Happy,
Welcome to the club. You gotta post some pics and a video of that bad boy in action! Share with us your impression of the m54 with the RMS. I'd love to supercharge mine, but that will have to wait till after med school.

Supercharged M54 paired to manual tranny would be great, still even supercharged M54 leaks huge 75 lb ft (100 NM) compared to 4.6&4.8 versions.

I'd love2 kno the cost & if u feel it was worth it when ur done

New RMS kit is about k6$ + labour and the car isn't faster than stock 4.6/4.8, but more fun to drive due to manual tranny.

Happy, welcome!

Gotta see pics and vids when you get her back! I'm going to update you on the registry, what year is your X and where are you from?

Clutch Upgrade?
 

Just a question for this crew.... Has anyone changed their clutch assembly out with something other than just the O.E setup? I'm going to be doing mine this spring and just started looking into this. I have seen non-dual mass conversion clutch assemblies out now with light weight cro-moly (14.5lbs)or even lighter aluminum (13-9.5 lbs)flywheels available. I've heard if you go too light you run into poor street performance. I've been told that our dual mass is about 24 lbs! That's a lot of rotating mass that could be conserved for greater efficiency as well as performance and throttle response.

I would think you don't want to go too aggressive with clutch disc engagement properties, as you don't want to shock load the drive-train. Some of the stage 2 kits look about right. The conversion kits have spring hub clutch discs to help with gear rattle.

Also, I'm not sure exactly what kits are compatible with our set up.
Mine is often shown to be not compatible with the 01-03's as mine is a six a 6-speed. But that is OEM stuff too though. :dunno:What do you think and does anyone have any experiences.

I'm new to the club as of thursday. I do have some concerns on the 5 spd tho shifting is seeming to be getting tougher to sometimes to get in gear and down shifting is tough. Sometimes pulling it out of 1st is very tricky when shifting. Clutch does not not slip what so ever. I'm gonna take it to my friend who owns a trans shop but before i get there what are your suggestions truck has 101k and was a one owner vehicle

thanks
and I love the truck in every way

smi2710,
Welcome to the manual trans club.
Our '01, with ~76k miles, still shifts very well, and clutch action/feel remains good.
Other than a trans fluid change around 60k, I have done no other repair.

Hope your tranny guy can help...maybe just a linkage adjustment.
GL, md

Three words for you; clutch delay valve. It's a factory-installed restrictor that is supposed to improve clutch action, but in the opinion of many (me included) it does the opposite. There are two ways to eliminate it; buy a replacement adapter that installs in place of the CDV or take yours out and drill it out. The replacements aren't terribly expensive, and seem to be preferred to drilling the original out. I plan to do mine this spring.

Pulling the clutch delay valve really helped with my 2001 X5. I did not use an adapter. I found it was not necessary. I simply connected the line to the slave cylinder once the CDV was removed. It required very little "bending" to the steel line. Just an option if you want to save some dough for other maintenance items.