from the BMW ISTA documentation. You'll need to make a tool from from your local hardware store. I've seen people drill a hole through an L shaped steel bracket and bolt it to the engine and engage it on one of the teeth of the flywheel.
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02-28-2016, 08:11 PM | #17 | |
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Ill give the that L bracket some thought and see what I come up with. Thank you! |
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04-01-2016, 08:10 PM | #18 |
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Assuming there is no rain (so far weathers looking clear, its been a rainy beginning of spring in florida, as usual), this is finally happening on Sunday. If anyone has any pictures of the L-brakcets they made, please do show.
I got an impact driver and different socket bits for the other screw gun to accelerate the process |
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04-02-2016, 04:02 PM | #20 |
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04-03-2016, 11:06 PM | #22 |
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Good to hear its in!
I guess its not much help to you now, but heres the ratchet I bought specifically for this job: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/3-8-FLEX-...oAAOSw-vlVnd9B I am amazed you got the top bolts off with extensions! From how close the transmission tunnel hugs the trans I would think that would be a huge effort!
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