Rob Edwards

I spent a very pleasant day in the garage today tearing the bottom off of the GT as part of a bottom end (the other bottom end) overhaul. My father is in town for the holidays, as is Matt (Leperboy), who not only came over and lent a much needed hand for a few hours, he then bought me lunch (I'm buying next time, Matt!).

Among the three of us, we got the clutch down in pretty short order. I will do a full writeup on the finer points for idiots later, but suffice it to say there was a LOT of clutch dust in the housing. If Dwayne is the paradigm of clean, orderly 928 wrenching, I am the anti- Dwayne. Note the clumps of clutch on my forehead:



We dropped the rear crossmember without any drama, then did the clutch.
Matt helped me get the shims into the old PP- I pried and he stuck them in. The other huge help was Matt not only prying the release arm off the ball, but rotating the whole top of the arm counterclockwise in the bellhouse opening, so the clutch/PP could drop. We didn't drive any locator pins any which way, I just removed all 9 PP/flywheel hex bolts, then hammered the PP backwards off the flywheel pins using a rubber BFH, banging gently on the starter ring.

Here's the flywheel surface. There is the slightest of depressions (fractions of a mm, can feel it by fingertip) where the clutch disc sat. Would you get this flywheel refinished?





After the clutch, the rear suspension came down:



Later on Dad and I dropped the tranny a little and then pulled the TT. Here's the initial setup. The HF tranny jack will go high enough but interferes with the front of the blue jack, so we put the former up on blocks. :



There's a transmission in there somewhere underneath all the filth. There must be a quart of oil on it:



No wonder the rear seats are so cramped, there's a heck of a transmission tunnel:




One data point: The old tranny mounts were compressed by 5 mm relative to new ones:






Lots to do the next few days!

dr bob

Looks like a lot of fun! Did mrs dr rob go to Hawai with the rest of the brood? The mice will play! How long is your vacation?

Looks like a lot of opportunity to clean, even if not much gets renewed. By the time you are done (like THAT will ever happen...) it will be better than new.


Say hi to your dad for me. The crest is COLD in the evening. No snow on the rods right now but could happen any time. The ski areas should be open soon if they aren't already. For those playing along at home, it's probably hard to believe that we have skiing and snow just an hour or so from the coastal desert paradise we call home.

SeanR

Nice work. It is much easier to get the clutch out with out all that crap at the back of the car. Such as the transmission, rear suspension. Hehe, ask me how I know.

BTW, I love the floor of your garage.

Dwayne

Way to Go Rob!
This is the next big job I want to do on our '84 but I thought it was not possible/too difficult without a lift to get the tranny out. You've given me incentive to go ahead with this project and not wait until I get a shop built. I like the clever way you devised to get the tranny jack in there non-interference. BTW, what is the clearance between the floor and the lift points on the chassis you used to provide enough room to get the tranny out??

Really nice Pics, I enjoyed the post and look forward to more detail if you get a chance.

HE HE...looks like a pretty clean operation to me, I don't think I could have done any better - makes me proud Wish I could have been there!

I second the comment on the garage floor - EXCELLENT! Clean and shiny!!

Lizard928

have that flywheel surfaced yes, I dont like the looks of those dents/discoloured spots.

good job on that, though I would have used a short piece of chain with a couple hooks on the end hooked onto the swaybar, then you can drop the rear crossmember without touching the tranny, then when you want to pull the tranny you can use your tranny jack with ease and no messing about.

HTH for reinstallation!

Lizard928

Couple points forgot to mention,

if you do decide to take my advice and have the flywheel resurfaced replace the RMS while in there.
as well just out the piece of aluminum between the lower two bolt holes on the bellhousing, this will make doing the clutch without pulling all that stuff out alot easier.

leperboy

[QUOTE=Rob Edwards;4906410]I spent a very pleasant day in the garage today tearing the bottom off of the GT as part of a bottom end (the other bottom end) overhaul. My father is in town for the holidays, as is Matt (Leperboy), who not only came over and lent a much needed hand for a few hours, he then bought me lunch (I'm buying next time, Matt!).

