Fm level 1 clutch swap Initiated, tips / hints?
 

So I got my brand spankin new fm level 1 clutch about 14 hours ago. I just got home from work and jacked my car up, pulled the console and now it's bed time. Tomorrow morning it's all comin out and hopefully it'll be together and driving down the street by mid afternoon. Any tips or suggestions for accomplishing this task is greatly appreciated.

Drain your transmission fluid. I thought I could trust a rubber glove and some rubber bands on the transmission output, but ended up with 2qts oil all over the floor. 2qts on a flat surface looks a whoooole lot different than in a bottle. Now would be a fantastic time to upgrade to a stainless steel braided clutch line since the OEM curly-q and 2 brackets can be a huge pain, but you probably don't have time to wait for that. Otherwise, be sure to use some penetrate on the exhaust, driveshaft, PPF, and transmission bolts and everything should go smoothly. Don't forget to put a very thin coat of moly grease on the input shaft and clutch fork tips. Since your not surfacing your flywheel, you should clean it up with some brake cleaner. You should get a helper to lift the transmission while you align the input shaft to make things easier. GL man.

So everything except 3 bellhousing bolts are out. I'm going for lunch and to the parts store cause I can't find my swivel, so I need to buy one. Any easy tips on removing the top 2 bellhousing bolts? I removed my clutch cylinder, should I remove my starter?

I took out starter


your swivel and a bunch of extensions(about 2-3ft worth) should give you enough length to get those top bellhousing bolts

Braineack and I just swapped his clutch and trans this morning. The top 2 bolts just need swivels and extensions. Also when putting the trans back in make sure to jack up the front of the motor.

Dude, I've got a pretty detailed clutch writeup in the Useful Saved Posts... full of helpful hints. Read it thoroughly.

Thanks guys. Yo, braineack only lives like 2 hours from me, so get up here and let's drink beer (my treat) and have a clutch swap party!

Mine is still in. Why take it out?

I used two swivels and long exts. All from below as my coolant reroute is VERY incompatible with removing the bell housing bolts from above.

There's no way Arlington is only 2 hours from you. What town are you in again?

Took the 2 bolts holding the starter in and it fell off all by itself.

Never thought of 2 swivels.... i end up with about 3-8" extensions the swivel and the socket.... corded electric impact gun driving(one of the best $50 I ever spent)

It takes me about 1 hour and 15 min to get to Newark, DE. I live near Hamburg, PA. I just got home from the bar and am doin this...get up here!!!

Weird. Starter has 3 bolts on bell housing side and one on engine mount. I could be off one bolt, but it should stay on, I think.

Should have came down to va. Case of beer and it would have been done.

hell, we would have welded you a new exhaust too.

Hamburg, PA is closer to 3 hours away...It would take longer to drive up there than it took for us to swap my clutch AND trans.

All I know is I'm wasted right now. The clutch is in, the bellhousing is bolted up, and I went out on the town.

Come up in about 7 hours...(8am). And help me get everything bolted up so I can datalog it to work tomorrow. I leave for work around 1pm.

Have johnwags do it, that's what i just did :giggle:

I aint touching another car again for a while; that means your engine swap shueinds...

It's 2:16 am...I'm layin in bed...someone has to be down with the sickness....Y8S? Brain? Expensive beer and meats and cheeses awaits!

Update:
So yesterday I started working on the car, and I got everything out, and the new clutch in, and the trans up against the engine. Then I drank way too much and couldn't figure out what bolts went where, so I called it a night. I had to go to work for overtime today, but I got home at about 8:00PM. I ate dinner, threw the tennis ball for the dogs until it was too dark to see, then I decided "you really need to go work on your Miata." In less than 1 hour everything is now together except for the shifter and console, and...1 bellhousing bolt. I can't figure out what hole this bolt goes in? It's the really long bolt, there is 2 I believe and 1 gets a nut on the other side of it. So where does the other long bolt go?
Also, the starter has 3 bolts...the top bolt goes through a wire bracket I'm sure, but the bolt won't seem to start. Perhaps I need to wiggle my starter to find the thread hole?
Other than that, it's done...oh yeah, I lost a little trans fluid when I pulled the trans, it came out of the shifter hole and dumped all over my garage floor. So before I drive it, I'm going to replace the trans fluid. What fluid should I buy? The FM website suggests Red Line MTL Synthetic Gear Oil. I knew I shoulda ordered some when I bought my clutch, unless Napa carries it.

turret oil :ne: the trans fluid

For the 2 long bolts you mean the 17mm ones correct? One of them goes on the drivers side about halfway up. The other one with the nut goes on the passengers side. It is the bolt right above the rubber thing that slave goes into. Then for the starter there are 3 14mm bolts. One of them has a nut on it. It goes right above the 17mm with a nut I believe. If you are having trouble getting the starter bolts in, look to see that none of the brackets that hold the curly-Q trans line are stuck between the trans and engine. I have had those get stuck and cause problems.

