techtalk

My clutch master cylinder decided to bail out on me like Wall Street this past weekend so I decided to replace the cursed thing myself in order to save some moolah. The job isn't too mechanically demanding- it took me and my brother about 2-3 hours to perform the job. I bought the OEM replacement for $83 at www.hondapartsnow.com (http://www.hondapartsnow.com/chassis...~cylinder.html) so I was able to have a little beer money left over for this upcoming weekend too! But enough of my ramblings, here's a little write-up for replacing the clutch master cylinder on a S2000:

**REQUIRED TOOLS**
-Needle nosed pliers, 10mm open ended wrench, 12mm deep socket and small extension, "Crankwrench" (Mastercraft)

1) Here is the Clutch Master Cylinder (or CMC as I'll refer to it from this point forward) tucked against the firewall, underneath the blue-thingie (FMU)


2) I chose to remove the throttle cable stay when I removed my FMU. You can elect to leave the cable stay in place if you think you have sufficient room to work.

3) Next, I stuffed a bunch of newspapers under the CMC to soak up any fluid that may drip down. Then I removed the reservoir cap and sucked out as much of the fluid as I could:


4) Next, crack loose the nut that holds the fluid line onto the left side of the CMC body, but don't undo it all the way. This will help keep the fluid from dribbling until you are ready to take the CMC out.

5) The following 2 photos shows how the CMC plunger rod is attached to the clutch pedal.
First, note the specialized cotter pin on the one side:


6) This is not your typical cotter pin. You CANNOT just yank on it. It won't come. You have to grab the bigger, loopy end with needle nosed pliers and push the pin further IN to unseat the end on the curved part, then twist it 90 degrees before it will pull out. It WILL simply push straight in when it comes time to re-install.
Here's the other side. Note that the pin head is set into those tabs so the pin can't rotate around:


7) Take out the cotter pin and push out the big pin and the whole rod assembly will detach from the clutch pedal. Then remove the 2 12mm nuts that hold the CMC to the firewall. Don't drop the nuts down behind the kick panel or you'll have to remove that to get them back.

8) Now go back out and pull the CMC out a bit and completely unscrew the nut holding the fluid line in place and work the whole thing out. You'll be left with this:


9) The new CMC comes almost complete. All you need is the pedal pin and cotter pin and gasket transferred over. On the new one, the hole where the line goes in has a little plastic protective cover. Remove it:


10) Transfer that thin, rubber gasket from the old to the new:
http://inlinethumb12.webshots.com/43...600x600Q85.jpg

11) Work the new CMC back into the firewall and re-connect the fluid line while the assembly is still loose. It may take you a bit of fiddling to get the nut to start threading. DO NOT use force. Once it's lined up just right, it WILL thread on its own. Thread it in finger tight and push the CMC flush with the firewall. You may have to go inside to align the end of the rod onto the clutch pedal. Remember how the end of the rod went on. The big pin goes in from the left, so the little tabs that hold the pin head must face into the foot-well.

12) Thread the 2 nuts back onto the studs that are sticking through the firewall and snug those down. They have built-in lock washers, so no need to use gorilla strength. Don't over tighten. You'll not get a torque wrench down there, so just go by feel. Remember how tight they were when they came off?

13) You'll need to apply a little grease onto the big pedal pin. (This may be the reason why some people report a squeaky clutch pedal.) You can use the same grease that comes out of a grease gun but I just used a little silicone vacuum grease I had laying around:


14) Put the big pin into the rod assembly with it lined up with the hole in the clutch pedal. Install the specialized cotter pin. It will go from the bottom, up, if the big pin is seated in those tabs.

15) Now, go outside and tighten up the nut that holds the fluid line in the side of the CMC body. DO NOT over-tighten.
Here's the new CMC in place:


16) Finally, bleed the system. Test the clutch friction point with the engine running and in gear. You may need to do a slight adjustment on the rod that's attached to the pedal.

You'll need a 12mm open ended wrench to loosen nut ("C"). Then you grab rod ("D") with your fingers and rotate it 1/2 turn at a time to see how it affects the clutch friction point. Tighten the lock-nut each time and test. When you think you have the correct amount of free-play at the bottom and the top of the clutch travel, go for a test drive to be sure.

17) You're finished! Crack open a cold brew and enjoy the fruits of your labor
You may shop all these honda oem parts above at hondapartsnow.com

95 integra

iTrader: (2)

Good write-up, sadly, I think mine is going to have to be replaced very soon. My reservoir was extremely low, but at the same time, I dont see fluid anywhere. The slave was bone dry around it and in the boot. The master seemed to have some grease on the rod and might have had a little fluid mixed in, but no where near the amount I was expecting to see. Topped it off this weekend and havent noticed any drop yet, so I'm just not sure where my fluid went :-/

Boots

check to see if the back of your clutch pedal is damp with fluid...these things have a tendency to leak on the inside down the clutch pedal

apwhat

great job, thanks man

techtalk

The images ware lost?

reodan92

Nice write up!

tracychase

Mine isn't leaking down the pedal, just where the pedal pushes hydraulics into the firewall...right under "A" in the last picture.

95 integra

iTrader: (2)

Not to bring a dead thread back, but I flushed my system and it hasnt had an issue since...oddly enough, I bought a new clutch master that has been sitting ever since.

steveholler

Why are all the pictures "temporarily unavailable"?

phonedrn8

???

FutureMR2

Sorry to revive this but any chance the pictures are still around? I don't see them. I'm about to do this in the next week

dagle

iTrader: (1)

it's very straight forward, make sure you jack up the car first since the bleeder valve is on the slave underneath the car.

-Drain fluid
-remove the cotter pin behind the pedal and remove the pin that anchor's the master cylinder.
-remove 2 nuts holding the CMC in behind the pedal (12mm IIRC)
-loosen the flare nut on the engine-bay side and pull the hard line out. (10mm wrench or flare nut wrench needed)
-replace master cylinder
-bleed (8mm wrench or pliars if you're careful)

FutureMR2

Thanks, I'll give it my best shot

estcsts2000

Does anybody still have this thread saved with all of the pictures? My pics are not displaying?