Is it possible for a car DIY guy to change the clutch on axle stands?

 

She went into a garage this morning and was basically told they can't do it so im tempted to do it myself saving some money along the way.

 

Looking at the faq on ttzd.com it doesnt look THAT bad, maybe a bit harder that a cambelt change i did a few months ago.

Yeah its easily possible - whether its easy or not is another matter entirely. I refitted my box all by myself with the car about a foot off the ground - prepare to invent some new swear words ;)

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

There`s a strange thing due to work load etc have tried to get a clutch done now by two garages one had it for two days and another for one and both returned the car saying they could`nt do it?............ Ahem

 

Jeff TT

WTF??? The gearbox is a bit of a sod to get off - the splines are very long and as it comes off the engine, if it aint straight, the splines will drag a lot. Gearbox bolts can be a pain but with a nice long extension (I use 4 x 10" wobble bars to give a bit of bend) you can get to them all from the back. You could try dropping the rear mount slightly and letting the engine tip back on its mounts to give you that bit more room above the box. Due to the same reason with the splines, getting the box back on can be a bit of a nightmare too. Make sure the input shaft is in the clutch, line up the box so it is straight relative to the engine, and push like **** - it does go trust me ;) If you are removing the flywheel to replace the rear main seal or to fit a lightened one, be VERY carefull with the flywheel bolts - they have VERY shallow heads and can be easily stripped - TAKE YOUR TIME!!!

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Cheers for the advice guys, i'm gunna give it a go. Ive taken tomorrow off work and she can stay in the garage over Easter if need be.

No doubt ill be posting a few threads over the next day as i get to each questionable part. :)

 

Cheers very much

07801 735117 - call me if you have problems ;)

Got it on speed dial matey ;)

 

Already hit a hurdle.

Undoing the 6 14mm bolts, 3 connecting each exhaust to turbo, one side fine, the other side all of them shierd. Suggestions on how to get what's left out?

 

:p

Oh shit :( Only way is to either replace the quarter pipe (turbo-downpipe) or to drill out the studs and replace with nuts and bolts. Is it series 1 or series 2? Might have pipe for a series 1 with studs perfect if you're interested. If you do replace the quarter pipe you will also need the gasket between it and the turbo.

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

HHMMMM!!

 

 

Thats interesting.

 

Well, unfortunately, the motor that Jeff has refered to above is mine. And both of the garages, as Jeff says above have refused to force the bolts incase they sheer.

 

Andy, are these the bolts that that you are refering to?

It depends if they have got the gearbox off yet or not. If they have then its the flywheel bolts, if not, then, erm, they aint exactly trying hard.

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Andy, thanks v.much 4 advice and the potential turbo pipe dealy.

 

Don't get me wrong i'm not particully into bodge jobs,but would there really be any problem in replacing the studs with nuts and bolts? I cant really think of any difference. If i did nut & bolt it and there was a problem, like a leak or something, i could possibly beg you to do a deal with me for the pipe then?

 

 

Many thanks

If I remeber rightly, Jeff said that the bolts that they were having problems removing were the manifold bolts. They were even soaked in some solution over night to make them easy to undo but they obviously shit it.

LoL, youve got to question how ive gone about this. Your Z has gone to 2 garages who are having difficulties with bolts. Me on the otherhand, "hmm this ones hard, i need a bigger wrench and more power".

Admittedly in my eyes these bolts shouldnt be to hard to sort out after, i don't know which u mean so it's a different kettle of fish.

 

Don't really think you should be touching the manifold bolts 4 a clutch?

Maybe I have got the wrong ones then.

Cos, these do sound like the downpipe bolts - how soft are they? lol When they shear, they don't take that much force to break! However, drilling them out is hard work due to the studs being hardened. Make sure you have a good sharp drill bit and a variable speed drill so you can keep the speed right down.

 

Fitting nuts and bolts shouldn't cause any problems - the only bit you may find difficult is getting the bolts through the top of the quarter pipe, then getting a spanner onto them. Apart from this, it isn't really that much different to having a stud in there. Use plenty of coppaslip to make the bolts easy to remove next time. Also use brass nuts if you can ;)

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

when i done mine, it took me 1/2 hour of gentle heating of the nuts to remove them.

