Hi all -

I did a dumb thing (probably a series of them honestly):

My wifes JCW started slipping in 2nd and 3rd pretty badly at around 2.5-3k rpm. I always thought the clutch felt bad, so I thought - time for a clutch job. I ordered the parts from detroit tuned and went for it. I've done a few of these on other cars, but the mini engineers seem to be especially spiteful folk. I finally got the tranny apart and I got the old clutch and disc off (which was badly worn). Low and behold - somewhere in this car's history the flywheel was upgraded to single mass. The surface of the flywheel is very smooth and it looks pretty good. It had a competition clutch on it - lots of clutch material on the lip of the single mass flywheel. The throw out bearing is HUGE on the clutch pack I removed (and was detached from the fork). I have a new DMF, and a valeo clutch for install - but I am wondering a few things and hope you all can help:

1. Do I keep the SMF and slap the Valeo and standard throw out bearing on the new clutch fork?
2. Do I remove that SMF and bring the car back to stock?

I'm not interested in racing this car and it already has 130k miles on it. I'm leaning towards option 1, but the standard valeo clutch is smaller than the flywheel diameter (and it fits real well on the DMF).

The other interesting thing is that the SMF has T50 flush mount bolts that are ON THERE. I used a 1/2 impact and it wouldn't budge and any time I try to extract them with some muscle the flywheel just rotates. Anyone have any tricks?

 

No, you need to install the Kit as supplied. The stock clutch is not sprung and if you pair it with a non-sprung FlyWheel your going to have a tone of chatter. I 100% recommend using the\y whole kit as supplied.

 

Have you tried locking the flywheel with the crankshaft locking tool used when replacing the timing chain or by securing the crankshaft pulley?

 

Hopefully, whoever did the work decided not to use red locktite…. If you have a prybar, you can wedge it into the flywheel teeth and brace it against the floor to prevent the flywheel from rotating. Then use a breaker bar to work on the bolts.

I agree, though, to use the OEM kit in full when reassembling. If the flywheel is made by who I think it might be made, then you would do best to remove it for an OEM flywheel.

 

Sorry for the extended delay in replying. I ended up installing the kit in total. The flywheel bolts were a MASSIVE PITA to remove. Ended up stripping one of them, and after I ended my chain of curses I welded a washer &nut and was able to back it out. Luckily it wasn't red locative, but it was definitely blue. I used a long crowbar and wedged it up against the bottom of the vehicle to hold the flywheel. What a pain. Thank God that's done. The stock flywheel doesn't spool as nicely as the stage 2 that I took out, but I really don't care that much. I appreciate everyone's input. Thank you!