Slave Cylinder and Uber Clutch Line... for dummies
04-27-2008, 08:03 PM
#1
Elite Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: VaBch, VA
Posts: 6,451
Total Cats: 322
Slave Cylinder and Uber Clutch Line... for dummies
After a few recent threads about the Advanced Autosport clutch line, I decided to buy one when my slave started leaking last week. I know you can buy a rebuild kit, but for $30 I'll buy a new one. The clutch line was $65 shipped. The whole job took 1hr, including putting it on and off the jacks.
Here we go.
The stock clutch hydraulics have many parts.
Pedal assembly
Master Cylinder
Hardline across firewall
Rubber line
Hard-line Curly-Q
Slave Cylinder
There are 2 POS brackets on the Curly-Q hardline that are a bitch when taking the tranny off and on. If you remove the tranny for any reason, I highly recommend this mod while it's off. Anything that makes the car cleaner and functions better for minimal money is worth it. We all know the benefits of braided lines over rubber as well.
BRAKE/CLUTCH FLUID IS NASTY ****, DON'T GET IT ON YOU OR YOUR PAINT... WIPE OFF FAST!
Steps in order:
1. Jack up car. Get it high enough to put a bucket underneath where you're working. Have a few shop towels on hand.
2. Remove the cap on the clutch reservoir. Eye-dropper(or whatever) all the fluid out. I just wadded up some paper-towels and soaked it up a bit at a time. Then use some q-tips to clean out all the sludge in the bottom of the reservoir.
3. Remove the 2 12mm bolts that hold the slave to the tranny.
4. The lower of the two POS brackets is held on by one of the nutted transmission bellhousing bolts. The nut is on the front side. It's 17mm for the bolt and nut. I used a 3/8" Ratchet to hold the nut in place and the bolt came loose with a 1/2" breaker bar. Retorque to 60ftlbs when you get the bracket off.
5. The upper bracket I never put back on when I did my engine swap, so this one I didn't have to worry about. The idea is the same as step #4, but is just harder to get to.
6. Once the 3/4/5 are complete, you can disconnect the hardline from the rubber-line at the firewall. The bracket where the rubber/hard meet is fixed to the firewall and the rubber line is held to the bracket by a small clip. Remove the hardline with a 10mm open end wrench (BE ******* CAREFUL!!! It's easy as **** to round off the nut... a claw-end wrench is preferred because of this) and then remove the clip. The rubber line/Curly-Q/Slave is now completely free from the car. Get back under the car so you can feed the upper bracket down and around some the electrical harness and snake the whole thing down.
HAVE A SHOP RAG SHOVED IN THERE WHEN YOU DISCONNECT THE HARDLINE... IT WILL SLOWLY LEAK ALL THE REMAINING FLUID IN THE LINE AND YOU DON'T WANT THAT STUFF DRIPPING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
7. On the workbench, connect the new line to your new slave cylinder (if you bought a new one). Use a vice and snug it down tight. I put about 90% of as much pressure as I could with a really small cresscent wrench. Don't put retard-strength on it, but get it tight. Also, crack the bleeder valve and then snug it down just to make sure it'll break loose when it's installed and you need to bleed.
8. Over to you whether you want to connect the slave or the line first. I connected the line to the bracket. The new fitting is too big to fit into the bracket on the firewall like the stock piece did. Because of this, you have a huge nut to secure the line to the bracket. It's self explanatory how it works. The backside is 19mm. The big nut is 15/16" (don't ask, that's what it was).
9. Then get under the car put the slave back on with the 2 small 12mm bolts.
10. Bleed. I'm a bleeding idiot (meaning I'm not very good at it. I firmly believe bleeding a system is an art and I just suck). But I used my Mityvac and just kept adding fluid to the reservoir until it came out clear into the Mityvac. The I pumpd the clutch a few times. Then I put the clutch in fully depressed with a 2x4. Then I cracked the bleeder. Then released/depressed the clutch. Then fully depressed with 2x4 and cracked the bleeder again. I did this for a full reservoir's worth... took about 8 times. I tapped on the slave with small hammer a few times during this process for good measure.
11. Clean up and test drive.
12. It feels exactly the same as before... no difference. At least it looks good. I might just need to have a pro bleed it.
Here we go.
The stock clutch hydraulics have many parts.
