Hate to say it, sorry UUC I can no longer recommend your clutch stop

[stopsign]

I bought the UUC Big Boy clutch stop in May, and took it off today. When I first got it, it was great, I was able to recline my seat back again since the clutch didnt have that unnecessarily long throw.

Please note, my clutch stop goes in as far as it could.

It's been really hot in new york these past few weeks and my shifter has gotten notchy to the point where it seems like it has to get shoved into gear.

At the middle of July, I changed the fluid to Royal Purple and most of the notchyness went away.

At July 29th, I had autoX and ran the car hard in hot weather. The increased heat somehow caused the clutch bite point to change to where my shifter pretty much couldnt get into gear anymore unless I forced it hard. I heard a clunk sound everytime I put it in, and I knew I really needed more space to shift. Ouch on the synchros. Thankfully I only needed the car for a few more runs to finish the event.

August 5th, I had to drive a friend home to her house on 32nd street in manhattan, and everyone knows that city driving, especially on a friday night is almost as intense as autocross. It was a hot night. When I got back, my shifter was doing the same thing-- super difficult to engage in gear.

I was told that as the clutch wears and sometimes excessive heat with expanding lines and fluid behavior will constantly change the shift point.

I unfortunately dont think the clutch stop is worth the syncros in my transmission. I screwed in the clutch stop as far as it can go and as soon as I start letting up on the clutch, the car starts to move forward. I'm going to hack off a ton of threads on the screw in portion and try the clutch stop again.

I wonder why UUC didnt make them screw in further?

[EOSphoto]

That sucks to hear, hopefully your tranny will end up being ok. I just made my own and chopped the bolt shorter as needed so that it's a bit longer than the stock one but the tranny engages without any problems.

[Hank]

feel thing anyway..never could grasp the concept.

Hank

[GotBHP?]

When I got mine I had to chop a 1/4 inch or so off of it to get it right. I don't think I would have kept it if it was hard to get the car in gear, just take it out and be on your way...

[stopsign]

Well the car does have a ridiculously long clutch throw, it was nice driving with the clutch stop in when the extra throw was unneeded. I'm going to try cutting the thing in half, and trying to use it flush against the floor.

[nightkrawler]

you cant blame that on the stop, thats driver/installation error, im afraid. i have my own $2 diy stop and it works great. but it took a bit of adjusting to get it at the "sweet spot". if the shifting was notchy, then you should have lowered the stop, even if you had to cut the threads off. or im sure the one bavarian auto sells for $75 would have cured the problem

[EricP]

I'd be glad if my clutch were that strong, mine is just barely off of the max adjustment as well.. but I have had no problems.

[C///M]

Yeah, I had to cut 1/2 an inch off of mine just so I could start my car.

[vrsixer]

Same here, just hacked 1/2" off. I was also having starting/gear changing issues. All is well now.

[jayhudson]

I can't understand why you think the problem is with the clutch stop. If your clutch is worn to the extent that you need to remove the clutch stop to get enough pedal movement, maybe you need to replace the clutch.

I've been using the UUC clutch stop for several years with absolutely no problems.

Jay

[300ZXNA]

I agree that the problem isn't the clutch stop. I have the version 3 Big Boy and it works great . . .

[JCK]

I can't understand why you think the problem is with the clutch stop. If your clutch is worn to the extent that you need to remove the clutch stop to get enough pedal movement, maybe you need to replace the clutch.

I've been using the UUC clutch stop for several years with absolutely no problems.

Jay

word. your clutch is shot, bud.

[stopsign]

My clutch is not shot. I had it changed 14k ago and drive quite conservatively. It engages decently high and I didnt notice problems until recently. After I made the change to royal purple, which is good but seems to be a bit more sensitive to high heat, i started having issues with lower engagement.

Please dont tell me that I dont know how to install a clutch stop, especially if you dont even own one. There are numerous people on this board who have trouble with it. I drive my car almost every day, in cold weather, freezing weather, snow, rain, hot days, and VERY hot days. Do you?

Perhaps the lines are expanding in the car, either way it doesnt spell good news. Will try cutting off a few threads and reinstall it again.

[JCK]

My clutch is not shot. I had it changed 14k ago and drive quite conservatively. It engages decently high and I didnt notice problems until recently. After I made the change to royal purple, which is good but seems to be a bit more sensitive to high heat, i started having issues with lower engagement.

Please dont tell me that I dont know how to install a clutch stop, especially if you dont even own one. There are numerous people on this board who have trouble with it. I drive my car almost every day, in cold weather, freezing weather, snow, rain, hot days, and VERY hot days. Do you?

