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Old 06-21-2022, 05:34 PM   #14
dannyzabolotny
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Join Date: May 2022
Location: Tempe, AZ
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Of course my throwout bearing exploded the day after I had put everything back together. Such is life!

So it all came apart again. Everything went pretty easy actually, so I wasn't too bothered. As soon as I pulled the transmission, it was incredibly obvious that the throwout bearing had absolutely nuked itself. No wonder it was making awful noises and the clutch pedal felt terrible.





The clutch disk and pressure plate looked fine, but since I was there, I figured I would replace everything anyways. I'm glad I did, because the dual mass flywheel was completely shot, like I could rotate it like 20º in either direction quite freely.



The rear main seal was leaking a bit too.



It got a new rear main seal, new flange gasket, and a new pilot bearing.



The transmission itself (a Getrag 220) was pretty gross, so it got a good cleaning.





The cleaned-up bellhousing got a new clutch pivot pin, clutch fork clip, and a new Sachs throwout bearing.



I had a good used Valeo single-mass flywheel + clutch kit from an M50 car at the shop, so I installed that. From everything I've read, it all bolts up and works correctly with the stock 318ti slave cylinder + throwout bearing.



With everything back together, the 318ti drives amazingly well. The single-mass M50 kit works perfectly, with a nice clutch feel, minimal chatter, and smooth operation. Downshifts are so much easier now that everything is actually functioning as intended.

In the midst of doing the clutch job, I also acquired some new wheels for the car— a set of style 68's from an E46. They came with good tires and were a pretty good deal for 6 wheels (4 fronts, 2 rears), so it was a no-brainer. Now I can continue using the Apexes as dedicated track wheels while having a simple set of OEM wheels for daily driving.

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