anything I need to know before I do my clutch today?
 

Should I go buy some impact extensions and an impact swivel...or can I use ar powered varieties?

What size impacts to I need for the bell housing and other stuffs, that are > 19mm?


thanks

I don't remember what size they are. Probably you need 17 19 21. But the bolts on top of the bellhousing are a PITA, especially on the driver's side b/c there is a wiring harness in the way.
You'll want to have a 1/2" breaker bar, a very long extension, a regular long extension, u joint, and sockets for them.

it's straightforward, just akward.

Ben

will I need impact worthy extensions? These "guns" are registered WMD with the UN, and I don't want to break stuff.

go to harbor freight and get the wobble extensions. You can get all the bellhousing bolts with clever combinations of those and the right 3/8" sockets.

Just stack them socket-short-med-long-etc-wrench and you'll have the wrench free under the car and enough room to guide the socket with your other hand.

DUDE, print out these pages:
http://www.miata.net/garage/clutch2.html
I copied all the photos into a word file and printed them separately.

Then read through this entire thread, the guy who wrote it took lots of pictures and is pretty smart... and good looking:
https://www.miataturbo.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5860

Bell housing bolts = 17mm
Starter bolts = 14 mm
Clutch bolts = 14mm
Flywheel bolts = 19mm

You need to remove the coilpack and possibly the CAS to get to the top bolts. On the starter side, there are two nut/bolt combos that require two wrenches to remove, one is 17mm and the other is 14mm. Upon assembly dont forget to reattatch the clutch line brace second bolt down on the pass, side.

Get an impact socket set where the universal joint is built in. A 2 or 3 foot extension and a decent impact gun like an IR and you are golden. You'll have the trans out in 30 minutes.

I couldn't do it, the trans blew in my vw. Back to the daily driver drawing board.

thanks for the pictoral. After i buy a protege, I'm hitting the trans.

wTF getting rid of the VW for a Protege huh damn.

make sure your TO bearing fits the pp springs properly - one forum member had a TO seating/bearing ring that was fitting inside the bore on the pp springs.

I dropped another $600 on it 2 weeks ago to drive it 30 miles.

yeah sell the fuck out of it.

do i really need the 1/2 drive bits, or can I get away with a breaker bar and a 3/8 air ratchet>

I used 1/2" breaker to get stuff loose then 1/2" air impact.
I don't know if 3/8" extensions and U joints would be tough enough.

I'd go buy the 1/2" stuff to break loose, and then you can use your 3/8" impact if you want. You know you're going to pull the tranny at least one more time after this. Get the right tools.

pull the engine. :rofl:

FWIW, we pulled the 6.5 turbo diesel motor in our GMC suburban. The bellhousing bolts were removed up top with 3 3/8 enxtensions and a universal joint attached to the socket. They were strong enough but if I had access to tons of 1/2" extensions then i'd have used them. If the 3/8" don't work, or they break then you know for sure you'll need 3/8", use the lifetime guaranteed tools when trying though :)

I'm not afraid of a socket or extension breaking. I'm afraid of my hand breaking when it slams into something hard and metal after the socket broke.

I smashed one of my fingers a few months ago when I used a ratchet to bust hardware loose instead of a breaker bar. Fucking ooowwwweee.

Use the right tools. Save your hands.

Oh man that would suck. The only ratcher i've ever broken was a 1/2" one and it was because I kicked the bastard to get a nut loose. It got the nut broke loose but didn't work with a damn afterwards. Breaker bars are essential in many automotive repairs. I'll opt to save my hands.

every one of the 4 times i had my tranny out, i used 3/8" for the bell housing bolts. cross members and ppf are easy enough to attack with a 1/2"

Make sure you put the clutch disk in the right way. It fits both ways. I think most have a flywheel sticker on one side and a PP sticker or marking on the other. I had an early ACT that only had one marking and I was rushing in a poorly lit driveway and installed it backwards. Went together fine. Wouldn't go in gear. I adjusted the pedal every which way. Finally pulled it apart to see the disk was in backwards.

Frank

so I just went nuts at sears...and in addition to all the other necessary tools I bought 1 26" 1/2" drive impact extension. Cool.

Basically, about the clutch disc, the flat side goes toward the flywheel and the raised side of the hub goes toward the transmission. If you already knew that, then you just got refreshed anyway.

Aside from breaking 3 bolts on the cat, everything else went smoothly...now I have no cat. It was fun to drive the car with nothing past the dp to the muffler shop.

Pretty common to break exhaust bolts. Good job.

I swapped part of my exhaust out yesterday. First the nut backed out, then the stud started to unscrew then the stud sheared off anyway. They should just make the damn studs with a narrow cut in them so they shear off by default. Why pretend?

they should at least do something that makes them easy to replace.

The car also had an exedy clutch, which I assume was not stock. A couple springs broke out of the center section. So far the spec s3 feels good. Hopefully I'll have some power on it soon.

just call me next time and ill breack it loose for ya man. ;)