Hey all, havent updated on my car in a while. Its a 90 DX Hatch, and stopped going into gear about 2 months ago. Finally had the time today and pulled the tranny. Any ideas on how to tell the condition of the clutch? Also is rust on the flywheel okay? My kit came with the throwout bearing, clutch, pressure plate, and an alignment tool I think.

Really important - do I have to retime my engine? I only realized after trying to take the pressure plate off that it would spin, and then I remembered its connected to the crank which was also spinning and I didn't mark my timing belt.

Thanks for reading.

 

How many miles are on the clutch you have in the car? While it's apart, it's probably worth the $100 for the peace of mind of having a new clutch. Don't forget to have the flywheel resurfaced as well. You can remove the pressure plate and disc from the flywheel and check the flywheel and pressure plate surfaces for visual signs of wear, cracks, and oil - all of which are not good. Check the disc for signs of glazing, oil, and general wear. You can also measure the thickness of the disc - if below 5.7 mm, replace the clutch. The disc's material is riveted in place - if you have a depth gauge measure the depth from the face of the disc to the top of the rivets. If less than 0.2 mm, replace the clutch.

The timing belt on the front of the engine will maintain the mechanical timing while you are working on the back of the engine.

 

Thank you. Ive probably put 4000 miles since I bought it. The previous owner says he swapped the original 5 speed to a 4 speed right before I bought it, but the clutch plate, pressure plate, and flywheel all look OEM. I don't see any markings of it being aftermarket. I'd guess he pulled it from a junkyard and reused the same parts from a mid/high mileage car.

 

without taking the clutch plate off, its difficult to tell the wear on the disc. but once you see the disc its pretty obvious if its new or old. its like a brake pad but the grooves are not as deep. a clutch that really needs replacement will be worn almost to the rivets.

its a good idea that once you have the tranny apart to replace or resurface the flywheel. a new flywheel is actually pretty reasonable, i would get a new one instead of resurfacing an old one. if you can see the worn surface is below the material next to it, its used up for sure. the rust is not the issue, just the wear.

no need to retime or do anything with the timing belt. but its a good time to check...

 

I got everything almost back together, I really hope I put the throwout bearing back on right, it felt like it came out too far when the clutch was pressed/a little loose. Is it supposed to be like that? With the old throwout bearing, it did not go out that far. I greased it good. Also, the clutch pedal has about 2 inches of 'squishyness' to it when pressed, any ideas? It's already taken me about 20 hours so far Here's a picture of the old clutch