Clutch replacement.. DIY? aftermarket winners?
10-12-2015, 06:42 PM
#232
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MY 2006, trans wont go in all the way, i made sure the fork is not on the way and used the special tool to alignment the clutch and pilotbearing and still wont go in,
my question is:
1. is there any mark or TDC needed prior installing the flywheel?
2. should the transmission be in neutral before dropping it?
the reason why i ask because i saw a mark on crankshaft right before i installed the flywheel and worried i might have been installed it wrong.
image
my question is:
1. is there any mark or TDC needed prior installing the flywheel?
2. should the transmission be in neutral before dropping it?
the reason why i ask because i saw a mark on crankshaft right before i installed the flywheel and worried i might have been installed it wrong.
image
10-13-2015, 05:20 PM
#233
What ever you do dont try to draw it together with the bolts. When the dowels are lined up and the clutch tool slides in and out butter smooth it will go together flush with just some moderate pushing. No special orientation is necessary and I always leave it in gear so I can spin the output shaft with my hand to align the input shaft with the clutch disk.
10-08-2016, 02:41 PM
#234
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Location: Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan
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Hey everyone,
My car is currently on jack stands in my garage awaiting an ACT H021 pressure plate and new pilot bearing etc............ Interestingly enough, when I had the current engine installed a few years ago (my original AP1 packed it in...long story....not necessarily the enginge's fault)I paid for an ACT H021 pressure plate and lighter flywheel (9 lb ACT Prolite). They were ordered from Lightspeed in Red Deer, and delivered to JDM of Calgary for installation. Guess what? JDM of Calgary didn't install either of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It still has the stock flywheel and stock pressure plate. I just found out now because I decided to change my clutch out myself in anticipation of a Kraftwerks kit installation this coming summer. Anyway, it's just one more reason why you should do your own work. Scammers!!!!!!!!!!
So here are some of my thoughts regarding the process thus far:
1. Follow the Helms manual.............Period!!!!! I appreciate the OP's efforts, and his write-up is well done, but the manual has all the steps you need with diagrams etc., and each step is in there for a reason!!!! I followed the manual and had absolutely no problem with this job, except for a few glitches that I'll discuss now.
2. All this BS and worry about the knock sensor and damaging it is ridiculous. If you take your time, spot the top starter bolt, and carefully feed your extension in to get it, you won't have any trouble at all. I noted that the OP didn't have the alternator removed, or the autotensioner as required by the manual. Guess what? If you do it as it states in the manual, you don't need any crazy angle on the extention or a "wobbly connector" at all!!!! You can feed the extension straight in (24") and get to the bolt. The removal of these two items is literally one of the first steps you do for this job, right after the airbox, and it takes about 2 min. Why would you skip this???? Just do it and save yourself the hassel of trying to find the bolt, or trying to get on it enough so you don't strip it. Ah, do as the manual says for a reason!!
3. I attempted to remove the two 19mm subframe bolts first, as stated in the manual, but I believe steps 28 and 29 should be reversed. I was unable to get the driver's side bolt all the way out with the other four bolts on the corners still in place. It came almost all the way out, and then started binding up at the very end. When I reversed the steps, by lowering the four corner bolts (3" exactly!! listen to the manual and pull out your tape measure!!!), as indicated in step 29 of the manual, I was able to get the two center bolts out without any trouble.
4. Be ready to exert a massive amount of torque on the subframe bolts to get them undone. I started with my small breaker bar (about 3 feet in length) attached to my 1/2" socket, and quickly found that wasn't enough. I actually had to pull out "Big Bertha" a breaker bar about 5 feet long to get the bolts undone. It can be done. Put a long enough extention on your socket so you can rotate the breaker bar all the way around the front of the car under the wheels and it's easy peasy. Make sure you keep enough tension on the bolt prior to applying the torque so you're sure it is still fully on the bolt.
5. I bought a 17mm 12 point impact socket (black badass hardened one) from Napa for $10.00 for the flywheel bolts. I didn't have to grind it down as Billman has suggested, as it comes prepared for business. When you look at the socket teeth, you can see they extend right to the edge of the socket so they will bite on a thin head bolt. I was concerned about this stage of the process, and it was a non-issue.
