Anyone do a clutch master and slave cylinder replacement before? What's involved and can you do this without dropping the engine?

Thanks
Lefty

 

Check out the "clutch slave cylinder woes" thread below

 

Here are the pitfalls of doing a slave replacement.

1. Hard to reach the two nuts holding the slave to the transmission. You have to do it by feel.

2. Even harder putting the slave back in because of the spring tension. You need 2 people. One to hold the slave in and the other to put the nut back on.

3. Very easy to put the slave in wrong where it does not make proper contact with the clutch fork. Clutch will not work and you can damage the slave cylinder when this happens.

4. If you're not careful bleeding the clutch afterward, your clutch pedal will drop to the floor and you've introduce more air into the system. The problem here is the clutch hydraulic pick up point is very high in the brake fluid resoivor. You have to keep it filled to the brim when doing your bleeding.

---anthony

 

I replaced both by myself last year. The slave is in a difficult location, but I was able to do it with the car on ramps (no engine drop). Getting the new slave on can be tricky. Thread both sides of the slave through the bolts and concentrate on getting one of the nuts back on. Once you tread one nut a few turns, then you can get the second on. I would highly recommend a motive bleeder for getting the air out of the lines when done.

 

It's definitely doable without dropping the engine. It's not "fun" changing the master cylinder, working under the dash. With a pressure bleeder, it might help pushing air through the cylinders before breaking the lines loose. I ended up with a bit of fluid on the pedal assembly...... messy but not hard.....

 

This thread might help ya':
https://rennlist.com/forums/964-forum/184589-clutch-slave-cylinder-replacement-tips-that-can-save-you.html

It's not that hard - did it recently on both cars - you just need a coordinated left hand!

 

When refitting the new slave, leave the cap off your brake fluid reservoir to lessen the fluid pressure you have to overcome to get the unit compressed as it fits onto the studs on the tranny. This assumes you have bled the slave before installation with a pressure bleeder while it's accessible. Whatever you do...don't bleed with pedal pressure unless it's reinstalled. You'll pop the piston.

 

DONE!

Thanks for all the help. Actually it was really easy...once I actually found where they were. The master was much harder than the slave because my master would not thread properly...the bugger.

I did the slave in 45 minutes. I have smaller hands so I was able (car on ramps) to get both hands in and thread on the nuts. It wasn't easy, but I did the top one first.

My issue was getting the air out. I used my Motiv bleeded and of course it works very well, but I did have to bleed 3 times! The pedal just would not return.

Now it's great and my clutch feels oh so smooth!!

Cheers folks...going racing tomorrow.

Tristan

 

You can shove the slave back on the studs and **** it up or down. It will hold in place due to getting caught on the threads on the studs. You can take your hand away gently. One of the studs will give you just enough threads to star the nut. Then you have to uncock it a little and continue to tighten the one nut. I found this out by accident. I was about to give up. I’ve done it twice now. When you have the one nut tight. Check in the rectangle hole to make sure the plunger is in the clutch arm.