dannyual777

Now I never thought that this was going to be fun but come on!

This is a rant so I'm being up front with that.

Recently, my slave cylinder gave out and squirted brake fluid on my clutch. I've owned the car since it was new and its only got 25,000 miles on it. Never had any trouble with the clutch before (or any part of the car except that pesky passenger side electric window. Auto Trix here I come!)

I've got the car jacked up on 4 jackstands about as high as they will go. What's up with that bellhousing to trans bolt. The one up top, passenger side with the bracket for the breather tube. There's also a wire loom with one of those factory nylon plastic, one way, unable to remove holders that makes it impossible to get to that bolt. I fought that holder for an hour. Couldn't get anything in there to break it loose. Finally got it. And then I had to cobble together a ton of extensions and u-joints to get that bolt out.

I made my own floor jack "transmission cradle" out of lumber. A little tall but it works great. Got the trans disconnected but the wood cradle is a bit too tall. I had to jack the car up some more to remove the trans.

Then it was time to remove the bellhousing. I had to fight some of the top bolts. No amount of u-joints were going to work on a couple of them. There was no room between the body of the car and the bolt. I tried to let the engine down as far as I could but there still wasn't room. I ended up using a 13mm offset box wrench to break one of them loose. Total PITA. Could only move that wrench about 3°. Should've taken less than 5 mins to remove those eight bolts. Took an hour plus!

Of course the bellhousing was stuck to the engine. Another 30 mins to get that off .

Then it was time to remove the old master cylinder. Removal was a total pain because the OEM star washer was hard to get to. Blueknight's video makes it sound like the washer is right under the nut. Mine wasn't. It was under the metal bracket. I fought for 45 mins before I figured out how to pry that bracket up and get some pliers on that star washer! Drill mod and bench bleeding of the new master went well. Reinstallation was a total different story. I watched Blueknight's video again and it helped a bunch but I wasn't as lucky as him. I just couldn't get that dang U-bolt back into place. I fought it for an hour.

I cried, "uncle" and went and got my wife. She watched from under the dash while I tried to "plug" that u-bolt in. Another half hour and no luck. Finally we switched places. She used different "attack directions" or angles than I did. Mine didn't work but her's did. With her under the hood, she got that u-bolt in within 15 mins . She's a genius!

Got the new AP slave cylinder on and installed my Monster remote bleeder hose.

The clutch is still attached to the flywheel but I'm done working for today. I could see some clutch fluid drops on the bottom of the clutch. I'll remove the disc and pressure plate tomorrow and see what the oil damage looks like. It doesn't look soaked so I'm hoping that I can spray it with brake cleaner and reinstall.

Then, I'm sure tranny reinstallation is going to be lots of fun . I'll let you know how it goes.

CLRD4TO

iTrader: (4)

I too have a clutch swap ahead of me this spring when the snows gone. Never done one on mine but Ive done plenty of clutches. For those bolts, get yourself long 1 piece extensions. Each connection looses torque, especially u-joints. Get some gearwrenches too. Remember to replace the flywheel and pressure bolts, they're torque to yield bolts. Good idea to install a remote bleeder to minimize any risk of fluid contaminating the new clutch. Clean the alignment studs for the bellhousing to block and put a small film of grease on them and the tranny input splines for reassembly. Good Luck!

dannyual777

I've done an automatic to 4-speed swap in my 1980 Z28. Two yrs later, I swapped the BW Super T-10 for a Richmond Gear 6-sp. Neither one of these had the frustration of this 4th gen hydraulic clutch. I've done a clutch in my 91 5.0 Mustang. Straightforward. Heck, I even did a clutch on my ex's 1986 Cavalier front wheel drive that was my first clutch job ever. No problems.

Anyway, I couldn't even fit a socket with a swivel onto several of the top bolts of the trans-bell/bell-engine. It's like my engine needs to come down lower in the rear. I completely removed the support jack for the engine and its down as low as it can go but it isn't enough. Heck, maybe the exhaust is holding the engine up too much in the rear ?

Remote bleeder is installed!

00ws6indubv

iTrader: (4)

You def need a long azz extension for trans bolts up top. The bellhousing u need a swivel socket to get them out. They can be a PITA but it takes a little time. But when installing trans back have someone up in car take a rope wrap around tail of trans and have them help hold up back it def helps take some pressure of tail while trying to line things back up.

BrntWS6

iTrader: (7)

I did my own H/C install but I choose to let the pros install my clutch. Something about doing a job like that without a lift was very unappealing to me. For $400 it was well worth it. Good luck.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

You have a good set of motor mounts and great wife.

Don't re-use that clutch.

lizeec

iTrader: (57)

The oem flywheel and pressure plate bolts ARE reusable they are NOT torque to yield. But for piece of mind you can get both sets of bolts new for around $40-45 either from G.M. or ARP and as you see it is alot of work to do a clutch job and worth the peace of mind to do it right the first time and install a clutch kit to include a new slave/throw out bearing, new disc, pressure plate and flywheel, and pilot bearing, and a speed bleeder line also makes life alot easier. Good Luck

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

helpful hint: those top bolts from the trans to the bell house are much easier to reach if you go through the shifter hole and do your wrenching from inside the car.

CLRD4TO

iTrader: (4)

ARP are re-useable, gm is not. The clutch is nothing to cheap out on some stupid bolts, youtube clutch explosion videos!

Since I already looked it up, the flywheel bolt torque steps are 1) 15 ft lb 2) 37 ft lb 3) 74 ft lb. Pressure plate bolts are 52 ft lb. Torque bolts in a star/cross pattern.