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Epilogue


thehackmechanic

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As it has been well-demonstrated, I'm an idiot. The little tick-tick-tick sound was due to my forgetting to remove the band around the guibo.

Unfortunately, the low dull rumbling appears to be due to my not having smacked the transmission tunnel with the hammer in exactly the right spot. The slave cylinder is just touching the body. I'm not going to drop the box just so I can smack it; I'm hoping that I can either get a pry bar in there and lever the sheet metal over a little bit (of course I'll feel bloody stupid if I snap the slave cylinder) or reach the general area with a couple of 1/2" ratchet extensions and smack the end.

We had our first New England snowfall this morning, so it's unlikely I'll get much more driving in before the tii and its new 5-speed are put to bed for the winter.

In the "what sort of a budget did your budget 5-speed have" department, these were my actual costs:

--Getrag 245 transmission: $125 (Craigslist)

--Shortened driveshaft of unknown provenance: $75 (Craigslist)

--U-shaped bracket: $50 (ClassicDaily)

--Home-shortened shifter platform and linkage of unknown provenance: $30 (eBay)

--Braided clutch hose: $30

--Used 2002A speedometer cable: $20 (eBay)

--323i throwout bearing: $40 (eBay)

--320i clutch arm, retaining spring, and pivot pin: $15

--228mm Satchs clutch kit: $213

--Clutch master cylinder: $65

--Clutch slave cylinder: $26

--Transmission selector shaft seal: $8

--320i rubber transmission mount: $0 (had a used one lying around)

As per last installment, the big take-away from the first test drive is that there's nothing obviously wrong with the bargain-basement trani and driveshaft. That's a big relief.

But even with the dirt-cheap gearbox, driveshaft, and shortened shifter, the list totals nearly $700. So much for a "budget installation," huh? The elective prophylactic purchases were the clutch (the one that was in it really was fine) and the clutch master cylinder. Subtract those and it's about $420, which starts to sound reasonable.

But I'm comfortable with that amount of mission creep. I sleep a little better at night knowing that the components inside the bell housing (clutch, t/o bearing, lever, pin) are all new, and thus the odds of needing to drop the box are slim. Plus, when the original four-speed was in, I was having difficulty shifting out of neutral and into gear once it was warmed up. I had replaced the slave and bled it thoroughly, but it made no difference, so I was looking at possibly needing to do the master cylinder even if I didn't install teh 5-speed. I suppose, if I wanted to know for certain what the cause was, I would've replaced the trani and slave first, then the clutch, then the master (yeah, right...) but the important thing is that the problem is now completely gone.

The home-shortened shifter of unknown provenance works fine, but there's no mistaking it for a professionally-built, tight, short shifter. Which is to say, it feels about like every 2002 shifter I've ever had. I can live with that. And if I want to pony up the $110 for something better at a later date, that's easy. The transmission doesn't have to come out for that.

It would've been very easy to have the mission creep include the exhaust. The one on there is old but serviceable. The muffler wouldn't separate from the resonator, so I had to leave the assembly in there during removal and installation. But every time I smacked my forehead on it, I wanted to find a rust hole so I could have an excuse to Sawzall the damned thing out.

I guess my parting words of wisdom are this: Just be reasonable. It's fine to try and hold costs down, but as you confront the problems you run into along the way, think about the tradeoff between saving money and how you'll feel if you have to do it again because you got it wrong.

--Rob

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