- Joined
- Jul 15, 2007
- Messages
- 5,851
- Location
- Maribor, Slovenia, Europe
- Car(s)
- '89 BMW E30 325iT, '95 BMW E36 318ti compact
As it was evident from the roadtrip, the clutch is in need of replacement. But before that i was offered a limited slip diff with the same ratio as my current diff - 3.45:1 in good condition for 350 eur.
And boy was this a good decision. The old diff had a lot of slack between the crown and pinion and i heard noises from it for a while, but boy was i not prepared for this (there’s still oil in the diff btw):
After getting the lsd i had to do some service on it. Cleaning it was in order and i had to change the flanges over from the old diff.
Painted with 2k black paint (comparison before and after the service):
Put 75w140 castrol lsd oil in it and installed:
Then i focused my attention to the gearbox.
Had to play the standard extension game:
And the gearbox was out.
The thing had to be cleaned of course:
This is the moment i realised i bought the wrong oil. I found conflicting info about which oil to put in it. So i bought 75w80. Turns out the sticker on the gearbox demands ATF. So this had to wait till monday.
Meanwhile, let’s look at the clutch. It was properly worn and the surfaces on the flywheel and the pressure plate are wearing signs of heat damage and are genetrally not in good condition.
Old dual mass flywheel:
Clutch plate comparison:
Comparison between old and new pressure plate:
On top are the old components, on the bottom are the new ones.
The dual mass setup is replaced by a single mass flywheel, that has been machined to make it even lighter. The clutch disc and pressure plate are the ones i have bought in Dubrovnik.
Old flywheel off:
Turns out, the bolts from the dual mass flywheel are too long, so i had to use the bolts from the m20 out of the e30 (didn’t want to go buy new bolts at this stage). Put threadlock on them and torqued to 110nm.
New setup installed:
All that remained at this point was to reassemble everything. I also cleaned and relubed the whole gearlinkage while i was at it aswell.
In conclusion, the car dives much better now. I didn’t realise how much i missed having an LSD in the car. Corners are so much more fun when you can steer with the right pedal.
The lighter flywheel has the desired effect of allowing the engine to be a lot more responsive to throttle inputs, which is nice
A weird phenomenon occured though.
Before i replaced all of this, everytime is stopped, there was heat radiating from below the car, the fan came on very often and even a mechanic friend who did the last oil change on the car said that the engine is way too hot.
Now, the fan doesn’t come on anymore and there is 0 heat radiating from under the car anymore.
My guess is that the fluid changes, diff change and clutch change significantly lowered the friction in the drivetrain, causing less strain on the engine and the components to run much cooler.
Anyway…
Next on the agenda is the front of the engine. Many seals need to be replaced and while i’m at it, also the chain guides and water pump. This will be fun…
And boy was this a good decision. The old diff had a lot of slack between the crown and pinion and i heard noises from it for a while, but boy was i not prepared for this (there’s still oil in the diff btw):
After getting the lsd i had to do some service on it. Cleaning it was in order and i had to change the flanges over from the old diff.
Painted with 2k black paint (comparison before and after the service):
Put 75w140 castrol lsd oil in it and installed:
Then i focused my attention to the gearbox.
Had to play the standard extension game:
And the gearbox was out.
The thing had to be cleaned of course:
This is the moment i realised i bought the wrong oil. I found conflicting info about which oil to put in it. So i bought 75w80. Turns out the sticker on the gearbox demands ATF. So this had to wait till monday.
Meanwhile, let’s look at the clutch. It was properly worn and the surfaces on the flywheel and the pressure plate are wearing signs of heat damage and are genetrally not in good condition.
Old dual mass flywheel:
Clutch plate comparison:
Comparison between old and new pressure plate:
On top are the old components, on the bottom are the new ones.
The dual mass setup is replaced by a single mass flywheel, that has been machined to make it even lighter. The clutch disc and pressure plate are the ones i have bought in Dubrovnik.
Old flywheel off:
Turns out, the bolts from the dual mass flywheel are too long, so i had to use the bolts from the m20 out of the e30 (didn’t want to go buy new bolts at this stage). Put threadlock on them and torqued to 110nm.
New setup installed:
All that remained at this point was to reassemble everything. I also cleaned and relubed the whole gearlinkage while i was at it aswell.
In conclusion, the car dives much better now. I didn’t realise how much i missed having an LSD in the car. Corners are so much more fun when you can steer with the right pedal.
The lighter flywheel has the desired effect of allowing the engine to be a lot more responsive to throttle inputs, which is nice
A weird phenomenon occured though.
Before i replaced all of this, everytime is stopped, there was heat radiating from below the car, the fan came on very often and even a mechanic friend who did the last oil change on the car said that the engine is way too hot.
Now, the fan doesn’t come on anymore and there is 0 heat radiating from under the car anymore.
My guess is that the fluid changes, diff change and clutch change significantly lowered the friction in the drivetrain, causing less strain on the engine and the components to run much cooler.
Anyway…
Next on the agenda is the front of the engine. Many seals need to be replaced and while i’m at it, also the chain guides and water pump. This will be fun…
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