[jbnery6465]

I'm at ~96k miles and I'm due to replace my clutch and flywheel. I've reviewed some BavAuto vids and a few threads on here and have come up with my shopping list to do an OEM replacement since a performance upgrade would be way out of budget for me right now (especially as a daily driver).

Would you guys mind looking it over to see if there's anything else that I should look into replacing for preventative maintenance while we're doing the clutch/flywheel?

I figured this could be helpful to others looking to do their own clutch/flywheel. Thanks in advance.

From RockAuto.com:
- LUK Manual Clutch Kit
- LUK Dual Mass Flywheel
- Input Shaft Seal

From Pelican Parts:
- Clutch Installation Tool

From AutohausAZ:
- Clutch Pivot Ball and Clutch Spring
- LEMFORDO Drive Shaft Flex Disc
- Output Shaft Seal
- Drive Shaft Center Support Guide Bushing
- Exhaust Pipe to Manifold Gaskets and Mounting Nuts
- Crankshaft Rear Oil Seal
- Alum Bolts to Bellhousing and Bolts for Pressure Plate
- Bolts to Flywheel
- Anything else???

Sorry...but a SSK is out of the budget at the moment but will come later

[328XIdiot]

Seems like you have a good list there. Are you going to do it yourself? Pelicanparts.com has a good DIY on it. As long as you are going all out, the transmission guide bushing would be good to replace. Also, Lemforder is OEM on the flex disc.

[jbnery6465]

Yeah my father-in-law and I are going to do it. He used to run a shop specializing in Euro's so he's pretty familiar with the process.

Is the transmission guide bushing different from the drive shaft center support guide bushing? I'll also look into Lemforder as I recall some of the aftermarket flex discs tend to crack and go bad fairly quickly. Thanks

[Casca]

I wouldn't use Doorman. They make junk that will cause you problems at the worst time later. They could give it to me for free and I would not put it on my car. Failure here can be bad and cost you even more $$$. Get BMW/Lemfordo or bilstein/febi at least.

Might consider doing the master/slave cylinder as well, but it's not too hard to do another time on down the line. If you have a metal slave cylinder, all they sell now are the plastic ones which also require you to purchase an add on line.

For the exhaust, might consider some new nuts or have some on hand.

The pivot ball and clutch spring might already be included in your kit.

I got rear main seals, input/output shaft seals and when I had everything apart, it all looked good...really good and I decided to leave it alone.

For your shifter, get
http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/Ansa/ES47386/ .

Get some blue medium strength thread lock.

If I think of anything else, I'll post it.

[Neckbreaker]

looking forward for this thread, will be needing to replace mine very soon so please let us know what you get and from what website, thx !!!

[Efthreeoh]

I don't see a new throwout bearing listed. At the that mileage you are replacing a lot of parts that are probably still good IMO.

[Casca]

Throwout bearing ball pin and spring clip should be in the clutch kit and pilot bearing should be included and already installed on a new flywheel. At least that's how it was for me.

[jbnery6465]

The LUK clutch kit includes: new clutch, disc, release bearing, pilot bearing (where required), spline tool and lubricant. The flywheel doesn't list anything else other than...itself.

Efthreeoh - which parts are you thinking would still be good? I haven't gone under and visually inspected the flex disc, but I'm assuming that would be one of the easier replacements if I were to do that later.

Thanks all.

[jbnery6465]

For those interested, I updated the parts list and where I'm buying which parts where. Buying the clutch kit and flywheel from RockAuto saved me ~$200 compared to buying them on AutohausAZ.

[hassmaschine]

does your rear main seal leak now? if not - IMO - leave it alone. it's likely that you'll just make it leak.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by jbnery6465

The LUK clutch kit includes: new clutch, disc, release bearing, pilot bearing (where required), spline tool and lubricant. The flywheel doesn't list anything else other than...itself.

Efthreeoh - which parts are you thinking would still be good? I haven't gone under and visually inspected the flex disc, but I'm assuming that would be one of the easier replacements if I were to do that later.

Thanks all.

So I have 260,000 on my car. I'm still on the original clutch, so I've not been inside my bell housing yet, but I did the clutch on my Wife's '97 Z3 at 131,000 a few years ago. She's got the M44 1.9 L 4-cylinder (i.e. lots of primary vibration at the crank). The rear crank seal was leaking, but the transmission input shaft seal was good. The rear trans seal (output shaft) was good too. I replaced all the lever-arm components (ball seat and spring, so I agree with you there).

