Clutch Replacement
#21
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You'll be able to raise and lower and maneuver the tranny with JUST the floor jack.
Oh and even though the PPF is 10 lbs, it still hurts when it slams down on your forhead. I ran a bungee across the underside of the car to hold it up--plus it wont pull the harness and starter into the metal gasket and make it so hard to get the tranny back in.
#23
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15" Konig Heliums and 195 T1-R's... work great.
As for the dirt, it does help see new leaks and I've noticed that when you take your car in to the shop to have it worked on, the cleaner your car is, the better the mechanics treat it... if I ever need it taken in.
Before I take it down, I also intend to clean the majority of the undercarriage and dif... I know... I've got a sickness.
As for the dirt, it does help see new leaks and I've noticed that when you take your car in to the shop to have it worked on, the cleaner your car is, the better the mechanics treat it... if I ever need it taken in.
Before I take it down, I also intend to clean the majority of the undercarriage and dif... I know... I've got a sickness.
#25
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Thursday progress.
THE BELLHOUSING AND TRANNY
1. Started by finishing cleaning up the inside of the bellhousing.
2. Tried to take off tranny drain plug but requires (24mm?) socket... so I tried the big crescent and started to round off corners. Hmmmm.... How to drain the oil??? Solution: place end of tranny in bucket and set on end... BINGO! Oil all drains out. Tranny weighs in the 50-70lb range.
3. Removed and replaced rear tranny seal. Evenly tapped around the edge with a small screwdriver and came out easily. New one inserted by slowly tapping around until seated using a small piece of wood scrap and small ball-peen.
4. Removed inner tranny case cover. 6bolts on the cover that hide the input shaft and front tranny seal. THE FRONT TRANNY SEAL IS IN THE COVER, NOT ATTACHED TO THE TRANNY. I cleaned everything and removed the old seal with a hooked dental pic. Just be patient. Don't worry about destroying the seal, just don't gouge the seat. Tapped back in with flat punch.
5. There are two more things in there. One is a standard gasket around the perimeter of the case. I was very careful about removal and used my old one. The other thing in there is a very small stainless ring (don't even know what to call it) with an indention in the ring. The indention fits in a small slot separating the two circular halves of the cover. I did not note which way the indention faced upon removal but re-installed with the indention facing the cover.
6. A thorough bath in bearing grease (everything was bone-dry upon opening) for everything and reinstall.
HINT: To unclip the pivot arm, pull the two two skinny (clothes hangar skinny) rods straight out of their holes. You will pull the top one up and bottom one down. With these out, the pivot arm will come out letting you remove the throwout bearing.
HINT: Do not pull on the tranny input shaft. I did and it came out about 1/2 inch. I don't know how much further it would have come out, but you don't want to know either. The input shaft also spun very freely as I had the car in neutral upon starting this.
1. Started by finishing cleaning up the inside of the bellhousing.
2. Tried to take off tranny drain plug but requires (24mm?) socket... so I tried the big crescent and started to round off corners. Hmmmm.... How to drain the oil??? Solution: place end of tranny in bucket and set on end... BINGO! Oil all drains out. Tranny weighs in the 50-70lb range.
3. Removed and replaced rear tranny seal. Evenly tapped around the edge with a small screwdriver and came out easily. New one inserted by slowly tapping around until seated using a small piece of wood scrap and small ball-peen.
4. Removed inner tranny case cover. 6bolts on the cover that hide the input shaft and front tranny seal. THE FRONT TRANNY SEAL IS IN THE COVER, NOT ATTACHED TO THE TRANNY. I cleaned everything and removed the old seal with a hooked dental pic. Just be patient. Don't worry about destroying the seal, just don't gouge the seat. Tapped back in with flat punch.
5. There are two more things in there. One is a standard gasket around the perimeter of the case. I was very careful about removal and used my old one. The other thing in there is a very small stainless ring (don't even know what to call it) with an indention in the ring. The indention fits in a small slot separating the two circular halves of the cover. I did not note which way the indention faced upon removal but re-installed with the indention facing the cover.
