scott, i to had the same problme with the grizzly clutch...i wnet with SPEC stage 2 clutch...great choice IMO.


let me know how it goes.

Roz

Thats right dub,you did a new clutch and flywheel too,, what you gonna do with that old SVT flywheel? Or have you got rid of it already. If not, lets talk.

well, I called Bill last thurs so hopefully I'll have parts to do the job over the upcoming weekend.

Question - did you guys rent a tranny jack and if so where'd you get it? Hopefully I can get everything rounded up before hand to make this a smooth job.

im not a big fan of stock clutches. Ill bring you mine
And scott im sure what you dont have(tools wise) i do. And are you planning on doing this with or without power tools? Because if you want i can bring my compressor and power tools. Id def. makes life alot easer.

yeah - I heard you ripped the splines right off it! I'm a little scared of aftermarket right now - I figure a stocker should last at LEAST 60-80 under worst case - my high perf kevlar POS is dead at 30.

I have an electric impact wrench which works pretty good. I do need a good tq wrench for reassembly.

My plan is to work a few hours per night tonight and tomorow to do the "simple" one man stuff - hopefully leaving a pretty reasonable job for over the weekend. Even if it drags into next week (worst case) it'll still be okay.

well what are you gonna do about the flywheel? do you have someone that is gonna resurface it? when? I def. think its gonna be a 2 weekend project. o and i dont have a tq wrench unfortunatly. Do you have a axel puller? you are gonna need one for sure. andd i do have one of those, And you need something to hold the motor up while the subframe and tranny is gone. I used a regular car jack but one of those motor hanger thinges we used on eric's car is a lot better and more secure. You also need a pretty big star socket, wich i have an assortment of sizes If we put everything back together next weekend. Eric is much more likely to help being he has company this whole weekend. And i can assure you this, pulling and putting the tranny and subframe is a 3 man job.

Where'd Eric get the engine support - that had me a little worried about supporting it with just a jack.

I'll pull the flywheel and take it to the local tranny shop hopefully for a resurface, i was counting on being able to get it done quickly like when you want rotors turned???

I'm going to go down to the rental place to look for a tranny jack to avoid any "oops" while lowering the tranny.

Supposedly you can drop the subframe with only removing the axles from the tranny side - when the ball joint, tie rod and sway bar are disconnected and the strut nut is loosened 5 turns you can move the whole knuckle assmbly enough to get the axle out of the tranny - saves the ballbusting work of getting the axles out of the hub. I'll swing over to kragen to borrow there slide hammer deal to get the axles out of the tranny unless that's what you have.

Whats the beig star socket for? I have the torx bits for the rotors - I think I have a t45, 47 or 50 or something like that. Luckily ALL of my bolts have been pre-loosened from various projects (clutch 30k ago, y pipe last year, new sway links last year) so I'm not expeccting TOO much headache there.

well see - it's nice to be optimistic, I'm sure my bubble will burst tomorow or the day after

Well, so it begins

Shes up in the air, no front wheels, no battery, no maf or air filter, no y pipe or cat. Also pulled the accesory and radiator splash gaurds.

Couple of distrubing thingss so far - my driver side tie rod end was FINGER TIGHT. Not the joint - the inside adjuster you align it with. I put my hand on it and it started to unscrew I blame the retards at Goodyear tire on Poway Rd that did my alignment for me last summer, unless the guys who put on my new tires last week decided to F with me??? Also looks like the tie rod end bolt is going to give me trouble - the bolt is spinning in the bore but the nuts not moving - I read a similar problem here so I'll search for the solution to that. Good thing about working with 80k old parts is you don't give a crap if you have to destroy them for removal, especially since BAT sells them for 18 each.

Also my accesory pulley seal is leaking - I'll probably put off fixing that 'till another day, and it looks like I dripping a teeny bit off coolant from the new (20k old) metal impellar W/P weep hole - no drop in coolant level in months but I do see a drip coming off the bottom - makes me nervous since there are people here on there 5th pump for a rash of leaking out the weep hole.

both tie rods off, gonna have to get some new ones

off to sea world before it rains...

"I think I have a t45, 47 or 50 or something like that.""
thats all you need. and with a axel puller getting the axels out of the hub is no problem at all. Its accualy an axel pusher anyways if you need it i can bring it over tomorow. and eric got the motor hanger thingy from mitch's work. and if you have a big enough jack its not hard to pul;l the tranny. I dont think you need a tranny jack. its not that heavy, two guys can easy carry it. and ounce all the bolts are off its real eazy to just slide a screwdriver in to break the seal and the whole thing tranny just pops off.
Why am i telling you all this, you have already done a clutch.

No - I paid to have it done last time, so this is all new for me. Just makes things easier that someone else got to break up the 50-60000 miles of NY road salt rusted up bolts first :-)

You probably be all hung over tomorow from Erics party - so whenever you can make it by is cool. Why don't you bring the axle puller over just in case.

I'll be in working on it all day, If you need a phone number to give me a call let me know and I'll PM you.

erics party is tomorow night so i dont think im gonna be hung over before the party(of course stranger things have happened) Anyways yea pm your # i might still have in my address book but shoot me it just in case.

