I'm going to attempt to change my clutch myself this weekend. Are there anything i should pay special attention to? This is my first time, but i've done all of the supension, brake, and turbo stuff myself. Any tips to make the job go by faster and with less headaches? Thanks.

 

This really isn't an answer to your question, but I have a question of my own...

Did you do all the turbo, suspension work yourself without guidance fom an experienced mechanic? Because I'm in that boat and I don't have any friends that are into working on their cars.

 

You have 2 options pretty much... pull the intire motor, unbolt the tranny, put on the clutch, put motor back in.

Or leave motor in... unbolt tranny, drop tranny side of motor (while supported by jack or hoist) and pull it out the passenger side.

Both... take time... personnally if I'm going to do it again, I'll go ahead and pull the motor. Others will say otherwise... but getting that thing to line up while laying under the car... UGH. I ended up holding the tranny up with my arms and putting it on the alignment pins. The jack just got in the way... but D@MN was that thing heavy to hold for very long.

2 big keys... watch your alignment (motor to tranny) and make sure it's all STRAIGHT before putting the bolts back in... I broke one off... hmmm doubt that's going to get fixed any time soon.
B. Watch your torque... if you don't have a Helm's... GET ONE! If you can't or don't want it, borrow one. It's a lifesaver... well a carsaver.

The clutch itself is the easy part. Just set the alignment tool (You did get one with the clutch right?), and bolt it all back to the flywheel. Presto... well okay, it's not that easy, but it is compared to removing/installing the tranny. Unless someone here has some trick I'm yet to learn? Wich is very possible.

GOOD LUCK! It's worth it to learn this stuff... it makes you feel good when your done!

 

Nope, there was no guidance from any mechanics. Basically it we me, the helm's manual, and my car. Through trial and error i was able to install all my parts.

 

Then you should be good to go with this then. Like I said before, getting the tranny in and out is the hardest part.

Just have a GOOD jack, or a GOOD friend to help lift that beast into place. I'm still unsure why I laid underneath that tranny and lifted it by hand. I think I've done raced myself stupid?

hmmm... good luck.

 

Silly question... but how hard is it to install a turbo? I just assumed it would be quite an undertaking...

 

A couple things after having done it 3 times, here are some tips.
If you can find a place to rent a transmission jack, it will make your life alot easier, otherwise, make sure you have a 3 ton jack, the big ones. Renting is 17 dollars a day over here, and you should only need it for one day.

You don't need to take out both shafts, nor do you even need to remove the hub/axle nut. All i did was disassemble the control arm and tie rod, then one person supported the brake hub while the other removed the axle shaft from the transmission, then just cover the exposed axle end and support the hub so the weight is not placed on the upper ball joint. And you only need to take the drivers side axle and intermediate shaft out.
I just left the passengers side axle in and just slowly lowered the tranny while making sure the axle didn't get bent in a bad position and made sure the hub was supported.


Borrow a ball joint separator from pep-boys or kragen, it's free and makes life alot easier.

Buy some cotter pins

Buy high temp urea grease from honda dealership, you're not going to find it elsewhere, i got it for 14 dollars for a really small tub, but it should last you for a long time, it is for the throwout bearing contact points and the slave cylinder piston

You don't need to remove the slave cylinder, just carefully unbolt it from the tranny and then use string and tie a loop from the radiator cap to the slave to suspend it so the metal tube is not stressed.

Get honda mt fluid and a cheap valvoline pump that fits on is so you can refill the tranny when your done. You need two quarts, maybe a bit more if you spill some.

if you want to remove the flywheel after pulling the clutch, take a size 10 or 12mm wrench, on the closed end side, put a tranny bolt through it and screw it back into engine block, now jam the open end into one of the three posts that stick out of the flywheel surface, then the flywheel cannot move and you can remove the bolts that hold it. Make sure before you take off that last bolt that you support the flywheel with your hand or something, because a 17lb piece of iron falling on you hurts, i know.

If you can't remove the pin that holds the shifter extension together, i did the next best thing, just removed the shifter extension from the shifter, much easier i think, then taking out the pin. You just have to move things around a bit to get around the cat rubber hanger.

Nows a good time to install new motor mounts or inserts, wish i had knew that in hind sight

Get a few ziplock bags or something to organize all the screws you remove.

Oh yeah use loctite on the pressure plate to flywheel bolts when you torque them down, don't want them getting loose, when you line up the pp, there are three holes that match the three posts on the flywheel, the pp should fit all the way flush with the flywheel, some times the paint on the pp makes those hole smaller and the pp sits up away from the flywheel, this is a no-no, push it down till it is flush, then torque the bolts.

Everything can be done with handtools, i've done it quite a few times, and with one or two other hands, it is easily done in less than a day. Make sure you do have a breaker bar, torque wrench, at least 6in extension, and one of those pivot joints helps for the hard bolts to reach.

If you need pictures see the c-speed home page, otherwise, email me or post any more questions you have


[Modified by 8Ball, 2:00 PM 6/27/2001]

 

Dont forget to get your flywheel resurfaced.

 

For a complete step-by-step article on how to change the clutch with pics, click here:

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto.html


it will cover all the step necessary to change the clutch yourself.

HTH


[Modified by G3-TEG, 6:57 PM 6/27/2001]