[Lawton438]

As above at what bhp/ mods does a n54 335i manual clutch start to fail at?

What have people gone with when replacing?

Thanks

[Lawton438]

Bump

[nicktyler]

I looked for this info a while ago and diddn't find much of a difinitive answer. How far are you planning to go? There are plenty running ~420bhp on stock clutches without problems.

Unless you are going 450+ and uprating the turbos + meth etc you should be fine and if you are doing that then the bill will be so huge a few £££'s for a uprated clutch won't make much difference. There are plenty of options in the US but the one I hear most about is the HPF stage2. There was a thread recently about upgraded clutches recently:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...uprated+clutch

Get a cup of tea. It's a lengthy one!

[idnan]

Originally Posted by nicktyler

There are plenty of options in the US but the one I hear most about is the HPF stage2.

That company is out of business and mine lasted about 10k i think before it died despite costing me close to £1000.

In my opinion changing the dual mass flywheel is just at important as changing the clutch. They can develop massive amounts of play in them especially once modified. I personally wouldn't do a clutch change without a new flywheel (I've done 3).

As Nick says with standard turbos and no meth I would stick with an OEM type clutch (LUK, Sachs etc) and OEM DMF (LUK). Don't bother buying them from BMW as they are exactly the same from the above manufacturers but without the BMW stamp and added pricetag. Remember you also need a new release bearing, aluminium gearbox bolts, flywheel bolts and if possible new pilot bearing. That last one is very difficult to remove and I've still got my original one in.

I would also change the rear selector seal if it isn't in perfect condition and also change the gearbox fluid and remove CDV if it hasn't already been done.

[Lawton438]

Cheers lads

[fastloop]

Originally Posted by idnan

That company is out of business and mine lasted about 10k i think before it died despite costing me close to £1000.

I currently got 16K on my Stg2 and the judder has reduced loads from new and it's much more driveable now. It was pretty awful when I got it and it will test your patience. 16K later and engagement in 1st could still be better, but besides that it's pretty solid and downshift are smooth with a bit of heel toe work. Hopefully it will last another 10-20K unless I manage to weld it to the DMF at some point. For now I'll stick to track days and stay away from places like Santa Pod.

I would +1 all the comments about the stock clutch and it's drivability and you should be fine up to around 450bhp. Above that it gets a bit tricky and I don't know what I would do if my clutch went tomorrow. There aren't a lot of choice out there without some sort of compromise.

Idnan, how are you finding your new clutch compared to the HPF and does it judder or rattle?

[phil200tdi]

I'm very happy with my spec stage 2+ clutch and oem DMF..

Very driveable and holds the torque very well!

[fastloop]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

I'm very happy with my spec stage 2+ clutch and oem DMF..

Very driveable and holds the torque very well!

Cool, it would be good to meet up at some point if we are in the same vicinity. I would be very interested in seeing how that combination works in case I weld my HPF clutch or it fails.

[phil200tdi]

No worries

I'm based near Aylesbury but regularly commute to Horsham. Where are you based?

[fastloop]

Originally Posted by phil200tdi

No worries

I'm based near Aylesbury but regularly commute to Horsham. Where are you based?

I'm near Reading, so Aylesbury is probably closer. No rush on this but I would be interested at some point.

[jayblue]

The clutch in my modified 335i has just started slipping and i found this thread.

My mods are:

JB4 G4
ETS intercooler upgrade 5" core
BMS DCI's
BMS OCC

The car has only done 53k, of which 8k are in my ownership and only 7k are mapped. So i was a little surprised to find the clutch unable to hold up to the torque. Switch back to stock mapping and it holds fine, no slip at all. I have searched around a lot and been unable to find any torque ratings for the stock clutch.

I have read mixed opinions on how long to expect a stock clutch to handle the increased torque so i was looking at upgrading to a Sachs ZF series clutch and pressure plate and fitting a new DMF while i was on. At twice the price of the stock clutch and considering my mods has anyone an opinion on whether this would be money well spent? Or a little overkill? I don't intend to add more power in the future.

[fastloop]

Depending on boost and with your mods, I would guess the car is producing ~ 400-420bhp. If you had catless DP's it would be a bit higher.
Normally 400-420bhp is fine on the stock clutch, so perhaps it had some abuse in the past.

What map are you running?

[jayblue]

Originally Posted by 335rocks

Depending on boost and with your mods, I would guess the car is producing ~ 400-420bhp. If you had catless DP's it would be a bit higher.
Normally 400-420bhp is fine on the stock clutch, so perhaps it had some abuse in the past.

What map are you running?

I have been running map 5 and the gauge hijacking boost gauge indicated around 16-17psi peak boost, held over 15psi until the high RPM's. I checked map 1 (13.5psi) to see if the clutch will hold that but it slips on that too.

The car had the clutch delay valve in place until last week when i had it removed, which i am led to believe will reduce clutch wear a bit in the future. As the car will hold the stock power at the moment i have some time to consider my options.

Will be sticking with keeping the map off for the time being - new front pads going in next week and just had new rear tyres. This time of year i find the remapped car overwhelms the rear tyres a little too frequently anyway!

Just don't want to fit a new flywheel and stock clutch then find in a year or so i need to do it all over again. Those flywheels are expensive!

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by jayblue

I have been running map 5 and the gauge hijacking boost gauge indicated around 16-17psi peak boost, held over 15psi until the high RPM's. I checked map 1 (13.5psi) to see if the clutch will hold that but it slips on that too.

The car had the clutch delay valve in place until last week when i had it removed, which i am led to believe will reduce clutch wear a bit in the future. As the car will hold the stock power at the moment i have some time to consider my options.

Will be sticking with keeping the map off for the time being - new front pads going in next week and just had new rear tyres. This time of year i find the remapped car overwhelms the rear tyres a little too frequently anyway!

Just don't want to fit a new flywheel and stock clutch then find in a year or so i need to do it all over again. Those flywheels are expensive!

The flywheel can also be resurfaced, if you know a good shop which can do that. Otherwise don't buy the one with the BMW stamp on it, but get it directly from LUK which are the original manufacturers for it anyway.

As long as you don't have upgraded turbos and/or want to run high E85 concentrations / meth which will increase the torque a lot, I would stick to the OEM clutch. Aftermarket ones may have a higher torque rating but are less driveable and possibly last less long. Even more so if you go for a single mass flywheel.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[jayblue]

Thanks for the suggestions, they have helped me a lot