Clutch removal notes from my current project.

[elgyqc]

Hopefully my experiences will help someone else who is doing their clutch for the first time.

1) Place your jack stands or other supports so that they don't project past the rear of the jacking points. I use home-made lift bars on a Quickjack and if the lift bars are too far rearward they prevent removal of the front bolt on the diagonal aluminum braces. Had to drop the car and move the Quickjacks forward a couple of inches.
2) Be prepared to cut the exhaust bolts at the joint between the headers and the tail pipe and on the muffler clamps. I would of saved time if I had not tried to unbolt them.
3) If you strip one or more of the hex-screws holding the driveshaft to the transmission flange you can cut the head off and remove the stub of the bolt using vice-grips as in this photo.



4) After watching Ben Burner’s video on removing the flywheel and seeing it drop on the floor (followed by the comment “thats how not to remove the flywheel”) I come up with a method for safely removing it.

First I cut the head off one of the flywheel bolts to use as a stud to prevent the F/W from immediately falling when the last bolt is removed. The slot is to allow use of a screwdriver to screw it into the F/W



Next I attached a ratchet strap around the flywheel and the end of the strap was passed over the bar that supports the rear of the engine.





The strap allowed me to hold the weight of the F/W with one hand while removing the last bolt with the other. I could then wiggle the F/W off my stud and lower it onto the box that I had installed to catch it.



5) Check that your transmission jack can lift high enough to support the tranny and have a bit of lift in reserve. On my first try the jack was at its limit and I couldn’t get the last half-inch I needed to pull the transmission back. Adding a 2X6 under the tranny solved the problem.

Happy wrenching!

[dachrist]

Holy oil leak batman!

[particlewave]

FYI: there's no need to remove the exhaust/cats. You need only remove the muffler.

[elgyqc]

Originally Posted by particlewave

FYI: there's no need to remove the exhaust/cats. You need only remove the muffler.

???
I see that different years have different exhaust configurations, mine has one catalytic converter as part of the manifold and another in the pipe that goes from there to the muffler. I removed the second part between the manifolds and the muffler... which was easy to do. I cannot imagine trying to get the drive shafts, transmission mounts and the transmission off with those pipes in the way.

Originally Posted by dachrist

Holy oil leak batman!

Oil leak? Oil leak? What oil leak?
Seriously a new RMS is on its way. All the oil seems to be from the crankshaft but the IMS cover will get a new o-ring too.

[particlewave]

Originally Posted by elgyqc

???
I cannot imagine trying to get the drive shafts, transmission mounts and the transmission off with those pipes in the way.

I did.

I started to take the drivers side off and snapped a stud, so removed it to drill the stud out, but it was not in the way at all.

[Geof3]

Originally Posted by elgyqc

Hopefully my experiences will help someone else who is doing their clutch for the first time.

1) Place your jack stands or other supports so that they don't project past the rear of the jacking points. I use home-made lift bars on a Quickjack and if the lift bars are too far rearward they prevent removal of the front bolt on the diagonal aluminum braces. Had to drop the car and move the Quickjacks forward a couple of inches.
2) Be prepared to cut the exhaust bolts at the joint between the headers and the tail pipe and on the muffler clamps. I would of saved time if I had not tried to unbolt them.
3) If you strip one or more of the hex-screws holding the driveshaft to the transmission flange you can cut the head off and remove the stub of the bolt using vice-grips as in this photo.



4) After watching Ben Burner’s video on removing the flywheel and seeing it drop on the floor (followed by the comment “thats how not to remove the flywheel”) I come up with a method for safely removing it.

First I cut the head off one of the flywheel bolts to use as a stud to prevent the F/W from immediately falling when the last bolt is removed. The slot is to allow use of a screwdriver to screw it into the F/W



Next I attached a ratchet strap around the flywheel and the end of the strap was passed over the bar that supports the rear of the engine.





The strap allowed me to hold the weight of the F/W with one hand while removing the last bolt with the other. I could then wiggle the F/W off my stud and lower it onto the box that I had installed to catch it.



5) Check that your transmission jack can lift high enough to support the tranny and have a bit of lift in reserve. On my first try the jack was at its limit and I couldn’t get the last half-inch I needed to pull the transmission back. Adding a 2X6 under the tranny solved the problem.

Happy wrenching!

Good write up... not doing the IMS while you are in there?

[elgyqc]

Originally Posted by Geof3

Good write up... not doing the IMS while you are in there?

Thanks. I always hope that my experience will help others as others have helped me.

On the IMS, I inspected the bearing and am leaving it alone, except for removing the seal. My decision is explained in post #60 of this thread.
sick of ims bearing
The above thread is one of the more calm and informative that I have read on the IMSB.