 

they would of sheared for sure without this.

that was the exhaust nuts - not mine btw!!! :D

Thanks for the info guys.

Dear o dear, after starting the job last wednesday, and spending most of my free time since (not after about 6 in evenings), im still at it. Potentially an easyish job but has turned out a bit of a disaster!

 

Very rusted exhaust bolts have been a right pain. Having to use a combination of jack on 50cm socket handle, sheering nuts and angle grinding nuts which are unreachable by socket due to poorly welded exhaust (hanger was too far down on the pipe).

 

Biggest annoyance award goes to the 3 rusted in exhaust studs. A couple of days hard drilling and about 10 nackered drill bits later it was sorted though.

 

This afternoon/evening was "put gearbox back on time". Or shall i say attempt to. No matter what i did i could not get the shaft high enough to fit in between the clutch/flywheel assembly, it would hit the underside of the car before getting to the appropriate place. I'm guessing this means without the gearbox on the engine is leaning forward.:( Giving it a good wiggle trying to get it in there i managed to knock it off the jack, slightly crushing me and coverering me in tranny lube! Smells wrank and gave me a headace so i aint doin no more today!

Hopefully my gearbox aint shagged as it didnt have a hard fall, my arms were in the way.

 

Anywho the award for, "who should have waited for the garage to do it" goes to.... ME!

 

:mad: but still :cool:

 

I punched the beast a few times for being so mean but i still love er really!

Nah you get the award for being brave and having a go yourself ;)

 

Hehe don't worry m8 you'll get there. Drilling those studs is almost impossible - best bet is to invest in a good variable speed drill and some high quality drill bits. However, no point now cos you've done it lol

 

The trick with the gearbox is to put it on sloping up towards the engine (if that makes sense). Don't get it straight from the start, just point it up to the clutch spline and get it started, then there should be enough room above the box to get everything straight. If this fails, jack the bottom front of the engine up (block of wood on a jack onto the bottom pulley) and try again. This will make sure the engine isn't leaning forwards ;)

 

HTH

 

CheerZ,

 

Andy

Cheeres Andy, those were exactly my thoughts but i needed an expert to reassure me! :)

 

It's well frustrting but when u take a step back n look inside, imagine driving her, u forget it an get back 2 work as u know its worth it.

 

Cheersvery much for the help andy, if i ever see u at billing or whereever, help yourself to a sip of beer, hell you can have a whole half can!

Originally posted by Robtor

Is it possible for a car DIY guy to change the clutch on axle stands?

 

She went into a garage this morning and was basically told they can't do it so im tempted to do it myself saving some money along the way.

 

Looking at the faq on ttzd.com it doesnt look THAT bad, maybe a bit harder that a cambelt change i did a few months ago.

 

YES....I will be doing mine very shortly..........

 

 

Robert.

 

EDIT...DOH....I just noticed the date this was posted LOL...seems like the job is finished bar the shouting now Robtor?? :rolleyes: sorry...:(

Maybe something that might help for getting the shaft in (ehrrr...):

(You'll need 2 persons to do this...)

While one pushes the gearbox towards the engine, the other turns the crankshaft by hand .

I did this a few times this way and it works pretty good...at least a lot better then a lot of cursing while twisting/turning the gearbox until the shaft falls into place.

 

-Eric

Nope it aint finished! lol

 

I went to halfords and bought a second trolley jack today so i gots one on front of the gearbox and one on the back! Doing this to help me get quite an incline to get the shaft high enough to go in the hole:rolleyes:. At only 20 squids it'll make the job much easier.

Eventually i managed to get that bugger of a gearbox on and hopefully today will be a simple matter of putting starter, driveshaft and exhaust on :) . I'm guessing i should put a load of that exhaust sealant stuff on the exhaust but then i should be done!

 

It's only taken about a week and a half.

 

The tranny was so hard to get on i eventually got pissed off and used a vice, the shaft was half in but couldnt get the last 1-2 cm. So i slowly tightened a vice and turned the engine over and it started to slip in. I think it was cause by the clutches spline being a stupidly tight fit.

Hopefully nothings damaged by me usin a vice.

 

Peace out and stay cool you young studmuffins ;)

 

-Robert (perhaps a little over excited bout getting back on the road)