As far as the drive shaft goes, on my car it developed a vibration last February in the drivetrain at high shift speeds (above 5,000 RPM). I tried to chase it down with a new guibo (flex joint) and center driveshaft bearing. Unfortunately back in February BMW was experiencing part shortages and it took 8 weeks to get the center bearing, well for me 8 weeks is about 6,500 miles, so the vibration started to lessen and pretty much go away by the time I got the parts. But since I had the parts, I installed the new guibo and center bearing. The old guibo looked to be in perfect shape at 230,000 miles (I've kept it as a spare), and the center bearing seemed to still spin freely and be in good shape, but I did notice a small thin ring of grease on the transmission tunnel where the center bearing sits, so I changed the bearing too. Just a note: the schematic describes the center bearing as "grooved" but really it is not, so if you get the part don't think it is the wrong part.

So to be concise:
I'd say the flex joint (guibo) and center bearing (you are correctly calling it a center support but there is a bearing in there) are probably still good at your mileage.

Thinking of it now, you maybe want to replace the transmission shiftshaft seal. It's a small seal above the rear trans seal where the shiftshaft enters the trans. Mine's leaking, but very little; I'll replace it when I do the clutch.

So a note on the driveshaft center bearing;it's not easy to remove. I had to basically cut mine out. You can get a large puller on it, but it's mounted in rubber, which just flexes and doesn't transfer the force to pull the bearing. What I did was cut the rubber support out of the support housing which leaves just the bearing on the driveshaft. Then you can hammer, or pull (with the puller - I used the puller and hammered it a bit) the bearing off the shaft. After all that, the bearing still spun smoothly - LOL. To install the new center bearing make sure you note on which way it goes on the drive shaft (you can put it on backwards - so note how the old center support is oriented on the shaft before you remove it). I had to make a tool to get the bearing on the shaft. You have to lightly tap it back on. The tool I made was from an antenna mast and is 5-3/4 inches long by 1-3/8" ID for the drive end and 1-1/2" ID on the end that gets hit by the hammer. You can also use a 1-3/8 ID pipe 5-3/4" long. I used the pinched end of the mast pipe.

One last thing. If you look at the driveshaft schematic (below), there are two (2) splined isolators ("Damper Ring") inside the driveshaft. My car did not have these parts originally installed. I think BMW added them later to get rid of some noise. They are cheap, so I suggest you get those too if you are going to split the driveshaft to do the center bearing. Use both of them. Oh, and make sure you mark the orientation of the front part of the shaft to the rear. Once you split that shaft, if you reassemble it not properly aligned between the front and rear part, it can be unbalanced. The shaft is balanced as an assembled unit, mis-orienting the front and rear sections mis-orients the weights, which throws the balance off.

And one last part I noticed not on your list... get four (4) new exhaust flange mounting nuts.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

does your rear main seal leak now? if not - IMO - leave it alone. it's likely that you'll just make it leak.

+1. Many professional mechanics have told me this exact same thing. Removing a good seal can lead to installing the new seal improperly and causing the new seal to start leaking. Which is why if the trans seals are good, just leave them alone. Of the 3 or 4 trans I've pulled out a cars, I've never seen an input shaft seal leaking. I just think those seal ever see enough heat and vibration to fail. Just my opinion though. But I get it, if you pull the trans and the input seal is leaking, you want to have the seal at the ready to install; and if you have the new seal, and the old one is not leaking, the thought is, "well I might as well put the new seal in since it will be fresh..."

The advantage the professional mechanic has is if he finds the seal leaking, he goes and gets the part from the parts department...

[jbnery6465]

That's a lot of great info thanks. I think I'll still order the seals but will not replace unless leaking. I've had situations before where I wasn't proactive and yet it hit me in the butt when I needing something that I could have bought but didn't.

The exhaust mounting nuts that I have found is 7mm, can someone confirm?

And just to be clear, I think the drive shaft center support guide that I have listed is the centering sleeve (#2) on the schematic. Here's a link to the part: http://www.autohausaz.com/search/pro...port%20Bushing

So I don't think I have a need to actually separate and change anything on the driveshaft other than the guibo (and centering guide?).

[Casca]

I know the video shows them getting the transmission off without taking the intake manifold off, but I took mine off in order to reach the top bolts since I was doing the three stage intake at the same time anyway. You might want to just pop off the cowling(?) above the aft end of the motor to see what you're dealing with and decide for yourself the difficulties involved with getting those bolts off with intake manifold still on. Or just order some intake manifold gaskets as well just in case. They're less than $20. Although taking the manifold out can lead to breaking some plastic lines. I've removed it three times without breaking anything, but keep reading post here about people breaking these lines.

[jbnery6465]

I'll try to take a look underneath this weekend to see the best way to access that part of the tranny and to see if there are any apparent leaks or if there's any play on the drive shaft center support/bearing.

Can someone confirm the torque specs on the flywheel/pressure/plate/bellhousing/guibo/exhaust pipes, etc? And if do I need to change out the bolts for the guibo if we end up changing the guibo?