6. I made four platforms for my jack stands in advance out of 2"x6" boards. Each one has four boards nailed together so I wouldn't have to extend the jack stands up too high to achieve the 2-3' clearance you need off the ground for this job. I highly recommend investing in a little lumber and a little time for this step. The car is perfectly stable and off the ground with plenty of clearance to spare. It's not precariously placed on jack stands extended to their utmost limit...ahhhhhh....no thanx.
7. I placed a dolly under the transmission prior to removal. It's one of the ones you can buy at home depot etc. that has two caster wheels and two fixed wheels with a strong hard plastic platform. It sits off the ground about 6" which is a perfect amount. I then placed my floor jack on the dolly, and relieved the pressure on the transmission while removing the final top three transmission bolts prior to extraction. I also used the jack in the trunk of the car with a small block of wood on it for the rear of the transmission. I then took two straps and hooked them in the holes of the body of the car, and ran them across and under the transmission to act like a sling. When I finally was all ready to go, I removed the last bolts and rolled the dolly back. The transmission separated from the engine without any trouble at all. Take note that there is a slot on the bottom where the transmission and engine meet up that you can place a flat head screw driver or something similar to aid in the separation. Watching all the fools on YouTube trying to accomplish this task without following the manual, and struggling made me think this part was going to be a nightmare. Guess what? It was a non-event. The transmission is sitting nicely on my dolly ready to be rolled back into place with the engine.
8. I agree with one of the earlier posters about leaving the car in gear so you can rotate the output shaft and line up the input shaft with the clutch. Unfortunately, I left my transmission in neutral, so I'll just rotate the crankshaft at the front of the engine to accomplish the same thing.
9. The manual says to remove the propeller shaft (driveshaft). I attempted to do this, but when I stripped the second bolt I tried on the rear I decided to just remove the front and used a bungie cord to hold the shaft up and out of the way. So, it's not necessary to remove the whole shaft. Just concentrate on getting the 6mm Allen bolts undone on the front..........that sucked, and I took the advice of others by quickly breaking the bolts loose. I used a regular Allan key and a rubber mallet. It worked just fine. I have ordered in replacement bolts, as instructed by the manual, and now I can see why. Yeah, I might be able to get them back in to spec, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get them out again without stripping them. Poor design!!!! They are definitely a one time use bolt. It sounds like the AP2 solved this down the road.
That's pretty much everything I can think of off the top of my head. I put a new starter in while I'm at it because the old one made that terrible noise on cold starts just after the engine fires up and I'm sick of it. The starter is pretty easy to remove. Just go under the car and reach up on the left side of the transmission towards and reach up and pull it out. You'll need to undo a 12mm bolt and remove the ground wire. But that's it. I also installed a set of Skunk2 Alpha headers by unbolting the right side engine mount from the car (2 17mm bolts) and using a bottle jack and step stool to raise the right side of the engine enough to get the clearance. They are currently being held up and out of the way with bungie cords until I reunite the engine and transmission, and then I'll bolt them in properly.
At the end of the day, don't let YouTube, this forum, or anything else you have read or seen on the Internet scare you away from this job. It really isn't that hard, and if you follow all of the steps as outlined in the manual EXACTLY as they are written, you won't have any trouble. I appreciate that people are trying to help by writing their own write ups on this, and dicking around on YouTube not knowing that they need to pull the fork out of the transmission to get it separated from the engine, but I have to say, just like life, there are no short cuts!!!!! Also, it isn't a race!!!!! Take your time!!!! Get some cold beers ready. Do as much or as little as you want per sitting. It's better to be safe than to be sorry. If you strip the head of a bolt, or damage part of your car because you were rushing, or not doing all the steps in the correct order, you'll regret it. Not to mention the serious consequences if, God forbid, the car is not jacked up and stable to work on. Remember, you're going to be reefing on bolts etc............ Make absolutely sure you can grab the front bumper of the car and shake the shit out of it without the car moving before you even think about putting your body under 2800lbs of car elevated 2-3' in the air............. This job isn't about short cuts, or who can get this job done in 3 hours or less!!!! It's about taking your time, getting to know your car, saving money, and having a little fun. Oh, and knowing that your car has a f@#king ACT H021 pressure plate in it and Prolite flywheel rather than the stock ones!!! (Cough.......JDM Calgary.........bastards!!) Cheers.