Well, the a-arm pinch bolts are out and the a-arms are 1/2 way out (got yelled at for banging too loud), the sway bar links are disconnected. The radiator is tied up and the lower radiator supports are off. Also the fender supports are removed.

Tomorow morning should be:

support the engine/tranny with jack, drain the p/s from the cooler lines, remove PS gear pinch bolt, remove shift rod pinch bolt and shift stabiler nut and the lower roll restrictors. Then the subframe should be ready to come down

After that it's "just" the tranny and assorted tranny stuff that needs to be disconnected (clutch line, starter, back up light, vss, speedo). Maybe I'll be able to get all that done in the morning too. Hopefully when people show up to help we can do all the two man removal stuff pretty quick so I don't hold you up too long.

Then if eveything goes PERFECTLY (ie my clutch does show up tomorow, I get the flywheel off before the shop closes to get it resurfaced, I get a new tie rod end...) I can start putting stuff together on Sunday. I have some friends from work on notice that I may be calling for a favor - so if I get stuck for help I can get them over. Even if it draags into the week I'll just have the wife chaufer me around for a bit

okay - i'm stuck on the STUPIDEST thing

There is a pinch bolt that holds the shift rod to the tranny, once it's out the tranny side rod "just slides right out" of the shifter side u-joint sleeve.

Well - the damn rod is frozen solid in there, and there is no way the sub frame / tranny is going anywhere untill it's removed.

Maybe a good fire wrench would help? I suppose it's off to the store to look for a cheap propane torch...

solved that one - fire wrench and creative leverage points.

Eric and Dub - the steering gear pinch bolt, was yours a small bolt with a torx head? How did you manage to reach it, and once the pinch bolt is out do you do anything else or will the colum seperate from the rack smoothly when you drop the subframe?

Looks like I'm waiting on a tie rod end so no way it'll be ready for monday, but I'm hoping tomorow is more productive than today.

It steering will come right apart once the bolt is out. If the steering comes apart in side the car, mine did, it is 4 bolts to undue the steering column and put it back together. Yeah it was a torks also.

yea eric did mine too because my hands are too big to get up there. But from what it sounded like it was a real pain in the azz. Esp. when everything goes back together and you have to put the hydro lines back on the rack. That seemed to take us for ever.

Ahh - next question, the dumb ass manual says "lower subframe slightly, then remove high pressure power steering lines"

So we'll drop it and if I rip the PS lines apart then it was lowered more than "slightly"???

Seriously - how much can you drop it to reach the ps lines?

thanks guys

S

a couple of inches. The lines give a little. they are the last thing to come apart and the first thing to go together,

Thanks -

I think I'm going to be ready to drop the subframe and tranny today - is anyone available to help later this afternoon?

If not I'll try and get a couple of buddies from work.

Not that I need it just yet - but do one of you have the clutch alignment tool? I didn't get one with my clutch from Bill.

yea i have one. Although im not sure if i can make it today. I had a late start on the day, thanks to Eric
and now i have a bunch of stuff i have to do.

Well, I've come as far as I can alone - so looks like your suggestion of next weekend is probably a good one.

Can either or both of you guys for sure make it over next weekend or maybe one night this week? (I supply beer and pizza of course )

I'm getting some greef from the wife 'casue she'll have to play chaufer next week, but when I tell her how much the dealer charges she stops complaining. The car was probably one day from being undrivable anyway, so I didn't lose anything by starting this weekend. I got in a good 8 hours of "prep" work, so we may be able to get the tranny down in just a few hours.

I actually was ready to drop the subframe alone just now, but realized my impact gun was to tall to fit under the rear subframe bolts and I didn't have my adapter to use the big sockets with my ratchet - and someone hmmmm still has my "calibrated breaker bar".

So to sum it up - HELP

1) I still have to get the ball joints out of the knuckle, on the pre98 I think it may be impossible! to get it all the way out without either jacking up the strut or lowering the subframe a bit - the a-arm bottoms out on the subframe with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the stud left inside the knuckle.

2) pull the axles

3) lower subframe, disconnect p/s lines, drop subframe

4) disconnect vss

(clutch hydralic line, back up light and starter are already done)

5) drop tranny

well i work till 7:30pm everyday this week. But next weekend i dont have any big plans. I can bring my compressor so we can get to the subframe bolts.

Sounds good - hopefully Eric is free too!

Since you've done 2 of these now, how long would you guess it'd take to go from what I've done so far to having the flywheel out ready to drop off at the shop if all 3 of us are working on it?

2-3 hours if everything went smoothly and if Eric shows up when he says he will

I can probably stop by next Saturday to lend an extra hand or at least moral support

I need to head up that way to get some of my leftover stuff from moving anyway.

Originally posted by dubkatz:

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2-3 hours if everything went smoothly and if Eric shows up when he says he will

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Well - since we're counting on things going smoothly then you better double that

I get my new tie rod end today - so at least I have all the peices to put the car back together if I wanted too