ninefiftyone

Well my factory rubber center is gone. Time to do a clutch job. I wanted to put this thread out there since I didn't find one that specifically address what else to do while replacing the clutch.

First some background on me and the car car. Other than a few cosmetic things it is mechanically bone stock. Eventually I would like to see ~350 HP but that is down the road somewhere. I'm just trying to plan for this so I don't end up redoing a LOT of work. Some is expected. I have a 3 car garage, plenty of tools, jack stands, jacks and about 25 years of working on cars as a hobby.

Q: What brand clutch considering future HP plans? Mosty a street car with some DE autox.

Q: Solid, semi, stock trans mount?
A: Urethane mod.

Q: Lightened flywheel?

Q: Torque tube rebuild?
A: Yep. Might as well while it is out.

Here's what I'm looking at so far. I'll keep this updated for future reference on the site.

Transaxle:
New axle bolts
Trans fluid replacement - 75W-90 Brad Penn
Rear brakes
Urethane mod trans mount
Short shift linkage
Wheel bearings
Input and drive seals

Clutch:
Pressure plate, disk, bearing - Lindsey (Escort Cup???) Kit
Lindsey hardware kit - 9 Flywheel Bolts, 9 Pressure Plate Bolts, T/O Bearing, Guide Sleeve, Rear Main Crankshaft Seal, Clutch Fork Bearings
Pilot bearing
Fork
Master & Slave Cyl and hose
Slot housing for sensors
New flywheel or resurface???

Misc:
Redo Battery cables - re-ground motor
New exhaust bolts
New fuel filter
Rear main seal
New starter
Rebuild torque tube
Tools:
Good cheese heads for flywheel and CVs

Techno Duck

I am doing the clutch on mine in a few weeks. Your parts lists is essentially the same as what i have.

If 350bhp is what your goals are, i would consider just going with a stock clutch.. seems they can handle in the area of 350whp. Be it the 930 disc or the 951 Cup disc with stock pressure plate.

For a lightened flywheel, i am going with a lightened stock. I thought about doing the Fidanza (or Spec) but decided its probably a little too light.. 6lbs as opposed to ~10lbs on a lightened stock for street use which is what my car sees alot of. Its my daily driver yet i do track the car often. Plus i usually get owned in traffic to and from the track.. so i dont want to make it too much of a bear to drive. 4lbs doesnt seem like alot but but when you consider a stock flywheel is about 15lbs, thats about 60% weight reduction as opposed to about 35%.

Rebuilding the torque tube is a project in it self, unless its making noise i would probably just leave it alone. Getting it out requires dropping the rear suspension also along with the trans (Which will already be out).

Trans mount i cannot comment on yet really, but i will be going with the LR semi-sold mount.

I would also consider repacking the CV's while they are disconnected.

TRP951

The torque tube rebuild is not bad at all really I could have done it in about a hour with the tube already out but my compressor was acting up so I did it by hand.

944obscene

What fluid would you guys recommend for the trans?

ninefiftyone

I'm going to use the Brad Penn 75W-90 gear lube.

mtnman82

I have the same HP goals as you (~350whp/tq). From the reading I've done, it seems like ~350 is THE limit for the stock clutch setup - some guys are slipping and some aren't at ~350whp. I think you'd be right on the edge with a stock setup. Plus, I'd like to be making 350 @ ~15psi, and I know that black **** will get twisted a tad more on occasion, so ..... As such I decided to go a bit beefier without going overkill. For me, this meant a KEP stage I pressure plate and the 930 disk. I also went with a stock lightened flywheel - Marcus Blazack recomended 9.5 lbs for a nice street/DE comprimise and I couldn't be happier. I also had Blazack do my clutch fork. To me it's definitely one of those things to take care of while you're in there. Rear main seal too for sure - read the threads and make sure you get the Elring RMS and you put it in properly.

I also just recently finish the urethane transmission mount trick and I like it a lot - very stiff, no vibration issues, and it was only ~$20. Wish I had read about that while I had things apart for my clutch... I might have gone with the Lindsey semi-solid, but I got the urethane before Lindsey started making it. After doing the urethane, I think it'll do the same trick and would go this route again.

Definitely slot the bell housing for the sensors - makes life a lot easier. You can actually get the gap set and checked before you put the bellhousing back on. Just be careful not to muck up the sensors when you're putting the bellhousing back on.

Torque tube rebuild isn't quite a while you're in there thing, as you'll need to drop the rear suspension to take the TT out. If you've got the time/ambition it does make some sense to try to take care of that too, but for me that is another job in itself (it took entirely too long for me to take care of the clutch).

Definitely replace all the bolts & bearings while you're in there, and yes a good cheesehead tool will help a bunch. I left my tires on when I did the clutch, but if you're going to take the tires off (and drop the rear suspension) you might as well do the brakes too.

As for tranny fluid, I have an lsd tranny and went with the Swepco 201. That's what was in there when I dropped the tranny and it looked very nice when I drained it, so went with the same stuff. Beware - asking about tranny fluid is like asking what's the best motor oil, and everybody has their favorite.

Also, I had my car up on cinder blocks and ramps (left the tires on). It was a very nice height to work on things underneath. Jack stands might be a bit cramped. The cinderblocks have always made me nervous (too many horror stories) so I made myself some wooden 'blocks' big enough to put ramps on out of 2x10's and 2x4's. I used just these wooden blocks to drop the tranny and do the urethane trick last weekend. I believe I posted a pic in my thread on the urethane if you'd like to see. Very solid setup to work under, just make sure you chock the front and back of a wheel or two if you release the parking brake. Hope there was something useful for you in here ... .

xsboost90

believe me the cup clutch w/ 930 disc is only good to about 350rwhp as well. :P

mtnman82

^^^ - why I went w/the KEP PP, searching will turn up quite a few testimonials to this effect. The 930 disk is a little thicker as well as a tad bigger in diameter, so I went with that too. There are problems running the Fidenza flywheel w/930 disk, IMHO because the Fidenza sits a tad taller than the stock flywheel and together w/the extra thickness of the 930 disk can cause problems getting the clutch to release.

aben8057

repack CV joints and new boots

littlejt1

+1 on the cheesehead tool

How did you get the front bell clear and the torque tube pushed back enough without dropping the rear transmission housing?


PM Red1 for all the gory details on clutch. He helped me, he's done his own and at least one or two others.

Hardest thing I remember was getting the timing sensors out (there are these sleeves on them). If you have the means, notch out the bell housing where these fit so you won't have to remove them if you ever do another clutch on the car.

Enjoy!

mtnman82

Sorry if that was confusing - I did drop the tranny. I unbolted the axels at the tranny and hung them out of the way. I left the wheels on so the car could sit up on blocks/ramps (I made wooden blocks to replace the cinderblocks now):

mtnman82

^^ one of these days I'll figure out how to post pic's in the middle of text......

ninefiftyone

Added to the list. Good one!

KuHL 951

Sounds like you are well covered. Not sure how many miles on your car but rear wheel bearings are probably in order if your HP goals are high.

aben8057

another one that came to mind: poly eurathane trans mount mod