dlr944

I am in the middle of replacing my clutch but I am having trouble removing the bolt that is a 9 at 10 o'clock on the bellhousing at the back of the motor. I've used extensions and tried a 19mm wrench from the top but the bolt will not budge!!!

How have other people successfully remove this particular bolt??

Thanks!!

83na944

IIRC, I used a long breaker bar to loosen the bolt. It came out easily after that. You might try a flex head ratchet, too.

It is close in there, isn't it?

PorscheDoc

If it is the top left one (as looking at the bellhousing from the back of the car), you will need a wobble, and some long extensions and a rachet, and it should come off no prob.

KuHL 951

Had the same problem just today. I spent over 1/2 day getting that one bolt off. Finally bought a shallow head 19mm 6-point socket with a built-in flex couple and used a flex head solid handle with cheater pipe. Once I heard the 'pop' I used a 12-point offset and worked it 1 notch at a time until finger loose. Wait until you try to find the sweet spot that gets the torque tube to travel to the rear far enough where it contacts the frame. I ended up having to push the rear of the engine down, lower the bellhousing so the driveshaft end went into the bellhousing, and then had to rotate it again to get it off the shaft. The tunnel on the body is just so close in there...what were they thinking? Any way the rubber centered clutch was completely shot, luckily the flywheel looks good but the rear main seal is still giving me trouble trying to get a spot started to pull it out.

Sam Lin

Rear main seal should have a nice large cutout on the lower side to shove a screwdriver into and pry out.

Sam

Serge944

Lol, speak of the devil steve! At least we got that damned bell housing out. "Never again."

KuHL 951

Sam,
I've tried the cutout. I was concerned that if I dug any deeper to catch the bottom lip of the seal I'll score the sealing area on the crank as I pry. I've tried the screwdriver several times and can't get anything to unseat. I've even tried my trusty seal pick and all I'm doing is tearing up the soft part of the seal. Do you push the screwdriver in square as far as it will go and then pry up? Sorry to sound so dense, I've just never had a main seal so hard to get a bite on.
Thanks Sam

KuHL 951

Serge,
Seems like clutch day out there in Porsche Land. Those cheesehead drives I used with my impact wrench worked like a champ on the flywheel. It was nice not having to lock the crankbolt down to get leverage to stop rotation like with a handtool. The seal is a real maggot though. I'm toast for the night, cold beer in hand or is that both hands!

dualblade

lol, you guys too? me and skoot just took the bellhousing bolts off his car and they are a huge pain in the ***. that top left one took us a bit and we used a 6point 19mm and a 3/8 breaker bar. when that proved to not break anything loose, we threw a jack handle on the bottom of the breaker bar and it finally broke. once things break free, i tend to switch to the 12 point sockets when working in small places

we're having a hell of a time getting off the shaft that goes through the needle bearings in the clutch fork. once that's off, the bellhousing should drop, as everything else is off of it.

KuHL 951

Isn't it great when you finally get that one impossible task behind you, only to find the door has opened on another one? You have your pivot rod and I have my oil seal from hell. That socket trick does work pretty well. Just find one the right length and diameter for the pivot rod to go into after you start tightening the pull up bolt. Works like a poor man bearing puller. Maybe your PB Blaster will have some time to soak over night and tomorrow will be better.

Good Luck

Red1

I'm with you guys. Spent all morning tearing my car down to do the clutch too. A long time ago I bought a 1/2" breaker bar and use those 1/2" drive sockets to break those bolts free initially. Makes it a lot easier.

And you're right, having airtools at your disposal does make it easier too.

FWIW, I'm putting in a SPEC aluminum flywheel, cup clutch, and KEP pressure plate. Can't wait to see how it'll drive after this.

dualblade

i found that the clearances for the top bolts were too small to use 1/2" drive gear. i was just barely making it with the 3/8" stuff, the breaker bar, and a low profile head ratchet (which i love)

Red1

You're right.

The last one I did, the motor mounts were so bad we could push for extra clearance. ha ha

Forgot about that.

dualblade

the motor's supposed to be able to move front to back with the tranny out, no? cause this motor can, and my motor could when i did my job. we can around an inch forward(maybe a little less). i had always figured the motor mounts were really for side to side and it was the tranny's job to stop the motor from going front to back

Red1

Yeah, but the car I'm thinking of had waaay excessive movement.