{"id":3754,"date":"2013-10-10T10:46:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T16:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mcoupebuyersguide.com\/?p=3754"},"modified":"2013-10-10T10:47:21","modified_gmt":"2013-10-10T16:47:21","slug":"lc60291-part4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.mcoupebuyersguide.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/lc60291-part4\/","title":{"rendered":"LC60291 – Part 4: The Mechanicals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that the coupe looked brand new, it was time to make the drive match the looks. Step #1: shift pins. I knew I was completely out of my mechanical depth with that particular project even with Vinci’s awesome DIY<\/a>. I contacted another local coupe owner, Alex (the up and coming “Randy Forbes” of Colorado :-)). I knew he had done the shift pin service at least once before, and he also happened to still have the drift tools. I then contacted Jonathan Thayer of\u00a0 BimmerDiffs.com<\/a>\u00a0to order up a shift pin service parts kit and some Amsoil for the transmission and differential. He was nice enough to expedite the shipping to make sure I got everything in time.<\/p>\n

When Alex came to swap coupes (yep, I now have his in my garage too :-)), I had him take it for a test drive with me to see if he felt anything we may have missed. In the first corner he mentioned that the rear shocks had to have been replaced (which we later confirmed). He also noticed some minor clutch slippage.\u00a0He suggested we just do the clutch too since we were dropping the transmission for the shift pin service anyway. We all agreed.<\/p>\n

We took a good look through the engine bay where he confirmed the new cooling system components and m50 manifold. He also agreed with our previous assessment that aside from the headlights, everything else up front was original with no sign of previous damage. I’m pretty confident that it was never in any type of accident. The chrome-ringed headlights remain a mystery.<\/p>\n

It was an especially easy to make the decision to replace the clutch because the previous owner of the coupe had included a brand new one with the car. He said when he had first bought the coupe, the low clutch engagement had made him think the clutch was on its way out before he later learned that the low clutch engagement was normal on M Coupes. To be honest, I never noticed any clutch slippage on my test drive, but agreed it made sense to make the change given the transmission was being dropped anyway. The included clutch was an F1 Racing brand, stage 2 clutch kit. Stage 2 was probably overkill for this particular coupe, but the online reviews for this specific clutch were positive (I did come across some problems on Honda and Mazda forums).\u00a0I packed up the hatch with the shift pin kit, Amsoil, and clutch kit, and Alex took the coupe back to his garage and lift (what service!).<\/p>\n

$\"BMW$ <\/a><\/p>\n

It all started out well. The transmission came out fine, but Alex noticed the flex disc (guibo) was soft enough that he could flex it by hand. That’s no good, so we got a new one. No big deal. The shift pins for reverse and 5th were locked in place which explains how horrible it shifted. He finished the shift pin service and moved on to the clutch. Removing the old clutch went fine. It appeared to be the original clutch and was in good shape for the mileage but obviously showing its age and mileage. It was time for a replacement anyway.<\/p>\n