[JL]

I was reading a post on bimmer.org concerning clutchstops, and there was a discussion on there today regarding the Ron Stygar clutchstop. People there are claiming that his clutchstop is able to defeat the starter switch in the newer models, but looking at his webpage, his clutchstop looks nearly the same as other clutchstops such as the UUC Bigboy.

So is there any truth to this, and if so, can someone please explain how this is possible using this particular clutchstop. I've been driving my '02 325i for about 4 months now, and the long travel on the clutch is just really irritating.

And if you had a choice, which clutchstop would you go with, or would you just make your own?

 

[blackdawg]

2002? no problemo with ron's CS.

had ron's clutchstop in our 2002 the entire time.

 

[eugeneDC/TX]

i'm no expert, but clutchstop is clutchstop. anything that keeps your clutchpedal from travelling down far enough that it wont depress the start switch will do the same thing as uuc or stygar. heck you could glue a block of wood. the only difference may be the length of the clutchstop. the uuc you have to screw in pretty low. the stygar may be shorter in general to seem like you dont have to screw it in all the way. also if you have an older e46 you can manually defeat the start switch. as far as i can tell the benefit of the stygar is the appearance of stock. whereas the uuc big boy is easily twice as large (diameter)

 

[blackdawg]

raises hand (objection).

that's not exactly true.

it's hard to explain this without a drawing, but the uuc motorwerks clutchstop is too wide for e46s.

it's so wide that the width actually can impinge on the downward travel of the clutch arm. so, you'd have to cut the thing waaaaaaaaaaaay down to get it to work and bypass the starter switch issue.

it's not that ron's is so great because it looks stock. that's not really an issue; it works well because it's not as wide, and if you get a delrin one, it's far easier to trim the length of the screw. so it works without any hassle on the E46 cars.

in a perfect world, the uucmotorwerks one would work in E46s. i have the big boy clutchstop in my m coupe and that clutch arm is so wobbly, the added width of the c'stop helps and there isn't an issue with the starter defeat switch, either.

 

[eugeneDC/TX]

Re: raises hand (objection).

that's not exactly true.

it's hard to explain this without a drawing, but the uuc motorwerks clutchstop is too wide for e46s.

it's so wide that the width actually can impinge on the downward travel of the clutch arm. so, you'd have to cut the thing waaaaaaaaaaaay down to get it to work and bypass the starter switch issue.

it's not that ron's is so great because it looks stock. that's not really an issue; it works well because it's not as wide, and if you get a delrin one, it's far easier to trim the length of the screw. so it works without any hassle on the E46 cars.

bdawg -

i researched both before i bought and ultimately decided to go with uuc b/c neither seemed like it could defeat the switch. am i wrong in assuming that a clutchstop is SUPPOSED to impinge on the downward travel of the clutch pedal? how does the width of the stop make a difference? i'm not trying to be a prick? i'm just really curious because if the stygar stop works better then uuc i'll get that one...

 

[blackdawg]

try both then.

i know ron's works for 2002 e46s.

i know the uucmotorwerks one doesn't work on 2002 e46s.

i own 2 of ron's units and 2 uucmotorwerks clutchstops; i've experimented with both.

i have no idea how to explain it better than if you draw a picture of the big boy sitting pretty in its mounting point, the thing is so wide that the topmost point of hte big boy efectively (yes) hinders the clutch pedal travel much more than an OEM-sized clutchstop.

it's too big. so unless you really cut down the uuc bolt and fiddle with the starter defeat, you won't be happy.

i know you're not being a wise guy, but it's beyond me, short of drawing a picture and scanning it, to explain why the big boy clutchstop is an example of something being too big to work in an E46 car. some of us are at work, you realize?

 

[The HACK]

Re: Re: raises hand (objection).

bdawg -

i researched both before i bought and ultimately decided to go with uuc b/c neither seemed like it could defeat the switch. am i wrong in assuming that a clutchstop is SUPPOSED to impinge on the downward travel of the clutch pedal? how does the width of the stop make a difference? i'm not trying to be a prick? i'm just really curious because if the stygar stop works better then uuc i'll get that one...

