Finally completed my M20 Flywheel Conversion!

[dude8383]

So the car runs, and everything is as it should be.

It feels more alive, its great!

Now here's my question...the shifting through gears has become quite notchy.

I changed the shifter bushing while I was doing the job, do you guys thing this bushing is contributing to the notchiness?

[nickmpower]

maybe, but maybe the clutch isnt disengauging all the way? idk

[dude8383]

hmmm could it be from a slightly misaligned tranny, putting the selector rod under stress?

[gearheadE30]

It could be either of those, but I belive it is a combination of the new bushing and the light flywheel. Light 'wheels tend to be slightly rougher in most situations unless the engine was tuned for it.

BTW how noticeable are the performance gains? Does the car still idle as it should? Once I make money to replace that spent on the chip, I may go this route ;). About how much does it cost, all said and done?

[dude8383]

The car is completely drivable.

The car idles really well actually, it starts up even better now too.

There has certainly been an improvement in performance! The car feels a lot more peppy now. It feels as if it makes more power in the lower end now.

I'm thinking about bleeding the slave cylinder as well.

All said and done it cost me less than it will probably cost you, I got lucky with some of these.

Roughly:

323i flywheel, machined to fit m42 and lightened a bit to 11 lbs - $75
323i TOB - $64
M20 Bolts - $1.86 x 8
M20 Starter (to swap ring gear) - $50
325i Clutch and Pressure Plate - $100

About $300 for everything?

[gearheadE30]

dang, thats pretty good when an LTW aluminum flywheel costs $700...

Out of curiosity, do you know if the M20 flywheel uses a 228mm clutch?

[dude8383]

Yup, it uses the 228mm clutch.

I believe the M42 uses a smaller diameter, so if you're thinking they mix and match, they don't!

[Master]

Out of curiosity, do you know if the M20 flywheel uses a 228mm clutch?

I think I know, the clutch size, load, etc. can be looked up in the Sachs catalog obtainable from the official site (sorry it's late, and I'm lazy to search for a link)

Also maybe dude8383 can share his experience on changing and modifying the flywheel in a nice little writeup? please… :)

Or at least say what modifications need to be done to the flywheel for it to fit the M42?

[gearheadE30]

Look in the writeups section, I think someone else posted one awhile back.

BTW the M42 did have a smaller diameter clutch. It could only handle about 200 ft-lbs, and the larger size virtually eliminates the need to replace the clutch. Plus it works very well with the DASC setup ;).

[dude8383]

Yeh, I love my m20 flywheel and clutch :D

[BrandC]

A quick vid of the car accelerating would be nice.

[AL GReeNeRy]

The car is completely drivable.

The car idles really well actually, it starts up even better now too.

There has certainly been an improvement in performance! The car feels a lot more peppy now. It feels as if it makes more power in the lower end now.

I'm thinking about bleeding the slave cylinder as well.

All said and done it cost me less than it will probably cost you, I got lucky with some of these.

Roughly:

323i flywheel, machined to fit m42 and lightened a bit to 11 lbs - $75
323i TOB - $64
M20 Bolts - $1.86 x 8
M20 Starter (to swap ring gear) - $50
325i Clutch and Pressure Plate - $100

About $300 for everything?


i thought it was the m20 flywheel? is the 323 flywheel the one to use?? where can these be sourced form? also, what type of machine shop will lighten a flywheel, ive called around a bit and cant seem to find anythin.

[dude8383]

Well you CAN use the 323i flywheel because it bolts up to the m20, hell the 323i is a an older version of the m20.

The m20 flywheel is the one everyone uses.

I chose the 323i flywheel because its already 12lbs from the factory!

I don't know about the machine shop because I already bought it ready to install.

[16v of Fury]

Yeah - Denis got a STEAL!

[dude8383]

Indeed :)

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics of the installation process, so there is no way I can write up a detailed DIY.

[Davidoff]

what year is the TOB ?? im gonna do this on my e36 m42 this week
thx

[dude8383]

what year is the TOB ?? im gonna do this on my e36 m42 this week
thx

P/N:

21 51 1 204 525

[Davidoff]

thx

[dude8383]

no problem :)

[AL GReeNeRy]

gotta p/n for the 323 flywheel?

[dude8383]

gotta p/n for the 323 flywheel?

P/N:

21 51 1 204 525

Few posts above :)

[dude8383]

A quick vid of the car accelerating would be nice.

Dude, I completely missed this post.

I'll try to get a vid up on youtube!

[kramerica5000]

Might be the same problem I'm having. Mine's not disengaging completely. I know this because after finishing the swap, when it was on the lift and I put it in gear with the clutch in, the wheels started spinning. It would only do this in first and second, so I know its just barely rubbing the clutch disk. Its only a problem when putting it into first at a stand-still and its notchy. 2nd+ seems to be normal.

I've just been driving it hoping that the clutch will break in a little and it will go away, but after about 1k miles it hasn't really changed.

Is there an easy way to adjust this?



So the car runs, and everything is as it should be.

It feels more alive, its great!

Now here's my question...the shifting through gears has become quite notchy.

I changed the shifter bushing while I was doing the job, do you guys thing this bushing is contributing to the notchiness?

[1991 318is]

i can't be leave how cheep that is. sell me your set up! i want to do this so bad. post up a vid! :)

[dude8383]

Might be the same problem I'm having. Mine's not disengaging completely. I know this because after finishing the swap, when it was on the lift and I put it in gear with the clutch in, the wheels started spinning. It would only do this in first and second, so I know its just barely rubbing the clutch disk. Its only a problem when putting it into first at a stand-still and its notchy. 2nd+ seems to be normal.

I've just been driving it hoping that the clutch will break in a little and it will go away, but after about 1k miles it hasn't really changed.

Is there an easy way to adjust this?

Bleed the slave?