This was cool. And informative.
Photography Credit: Kevin Adolf
Want lower lap times? Right now, you can spend a few minutes dialing in the action of your clutch pedal. It’s an easy garage project.
When trying to trim down lap times, explains James Clay, president of BimmerWorld, properly timing the clutch engagement is very important.
“And to do that,” he continues, “it is critical to put the stop just …
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This was cool. And informative.
In reply to _ :
Thank you, thank you. James knows a lot about stuff.
Yeah I thought this was going to be about how "automatics are faster now blah blah blah".
I was happy to be wrong. Good stuff.
Great article!
BMW clutches definitely have a unique feel, especially coming from Japanese stuff. The initial breakaway is a little stiff and then very light, with a long pedal throw. I put these clutch stops in both my E46 and E36 and it made a world of difference.
One of the biggest advantages to the wide stop is that the OE stop is so flimsy, if you put any lateral force on the pedal while its on the stop, it will slip past the stop and stick to the floor. Never fun to have to reach down and pull the pedal back up in the heat of things. Had that happen with both the E46 and E36 before adding a meaty stop.
Truly one of the best $20 upgrades you can do to any BMW.
I too expected this to be a pro-auto trans piece. Neat stuff!
I can think of a simpler solution, if your clutch is allowing slowing you down, quit using it altogether. Get a dogbox, quit wasting valuable time either being gentle with your synchros or rebuilding a gearbox with them because you're not gentle. An auto-manual/dual clutch can speed you up incrementally from there, but a dogbox is the ultimate for purist cred.
My e36 came with one of these installed. First modification I made to the car was removing it. It couldn't be adjusted far enough to let the clutch fully disengage. I still have to tell people, "clutch bites at the floor" and that's without the clutch stop.
Headed to the garage to investigate the clutch stop on my Miata. Great article, thanks for posting.
Matt B said:Yeah I thought this was going to be about how "automatics are faster now blah blah blah".
I was happy to be wrong. Good stuff.
Ha, didn't even think about that when writing the title. Glad you're all digging the piece. Major props to James for the help. This piece actually started out as something very different, but what we all wound up with is way better.
buzzboy said:My e36.... I still have to tell people, "clutch bites at the floor" and that's without the clutch stop.
Would that be improved with a new throwout fork or something? Biting at the floor seems like a problem that I have experienced in other e36 as well.
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