M44 Dual Mass to Single Mass and Beyond

[zedonist]

latest pictures:

 

[zedonist]

A few more:

 

[zedonist]

And a few more, and then I stopped, next is to remove the hub nut lock shim, remove the brake shoes and then the hub:


I'm taking all the photos as this is not a quick turn round project for me and I am sure I will need some guidance on the rebuild, I am also sure that they will help other members decide if they want to tackle this job. Once finished we can get back to light weight fly wheel, I know your all wondering when its getting fitted.

 

[zedonist]

Couple more, not much done due to the hand brake cable welded into the hub, had to cut it off at the neck and use the Irwin tool to remove, then removed bushes with the tool I bought 3 yrs ago. I was planning on new calipers, but have decided to keep costs low and refurb instead, so next jobs fit new tank straps, paint first trailing arm and rebuild, then move onto the next.

 

[zedonist]

Well tank straps finally removed, word of advice to all members is check the condition if your tank straps, mine came away in my hands while removing and the hook camp had welded through corrosion to the bracket, took a bit of fettling to remove, don't wait till they give way. Will post pictures tomorrow.

 

[Ron Joy]

Hi Rich, if/when you get the braided hoses I would invest in a set of these. Some of the original ones will likely break or lose their shape when undoing the unions. I think 8 would be enough.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331033747186?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Tony.

Every time I see pictures like those of the rust ravaged (?) rear suspension I thank God that I live in an area where the roads are not salted during winter. I own a small auto repair shop and we see cars built in the 60's that are driven daily and rust is seldom an issue. We do a fair # of prepurchase inspections and one of the 1st things we look for is whether or not the vehicle has spent any time in an area where salt is used. Even on cars that are only a few years old we see the "tin worm" taking hold and its an automatic rejection. It's sad when someone has a car they really enjoy and you know its useful life is limited by the safety issues imposed by rust We've had customers who move to the east coast and they're surprised that techs in those areas almost fight to work on their vehicles because they know every bolt they touch isn't going to crumble when its touched by a wrench. I've long thought that the major automobile manufacturers offer to supply salt to any state that wants it knowing that owners will be forced into buying a new car much too soon due to safety issues rather than the simple desire for that new car smell. Enough of my rambling, the dual mass article is very interesting. We deal with a machine shop that specializes in resurfacing and repairing the dm flywheels though we don't see a lot of them. Thanks for a great site

 

[zedonist]

It would be nice to work on a rust free car Ron, but we don't get that luxury in the UK, that said these cars with a little intervention at appropriate times will see these cars last another 16 years. The good thing though the body shell has no corrosion what so ever which demonstrates how good the paint process was on these cars.

 

[Jeff J]

Now i know the arguments, why bother modifying a 1.9 get a 2.8 etc etc, well for me its not about just getting a bigger engine with more power and extra cylinders, i like to tinker, i like to look at something and say what if? Well i chose the 1.9 because i can work on it, i can change things or fix them, normally fix them........

I have been on a journey (still travelling), i have modified the body to wide rear format like the 2.8, i have lowered it and stiffened the springs and ARB's, and uprated the brakes to 3.0 vented discs and callipers, this has bought a lot of smiles to my face whilst driving the back roads. but the thing that has niggled me has been it just needs that 5% more from the engine department, yes a stainless exhaust and induction kit made it sound like 5% more but it was just those few instances when you just new if just slightly tweaked it would be the perfect roadster.

Well i researched this in detail, i have looked at Turbo's, and DASC, but just too much modification required and then you have a real frankenstein and it has cost you an arm and a leg, so as i have a limited hobby budget, i have had to say no. The search has lead me to 3 options, remap, diff change and flywheel modification, so which one, well i have ruled out the diff change as they are like hens teeth, and people covet them so much the cost nearly as much as a DASC, so option binned for the moment, plus i think the trade off of cruising speed v acceleration is just too much for a road car (Good for a 1/4 miler). So remap and flywheel, well the clutch judders when cold, so i have opted to go this route first and then the remap as the icing on the cake.

