as i have only the transmission mounts holding the trans in place, i started the day early. started cleaning the garage and tools, putting everything in place so i can start fresh.
10 minutes after getting under the car, it was out.
first look at the clutch:
transmission:
no oil leaks, but a lot of dust, and every thing is very dry, so no grease ether.
especially on the transmission side. the throw out bearing slides hard and make funny noises. no wonder my clutch was so hard to press.
starting to remove the pressure plate bolts, i got to the last bolt, and guess what?
the bolt is rounded. at the beginning i thought to cut its head of with a Dremel, but the surface is not clear at that area.
then i remembered that i received the the "Quik Center" tool i ordered to remove the broken bolt from the oil pan. since i never removed a broken bolt in my life, i thought it would be a good opportunity to experiment on the clutch.
i'm going to replace all components including flywheel, so any damage that might occur, is not relevant.
so i started with fitting the correct "Quik Center" tool (6mm) and start drilling it with my battery power hand drill. at first i thought someting is wrong, the drill bit was going in as if i was drilling wood or plastic. i toke it out, and all is fine. metal shaving came out. kept on drilling a bit more, removed the tool, and this is what i got:
perfectly centered hole.
i found about this tool, from another post on this forum, that also recommended the use of irwin cobalt drill bits. thank you insite.
this tool is amazing, made in the USA, very high quality, and dose exactly what it supposed to.
this is how it looks like:
used the irwin left drill bit to enlarge the hole (same here, drilled it like butter).
topped the little thingy (that i don't know how its called, but it shows in the top raw in this picture), turned it counter clockwise, and the screw came out like a champ.
this is how it looks when the tool is still attached to the screw.
just needed to put the bolt in the vise, and twist the tool clock wise to extract it.
i know some of you are laughing right now (or smiling at the least). but for me it was a successful firs experience, and it build my confidence to tackle the broken bolt in the oil sump. no room for mistakes there.