Hey guys doing my first clutch replacement. Its a 88 civic DX wagon.

I have the clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, flywheel bearing)

I had the flywheel resurfaced

I have some questions:

1) The pressure plate is really hard to tighten down, it is putting a lot of pressure on the flywheel dowels. is this normal? my old pressure plate doesn't do this.

2) Other than lubing the throw out bearing, are there other places I'm supposed to apply lube?

3)The rear main seal looks good, how important is this to replace?

I have never done this before so I might be overlooking something really obvious sorry

 

1. old pressure plate is worn out so it's loose. new one should be snug when tightening it to the flywheel. do make sure you have the pp lined up properly though. it will only go on one way if i recall.

2. just lube the t/o bearing and a little bit on the part of the input shaft that the t/o rides on.

3. if the rear main seal isn't leaking, DON'T muff with it.

 

if i was you id replace that that rear main while you have tha trans dropped, its a hassle you wont have to deal with later, an if it starts leakin real bad it can ruin tha brand new clutch your puttin in

 

cool thanks guys. I tightened it down in a star pattern but one side seemed to snug down immediately and I had to crank forever on the other ones. Does this seem weird to you guys?

 

that doesnt sound good, they should all go in tha same "easyness", id check tha threads on tha bolts an tha ones on tha flywheel make sure their not stripped or cross threaded, its always a good idea ta clean tha bolts an make sure theres no forein material n tha holes

 

hopefully you torqued them so that even pressure is applied throughout the disk if not then plate will put more pressure in one spot then the other and there is a chance for the pp bolt to come lose and your disk wont function right.

 

did you use an alignment tool to center the disc in the flywheel?

 

X2, didn't see any mention of this. If the disc is not properly lined up when tightening down the PP, you'll get this result. Also won't be able to re-install the tranny. It's possible to do it without this tool but it's a PITA.

 

I did use an alignment tool. It came with the kit. I found out I am a total noob and didn't know the dowel pins are supposed to go through the 3 holes on the pressure plate. problem solved! Thanks everyone for the pro advice.

 

Glad you got it fixed