280i Clutch Replacement

[Kamps16]

Hello and thank you in advance for your help.
I have just purchased a fairly nice 1985 280i Wedge. I love driving it and have started sorting her out. First up is a clutch replacement. It slips under heavy load and is probably original.
Does the engine need to come out in order to remove the gearbox and replace the clutch? Any advice is much appreciated!

[pk500]

You can take box out with engine in

[Wedgehead]

I am halfway through this job takeoff the driveshaft takeoff the bell housing bolts disconnect the transmission from the bell housing create the transmission back disconnect touch pressure plate you can drop the pressure plate out and then take the bell housing out after search in this forum how to disconnect the shifter if you need more room to pull trans back into tunnel.

While I’m at it, I ordered trans seals from burton power.

Good luck with your project.

[Kamps16]

Thanks Wedgehead. That is very useful information. Much appreciated.

[Wedgehead]

I was in the same position as you a month ago. Someone (sorry I forgot who) gave me the same guidance. Passing it along but now with personal experience.

[Kamps16]

Help!
I've started the job and cannot remove the gearbox lever. I've removed the 3 bolts on the top plate that hold the lever and it will not come out. I am afraid of pulling on it too hard. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance for any help that comes my way!

[phillpot]

Kamps16 said:

I am afraid of pulling on it too hard. Any ideas?

In neutral and keep pulling, it's stronger than you are, you won't break it

[Wedgehead]

My friend (mechanic) is doing this job now. According to the manual there is a special thin spammer used to undo a thin nut that retains the shifter in the cup(the bolts you removed have no effect). My friend cut the shaft (😱) which is now threaded and shortened. This gave enough clearance to slide the trans back through the tunnel. Pull all u want, it’s not coming out.

Picture of proof of clutch r&r in place.

[pk500]

I used an oil filter chain to undo mine from inside the car

[phillpot]

When you said you'd taken the three bolts out I presumed (always dangerous) it was same as the later Type nine 5 speed, bolts out and stick pulls out.



having no idea what this secret "thin nut" business is all about I looked into things a bit further and it appears the gearlever unscrews on the 4 speed Ford type E gearbox?
.


Can you get a picture of yours?

Edited by phillpot on Monday 28th October 19:42

[Wedgehead]

You could drive it round with a screwdriver if you are lucky and it’s not too tight.

[Wedgehead]

They show a “spanner” (thin wrench) to unscrew this fitting in the manual.

[Adrian@]

IF... it is a four speed, then the three bolts hold the selector housing cover will not allow you to remove the gear lever. To do this, the domed gear lever shroud, which is part of the gear lever spins off and the lever lifts up (do the three bolts up first, as you will need to use a punch to start the shroud spinning).

(A in this picture is an upgrade O ring to negate vibration (OE is to have a paper gasket BUT this then raises the dome AND allows less compression on the sprung loaded lever) IF you need any more details of the assembly I can supply them as real parts, as I have these stripped in component form.

A@

Edited by Adrian@ on Tuesday 29th October 07:39

[Wedgehead]

While you’re doing your clutch, I am replacing a few seals on the trans that can be had from burtonpower.

[Wedgehead]

[Kamps16]

Wedgehead has it exactly correct. I was able to remove the spherical shift lever cover with large channel lock pliers. From there the lever comes right off.

Everything else has been very straight forward:
Drive shaft out and moved rearward, gearbox disconnected from the bellhousing and moved rearward, bellhousing off, clutchplate off, Flywheel off.

While I was at it, I dropped the differential assembly and resealed the diff, new brake calipers, refinished all of the suspension and driveline components, and refinished the entire frame with POR15 semi-gloss black. Resurfaced the flywheel. All new seals and gaskets for the gearbox, crankshaft and oil sump.

Plenty of room to accomplish the clutch change without removing the engine! Thanks to all for the help!

[Wedgehead]

Your post and alleged progress is suspect without photographic proof.😃

[Kamps16]

Somewhat frustrated here. I have taken many pictures and the system will not recognize them. It says "No image to load. Please try again" I'm having no luck. Any ideas?

[Wedgehead]

Same trouble here and also the reason I didn’t send pics earlier. I don’t think the warning it shows matches the issue it’s having. I think it all comes down to file size limitation. I’m pretty sure your pics are too large (>2mb).