Clutch kit, DMF, CDV delete, UUC short shift, AFE, CV boots, X-pipe

[DrRick]

It has been almost a month since I put my X5 on the lift. The transmission, clutch and flywheel have all been removed. The starter was replaced. The pilot bearing was replaced. And I am now waiting to replace the rear main seal housing with the new rear main seal. Unfortunately, a $1.75 gasket has delayed the whole project. I added to my tool box a tall trans jack, TIG welder, exh. Pipe expander. I explained to my wife that even with the new tools we will save money on the repairs.
Because of the delay in getting parts, I was not able to finish the project over Christmas break, as I had hoped. Now that graduate school is back in session, I will have limited time, but will update this thread as possible. I do have a lot of photographs and information. So far I will share these in a stepwise fashion.
The posts will follow the following schedule:
• cleaning, and transmission removal
• removal of the roll, sway bar
• replacement of starter.
• Replacement of transmission input shaft seal
• replacement of pilot bearing
• replacement of the main seal.
• Replacement of clutch and flywheel mechanism
• Replacement of shifter mechanism
• Conversion to X Pipe
• Installation of AFE Air Filter
• installation of X pipe
• replacement of transmission, etc.
(the CV boots will have to wait)
To set the stage I think it is important that anyone undergoing these changes do some reading from the Bentley repair manual and watch the YouTube videos from Bav auto. I will not attempt to replace the information found in those 2 sources, but I will try to add to that knowledge base. As you know, some of the problems with the Bentley magazine is that some of the instructions are not very detailed. For example , I included a brief section on replacement of the rollbar; the Bentley magazine has all of the information, but I still found that this was one of the most difficult parts of removing the transmission. Kinda like a pretzel puzzle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qZskpXW9t4