Diffiiculty of installing clutch?

freakyalien · Post by **freakyalien** » March 29th, 2006, 9:37 pm

OK...i need a new clutch. Badly. And I have no idea about how to go about it. I can find a book that'll tell me how...but I want to know how hard it will be. Can you rate the difficulty? Use the scale 1-10, with 1 being the easiest. Keep in mind I'm not extremely knowledgable about cars and basically have no idea what I'm doing.

ryanlindenberg · Post by **ryanlindenberg** » March 29th, 2006, 11:54 pm

you probably don't want to take on this task if you don't really know much. the skinny on what you need to do:
unplug and unbolt everything connected to engine and tranny
pull engine and tranny out
separate tranny from engine
resurface flywheel (machine shop)
install clutch
then put everything back together.
bleed clutch line.

freakyalien · Post by **freakyalien** » March 30th, 2006, 1:26 am

I apologize for my hasty post and poor spelling (even in the topic sentence-yikes!) I was running out the door as I was typing.

What happened...was my girlfriend was driving.

Right then, I should have known my wallet would have to come out and pay for something.

Anyway...long story short...she fried something. I'm guessing its the clutch.

When I accelerate quickly...say I'll give it enough gas to get it to 4K RPMs...well, it'll stay at 4K RPMs while the car SLOWLY accelerates to what the speed it would normally be at 4K. When it reaches what it should be, it'll accelerate like normal. Does this sound like "a clutch slipping" thats what somone told me it was...i wanted a second opinion

azazel95 · Post by **azazel95** » March 30th, 2006, 1:33 am

freakyalien wrote:When I accelerate quickly...say I'll give it enough gas to get it to 4K RPMs...well, it'll stay at 4K RPMs while the car SLOWLY accelerates to what the speed it would normally be at 4K. When it reaches what it should be, it'll accelerate like normal. Does this sound like "a clutch slipping" thats what somone told me it was...i wanted a second opinion

Yes.

freakyalien · Post by **freakyalien** » March 30th, 2006, 1:36 am

Well, glad we got that cleared up.

Next step...um...where do I get a clutch?

I saw one I liked on corksport.com for like $300...and I saw one on Napaonline.com for like $160.

Is there a large difference in preformance/life expentancy of these two? Theres is obviously a large price difference.

All your help is greatly appreciated...

WingleBeast · Post by **WingleBeast** » March 30th, 2006, 1:37 am

you dont have ot pull the whole engine out... this is what you do

you have to remove the airbox, air intake and battery.
dissconect anything mounted or connected to the tranny. put a jack (or 2) on the engine and jack it up ever so sligtly. put another jack to suspend the tranny.

disconnect the 2 engine mounts on the transmission, and the bracket they rest on.

the take off the driver side wheel, take out the cotter pins, seperate the knuckle from the suspension, and remove both axels form the transmission. then you can actually unbolt the transmission and drop it out the bottom of the car (its heavy and not well ballenced... you will need help) then you can get at the clutch on the flywheel

that is definately a simplifyed version. you will need help, and not only that but you will probably need an impact wrench to get off the stuck bolts, a pickle fork for the suspension and a tourqe wrech to reassemble. so if you dont have the time or experience or the tools, its prolly just cheeper to have someone do it for you

freakyalien · Post by **freakyalien** » April 5th, 2006, 1:01 am

OK, thanks...now can anyone tell me the difference between the few clutches I mentioned? I know I need to buy one now, I just need to know which one

lowflyinmx3 · Post by **lowflyinmx3** » April 5th, 2006, 1:59 am

i bought my clutch from autozone, just the standard issue. i got a one year warranty with it and i only paid $135 for it. i put it in myself and suggest that you do take your time and don't try to shortcut anything. even with a stock clutch i can still chirp second gear, sometimes third if the pavements good. it all depend on how you drive. if you drive hard or this is your first manual you might want to go with something that comes with a good warranty. my buddy smoked his clutch in two weeks in his first manual and decide to get a performance clutch. he smoked that one as well but the warranty was only for three months, so he took a big hit in the wallet. if you do want a performance clutch some of my buddies have LUK clutches and they are pretty satisfied. but it's ur call

WingleBeast · Post by **WingleBeast** » April 5th, 2006, 8:06 am

i got my ACT clutch and i love it, although in hidesight i really wanted to try out a ram clutch, i heard those were really good.

ccreech · Post by **ccreech** » April 5th, 2006, 10:18 am

WingleBeast wrote:you dont have ot pull the whole engine out... this is what you do

you have to remove the airbox, air intake and battery.
dissconect anything mounted or connected to the tranny. put a jack (or 2) on the engine and jack it up ever so sligtly. put another jack to suspend the tranny.

disconnect the 2 engine mounts on the transmission, and the bracket they rest on.

the take off the driver side wheel, take out the cotter pins, seperate the knuckle from the suspension, and remove both axels form the transmission. then you can actually unbolt the transmission and drop it out the bottom of the car (its heavy and not well ballenced... you will need help) then you can get at the clutch on the flywheel

that is definately a simplifyed version. you will need help, and not only that but you will probably need an impact wrench to get off the stuck bolts, a pickle fork for the suspension and a tourqe wrech to reassemble. so if you dont have the time or experience or the tools, its prolly just cheeper to have someone do it for you

Good Man...You are most wise. You don't need to pull the engine out. It is not a very hard job to do but it is very time consuming and you need to have the right tools so, as involved as the process is I would say it is a 7-10 on your difficulty scale. Don't forget to buy a clutch alignment tool if your clutch doesn't come with one. You should also buy new tranny fluid. I am sure that the old stuff is past its prime. Good Luck...and if you decide to do it yourself I hope it goes well. The toughest thing for you will be not having any air tools. Axle nuts are a biotch without Air. We are here if you need help.

freakyalien · Post by **freakyalien** » April 5th, 2006, 8:19 pm

appreciate the help

my dads got most of the stuff, including air tools...not that i have any idea how to use them.

My biggest decision right now is what clutch...i don't know enough about them to decide what a good one is, but for that....the search button!

WingleBeast · Post by **WingleBeast** » April 5th, 2006, 9:47 pm

yeah airtools are nice, i had to rent some cause my mount bolts were rusted on bad.

PS be prepared to breka and replace older bolts