wont engage gears

[jw 325ic]

so i put the super eta tranny in my 88 325i and it wont engage the gears. the clutch almost falls to the floor but you can feel the spring at first, then falls, then you can kind of feel the clutch halfway engaging.

should i be using the euro 323 throw out bearing? i thought i read the eta uses a dual mass flywheel where i cars use single mass. the trans is the same though. shifter lined up and i was able to put my smaller output flange on it. anyways, any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Wanganstyle]

compare the bellhousing depth to slave between both transmissions, if they are the same length then you dont need anything different from what came out of the car prior.

there is a good article on this forum about it.

when rough measured w a tape it was 7" for deep bell, 6" for shallow bell.

if both are the same then the identical or same replacement new parts will be perfect. check slave cylinder? those always enjoy dying on me.

[jw 325ic]

Yea mine may be about 5-6 years old, but I really don't think it's that as it's been perfect up until I put the tranny on. I did put a new clutch disc in but I don't think that slight difference in thickness would cause it to go out. I will try bleeding it and see if that helps before I pull that trans off again :/.

[MR 325]

so i put the super eta tranny in my 88 325i and it wont engage the gears. the clutch almost falls to the floor but you can feel the spring at first, then falls, then you can kind of feel the clutch halfway engaging.

should i be using the euro 323 throw out bearing? i thought i read the eta uses a dual mass flywheel where i cars use single mass. the trans is the same though. shifter lined up and i was able to put my smaller output flange on it. anyways, any help is appreciated, thanks.

If you don't have a solid pedal you should take a look at clutch hydraulics. Did you remove and lines? Did the clutch pedal get pressed while the slave cylinder was not installed in the transmission?

The Super Eta cars have a single mass Eta flywheel. I am a big fan of the 323 flywheel in pretty much any E30 but you shouldn't need it.

[jw 325ic]

No the clutch was never touched. I left the slave cyl resting on the control arm during the swap so no lines were opened up. I know i installed the throw out, but maybe the clutch fork got loose? I put the fork from my old trans on the Seta trans along with the retaining clip. Should be the same right?

[MR 325]

Yes, the fork will work no problem.

[jw 325ic]

I will bleed the clutch and update this tonight. Only other thing i can think of besides the slave cyl is the fork/throw out bearing.

[jw 325ic]

Okay, I bled the clutch last night and forgot how to pressure bleed lol it had been about 4 years. Ended up letting air into the system. So tonight I was doing it the old school method of just pumping the clutch a million times and that didnt work. Ended up my brake fluid reservoir hose was just kind of sitting on there. Trimmed it back and clamped it, remembered how to pressure bleed and bled the system in 2 minutes.

Clutch was still doing the same thing. It has about 3 steps to it throughout the travel.
The first 1/3: You mainly feel the clutch spring.
2/3: kinda falls-feels a little loose
Last third of the travel: it feels normal. only in that last third.

but even when it feels normal with that last third of travel, it still won't engage. my clutch fork clip was kind of loose when i was messing with it with the trans mounted up. so tomorrow (friday) i'm going to pull the tranny back off and check everything out. may end up needing that early euro 323i throw out bearing. hopefully it's just the clutch fork or the clip.

[jw 325ic]

so apparently everyone's confused. i looked on realoem and pelican parts and they show the early model eta's having a single mass flywheel and the late model, as of 5/86+ having twin/dual mass flywheels. looks like i have more parts to order and wait on.