Newbies first question

[aznlonewolf135]

My clutch is starting to slip and I want to replace my clutch wiht something better. I'm looking at clutches from Bavauto.com And will this work?



For a quicker BMW, replace your stock flywheel with a lightweight aluminum flywheel. Its reduced rotational mass allows faster acceleration and quicker deceleration, letting you match revs a lot sooner. On average, these flywheels are 15 lb. lighter than stock. We offer them as a complete kit that includes a 6061 T6 aluminum flywheel, 1050 steel friction plate and ring gear, stepped dowel pins and military-spec fasteners.
This kit includes the flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing.

[Ji Money]

How can you tell a clutch is slipping? I'm new to this manual shift thing and I keep stalling on hills and even on level pavement when I'm going from stop to 1st. When I reverse out of my drive way, I can feel the friction point where the gears get engaged, but when I'm out in traffic, I never seem to sense that point and end up stalling.

[1996 328ti]

Your clutch sounds fine. Sounds like you need more experience.
My clutch is starting to slip because once in gear and I accelerate, I can feel a slip between the engine and transmission.

There is another thought about lightwheel flywheels.
The RPMs will go up quickly on a blip, but it will also come down sharply.
I don't think it necessarily makes shifting easier if you blip.
You will have a smaller window to complete your shift.

[DustenT]

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

There is another thought about lightwheel flywheels.
The RPMs will go up quickly on a blip, but it will also come down sharply.
I don't think it necessarily makes shifting easier if you blip.
You will have a smaller window to complete your shift.

Good point. My revs drop like crazy in between shifts. It took me a good while to learn how to drive with the lighter flywheel, shifts need to happen faster so you don't release the clutch at a much lower rpm than you should be at.

[1996 328ti]

Originally Posted by DustenT

Good point.

Really?

[IndianaTravis]

Originally Posted by Ji Money

How can you tell a clutch is slipping? I'm new to this manual shift thing and I keep stalling on hills and even on level pavement when I'm going from stop to 1st. When I reverse out of my drive way, I can feel the friction point where the gears get engaged, but when I'm out in traffic, I never seem to sense that point and end up stalling.

A common test to check for a slipping clutch:

Go out on a quiet road, get up to about 25 - 30 mph, put the car in fifth gear, and floor it. If the engine bogs a bit and you accelerate slowly, your clutch is fine. If your engine spins up but you don't seem to be accellerating much, your clutch is slipping.

(don't over-do this, as both bogging the engine and slipping the clutch are generally not good things to do!)

[aznlonewolf135]

so will the kit described above been able to fit in my car?

[Ji Money]

I'm gonna pass on that fifth gear test. Sounds risky.

Originally Posted by IndianaTravis

A common test to check for a slipping clutch:

Go out on a quiet road, get up to about 25 - 30 mph, put the car in fifth gear, and floor it. If the engine bogs a bit and you accelerate slowly, your clutch is fine. If your engine spins up but you don't seem to be accellerating much, your clutch is slipping.

(don't over-do this, as both bogging the engine and slipping the clutch are generally not good things to do!)

Anyway, 1996 328ti thinks my clutch sounds fine.

Originally Posted by 1996 328ti

Your clutch sounds fine. Sounds like you need more experience.
My clutch is starting to slip because once in gear and I accelerate, I can feel a slip between the engine and transmission.

There is another thought about lightwheel flywheels.
The RPMs will go up quickly on a blip, but it will also come down sharply.
I don't think it necessarily makes shifting easier if you blip.
You will have a smaller window to complete your shift.

[Ji Money]

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. I wouldn't know the answer to that though.

Originally Posted by aznlonewolf135

so will the kit described above been able to fit in my car?

[Philly]

don't trust me on this, but as far as i know.. any E36 clutch will bolt right up to our trannys. M3 clutch, 323/5/8.. someone correct me if im wrong.

[aznlonewolf135]

so is rwd_king right?

[mohaughn]

If the bavauto site is selling the kit specifically for a Ti it will fit. As you did not give any information other than a marketting blurb we can't tell you if it will fit or not... Why not call bavauto and ask them as they are the one selling the kit?

[Bluebimma]

Originally Posted by rwd_king

don't trust me on this, but as far as i know.. any E36 clutch will bolt right up to our trannys. M3 clutch, 323/5/8.. someone correct me if im wrong.

You will also need the m3 slave cylinder to use the clutch for the m3.

[cosmos schwarz]

my way of testing the clutch is; park the car and pull the handbrake slightly(dont leave it on), set off in third, if it stalls it's fine. not nice, but you only have to do it once.

from memory (dont trust me on this one, do some research),to uprate your clutch you need an m3 clutch, fidanza flywheel or 320/325 flywheel (not sure on age) and an e36 323 release bearing.

[pdxmotorhead]

Before you do a lightweight setup,,,

Really cruise through the search engine here and on the Bimmer forum,
there are a lot of small drivability details about the Light flywheels, single mass flywheels etc. If you go from stock to light you will likely notice,,,
1. Shifting must be done right, no more lazy shifts.
2. Gear box rattle, its very common when you lose the dual mass flywheel.

Its most personal choice as to whether the improvements are worth the cost, kinda like switching to Cup suspension, or coil overs. It will handle better, it also rides harder, you chose your own fate...

Dave