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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: an alternative posted by Dave B on September 21, 1999 at 06:39:47:
Sorry if I lead you to think of me as some idiot slob who has never seen let alone driven a stick - but I guess I had invited this myself. For the last about twenty years I have been driving nothing but high performance BMW's in a very, shall we say, agressive way. I can hill-and-toe and even double-clutch if there is any need for that. The last car before this one was the 7-series where I replaced the automatic tranny with the 5-speed doing all the work myself (that was before the high-end), turning the flyweel for lower mass in my small machine shop. My personnal record was to change the clutch in under 2 1/2 hours all by myself, including jacking up the car and removing the whole exhaust system. That car had just about everything modified, all suspension and engine, open cell air filter, exhaust headers, straight pipes and throtle body that I machined myself with about 80% larger than stock openning. The computer chip was of my own design with performance improvement about double that of the best Dinan or Autothority parts (not too street legal, I suspect).The clutch on that one with all my crazy driving lasted for about 70k miles, and I repaced it due to the throwout bearing failure. The disc was still useable.
The problem with the 540 6-speed may be that it is just too powerful and inviting. All that torque may be just too much even for the 265mm clutch. The gearbox is the smoothest I have ever seen and there is no comparisson between it and the standard Getrag 5-speed (I am on my third transmission in about 19 month).
To be fair to the BMW, one clutch replacement was done by a local BMW club "master mechanic" who turned out a complete disaster. The morons stripped the flyweel bolts by using the air wrench to undo them (the Torx driver was too short and didn't engage the bolt far enough - how's that for quality?). They broke TWO transmission mount bolts and even didn't see it fit to tell me.
Their replacement failed after about 1800 miles and they flat refused any responsibility (they gave me a break on the new replacement).
After that the dealer took over. They replaced the short block. About 500 miles later there was rambling noise in the gearbox and no power transfer - the gearbox kicked da bucket.
I should probably spare you ALL the details, but I am sure you are getting the picture. I still love the car and the clutch is now brand new again. But my wife is getting annoyed (she drives the lowly M3), and she is one hell of a driver herself.
So, going back to the tubes, the life time is what you make it be...
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Follow Ups
- OK, guys, enough already! - Victor Khomenko 07:37:18 09/21/99 (4)
- Re: OK, guys, enough already! - MikeP 11:42:59 09/21/99 (3)
- Re: OK, guys, enough already! - Victor Khomenko 12:24:06 09/21/99 (2)
- Re: OK, guys, enough already! - Rod M 08:40:18 09/22/99 (1)
- Er,Thanks, guys - BillH 11:07:33 09/22/99 (0)
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