Perhaps the lines are expanding in the car, either way it doesnt spell good news. Will try cutting off a few threads and reinstall it again.

ok, but the original post suggests that the problem lies with the clutchstop.

[Rob Levinson]

Yah, it's not the clutch stop.

What you're experiencing is changing hydraulic fluid density due to heat. As hydraulic fluid gets hot, the density decreases, which changes the clutch engagement point. Due to this, the clutch stop should always be adjusted when the car is hot, not cold.

We've made a big impact on the problem of clutch line expansion/fluid heat with our stainless steel clutch line:



The concept is the same as for SS brake lines; limit the expansion/swelling of the line, maintain consistent line pressure. For more details, please see:

http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/ss_clutch_lines/

.

[EIAlfonso]

Yah, it's not the clutch stop.

What you're experiencing is changing hydraulic fluid density due to heat. As hydraulic fluid gets hot, the density decreases, which changes the clutch engagement point. Due to this, the clutch stop should always be adjusted when the car is hot, not cold.

We've made a big impact on the problem of clutch line expansion/fluid heat with our stainless steel clutch line:



The concept is the same as for SS brake lines; limit the expansion/swelling of the line, maintain consistent line pressure. For more details, please see:


http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/ss_clutch_lines/

.

Brilliant!!

He's offered a solution to his problem with another quality product. I commend you on your marketing skillz.

[Rob Levinson]

Brilliant!!

He's offered a solution to his problem with another quality product. I commend you on your marketing skillz.

Hey, it's not my problem... BMW built the car that way and we're taking the complete "systemic" approach to fixing it.

You have a choice... the mushy, vague, floaty version of the BMW that the consumer clinics picked, or the finely-tuned "ultimate quality" transformation that we provide by examining the flaws and substantially improving each part as required.

My friend, that's not marketing... that's development. Forums like this are just one way to let you know about it as we've given up on smoke signals and carrier pigeons.

- Rob

[RagnarDanskjold]

Did you try smoking the pidgeons and carrying the signals?


-Just another who had to spend some time dialing in the clutch stop to allow for smooth engagement. No problems since.

[Rob Levinson]

Did you try smoking the pidgeons and carrying the signals?

Smoke enough squab, I guess it might be possible to carry a signal.

- Rob

[stopsign]

Thanks for the reply Rob.

I guess what I meant to say is that for a car that has a slightly misdesigned and vague clutch at times, a clutch stop that cannot be used in all normal driving situations, including the event of decently high heat, is not something i can recommend (well, without your stainless ss clutch line). I guess not everyone has times where their cars idle and rev high in city traffic on the worst days of the summer with the same tranny fluid(the highly recommended royal purple synchromax) as i do, but I do know there are other members of the forum that had to cut off a decent amount as well.

With regards to adjustment when the car is warm, the clutch stop is as far in as it will go. Adjusting the bolt only makes the clutch stop higher.

Again, just like DDE's, big rims, or SSK kits, the clutch stop was fun, but may not be for everyone.

[bimmer95]

the clutch stop is as far in as it will go. Adjusting the bolt only makes the clutch stop higher.

Ten seconds with a Dremel will fix that, just lop off 1/4" of the stud. and you'll be able to adjust it lower. They make them as long as possible because it's easier to make the stud shorter than longer once it's in your hands. Unfortunately the longer original length doesn't work perfectly in all BMWs, so sometimes a little cutting is in order to make it perfect.

[Rob Levinson]

Ten seconds with a Dremel will fix that, just lop off 1/4" of the stud. and you'll be able to adjust it lower. They make them as long as possible because it's easier to make the stud shorter than longer once it's in your hands. Unfortunately the longer original length doesn't work perfectly in all BMWs, so sometimes a little cutting is in order to make it perfect.

Exactly!

If we made them 1/4" shorter, we'd be hearing from the people with "high" clutches who would not be able to get the clutch stop tall enough.

It's easier to take off material than add it.

And in all reality, considering the volume of these that we ship out, it's only a very small percentage of installations that need it shortened.

- Rob

[bmwm3n528]

Rob, could you guys possibly introduce something like this for earlier cars?... i.e. E30s.

[Rob Levinson]

Rob, could you guys possibly introduce something like this for earlier cars?... i.e. E30s.

Our Clutch Stop works on the E30.

The only applications it does not work on is E34, E31, and the rare E32 5-speed.

- Rob

[bmwm3n528]

Our Clutch Stop works on the E30.

The only applications it does not work on is E34, E31, and the rare E32 5-speed.

- Rob

The stainless clutch line is what I was referring to. I've been using a clutch stop for some time now on all our cars.