So Flywheels and clutches, The M44 has a DMF (Dual Mass Flywheel) they are very heavy, help with torque but are parasitic to draining the engine power, how much you say, well its to the tune that if you shaved 10lb off one you would gain 34BHP (virtual) in first gear, 28 in second, 18 in third, 10 in fourth and 5 in 5th. This sounds good, and in theory it is very good and backed up by calculation, we should all do it yes? well the problem is the DMF it cannot be modified, its a very intricate and heavily engineered component, and nobody has the skill to do it. The option therefore is to fit a single mass fly wheel, they are available in various expensive forms from the states, you can even put in an M3 flywheel and clutch or a Valeo conversion kit, problem is these are the same weight as the DMF so that you do not notice any difference in driving, so no point in just swapping these out. Answer therefore get one modified, have the fly wheel lightened and balanced, well that is my solution, but today ended up in a fortunate twist.

Having broken up for xmas break, decided to get my recent Valeo purchase down to a highly recommended engine builder MJA Automotive Engineering, owned by Martin Adams, i had gotten a price and lead time over the phone and was going to post it, however i was not quite convinced it had enough meat to allow it to be lightened, and certainly not enough to reduce by 10lbs. Today i took a drive to see Martin, we looked at the flywheel together, and with Martins experience and witness to a few exploding flywheels agreed it was not worth doing, especially if it could not be done safely, after a brief batting of ideas Martin said "Why don't i make you one from Aluminium", this seems the perfect idea, it can be made to the same dimensions and saves the weight without any loss of integrity. So we agreed the price, had a tour of his work shop including engine dyno and race cars and confirmed i would collect it at the end of January.

Once i have the flywheels back i will do some weight comparisons, and then some logged driving runs on the existing DMF prior to changing over to the new one. I will update this thread as i go along.

 

[zedonist]

Well tank straps fitted, photos to follow, subframe having bushes changed, cost me tea, coffee and biscuits, and then the painting starts.

 

[zedonist]

Also I u turned on the refurbish of the callipers, too far gone, but got a good deal on some from the states for a pair delivered cheaper than buying a new one from the UK!

 

[GazHyde]

Nice progress so far then Rich, she's gonna drive event sweeter when she is back together again. I've had to start driving with the traction control switched off completely because the back end works as designed. The TC just gets in the way when powering out of bends or roundabouts. Previously it was only the TC which kept Rosie pointing the right direction.

Driving with it switched off I've found huge amounts of traction, and the back end will only step out if the roads are wet and you are a bit heavy footed. When the back end goes squirrely it's so controllable. I did lose the back end on a rain soaked roundabout on Sunday, but caught it a lot easier than it looked from the outside (hoped no one noticed, but sadly not)..

These cars handle awesomely when they are maintained correctly!

 

[Mint]

...hoped no one noticed, but sadly not...

 

[t-tony]

hoped no one noticed, but sadly not

There's always one Gaz.

Tony.

 

[Mint]

There's always one...

And in this case it was me

 

[t-tony]

Y'see Dave, that's another bad habit learned from the Orangutan, Turn traction control off, select sport, select launch control ..................................... just for other peoples entertainment !!

Tony.

 

[Lee]

I look forward to sitting in her again to see the difference. Cracking job so far mate.

 

[zedonist]

Me too Lee, you will be first to have a drive, so you can add your unbiased opinion of the mod, as I have already bought the "///M Killer" badge!

 

[t-tony]

The youngster at work fitted a new clutch in his X reg Vectra V6 yesterday, along with a £301 lightened flywheel which removes 10 kg of weight. It does Rev freely and sounds nice!

Tony.

 

[zedonist]

Progress is slow but paint is finally going down and the brakes have arrived from the states and will be shiny silver by the end of the weekend.

 

[GazHyde]

What is that sprayed with - anything special or just black rattle can?