6. A thorough bath in bearing grease (everything was bone-dry upon opening) for everything and reinstall.
HINT: To unclip the pivot arm, pull the two two skinny (clothes hangar skinny) rods straight out of their holes. You will pull the top one up and bottom one down. With these out, the pivot arm will come out letting you remove the throwout bearing.
HINT: Do not pull on the tranny input shaft. I did and it came out about 1/2 inch. I don't know how much further it would have come out, but you don't want to know either. The input shaft also spun very freely as I had the car in neutral upon starting this.
#26
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#1: Bellhousing showing the original case gasket I reused.
#2: Back of case cover showing old seal removed and new one waiting install. Also shows thin metal ring with slight indention.
#3: New seal installed and metal ring in place. To secure metal ring while it was facing away from me, I just use a slight dab of bearing grease on the sides. Worked like a champ. Again, I placed the slight indention towards the cover.
#4: Shows everything reinstalled and the pivot arm in place. Yellow boxes show the small clothes hangar clip thing that holds the pivot arm in it's place.
#5: Front of the case. The small ball thing on the left next to my thumb is the cup that the pivot arm sits on and "pivots" around.
Hint: If you don't drain the oil out of the tranny prior to taking the case off... well... let me know what happens.
#2: Back of case cover showing old seal removed and new one waiting install. Also shows thin metal ring with slight indention.
#3: New seal installed and metal ring in place. To secure metal ring while it was facing away from me, I just use a slight dab of bearing grease on the sides. Worked like a champ. Again, I placed the slight indention towards the cover.
#4: Shows everything reinstalled and the pivot arm in place. Yellow boxes show the small clothes hangar clip thing that holds the pivot arm in it's place.
#5: Front of the case. The small ball thing on the left next to my thumb is the cup that the pivot arm sits on and "pivots" around.
Hint: If you don't drain the oil out of the tranny prior to taking the case off... well... let me know what happens.
#27
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Actual CLUTCH/FLYWHEEL REMOVAL and INSTALL OF SPEC
First, this was the easiest part of the whole thing by far. Six bolts on the pressure plate, six on the flywheel.
1. Taking the pressure plate off was easy. I cracked each bolt about a full turn before backing them out... in there pretty good though. I had to wedge a short piece of wood between the flywheel teeth and the ground to keep it from turning. All bolts came out no problem. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LEAVING THE TOP BOLT FOR LAST. If you can't figure out why, then you're probably as smart as me. Once that last bolt is out, the pressure plate and disc just come off.
2. Removing the flywheel was just as easy. Block of wood to keep it from turning. Leave top bolt for last. It takes some muscle but again my 18" breaker was enough.
3. Cleaned behind the flywheel. Rear main was definitely leaking... but after 140k miles I'll forgive it. The thin metal gasket between the bellhousing and the block is bolted in place at the top... didn't see a reason to take it off. I cleaned behind it best as I could though.
4. Pulling out the rear main seal took a few minutes. I didn't mind scratching it or even destrying it, but I didn't want any damamge to the metal seat it's in. I used a couple dental pics and a very tiny flat bladed scredriver and after a bit of coaxing, it came out. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Whe you put the new rear main seal in, don't push it in as far as it will go, it just needs to be flush with the lip. I pushed mine in a little far, but just made sure it was "evenly" too far in and I'm hoping for the best... shouldn't be a problem.
5. Reinstallation of my "new" flywheel (I got a used one on m.net and had it resurfaced so I didn't have any down time). Was easy. Don't forget to install the new bearing... tapped in with a small ball peen (took about 5minutes of VERY LIGHT TAPPING). The flywheel is heavy, just don't drop it before you get that first bolt in.
HINT: Clean all the flywheel bolts with a wire brush as they'll have threadlocker residue on them... nothing you can do about the other end, maybe a Q-tip in there. I used Threadlocker Blue and torqued to specs.