My car is currently on jack stands in my garage awaiting an ACT H021 pressure plate and new pilot bearing etc............ Interestingly enough, when I had the current engine installed a few years ago (my original AP1 packed it in...long story....not necessarily the enginge's fault)I paid for an ACT H021 pressure plate and lighter flywheel (9 lb ACT Prolite). They were ordered from Lightspeed in Red Deer, and delivered to JDM of Calgary for installation. Guess what? JDM of Calgary didn't install either of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It still has the stock flywheel and stock pressure plate. I just found out now because I decided to change my clutch out myself in anticipation of a Kraftwerks kit installation this coming summer. Anyway, it's just one more reason why you should do your own work. Scammers!!!!!!!!!!
So here are some of my thoughts regarding the process thus far:
1. Follow the Helms manual.............Period!!!!! I appreciate the OP's efforts, and his write-up is well done, but the manual has all the steps you need with diagrams etc., and each step is in there for a reason!!!! I followed the manual and had absolutely no problem with this job, except for a few glitches that I'll discuss now.
2. All this BS and worry about the knock sensor and damaging it is ridiculous. If you take your time, spot the top starter bolt, and carefully feed your extension in to get it, you won't have any trouble at all. I noted that the OP didn't have the alternator removed, or the autotensioner as required by the manual. Guess what? If you do it as it states in the manual, you don't need any crazy angle on the extention or a "wobbly connector" at all!!!! You can feed the extension straight in (24") and get to the bolt. The removal of these two items is literally one of the first steps you do for this job, right after the airbox, and it takes about 2 min. Why would you skip this???? Just do it and save yourself the hassel of trying to find the bolt, or trying to get on it enough so you don't strip it. Ah, do as the manual says for a reason!!
3. I attempted to remove the two 19mm subframe bolts first, as stated in the manual, but I believe steps 28 and 29 should be reversed. I was unable to get the driver's side bolt all the way out with the other four bolts on the corners still in place. It came almost all the way out, and then started binding up at the very end. When I reversed the steps, by lowering the four corner bolts (3" exactly!! listen to the manual and pull out your tape measure!!!), as indicated in step 29 of the manual, I was able to get the two center bolts out without any trouble.
4. Be ready to exert a massive amount of torque on the subframe bolts to get them undone. I started with my small breaker bar (about 3 feet in length) attached to my 1/2" socket, and quickly found that wasn't enough. I actually had to pull out "Big Bertha" a breaker bar about 5 feet long to get the bolts undone. It can be done. Put a long enough extention on your socket so you can rotate the breaker bar all the way around the front of the car under the wheels and it's easy peasy. Make sure you keep enough tension on the bolt prior to applying the torque so you're sure it is still fully on the bolt.
5. I bought a 17mm 12 point impact socket (black badass hardened one) from Napa for $10.00 for the flywheel bolts. I didn't have to grind it down as Billman has suggested, as it comes prepared for business. When you look at the socket teeth, you can see they extend right to the edge of the socket so they will bite on a thin head bolt. I was concerned about this stage of the process, and it was a non-issue.
6. I made four platforms for my jack stands in advance out of 2"x6" boards. Each one has four boards nailed together so I wouldn't have to extend the jack stands up too high to achieve the 2-3' clearance you need off the ground for this job. I highly recommend investing in a little lumber and a little time for this step. The car is perfectly stable and off the ground with plenty of clearance to spare. It's not precariously placed on jack stands extended to their utmost limit...ahhhhhh....no thanx.
7. I placed a dolly under the transmission prior to removal. It's one of the ones you can buy at home depot etc. that has two caster wheels and two fixed wheels with a strong hard plastic platform. It sits off the ground about 6" which is a perfect amount. I then placed my floor jack on the dolly, and relieved the pressure on the transmission while removing the final top three transmission bolts prior to extraction. I also used the jack in the trunk of the car with a small block of wood on it for the rear of the transmission. I then took two straps and hooked them in the holes of the body of the car, and ran them across and under the transmission to act like a sling. When I finally was all ready to go, I removed the last bolts and rolled the dolly back. The transmission separated from the engine without any trouble at all. Take note that there is a slot on the bottom where the transmission and engine meet up that you can place a flat head screw driver or something similar to aid in the separation. Watching all the fools on YouTube trying to accomplish this task without following the manual, and struggling made me think this part was going to be a nightmare. Guess what? It was a non-event. The transmission is sitting nicely on my dolly ready to be rolled back into place with the engine.