Pedal assembly
Master Cylinder
Hardline across firewall
Rubber line
Hard-line Curly-Q
Slave Cylinder
There are 2 POS brackets on the Curly-Q hardline that are a bitch when taking the tranny off and on. If you remove the tranny for any reason, I highly recommend this mod while it's off. Anything that makes the car cleaner and functions better for minimal money is worth it. We all know the benefits of braided lines over rubber as well.
BRAKE/CLUTCH FLUID IS NASTY ****, DON'T GET IT ON YOU OR YOUR PAINT... WIPE OFF FAST!
Steps in order:
1. Jack up car. Get it high enough to put a bucket underneath where you're working. Have a few shop towels on hand.
2. Remove the cap on the clutch reservoir. Eye-dropper(or whatever) all the fluid out. I just wadded up some paper-towels and soaked it up a bit at a time. Then use some q-tips to clean out all the sludge in the bottom of the reservoir.
3. Remove the 2 12mm bolts that hold the slave to the tranny.
4. The lower of the two POS brackets is held on by one of the nutted transmission bellhousing bolts. The nut is on the front side. It's 17mm for the bolt and nut. I used a 3/8" Ratchet to hold the nut in place and the bolt came loose with a 1/2" breaker bar. Retorque to 60ftlbs when you get the bracket off.
5. The upper bracket I never put back on when I did my engine swap, so this one I didn't have to worry about. The idea is the same as step #4, but is just harder to get to.
6. Once the 3/4/5 are complete, you can disconnect the hardline from the rubber-line at the firewall. The bracket where the rubber/hard meet is fixed to the firewall and the rubber line is held to the bracket by a small clip. Remove the hardline with a 10mm open end wrench (BE ******* CAREFUL!!! It's easy as **** to round off the nut... a claw-end wrench is preferred because of this) and then remove the clip. The rubber line/Curly-Q/Slave is now completely free from the car. Get back under the car so you can feed the upper bracket down and around some the electrical harness and snake the whole thing down.
HAVE A SHOP RAG SHOVED IN THERE WHEN YOU DISCONNECT THE HARDLINE... IT WILL SLOWLY LEAK ALL THE REMAINING FLUID IN THE LINE AND YOU DON'T WANT THAT STUFF DRIPPING ALL OVER THE PLACE.
7. On the workbench, connect the new line to your new slave cylinder (if you bought a new one). Use a vice and snug it down tight. I put about 90% of as much pressure as I could with a really small cresscent wrench. Don't put retard-strength on it, but get it tight. Also, crack the bleeder valve and then snug it down just to make sure it'll break loose when it's installed and you need to bleed.
8. Over to you whether you want to connect the slave or the line first. I connected the line to the bracket. The new fitting is too big to fit into the bracket on the firewall like the stock piece did. Because of this, you have a huge nut to secure the line to the bracket. It's self explanatory how it works. The backside is 19mm. The big nut is 15/16" (don't ask, that's what it was).
9. Then get under the car put the slave back on with the 2 small 12mm bolts.
10. Bleed. I'm a bleeding idiot (meaning I'm not very good at it. I firmly believe bleeding a system is an art and I just suck). But I used my Mityvac and just kept adding fluid to the reservoir until it came out clear into the Mityvac. The I pumpd the clutch a few times. Then I put the clutch in fully depressed with a 2x4. Then I cracked the bleeder. Then released/depressed the clutch. Then fully depressed with 2x4 and cracked the bleeder again. I did this for a full reservoir's worth... took about 8 times. I tapped on the slave with small hammer a few times during this process for good measure.
11. Clean up and test drive.
12. It feels exactly the same as before... no difference. At least it looks good. I might just need to have a pro bleed it.
Last edited by samnavy; 04-27-2008 at 08:17 PM.
Reply
1
1
05-02-2008, 01:19 PM
#14
Elite Member
Thread Starter
iTrader: (7)
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: VaBch, VA
Posts: 6,451
Total Cats: 322
It replaces both the rubber portion and the "incredible pain in the *** 2xbracket'ed curly-q line". The $20 only replace the rubber line. Re-installing those brackets when you put the tranny back on is (especially the upper one) is a ******* pain.
Reply
0
0
05-02-2008, 06:15 PM
#15
Junior Member
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: The Great State of Texas
Posts: 114
Total Cats: 0
I wish I learned about flare wrenches a few yrs ago when I planned on replacing my slave. Rounded off the bolt that connects the hardline to the slave so now I just rebuild it every other year.
Reply
0
0
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
graexodus
Miata parts for sale/trade
5
10-26-2015 01:48 PM
