Flywheel for the 335

Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:58 am

I'm about to buy a flywheel for my manual conversion on my 335 project. The obvious choice is of course the single mass e28 flywheel.

There is a place here that can get me an e28 spec chrome molysteel flywheel for about the same as I would pay second hand for a used one.

The flywheel will weight less and I think its stronger, but what I really wanted to know is being that I live in a hilly area and I drive up a sloped freeway what difference is it going to make having a lighter flywheel (lighter again than the single mass e28 and a lot lighter than the dual mass e34 flywheel).

I know the enertia of the flywheel will be reduced but how does this effect the drivability of the car and is it suited to my location (lots of turns, hills and slopes).

Cheers Matt

Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:24 am

I've had several cars with light weight flywheels and never noticed any bad effects with hills and drivability.
I'm running an E28 M535i flywheel in my 335i and it could with a lighter one still.

I'd say go for it, you'll love the way the engine revs up and the throttle response.
Only if it is extremely light is it likely to give a lumpy idle or make smooth gearchanges tricky.

Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:19 am

DRIFTBOY wrote:I've had several cars with light weight flywheels and never noticed any bad effects with hills and drivability.
I'm running an E28 M535i flywheel in my 335i and it could with a lighter one still.

I'd say go for it, you'll love the way the engine revs up and the throttle response.
Only if it is extremely light is it likely to give a lumpy idle or make smooth gearchanges tricky.

Cheers Driftboys sounds like I've got my answer

Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:49 pm

Did you get the E28 533 over there because that got the lightest factory M30 fly wheel, about 10kgs from memory ?

Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:37 am

Hi Andy, yeah we had the e28 533 over here. The flywheel is an after market product that I think is lighter again still. I have to take my gearbox down there before they can confirm they have one to suit. I'll get an exact weight from them while I'm down there. I'll let you know.
regards Matt

Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:07 pm

Are you going to use a sporty cam in your M30 ?

If yes, i wouldn't go too light on the fly wheel.

Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:16 am

No, I think I'll be keeping the internals fairly standard. I had a Alpina spec camshaft put in my 325i and that cost me enough (by the time I got all the seals etc). The m30 will be kept standard at first and then I might play around with engine management to extract a little more but that'll be about it I think.

Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:33 am

hmmm. out of interest, who's supplying the fly for you?

Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:10 am

Adelaide Clutch Service, I'll probably get the clutch kit from them aswell. Adelaide Clutch Services Pty Ltd Wingfield 1 Hakkimen Rd 5013(08) 8300 5000. A mechanic I know recommended them.

Haven't got anything from them before personally.

Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:45 am

How much is it?

Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:37 pm

Its around $450 but I'm not sure it'll come from there anymore. I'm still deciding on whether I should get this lighter flywheel. I might look at getting a bit machined off the e28 if at all possible. The shop said their flywheel was around 6-7kg. I thought the e34 flywheel was around the 20kgish mark and the e28 was somewhere in the middle?

The fact that the shop needs me to remove the engine before they can supply a flywheel is what mainly changed my mind. I'm taking holidays the week after this and I was hoping to have the parts all sorted before I began holidays so the e28 is looking the best part to source for time.

Thu Feb 08, 2007 9:03 am

I'm now going to use the e28 single mass flywheel (see below for reason) My question for those who have done this, does the engine have to be zero balanced when you swap flywheels? Did you use any counter weight on the single mass e28 flywheel when you swapped over from dual to single mass?

Reason I didn't get the other flywheel - I went to Adelaide Clutch and just plain wasn't happy with the service... <add two hours of complaining here>.

In the end as it turns out using the e28 flywheel has worked out to be $250 cheaper anyway.

*Off topic* The fitter and turner is going to get the e34 brakes (calipers, discs etc) to fit on the e30 for me (he's a real gem

, with lots of experience in racecars, modding etc). Cheers for the help

Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:05 am

Flywheels are not a balancing item on BMW engines,

Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:05 pm

mybmw6 wrote: *Off topic* The fitter and turner is going to get the e34 brakes (calipers, discs etc) to fit on the e30 for me (he's a real gem , with lots of experience in racecars, modding etc). Cheers for the help

Is he fitting the hubs as well as disks?

the engineers didnt comment on up grading brskes for the conversion did he?

Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:23 am

Gunni wrote:Flywheels are not a balancing item on BMW engines,

Ok thanks for that. So swapping from Dual mass to single isn't a problem.

oze30 wrote:

mybmw6 wrote:

*Off topic* The fitter and turner is going to get the e34 brakes (calipers, discs etc) to fit on the e30 for me (he's a real gem , with lots of experience in racecars, modding etc). Cheers for the help
Is he fitting the hubs as well as disks?

the engineers didnt comment on up grading brskes for the conversion did he?

No I shouldn't think brakes would be a problem with the engineers, its mainly because I have access to e34 parts to use for free and the money I spend on putting new discs, pads etc on the 323i is pretty close to him spending some time getting the e34 brakes to fit but with more stopping power.

Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:27 am

oze30 wrote:
Is he fitting the hubs as well as disks?

Not sure to be honest. He'll do the front first so I'll basically take the down the front struts from both cars (or my whole e30 and the e34 front struts) and he'll work his magic.