As for fluid I have always used either Redline or Amsoil. If you have a 5speed the turret needs its own fluid.

Awesome response! Looks like I'll be drivin this thing tomorrow...
Does the clutch require a break in period or can I break it in at the drag strip?

Clutch break in procedures vary by who you ask. Some people recommend a 500 mile break in period while others say beat the shit out of it right away. Do some searching, as I forget what exactly I did for break in.

Well Friday the car must be back on the road and tuned and fully EBC functional. I have a 1965 mustang GT 350H with a boss 302 and 2 carbs on it that needs to get beaten by a 4 cylinder "girls car."

So what fluid does the shifter turret take?

Did you mean the turret takes trans fluid, but it's seperate from the trans. Or did you mean it takes a different kind of fluid. I consulted my haynes manual and couldn't find shit.

On the 5 speed the turret is its own compartment and I always just put in whatever is leftover from filling the trans.

Ok. I misunderstood. I thought he meant the turret takes a different kind of fluid. I was like what is the reasoning for that? So same fluid, just a different compartment. I got it. I'm at work right now, when I get home I'm finishing this thing...

i just meant if it leaked out the turrent you didnt lose any trans fluid. i put 80w-90 in mine that i had sitting on my shelf.

So I finally got the car off the jackstands and all. I started it up and went to put it in reverse, and it didn't want to go in. My clutch pedal also feels very light. So I guess I gotta bleed the cylinder...awesome, since I'm the only one home, so I guess I'll be drivin it tomorrow.

gotta readjust the engagement rod specs. i hope you read my "how to do i prevent this TOB noise" thread and greased the spots the manual says to.

A clutch is just a big braking device.

With that in mind, would you track your brakes before you bed them in?

yes, I like the mysterious green powder.

What rod is adjustable?

The rod that connects the plunger in the master cylinder to the pedal.

I had the same problem with not being able to get into gear. You can adjust the rod circled in green. I maxed it out and still had to adjust the pedal throw with the other two nuts further back in the pic.

http://www.miata.net/garage/adjust_c...utch121234.jpg

It appears the one nut is a nut where the rod threads into, and the other is a lock nut. I just was in the garage and I had the fiance pump the pedal while I bled the cylinder. It made no difference, so I went to adjust the rod and I can't get the locknut loose! It takes a 12mm wrench like almost everyother bolt on the car does, but all I have is this stubby little wrench. I'm gonna go to work tonight and heist my long 12mm outta my toolbox. I'm impatient though, so I think I'm gonna go in the garage right now and take a propane torch to it...maybe that'll loosen it up a bit.

you should probably drink a lot of beer too, cause you seem to get work done really fast when you're drunk. <---sarcasm.

It's not Saturday, and since Saturday is my only day off for the week, I only drink on a Saturday. Thanks for the sarcasm anyway.
I was under the car, the engine was off, and I had her push the clutch in and put it in gear. The driveshaft turned. She released the pedal and I couldn't turn it anymore, so at least I know it's engaging, so I can only assume it'll need a very minor adjustment. My tool assortment is pretty inclusive, but for some reason I am missing a "good" 14mm socket and 12mm and 18mm wrenches.

Success! I finally just got the locknut loose and adjusted the rod and took the car for a drive. What a difference in pedal feel though. It's way lighter than stock, which is kinda strange, but then again, my stock clutch supposedly had 143,000 miles on it. I'm driving it to work tonight, cleaning up my fueling and making boost control adjustments. Tomorrow I took a paid holiday so I could go beat this car up at the drag strip, so hopefully I'll have close to 500 miles on this clutch so it's "broken in".

Nice. I plan on getting the FM1 clutch in the near future. Also goodluck at the strip. I hope you win.

I just got off the phone with my friend who is setting up the drag meet. He told me he's working on getting his car ready as we spoke, he's got the '66 Mustang Fastback with the built 302. His brother with the GT 350H isn't going, but his friend with the Thunderbird Turbo coupe is. There'll probably be a few 5.0's, cause this crew rolls with all Ford stuff. At the track though, there should be a whole variety of stuff there. I'll repost tomorrow in a new thread complete with datalogs, pics, and videos.
Thanks again for all your help guys!

they are probably all on spray and all will pwn you.

Ok RYAN. My friend Ryan has an 02 Camaro and every car he gets and races he uses "spray". Then he either wins or snaps axels. None of these Ford guys use it though, so I'm sure it'll be a fun night. I just want to go, have a good time, and be able to drive home.
Saturday I'm pullin my 460's and swappin the stockers in again. The 460's leak real bad and they need a date with DW for reconditioning.