It is 11 PM. I am trying to change the clutch in my 328. The transmission is almost out. All I want for Christmas is three minutes in a boxing ring with whatever engineer at BMW thought it was a good idea to put the berkleying starter underneath the intake manifold.
That is all.
Yep. I feel for you. I'm stuck on a project with my Mini that is taking far longer than it should since the car was engineered to make it a pita to work on w/o special tools... 
Won't help, but that guy also designed the 4.6 Caddy Northstar.
Actually I think the guy who did your car is probably the second or maybe third generation of BMW starter placement engineers to pull that trick. Every inline motor they've built in the last 50 years has had the starter in that spot IIRC. It is rather annoying, to say the least. Worst case scenario, it isn't that hard to pull the intake manifold.
In reply to Appleseed:
The mention of the Northstar gives me a full body shiver. Very thankful I got rid of that hunk of crap, I still feel like that was a Stephen King car waiting to happen.
02Pilot wrote: Worst case scenario, it isn't that hard to pull the intake manifold.
Pulling the intake manifold isn't that hard--putting it back on is a huge pain. I had to drop the crossmember to do it. The starter placement isn't that bad, but it is annoying they used loose nuts on the starter on the earlier cars, but you can get to them without removing the intake manifold.
FWIW: second gear in my Getrag 250 exploded this weekend halfway through a road rally, so I get the joy of installing yet another transmission. I had just put this one in this spring. I think the rear main oil seal has been leaking, so I will have a good opportunity to fix that.
Can't be any worse then the 1UZFE under the intake starter. On top of that it is bolted in from the bellhousing side with everything in the way. Good thing, I'll stick to my domestic V8 junk. 
A lot of people with the Toyota C52 trans like to move the starter from the exhaust side to the intake side to keep the starter from becoming heat-soaked. My sammy has it under the intake, my 'rolla does right now, and the new engine going into the 'rolla is being modified so I can keep it there.
02Pilot wrote: Actually I think the guy who did your car is probably the second or maybe third generation of BMW starter placement engineers to pull that trick. Every inline motor they've built in the last 50 years has had the starter in that spot IIRC. It is rather annoying, to say the least. Worst case scenario, it isn't that hard to pull the intake manifold.
What's really weird, now that I think about it, is that this is almost exactly the same location for the starter as a Mopar slant six, except the bolts are facing forward on the Mopar motor instead of backwards, and you can get that one out with the manifolds in place. Only easier engine I've had to change a starter on is a Honda D16.
At least mine has a threaded starter, but I gave up last night after trying to find that one last bolt. Will take another stab at it today.
Don't feel too bad. To do the clutch on the Super Coupe you need to drop the diff or the gas tank to get the drive shaft out. 
As a piece of practical advice... the trick is to wedge a box wrench on the starter side so when you start undoing the bolt it jams itself against the starter or block. Then lower / raise the rear of the trans until you can get an array of about 3' of extensions and swivels onto the bolt from underneath. The higher you can get the car in the air the better.
It is 100X easier the second time. I'm down to the whole job in 3hrs but the 1st time was an endurance event.
FWIW, I have taken to cutting the thin supports on the radiator support (e36, the whole thing will pull out of the way headlights and all - put it back with 2 bolts), remove the radiator and just pull the whole engine/trans out. So much easier, faster and less effort than trying to lay under the car bench pressing the trans back in. You won't accidentally drop the clutch slave pin into the bellhousing and have to do it all over again either :)
Bimmerworld has a nice solution for the next time.
When the 525iT needs a clutch I'm thinking I'll pull the engine and trans...
And put in an M54B30 w/ a six-speed behind it. Boom.
My starter does have threaded holes; it's finding the top bolt that is a pain.
Try the starter on a 124 Spider some time. If you think BMW knew how to bury one, you ain't seen how much better at if Fiat is.
Then we can discuss GM and their apparent inability to drill a mounting hole accurately. Measuring and shimming to mount a starter motor? Oh what unnecessary fun that can be!
Appleseed wrote: Won't help, but that guy also designed the 4.6 Caddy Northstar.
There is a special place in hell for that guy.
foxtrapper wrote: Try the starter on a 124 Spider some time. If you think BMW knew how to bury one, you ain't seen how much better at if Fiat is. Then we can discuss GM and their apparent inability to drill a mounting hole accurately. Measuring and shimming to mount a starter motor? Oh what unnecessary fun that can be!
i've gone thru a LOT of starters on a LOT of GM engines, and never once has a shim ever been needed.. there were a few times in my youth when i thought a shim was needed, but then i noticed that the long starter bolt was bent and causing the starter drive to move in and out relative to the ring gear and was able to fix it with a new bolt.. i've since learned to not let the weight of the starter hang on a loose bolt and never have any problems with that any more.
You'll need to log in to post.