5. Install of the disc and pressure plate was easy. The alignment tool works as advertised. The studs on the flywheel were little tight for the holes on the pressure plate, so a rubber mallet came in handy. All said and done, the disc was off-center maybe 1/2mm... I think that will settle out first time I push one the clutch.
Cleaned up and done for tonite. 1 clutch istalled.
Tomorrow, fill tranny with 75w90 gear oil... thinking about Redline or Royal Purple. The fluid that came out was brown/clear and clean... very surprising for original oil. I take it the shifter cup takes the same oil. I'm gonna turkey baster it out and replace.
First, this was the easiest part of the whole thing by far. Six bolts on the pressure plate, six on the flywheel.
1. Taking the pressure plate off was easy. I cracked each bolt about a full turn before backing them out... in there pretty good though. I had to wedge a short piece of wood between the flywheel teeth and the ground to keep it from turning. All bolts came out no problem. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND LEAVING THE TOP BOLT FOR LAST. If you can't figure out why, then you're probably as smart as me. Once that last bolt is out, the pressure plate and disc just come off.
2. Removing the flywheel was just as easy. Block of wood to keep it from turning. Leave top bolt for last. It takes some muscle but again my 18" breaker was enough.
3. Cleaned behind the flywheel. Rear main was definitely leaking... but after 140k miles I'll forgive it. The thin metal gasket between the bellhousing and the block is bolted in place at the top... didn't see a reason to take it off. I cleaned behind it best as I could though.
4. Pulling out the rear main seal took a few minutes. I didn't mind scratching it or even destrying it, but I didn't want any damamge to the metal seat it's in. I used a couple dental pics and a very tiny flat bladed scredriver and after a bit of coaxing, it came out. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: Whe you put the new rear main seal in, don't push it in as far as it will go, it just needs to be flush with the lip. I pushed mine in a little far, but just made sure it was "evenly" too far in and I'm hoping for the best... shouldn't be a problem.
5. Reinstallation of my "new" flywheel (I got a used one on m.net and had it resurfaced so I didn't have any down time). Was easy. Don't forget to install the new bearing... tapped in with a small ball peen (took about 5minutes of VERY LIGHT TAPPING). The flywheel is heavy, just don't drop it before you get that first bolt in.
HINT: Clean all the flywheel bolts with a wire brush as they'll have threadlocker residue on them... nothing you can do about the other end, maybe a Q-tip in there. I used Threadlocker Blue and torqued to specs.
5. Install of the disc and pressure plate was easy. The alignment tool works as advertised. The studs on the flywheel were little tight for the holes on the pressure plate, so a rubber mallet came in handy. All said and done, the disc was off-center maybe 1/2mm... I think that will settle out first time I push one the clutch.
Cleaned up and done for tonite. 1 clutch istalled.
Tomorrow, fill tranny with 75w90 gear oil... thinking about Redline or Royal Purple. The fluid that came out was brown/clear and clean... very surprising for original oil. I take it the shifter cup takes the same oil. I'm gonna turkey baster it out and replace.
Last edited by samnavy; 12-06-2006 at 10:30 PM. Reason: Add rear main seal change input
#34
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That's damn good advice. It was replaced about 20k miles ago.
But now on to tonights' progress!
First, I don't know how some of these guys do this **** by themselves. I honestly couldn't have done it without a guy who I think I'm going to let win at our Army/Navy/Poker party tomorrow as a reward.
The tranny is in!
1: Replaced the small water cap on the back of the motor as suggested... totally easy since the engine is rocked far enough forward you can get at it from the top fairly easily... even with my big hands.
2: Filled up tranny with Royal Purple 75w90 as it was either that or Valvoline. Tranny capacity is 2.1qts. I took exactly 2 quarts and not a drop more to the top of the fill hole... then I spilled out a few ounces on the install, so I'm glad I bought three bottles. Also going to baster out the shifter oil and fill with same. I was at Pep Boys earlier and took a chance on a 24mm socket! Yup, that's the one to get the tranny drain bolt out... so I fully drained it. No metal shavings in the magnet!
