Necessary to replace 'low' mileage flywheel?

[krazy]

So, I'm getting ready to swap a manual transmission from an 87 325i into my automatic 86 325 (mfg date 04/86). I only have the transmission, no clutch or flywheel.

The 325 'only' has 96k original miles on it right now. My understanding is it has a dual mass flywheel which cannot be refinished.

But I've read that if the flywheel isn't 'excessively' worn, you wouldn't need to replace it.

Any guesses if my flywheel would be excessively worn at 96k miles? How would I even know it is 'excessively' worn?

(For what it's worth, the 86 325 is a stroker setup and has Motronic 1.1 and the i harness.)

Thanks!

[e30fix]

well, when you take the trans off pull the flywheel and take it to a shop so they can look at it. Iv swapped a few trans and have never seen a bad flywheel, and the cars have all had over 200k on them.

[jeffnhiscars]

noted you already have upgraded motronic you can get a flywheel skimmed for cheap

[Kershaw]

You could just clean it with a brillo pad and degreaser, it's gonna be fine.

That said, why are you going to spend all that effort and put in a dual mass flywheel? That's a terrible idea because they're so heavy. Get a single mass flywheel at the very least.

[LateFan]

Agreed - I shopped around and found a nice single mass for $100 on r3v. My local NAPA put a nice new finish on it for $30.

On my Audi A4, no machine shop would touch the OEM dual-mass flywheel. There's no way to install accurate wedges between the halves in order to machine it without any shuddering or misalignment. Also, they say the rubber spacers can age and break down. Had to buy a whole new flywheel, which pissed me off.