Materials to Maintain Your ZHP IIIII Hand Protection IIIII Tools to Maintain Your ZHP
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
    63

    Clutch Replacement Time

    Well its that time to replace the clutch on the ZHP and have been looking around at a couple of kits trying to get some pricing. Seems to range from high 200s, to low 500s depending on what all pieces I am getting include.d

    From talking with my mechanic today, he said to get a new flywheel while I'm at it.

    I wasn't sure if I wanted to do that (car has 130k on it) since the flywheel is almost $500 for a stock dual mass flywheel.

    Since the car sees 0 track/autox and MAYBE occasional spirited driving, which is what I use my M3 to handle, I'm not really interested in upgrading to anything, but the price differences didn't seem to much.

    Anyone have any suggestions on kits to buy or flywheel opinions.

    It was also suggested from my mechanics experience to leave the rear main seal alone as they tend to stay together quite well and mine has no leaking that I can tell. He also said that I run the risk of tearing the oil pan gasket during replacement which I don't want to have to pay for/deal with either.

    I guess I'm trying to find the most economical way to get my clutch placed with quality parts that should hold together for the foreseeable future.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Wow, I checked rockauto.com as that is where I got my clutch kit for under 300, and it was an OEM kit. I do not know the year of your car, so I just looked up the SACHs kit for a 2005 and it is over $500!

    So, I cannot provide much help there. However, I disagree with your mechanic on the rear main seal. You may as well go ahead and do it. It's a cheap part and takes minutes to replace while the transmission is already off. If you do not do it now, you're gonna spend hundreds more to replace this relatively cheap part due to the labor of removing the trans again.

    As for the flywheel, it's hard to tell if you need one until it is off. I replaced my clutch at about 110k miles and my flywheel was in very good shape.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
    63
    Thats what I'm thinking. I dont think the car has lead a rough life and from what I can tell the past owners have been very good at keeping the car up to snuff. I almost wouldn't want to pull the flywheel off the car just to do the main seal, but its just one of those, while you're in there things that really makes me want to just do everything and not worry about it.

    I'm probably looking at close to $2000 to get everything done including labor. I guess I could just stop being lazy and spend a weekend under the car replacing it myself which I've done on my e36s and e28s...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Deale, MD
    Posts
    1,826
    Here's my two cents on dual mass flywheel replacement - while your mechanic is doing the right thing by trying to save you labor should get the clutch shudder/grabbing in the future with the newer clutch, from what I have been told, (and experienced myself), is that the dual mass flywheels can usually be re-used with the first clutch replacement. I am approaching 250,000 miles on an E36, and when I replace the clutch for the second time, I know that I have to replace the dual mass flywheel, to the tune of about $1,000 for the part alone. The issue arises in that they cannot resurface the flywheel, so it is only a few extra bolts to remove and replace while the transmission and clutch are already out of the car. The bad part is that they are very expensive. Symptoms that I am having now are the shudder during the engagement of the clutch, and my long-time independent mechanic said that it is due to the flywheel. My clutch was replaced in this vehicle about the same mileage as you the first time,right around 130,000 miles. Are you planning to keep the ZHP for many, many more miles?

    Everything that I have read would say to stick with the OEM stock clutch and components for anything but the most severe driving/racing. I have used them in an E30 & E36 without issue, and I have used all for the occasional high performance driver education at the track without any issue. Some of the performance clutch components that I have heard about have caused their owners more trouble then they are worth, unless the car is a dedicated race or track car.

    If I was in your position, I would leave the flywheel in place (unless I was currently getting a shudder upon takeoff from standstill), and I would go with OEM clutch supplier.

    -Brettski

  5. #5
    Veleo makes a single piece flywheel. I read a review in e46 fanatics. It's not as expensive as the oem dual piece.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
    63
    Thanks for the input, very good information. I'm on the fence about keeping the car for some reason. It is actually doing everything I bought the car for, but for whatever reason, its not all that enjoyable, but that's what I get for trying to keep a car stock!

    Anyway, staying on topic, I'm leaning more towards not replacing the flywheel or the rear main seal as I would think the flywheel would be in good shape, unless we get everything pulled apart and find it to be in terrible shape at which point a replacement would be required.

    I really don't have any issues with the clutch at all until I'm in the higher RPM ranges in 2nd or 3rd gear, it seems to slip just a little, and I'm losing some of the grab when starting out on a hill from a light or something. Other than that, no issues to speak of.

    I'll look into a clutch kit and go from there. The kit from BavAuto looks very complete and should retain the OE parts.

    I also looked at the bimmerworld clutch replacements and for $1200 could get a new flywheel, clutch disk, clutch and throwout bearing, but would then have to add in all the other pieces for a complete kit, so probably somewhere around $1500/1700 to replace everything.

    Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    6,847
    When I did my clutch replacement

    -Clutch
    -Throwout bearing/Fork pin etc
    -Flywheel (its not on the picture I listed since I got it from AutoHauZ)
    -Rear Main seal kit
    -Shifter bushings.



    Here is my take on the Dual-Mass Flywheel:

    Just order the flywheel. If your flywheel play is still within spec, use it. Just return the flywheel where you bought it from. When I did my clutch, I was planning to just do the clutch but I ordered the flywheel in case it needed to be replaced. Turns out the flywheel had major play when we removed it. The new one had next to no play. Unfortunately, it meant I was using the new flywheel and making this clutch job double in price..

    It really is hard to say if you can use the flywheel or not until you remove it.. and if you do in fact need one, I honestly would want to be prepared to minimize downtime. If downtime is not the case, I would just wait till the flywheel is removed to see if it is reusable or not.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    22841
    Posts
    9,921
    I am running the clutch kit from turner motorsport. Previous owner had replaced the clutch, flywheel, slave, and trans bushings.
    Link below to the clutch. No complaints from me however I am not the biggest fan of the dual mass flywheel. The car would rev soo much easier with a single mass in there.

    http://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-41...lutch-kit.aspx

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Bay Area, Cali
    Posts
    1,529
    My pops had a local BMW shop change out the clutch on his 530i, and we had them change the clutch, but they re-surfaced the Dual Mass Flywheel for like $40.. They said it is okay to re-surface, it was still is in a pretty good shape @ 149k miles! Next time the clutch goes out, (presumably 300k miles), we will change out the Dual Mass flywheel

    Just a FYI. It is OKAY to resurface a DMF flywheel and re-use it!

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Richmond, VA
    Posts
    63
    Autozone.com
    What all is involved in resurfacing? Is that something where I can take the flywheel to a machine shop and ask them to resurface the flywheel?

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