I am in the process of taking apart the front of my engine (86.5 5 speed) in order to install a Porkensioner. I've done a few TB/WP jobs before but every time, the clutch slave cylinder (to install the flywheel lock) has been a PITA to pull. I always have to disconnect it, meaning losing fluid and having to repressurize the clutch afterward.

I have read of people pulling the slave out without disconnecting. How? I have a hard line that runs to the slave so there is little room to pull it back so the rod clears the flywheel housing. I have read of people pulling the rod from the slave cylinder, but again, clearance is the issue.

Am I missing some obvious solution? I really don't want to have to go to the hassle of repressurizing the clutch this time. It is my least favorite part of this job.

Thanks,
Matt

 

I've never ran into clearance issues after pulling the slave rod.

 

I've never used the lock on any of my 5-speeds. Just put the car in 5th gear, pull the handbrake and chock the wheels, then get a 4 foot extension on your 1/2 or 3/4 bar with 27mm socket, start all the way at the pass side and pull. There will be a good bit of driveline flex, but it should break free before you get to the other side.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C 475hp/460lb.ft

 

I just did this. Take the hard line mount off that bolts under the oil pan. It's held in with two 10mm bolts. That lets you move it around wherever you want afterward.

 

My crank bolt was really on there -- I was overpowering my parking brake in 5th gear. I tried it this way just out of laziness -- the early clutch hardline is not tied to the oil pan as it is on the later cars so it's very easy to move it out of the way. For the later cars, I think that detaching the hardline bracket from the oil pan hardware makes it lot easier to get the slave moved out of the way without opening the hydraulic line.

 

Thanks, guys. I just got it out. I don't know about other years, but the 86.5 has the hard line running between the oil pan and starter. There is almost no room for it to move between them.

I removed the two 10mm oil pan bolts that hold the hard line bracket on the driver side of the starter as shown in the first picture below. Then I undid the clutch slave bolts. I was able to pull the clutch slave back just enough to pull the rod out of its socket. I could then use needle-nose pliers to hold it through the inspection hole and slowly work it back into the recess beside the socket. Eventually, the rod came free of the clutch slave and I could pull it out. This pretty much required me to push the clutch slave back toward the front of the car as far as the hard line would let me and about as far as I felt I could without risking breaking the hard line.

It'll be interesting getting it back in, but I'm sure still better then repressurizing the clutch. So, thanks for the tips.





Matt

 

Matt-

What you did is exactly what I did/do. To put it back in you can thread it past the release arm and then grab it through the inspection hole with needle nose pliers and force it back into the slave cylinder just enough that you can get the rod back into release arm divot, then you can grab the slave cylinder and slowly compress it back into position so you can get the bolts started.