3: Zip tied all the crap up near the top right side of the flywheel (wiring harness/clutch hyd line) out of the way, as some of it looked like it was actually hanging down in the way, then looped the rope around the rear and positioned the tanny on the jack with my little form fitting wooden block.
4: Used small spare floorjack and 2x4 to lift front of engine to angle the rear down. YOU CANNOT RE-INSTALL THE TRANNY WITHOUT DOING THIS! I used the clearance of my cold-side intercooler piping as a reference to know when the engine was rocked far enough back.
HINT: I'd try to as much of the jacks' extension as you can and use as short a piece of wood as possible. This will decrease the chance that the jack will "jack-knife" out if you happen to kick it with your foot.
5: Began the slow and painful process of lift rear/jack front/ slide forward... for about 20 minutes until we had it in position. Be careful to keep the PPF out of the way and there is a heat shield on the tunnel on the drivers side next to where the shifter goes. That thing got caught up twice (must remember to bend it back in place tomorrow).
HINT: If you're using a rope to lift the back, place the rope as far back on the tranny as possible. We placed it to far forward and as we moved the tranny forward, the rope was actually pulling the tranny back. We had to reposition.
CAUTION: As the rope is looped around the tranny and the tranny at that point is round, when you pull up on the rope, it has a tendancy to also ROTATE the tranny off the jack (I had about 2mm of good metal still holding on to the wood)... wipes sweat from brow... notices hand is covered in oil and grease... feels forehead with other hand to see if grease now on forehead... notices other hand also covered in grease... sees friend laugh his *** off.
5: The tough part about mating it up was simply not knowing what it felt like. We had good spline contact when the tranny was still about 1.5" away and didn't know it. You've got to get the tranny to about 1" from the block before the bolts will take thread. We got it as close as we could by muscling it, then whacked the **** out of it with a rubber mallet and got the few extra millimeters we needed for a bolt to take hold. Once one bolt was in, I immediately put one in the opposite side and cranked them down evenly alternating sides. Then I put one in the Left top and got the 5 easy bottom ones. I tightened them all up as much as I could with a 3/8 ratchet just for the meantime.
HINT: I verified we were on thread by turning the crankshaft (22mm socket) and looking in the rear of the tanny to see it turn (guess I left it in gear afterall).
6: Getting the PPF back on was a little challenging. We let off some pressure on the front jack and push up on the tranny to get it ON, then push the front of the engine back up to get the PPF Tranny bolts to line up. The rear PPF bolts went in by hand, no problem. Once the PPF was in and tightened down, we removed both jacks and STOPPED.
No good pics today as the previous pics should illustrate well. I did snap a shot of the Tranny drain plug magnet after I cleaned it. There was a little gunk on it, just dust. EDIT: I just looked at the pic, sorry it sucks.
But now on to tonights' progress!
First, I don't know how some of these guys do this **** by themselves. I honestly couldn't have done it without a guy who I think I'm going to let win at our Army/Navy/Poker party tomorrow as a reward.
The tranny is in!
1: Replaced the small water cap on the back of the motor as suggested... totally easy since the engine is rocked far enough forward you can get at it from the top fairly easily... even with my big hands.
2: Filled up tranny with Royal Purple 75w90 as it was either that or Valvoline. Tranny capacity is 2.1qts. I took exactly 2 quarts and not a drop more to the top of the fill hole... then I spilled out a few ounces on the install, so I'm glad I bought three bottles. Also going to baster out the shifter oil and fill with same. I was at Pep Boys earlier and took a chance on a 24mm socket! Yup, that's the one to get the tranny drain bolt out... so I fully drained it. No metal shavings in the magnet!
