Changing the clutch in 1997 M3

[BMWL2]

I am getting ready to change my clutch in the M3 some time soon, and I just wanted any info that you might have.

I bought a new Sach Factory kit.


So if you changed yours how hard was it? what problems did ya have

any info is appreciated

Thanks

James

[CiscoKid]

its really hard to do.. you need a lift and all that good stuff, i paid someone $600 to do it for me. w/ flywheel

[Furious]

its hard. the only advice i can really give that will save you time, is the night before or two nights before, soak all the bolts underneath so they come out easier, the original clutch is the hardest to take out. personally i would get a pro to do it all.

[///M Power]

Yeah BMWL2, don't be an over-achiever

haha jk

[Eggrolled211]

Shiet I was planning doing this too,myself.....hmmm that hard huh? Can this be done w/o a LIFT?

[Furious]

Originally posted by Eggrolled211@Apr 27 2004, 07:31 PM
Shiet I was planning doing this too,myself.....hmmm that hard huh? Can this be done w/o a LIFT?

you could probably change your tires better without a jack or a lift.

you need room to work for sure. for a junior mechanic (like myself) clutch changes are very hard to do, my personal opinion is get a pro to do it.

[95m3driva]

without a lift, i guess if you had some strong friends that dont mind holding the tranny perfectly while your putting tranny back on. you definitely need to lift your car, i suggest you stop figuring out how to do it yourself and just bust out that credit or debit card and get it done by a pro

[///M Power]

yea im a pro mechanic. last week i changed my burnt out headlight bulb

wow im just too damn good!

[BMWL2]

I just dont want to waste 500 bucks on doing a job that I can do myself. I have changed the clutch in my Nissan 240sx which wasnt too hard. I have also put a new tranny in a Mitsu Eclipse (if you can do that you can do anything it sucks).

I guess I was just looking for pointers

I am still going to attempt it my self, I will also try to take pic and document that what I do. Maybe it will help some other people down the road.

[CiscoKid]

thats the beauty of owning the ultimate driving machine... $$$$$$$$

if you were able to change the clutch on that car, then i figure it wouldnt be much differant

[ARCHER]

I've not done a clutch on my car... yet. But a couple of my buddies have done theirs.

It can be done on jack stands. If I remember correctly, there is a bolt on top of the bell housing that is tricky to get to. Other than that, it should be a straight forward as any other clutch swap.

[BMWL2]

ARCHER- Do you by chance know the best way to get to it?

[Jajeta21]

hey guys, i have watched a clutch done in my own 97 328i and then a little ways down the road i did a cluth in a 98 M Roadster. They are not that hard at all. I also did one on a eclisipse and that was a hell of a lot harder. The only thing is, is that it may be tough without a lift. But im sure you can do it, if you have done one on an eclipse then i think you can do it on you M3. The two things that are the most difficult are like he said, that 2 bolts on the top of the bell housing that hold the starter in, and then the starter needs to be popped out because is it held in by a small alingment pin.
Ill go through a quick run down of what has to be done.
First you can either remove the whole exhaust(that would be easiest) or you could just undo the brackets in the back and let the exhaust hang down and support it with something.
After you have the exhaust out of the way you will need to remove the heat shield to get acces to the drive shaft.
Next you need to disconnect the drive shaft from the tranny, now the easiest way to do that is to take out the (i think its 3 or 4 bolts) and leave the GUIBO(rubber disc) attached to the drive shaft and just swing it out of the way.
Now you are ready to start in on the tranny.
First disconnect all the wires and sensors from the tranny. Next remove the clutch slave and swing that out of the way.
Now you can start pulling out all the bell housing bolts and get that tranny out of there.
Once the tranny is out, start in on the clutch and replace the throw out bearing and all that good stuff, and just assemble in the reverse order.

Hope this helps out a little.

[BMWL2]

yes that helps a lot

thanks Jajeta