mytrplseven

Is it really necessary to pull the intake manifold when changing the clutch on an '86 turbo? Clarks Garage has that in his procedures and I can't seem to understand why. If so, why would that be necessary? I'm sure many of you out there have done the procedure and I'm looking for a little insight before I begin.
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951Dreams

Clarks it the bible man!!! Don't Question CLARK'S!!!!

But really, I think it's because you have to drop the exhaust to drop the tranny and TT. So egro.... you have to remove the intake. I guess you can't remove the exhaust unless you remove the intake. I don't have a turbo, but I'm getting ready to drop my tranny and TT, and all sources say on the turbo's to remove exhaust, intake has to come off.

Or so says the great and powerful Clark's.

odonnell

If I had to guess, it's for clearance so you can pull the reference sensors. It's tight on the 951.

Van

If you have an early turbo with the one-piece crossover pipe, you have the take the crossover pipe off to get the bell housing off (the little pipe to the wastegate is in the way). The only way to take the crossover pipe off is to unbolt it from the hot side of the turbo, and you need the manifold off to do that.

If you have the 2-piece crossover pipe, then the job becomes a lot easier and you don't need to remove the intake manifold (unless you want the extra access to the sensors).

mytrplseven

I've had the O2 sensor and the AFM sensor off without pulling the down pipe but I do have the one piece crossover pipe. Oh, well, this will be the fourth time I'll have had the intake manifold off during this restoration process.

Interesting thing, when I was leak checking the coolant system with a fluorescent dye tracer, it turned the coolant RED. Looks funny in the overflow tank.

mytrplseven

It seems that every time something has to be fixed on this car, the INTAKE has to come off. AOS seals, intake off, heater valve, intake off, turbo rebuild, intake off, now a clutch job, INTAKE OFF!

konakat

Yep. Someone should sell those seals in a bulk pack.

Van

They're only a few bucks each - I keep at least 2 spare sets around.

lart951

You should get a 2 pc crossover pipe

lovemyp-car

Intake doesn't need to come off to do the Heater Valve...did one last fall in 15 minutes on my 951 without removing anything other than the HCV itself.

He should definitely get a 2pc crossover, and he should also notch the bellhousing so the reference sensors don't have to be removed to take the bellhousing off.

Doing those two things will take a dent out of the time it takes to do a clutch job on one of these cars. On my 951 (had 2pc crossover and notched bellhousing) i never had to pop the hood (other than to disconnect the battery) while doing the clutch.

-Ethan

944hal

Here's my 2 cents. I just replaced the rear main crank seal. I dropped the transaxle and pushed the torque tube back. I did not take the crossover pipe off, just the waste gate. It was tight, but I did get the bell to clear the flange for the waste gate. There are a few screws sticking out of the tunnel that interfered. I cut them off and the bell went back in without any problem. If I were you, I'd try it. Nothing to loose. If you can't get it off, then drop the crossover.

mytrplseven

Verrrryyy Interesting....Is enough clearance to do a full blown clutch job? The bell housing needs to be removed full to redo the clutch fork bearings, etc.

Rokket

I have a Turbo S, and have never had to remove the Intake to R&R the clutch. The Speed/REference Sensors can be a pain in the ***, but if you cut out/notch the bell housing, you will be able to remove the clutch in the future without the hassle of messing around with the sensors...just set your clearance (0.8mm) and your done. I agree with LART on the 2-piece cross over pipe, and would go 1-step further with the Lindsey Racing 3-Piece Conversion kit.

944hal

I had enough clearance to remove the bell housing and all the clutch parts, including the flywheel. I did remove the intake so I had extra room to get to the reference sensor bracket and the two upper bell housing bolts. The starter and clutch slave also had to come off, but that should be obvious. The worst was pulling back the torque tube. I had to lower the torsion bar tube to get clearance, plus the transaxle cross member needs to come off.

mytrplseven

How do you deal with the access to the turbo/exhaust 4 bolts without the intake removed? What's the advantage of the 3 piece over the 2 piece crossover pipe?