From Armond:Clutch

Upgrading the clutch in your car is considered regular maintenance for some of you 4 cyl guys, but to some, it can be a performance mod, so it is listed here. It is easy enough to do yourself if you have a small array of metric tools and a free day or so (Engine hoist doesn't hurt either ). Using a stiffer clutch increases the amount of torque transferred to the wheels, resulting in more wheel power. To replace the clutch, you must remove the transmission. To do this, first, place the car on jack stands, remove the front wheels, remove teh inner fender walls from the driver side fender. remove the battery, and it's stand (kinda tricky). Next, Remove the air intake pipe. Now remove the starter. Remove the 3 bolts holding the rear motor mount to the bell housing. Remove the shifter cables (kinda hard). Unplug the speed sensor by the rear motor mount. Unplug the reverse light switch wire that is close to where the battery was. Get a jack to support the tranny and engine before going any farther. You can also get an engine hoist for this portion of the job. support the engine with teh engine hoist, or with the jack at the point where the bell housing meets the engine. NEVER JACK ON THE OIL PAN OR PULLEYS!!!!!! YOU WILL BE SORRY IF YOU DO!!!!! Next, remove the bolt that holds in the driver side motor mount. Now, you will need to remove the driver side cv axle. Have a drain pan ready to catch all your tranny oil (a clean one if you want to re-use the oil). Remove your strut. Unbolt your cv axle from the knuckle (Chrysler says not to do this, but trust me, this is the BEST way to do it). Now, unbolt your front lower arm from the cross member, and slide your c-v axle out of the knuckle. next, pop the cv axle out of the tranny with a crow bar and a hammer. Try to pry it out using the little edges provided on the tripod chunk. once removed, tie your lower arm in a position so that your ball joint is not damaged. DO NOT DAMAGE THE BOOTS ON THE CV AXLE!!! BE CAREFUL!!!!!! Now place it somewhere where it won't be damaged. Next, remove the center motor support bar from under the car. It is not heavy. You MAY HAVE TO HAVE an engine hoist for this. they rent for about 20 bucks. remove the bolt for the front engine mount and remove the bolts for teh support bar, and it drops straight down. now, undo the bolts that hold on the driver side motor mount. Now, undo the bolts for the hydraulic clutch and move it to the side. Now for the terror..........the Passenger side cv axle. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS PIECE, THIS IS THE HARDEST PIECE TO FOOL WITH ON THE JOB!!! Take apart the suspension just as you did with the driver side. have a friend hold the cv axle from the passenger side to make sure it doesn't cut teh boot on any of the metal parts under the car. Use a metal pipe and put it against the fin on the middle of the green tri-pod chunk like on the other cv axle, and knock the axle out that way. DO NOT HIT THE CV BOOT!!! Now slide it on out without hitting the cv boots on anything metal. Place it in a safe area out of the way. Now undo the bolts on the bottom of the bell housing close to the engine and remove that aluminum plate. Now get a friend to put a torque wrench on the bolt for the crank pulley and have him spin the pulley until you see one of the 4 flex plate mounting bolts. When you find it, get a wrench and remove the bolt. do this until you have all the bolts removed from the clutch (4). Carefully support the tranny, and slide it out from under the car. Now, get the new clutch and bolt it up to the flex plate (55 ft.lb.) (the bolts are asymmetrical. they are not in a normal universal pattern, and the clutch will only bolt up in one bolt configuration. Takes a max. of 4 tries.) After the new clutch is bolted to the motor, carefully fish the tranny back onto the motor. This is hard, tedious work, and will annoy the heck out of you for a couple of hours. once the Tranny is back on the clutch, begin to bolt the tranny onto the engine. (top bolts 70 ft lb /bottom, 80 ft. lb..) Place the side motor mount back in it's place. Put the little plate back on the bottom of the bell housing. If you want, you can install the cv axles now. get a small metal pipe and cover the end of it GOOD , i mean REAL GOOD with shop rags so it won't cut anything, and knock the cv axle in at the butt of the green chunk right where it joins with the cv boot. Not covering the pipe GOOD will cause it to cut the boot, and give you MUCH grief. Do the same for the passenger side. You will need a LONG pipe. make sure you don't screw up the oil seals on the tranny when doing the cv axles in and out. that will cause you MUCH hart ache also!!!! Now put the suspension back together. the lower arm torques at 85 ft lb.. the cv axles torque at 145-188 ft lb.. just make sure you can put the cotter pin back in them. Now reinstall the center engine support bar deal (58 ft lb.). and place the bolt for the front engine mount in place. Do not torque it yet. Now start working with the driver side motor mount. place the bolt in it and tighten it up so that you can easily place the rear motor mount bolts in the bell housing without a problem. torque those down to 54 ft lb.. DO NOT OVER TORQUE!!!!!!! if they feel like they are about to give, than they probably are, BELIEVE ME, FIXING A SHREDDED BOLT IS NOT FUN!!!!!!! Now torque up the side mount nuts to 42 ft. lb.. The side mount bolt should be 51 ft. lb.. Don't forget to plug in your reverse and speedo wiring!! after the rear and side mounts are all torqued, you can go ahead and torque the front mount bolt (41 ft. lb.) Re install the shifter cables. re install the hydraulic clutch cylinder. re-install the starter (40 lb ft.) re install the intake pipe. re install the battery box brackets. put in the battery. Fill the tranny with oil. put the inner fender paneling back in. bolt the tires back up. get an alignment, and you are good to go!! ( should be, unless you broke something ;0 ) )


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Jason ESi-T

04' BMW 325Ci
91' Nissan 240SX
98' Eagle Talon ESi (sold)