8. I agree with one of the earlier posters about leaving the car in gear so you can rotate the output shaft and line up the input shaft with the clutch. Unfortunately, I left my transmission in neutral, so I'll just rotate the crankshaft at the front of the engine to accomplish the same thing.
9. The manual says to remove the propeller shaft (driveshaft). I attempted to do this, but when I stripped the second bolt I tried on the rear I decided to just remove the front and used a bungie cord to hold the shaft up and out of the way. So, it's not necessary to remove the whole shaft. Just concentrate on getting the 6mm Allen bolts undone on the front..........that sucked, and I took the advice of others by quickly breaking the bolts loose. I used a regular Allan key and a rubber mallet. It worked just fine. I have ordered in replacement bolts, as instructed by the manual, and now I can see why. Yeah, I might be able to get them back in to spec, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to get them out again without stripping them. Poor design!!!! They are definitely a one time use bolt. It sounds like the AP2 solved this down the road.
That's pretty much everything I can think of off the top of my head. I put a new starter in while I'm at it because the old one made that terrible noise on cold starts just after the engine fires up and I'm sick of it. The starter is pretty easy to remove. Just go under the car and reach up on the left side of the transmission towards and reach up and pull it out. You'll need to undo a 12mm bolt and remove the ground wire. But that's it. I also installed a set of Skunk2 Alpha headers by unbolting the right side engine mount from the car (2 17mm bolts) and using a bottle jack and step stool to raise the right side of the engine enough to get the clearance. They are currently being held up and out of the way with bungie cords until I reunite the engine and transmission, and then I'll bolt them in properly.
At the end of the day, don't let YouTube, this forum, or anything else you have read or seen on the Internet scare you away from this job. It really isn't that hard, and if you follow all of the steps as outlined in the manual EXACTLY as they are written, you won't have any trouble. I appreciate that people are trying to help by writing their own write ups on this, and dicking around on YouTube not knowing that they need to pull the fork out of the transmission to get it separated from the engine, but I have to say, just like life, there are no short cuts!!!!! Also, it isn't a race!!!!! Take your time!!!! Get some cold beers ready. Do as much or as little as you want per sitting. It's better to be safe than to be sorry. If you strip the head of a bolt, or damage part of your car because you were rushing, or not doing all the steps in the correct order, you'll regret it. Not to mention the serious consequences if, God forbid, the car is not jacked up and stable to work on. Remember, you're going to be reefing on bolts etc............ Make absolutely sure you can grab the front bumper of the car and shake the shit out of it without the car moving before you even think about putting your body under 2800lbs of car elevated 2-3' in the air............. This job isn't about short cuts, or who can get this job done in 3 hours or less!!!! It's about taking your time, getting to know your car, saving money, and having a little fun. Oh, and knowing that your car has a f@#king ACT H021 pressure plate in it and Prolite flywheel rather than the stock ones!!! (Cough.......JDM Calgary.........bastards!!) Cheers.
10-09-2016, 05:06 AM
#235
Originally Posted by flyboy999
if you follow all of the steps as outlined in the manual EXACTLY as they are written, you won't have any trouble. ...not doing all the steps in the correct order, you'll regret it.
Sorry, couldn't resist after the way you went on and on about how great the manual is!
Originally Posted by flyboy999
...Not to mention the serious consequences if, God forbid, the car is not jacked up and stable to work on. Remember, you're going to be reefing on bolts etc............ .
Maybe the way you did it was more than safe, and super stable. But without details some newb might read this some day and try to do the same thing and kill themselves. I think we can all picture how a stack of 2x6's under a small jack stand raising a car 2+ feet off the ground could be less than stable. Yes, you did say to shake the car first before going under. But that may not be enough if you're starting with something less than ideal.
Overall its a good post. Just think about newbs and safety when you're writing something without much detail.
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