I'm not trying to stir the pot here because I get a huge discount on UUC stuff too, but the width of the clutch stop has absolutely NOTHING to do with the starter switch. If the Ron Styger stop does not require the defeat of the starter switch then it's because it doesn't shorten the clutch travel as dramatically as the Big Boy. No matter what you do, if you shorten the clutch travel enough where it doesn't trip the starter switch, you'll need to rig something up to fool that switch.

We'll need to compare the Styger and UUC Big Boy to see how much shorter it is, but if the Styger does trip the starter switch then I'd rather have the UUC because it shortens the travel dramatically then.

 

[blackdawg]

great. try it out to get down to the issue!

thanks, HACK.

you gonna do this on your car?

i already know the answer on a 2002 e46.

 

[Guest]

Re: great. try it out to get down to the issue!

thanks, HACK.

you gonna do this on your car?

i already know the answer on a 2002 e46.

For the record, I had the UUC Big Boy clutch stop in my 2001 330i. I did bypass the switch but I had no problems with it whatsoever and I highly recommend it as a mod.

Other than the switch redesign which took place midway through the 2001 model year, I cannot see any reason why the 2002s would be any different.

 

[The HACK]

Re: great. try it out to get down to the issue!

thanks, HACK.

you gonna do this on your car?

i already know the answer on a 2002 e46.

I've already got the UUC Big Boy installed. If someone is willing to send me a Ron Styger clutch stop I'm more than willing to test it out for ya.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

I've never been sure what Blackdawg meant regarding this issue with the UUC big boy. I've always felt that the feedback from the UUC is thirty times better and more solid than stock. :dunno: :dunno: :dunno: At any rate, someone really just needs to bypass the freaking engine switch.

Nick

 

[blackdawg]

i agree with Nick.

the uucmotorwerks is more solid.

the question is whether or not it works without an modification on an E46.

i say "nay".

if the 325xiT were my daily driver, i sure would go through HACK's torture and make it work, but since my wife could care less as long as that damn clutch travel is eliminated, we have ron's CS in that car.

 

[blackdawg]

funny tangent: OBD2 adaptation.

my wife was out of town at a science meeting and i got to drive her car the entire time.

i screamed around like a headless ninny in it.

when she got back, she asked, "did you already do the dinan software thing? the car really seems faster and more responsiive?"

i said, "nope. just OBD2 adapting my driving style".

funny, isn't it?

sure easier than nick's fix of unplugging the battery at every fillup, you crazy nut.

 

[Nick325xiT 5spd]

I like driving at low revs/part throttle, though.

Nick

 

[ride365]

here's the explanation...

i've had this discussion with blackdawg before... the confusion arises because he means depth/thickness when he says "width" which most of us assume to be diameter.

my guess is that on one of his cars he can't use the uuc because it's rests too high to trigger the starter switch, even at it's lowest setting. the stygar one works because he is using it at a point that's still within the range of the starter switch. i'm guessing, but i'm pretty sure that's why he thinks the stygar defeats the switch problem while the uuc doesn't. in reality the stygar one doesn't defeat the switch, it just allows partial stoppage within the switch's range.

maybe i'm wrong, but they both do the same thing... so one wouldn't magically defeat the switch while the other doesn't. i'm more than willing to accept that i'm wrong if someone is able to describe how the stygar model defeats the switch.

[edit] also, the starter switch is different depending on build date. the older ones can be mechanically defeated while the newer ones can't. and for the record, i tested a uuc bigboy on my 6/01 build and was able to use it without modification. it wasn't as high as i wanted it, but it definitely worked at a low level.

kurt

 

[blackdawg]

exactly: sort of.

the uuc unit doesn't allow for the range of motion the other CS does.