Have the engine out and am having problems removing the flywheel housing. All the bolts are out and I can pull on the housing and it moves out about 1in, it also can be rotated 360deg no problem, I just cannot remove it.

It seems that the clutch fork is stopping it, but I can't see a way of removing the clutch fork without removing the housing. Any assistance appreciated, TIA.

Mike

 

There is a bolt holding the pivot shaft it will need to come out and then use another bolt to remove teh shaft. Check out clarks v

 

Clarks Garage has it, but like he said theres two bolts needed. Theres a small one that holds it in (should be a bolt with a nut on the shaft, losen the nut then remove the bolt). Then theres a hole in the end of the fork shaft that you thread a long bolt into. Clamp some vice grips onto that bolt, perpindicular to the shaft, then hammer on the vice grips and that will pull the fork shaft out.

 

Thanks Sid, how did I miss that on clarks, I feel stupid.

Clarks:
24. Remove the clutch release lever retaining bolt from the clutch housing (just above the opening in the clutch housing for the starter).
25. Thread the long 8 mm thread bolt into the end of the release lever pivot shaft. Remove the release lever pivot shaft by holding the 8 mm bolt with a pair of pliers and tapping the pliers with a hammer or prying with a screwdriver.
26. Remove the 4 clutch housing retaining bolts (2 at the top of the housing - 2 at the bottom)
27. Remove the clutch housing and release lever.

 

Struggle with it once, and you'll never forget again.

 

Thanks all, its off. Didn't have to struggle, it came off very cleanly once I knew the technicalities. doh!

Now for the flywheel and those damn pesky cheesehead bolts.

 

New tool or good one and some heat.

 

Brand new tool, followed clarks + added some heat, was very carefull and still two of them rounded out

Some of the bolts looked newer than others. Seems that on a previous clutch job the po just refitted some of the old flywheel bolts.

Anyone have a preffered procedure for extracting these bolts?

 

Drill head off of the rounded bolts

 

Unfortunately you will have to drill them like David ^^said.

Just use a bit that is larger than the bolt shaft. Once they get to where you can start to see it show the small crack around the meeting area (shaft and head) you can then tap them with a hammer to avoid drilling the flywheel.

they will be easy from there once the flywheel is off.

 

The method I used was my mini grinder with a cutoff disc and the bell housing came out in little chunks. All because the fork shaft was frozen in place. A major operation involving a lot of expletives.

 

I usually use explosives!

 

After the fiasco I had with the pressure plate XZN socket bolts, the ones on the flywheel were cake. I use a jeweler's screwdriver to dig out all the gunk in the bottom of the recess, then tap my bit in until it bottoms out. For the flywheel, I used an impact to spin them out. Not one of them stripped and I was able to reuse them again. I was even able to remove the bolts that did strip from the pressure plate after digging the gunk out of the recess.

BTW - why does the P-car community call XZN (triple square) bolts cheese-heads? Cheese-heads are slotted
Here's a cheese-head:

 

Thanks all, got them out by drilling the heads off and Iwill be ordering a complete new set for reassembly.

Cheesehead - I think it's more to do with the shape of the head than the slot or otherwise.