Hey, Rob, thanks for letting me get a 928 fix in while on vacation, plus learn about this procedure. And thanks for the tour of my alma mater. I would rather go back in the garage tomorrow than go to Knott's, but the family would disown me.

I think the whole operation was a lot simpler and more straightforward than I expected, and the little bumps we encountered, like the release arm socket hanging on the ball were minor compared the horror stories I've heard. Of course, your dad and I both thought you'd been squashed when we heard the "oof" from under the car when the clutch pack dropped.

Matt

FlyingDog

Great pics. Post more detail if you can. I'll be doing the same thing sometime way too soon.

Rob Edwards

The builder gave the option of having epoxy/polyurethane put down on the virginal garage floor before we moved in. I opted for it, expensive for what it is ($800 for 2-car garage) but worth every penny to me. It makes it very easy to roll around on it, in fact, it's too slick when you're on a creeper and pushing on a stuck bolt. It's also slicker than goose snot when wet, but that's a non-issue most of the time. It's got some sand grains mixed in for traction, but it's not enough.

Matt- you're welcome anytime! Co-wrenching beats solo any time.....

Dwayne- Tony deserves the credit for showing how to setup for dropping the rear crossmember:

http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/torque.htm

As far as the height I got to with the liftbars and the 6-ton stands, I was limited by my jack, which only goes to 20" or so. The stands (Harbor Frights) will do 24". Here's my measurement:



Liz- Thanks for the input on the flywheel, I'll look into having it resurfaced. I did see the pic in the WSM of the tranny suspended on what looks like bungee cord, but I'd feel better about chain. Since I may be re-installing solo (God help me) I may just hang it back up there. There is no oily residue ahead of the flywheel, so the RMS may be ok, but I have one and will R&R it.

I was most afraid of getting the clutch pack out, now I'm worried about the pilot bearing, and how to assemble the T/O bearing into the new PP. I tried using a proper pilot beating to get it out, but even with the jaws expanded in the bearing, as I turned them out, the jaws just bent inward and pulled through the hole. Didn't seem to hurt the bearing, but I'd really like to replace it. Next I gotta figure out how to assemble the new PP/T/O bearing. Can this be done without a press?

pmotts

Rob,
My funky pilot bearing tool has served me well. I forget who recommended it but it works great.
You put the end with one nut through the pilot bearing then put a small screwdriver through the hole also to jamb the nut on the inside of the bearing. Then simply turn the double nut end clockwise and the bearing will pop off within a couple of turns.
As for needing a press, no. It's been awhile but as I recall there is a C clip that you destroy to get the TO bearing off. Installation is the reverse
Make sure you have right arm for your new TO bearing. There is the possibilty of some weird combinations as I recall.
Jim

pmotts

BTW The reason the single nut of 'the pilot tool' is rounded is I used a nut that wouldn't quite fit through the hole and so I had to grind the edges off. The bigger the nut you can get through the pilot bearing the easier it is to keep it jambed to the inside of the bearing.
Clear as mud, I should have been a technical writer

Lizard928

I would also put the jackstands in abit from the end before getting back under the car.

edco

Hey Rob,

I had the same problem with the pilot bearing puller. The trick is to place something in between the the jaws. I set it all up and then tapped a cold chisel in between the two. It keeps them separated & under tension, wont allow for them to bend in and spring loose.

I did my rear main seal while the flywheel was off, my machine shop had a one day turnaround and it ran $40.00 - You will also need the cheesehead sockets to pull the flywheel bolts.

my freshened up flywheel

Rob Edwards

Matt-

Thanks for the tips! I will look into having the flywheel surfaced on Monday. I only had 2 hours to play to day so I spent an hour each cleaning up the tranny and rear suspension:






I also had a look at the old intermediate shaft. It looks good to me, but I could be wrong.... The area where the clutch disc rode is a bit shiny, but the splines look ok:





Tomorrow the tranny and TT go back in, flywheel comes out, rear shocks come off (and on?).

Landseer

Nice work and pictures. It really helps those of us who need to do this and, before now, couldn't quite visualize it.