3: Zip tied all the crap up near the top right side of the flywheel (wiring harness/clutch hyd line) out of the way, as some of it looked like it was actually hanging down in the way, then looped the rope around the rear and positioned the tanny on the jack with my little form fitting wooden block.
4: Used small spare floorjack and 2x4 to lift front of engine to angle the rear down. YOU CANNOT RE-INSTALL THE TRANNY WITHOUT DOING THIS! I used the clearance of my cold-side intercooler piping as a reference to know when the engine was rocked far enough back.
HINT: I'd try to as much of the jacks' extension as you can and use as short a piece of wood as possible. This will decrease the chance that the jack will "jack-knife" out if you happen to kick it with your foot.
5: Began the slow and painful process of lift rear/jack front/ slide forward... for about 20 minutes until we had it in position. Be careful to keep the PPF out of the way and there is a heat shield on the tunnel on the drivers side next to where the shifter goes. That thing got caught up twice (must remember to bend it back in place tomorrow).
HINT: If you're using a rope to lift the back, place the rope as far back on the tranny as possible. We placed it to far forward and as we moved the tranny forward, the rope was actually pulling the tranny back. We had to reposition.
CAUTION: As the rope is looped around the tranny and the tranny at that point is round, when you pull up on the rope, it has a tendancy to also ROTATE the tranny off the jack (I had about 2mm of good metal still holding on to the wood)... wipes sweat from brow... notices hand is covered in oil and grease... feels forehead with other hand to see if grease now on forehead... notices other hand also covered in grease... sees friend laugh his *** off.
5: The tough part about mating it up was simply not knowing what it felt like. We had good spline contact when the tranny was still about 1.5" away and didn't know it. You've got to get the tranny to about 1" from the block before the bolts will take thread. We got it as close as we could by muscling it, then whacked the **** out of it with a rubber mallet and got the few extra millimeters we needed for a bolt to take hold. Once one bolt was in, I immediately put one in the opposite side and cranked them down evenly alternating sides. Then I put one in the Left top and got the 5 easy bottom ones. I tightened them all up as much as I could with a 3/8 ratchet just for the meantime.
HINT: I verified we were on thread by turning the crankshaft (22mm socket) and looking in the rear of the tanny to see it turn (guess I left it in gear afterall).
6: Getting the PPF back on was a little challenging. We let off some pressure on the front jack and push up on the tranny to get it ON, then push the front of the engine back up to get the PPF Tranny bolts to line up. The rear PPF bolts went in by hand, no problem. Once the PPF was in and tightened down, we removed both jacks and STOPPED.
No good pics today as the previous pics should illustrate well. I did snap a shot of the Tranny drain plug magnet after I cleaned it. There was a little gunk on it, just dust. EDIT: I just looked at the pic, sorry it sucks.
#35
For the guys that are afraid of doing this....its not all that bad. I have done it 4 times now and the last time it took me 5-6 hours. Most of that time is spent bitching at my tranny brecause its 90lbs and I dont have a tranny jack. Getting it out anf back in is not hard at all. The hardest part is realigning the tranny with the input shaft and the top two bolts holding the tranny to the engine.
#39
^ lol
Thanks for the detail! I'm not looking forward to this but my post has a garage with lifts and a parts counter, so that oughtta help
I had my clutch changed while I was in AIT with a stock replacement (wasn't turbo yet) because my wife grenaded it trying to pull a U-haul with the miata from Tampa to AZ.. The flywheel was all rainbow colored when they took it off. (my VW mechanic brother-in-law was nice enough to do it in his spare time)
Thanks for the detail! I'm not looking forward to this but my post has a garage with lifts and a parts counter, so that oughtta help
I had my clutch changed while I was in AIT with a stock replacement (wasn't turbo yet) because my wife grenaded it trying to pull a U-haul with the miata from Tampa to AZ.. The flywheel was all rainbow colored when they took it off. (my VW mechanic brother-in-law was nice enough to do it in his spare time)