I think i f'ed up pretty bad

[Teaguer]

Toss it .

And get the flywheel on right this time .

[Beej '86 325es]

C'mon, that little dingaling isn't designed to hold the torque of a 200+ ft lb engine. The driveshaft and halfshafts don't have any dowels and they do just fine. I'm not saying he shouldn't do it but if it proves to be an extreme pain in the ass (along the lines of having to pull the crank to replace it), I seriously don't see the big deal.

^+1

I'm an aircraft structural engineer, hopefully that gives me some credit to my reasoning on this internet forum. Shear is exactly what bolts are for. I deal with this day in and day out. Check out the MS, NAS, AN specs for say a 5/8" bolt...good for roughly 25,000 psi. I bet that little dowel doesn't come close. In fact I just pulled up a few specs for a typical NAS dowel (spacer), they don't bother rating these things for shear as that is not their intent. There's a reason it has a hole in it, for a bolt to take the load.

Back on topic. Like Teager said, toss it.

[matt]

On the off chance that I am right... :rolleyes why would you NOT want that present? Why would you want your flywheel installed less properly than stock?

[LINUS]

On the off chance that I am right...why would you NOT want that present?

I'd put a new dowel pin in too. No arguement there.

I just see alot of oversized bolts that have relatively low torqued nuts that are used in a side-load application to hold together the I-beam structures together in the refineries. I expect those have to meet engineering guidelines for load bearing, safety, etc.

[BeirBrennerE30]

its not a shear thing... that dowel is supposed to be there replace it. It will throw yoru crank/flywheel out of balance and probably a million other things that some german engineer thought of and saw necessary to put it there.

[B3M2W5]

All make good pints, but i have pulled the old one out and i think i can get the one off of my ETA out i think its the same size im going to try that route.
Another question!
I put the pilot bearing in and then i started thinking something looked wrong.
The bearing is an open bearing and it was not sealed or greased. So b4 i put it in i greased it with some bearing grease and slaped it in there. Didnt think much about it till i did this with my flywheel. When i was looking at my old motor for the dowel pin. I happend to look at the pilot bearing and saw that it was a sealed bearing and permanetly greased. I started thinking that the pilot bearing is going to be spinning in there quite fast. I would think maybe that grease might come spitting out and get in or on the friction surfaces (that being a bad thing i might think). Why would satches put a serviceable bearing in there or is it just not suposed to be greased?

[Beej '86 325es]

So you're saying you got tired of our arguing and just did it? :p

I've got an old pilot bearing at home, I can check it then, but I thought both sides of the race were covered on mine...
If not, you would want the open end to point toward the front of the motor.

[matt]

BMW pilot bearings come in two flavors... sealed and unsealed. If you have an unsealed pilotbearing it needs to be packed with grease and installed with a bunch of extra pieces to hold the grease in.

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=1554&mospid=47321&btnr=11_1937&hg=11&fg=20

If you have a sealed pilot bearing like 99% of the ones included in clutch kits, just pop it in there.

[BigD]

FWIW both the old and the new FAGs in my S52 are sealed. In my S38 they weren't. I didn't know that and ended up buying the engine builder 3 bearings in a row, before I found out I was supposed to get him the sealer pieces too.

[E30Eric]

Do you even need it? Some cars didn't even come with one.

[matt]

Do you even need it? Some cars didn't even come with one.

Yeah, automatic cars...

You need one.

[Mike325]

You need that dowel. It is there for alighning the FW and is very important. The bolts are not there for centering, the dowel is. Here are some examples of how this alighnment problem effects the instalation of stuff.

1. When people get aftermarket wheels, and the CB is too big, they say, "oh, I will be ok, the bolts will center it". Then they wonder why they have a vibration.

2. Dan Gilan, a member on here, was installing his m50 and had a problem. We were at school and he was saying his car would not start. He installed his trans without the 2 dowel pins and the alighnment was off, which caused the started to not engage correctly, causing it not to spin. He installed new dowels and he was all good.

To sum it up, get the dowel, and save yourself FW vibrations and a trans removal 5 min after you start your swap for the first time.

[FredK]

Wow. It's taken around 2 years to find out what Gillan's problem really was. I don't think he ever updated his no-start thread, except to say he fixed it. LOL

[B3M2W5]

Ok new update i got the old dowel pin out of my old motor and that worked i also located a diff bearing that is sealed completly. As an add on (MATT) the bearing that came in my clutch kit was not sealed on either side and did not come with any retainers to hold the greas either, just for an FYI, i think you meantioned something about that. IDK maybe my kit was just a bad egg, it happens with me alot i always get the janky shit and have to fixit.
One last thing (i hope). I put the flywheel on now 3 times, the 2nd time i used the shim i was talking about earlier, well with the bolts i have that came off the M50 (this motor used to be and automatic) I used them with the shim and it makes it stick out to far and doesnt work. So I took it off and tried it with out the shim NOPE, Too close will rub on the block. The bolts from my old motor are too big, from the dual mass of the "E" any help on this one.
And what is the size of bolt i need for the pressure plate to bolt to the FW i seem to miss placed them as i took it apart when my engine lit up back in June.

[B3M2W5]

Top... any one help me out with what shim i need to get the FW away from the block. With the shim from the auto its too thick, with out one the flywheel rubs down near the oil pan...