How Long To Remove Clutch, On An R33.

[WogsRus]

Hi all,

i know is an ambigious question, but i was going to replace my clutch tomorrow night but, it wont be here till thursday, which means i have about 6 hours to do it, if i start at 8pm. i should be finished by 2am. LOL.

BUT how the hell do i get to the two rear bolts at between the block and the bellhousing???

PLEASE URGENT

Edited December 20, 2006 by WogsRus

[shanef]

i've replaced a clutch from start to finish in 3.5hrs (that was with the car on axle stands).

for the top 2 bolts, remove the gearbox rear cross member (2 19mm bolts eaither side) and lower the gearbox down to rest. now grab a jack and a block of wood and put the wood underneath the main crank pulley and jack it up a bit to change the angle of the engine (make sure u dont crush and lines at the back of the motor). you'll need to use all the extension bars for ur socket and an elbow join on the end to get to the top 2 bolts. this also makes it nice and easy to get the top starter motor bolt out.

if you havnt found out already, all the gearbox bellhousing bolts (starter motor and clutch slave cylinder) are 14mm.

hope that helps

[WogsRus]

Hay budy, that is exactly what i was after. I figured that is what i had to do. Is it better to take the tail shaft out, or leave it in place?

[shanef]

yeah u gotta take the tailshaft out. thats the first thing u should do. well either that or drain the gearbox oil, caus when u remove the tailshaft, and u go tilting the gearbox back, the oil will start to pour out the end.

P.S u should know this, but just making sure. dont forget to remove the gear shifter from the gearbox before you go too far!

[Swiper the Fox]

You don't have to remove the tailshaft completely...just undo the front coupling. It has enough movement to "wire" it up out of the way.

Edit: Sorry just realised its a GTS-t....this comment only applies to GTR

2nd Edit: 2rismo has just assured me that tailshaft does NOT need to be fully removed OR the gearbox oil drained. Leave both in and save yourself time and money.

[WogsRus]

Yeah i know what needs to come off, been throght the forums and the manual, just needed to see what the best way was to do it, as i am pressed for time tomorrow.

[shanef]

paul, it depends if he's doing it on the ground on axle stands or on a hoist with a gearbox jack. to get the correct angle on the box to pull it out/put it in whilst doing it on the ground, u need the tailshaft removed to allow room to move etc. (and its not a nice feeling having nice thick oil running down onto you )

[WogsRus]

I'm doingit over a pit. my mate has a car it so we will be doing it there. I think it will be easier to remove the oil so we can do what we want with the gearbox and so forth.

[WogsRus]

Ok so to remove the box took 1.5 hours, and that was a lot of stuffing about, but there was two of us.

So basically this is what need to be done.

1) Drain gearbox oil, no matter what they say, it's ten times easier to do so.

2) Remove gearstick, first the surround, then the rubber boost. Get in under the car, and pull off the dust boost from the gearbox to expose the gearlever. Back inside the car, remove the circlip, and the lever comes out.

3) Back under the car, undo the following. The tail shaft from the diff side, exhaust mounting from the gearbox, the tail shaft centre bearing, the tail shaft keeper bracket, the one that stops the shaft falling if it fails or comes undone. At this stage the tail shaft can be removed. Ensure you do not get any crap in the box or on the end of the spline shaft, I taped all mine up to ensure no dust will get in. Also remove the slave cylinder, and ensure you tape it up so that it cannot expand and fall out.

4) Undo the rear support cross memeber for the gearbox. Ensure that the gearbox is supported with a stand or something equivalent. Once the cross member has been removed, slowly lower the box down, this will tilt the engine and the gearbox together on the engine mounts. Once tilted, the box will sit there. At this stage you can unclip 3 connectors to the box, neutral switch, spedo, and reverse switch.

5) Begin by undoing the starter motor, with the motor tilted, it is much easier to get the top starter motor bolt from below the car.

6) Begin removing the bolts from the bell housing, start with the lower ones, do not remove the bolts just undo all of them to ensure they are loose. The two top bolt of the bell housing require a 1meter long extension to allow for access from the back of the box. This is the hardest part, not much space, but a nice long extension makes this easy.

7) ENSURE the gearbox has some support below it, as you are about to begin getting it out. I had two planks of wood across the pit, one at the front and one behind.

8) Place a piece of wood between the front sway bar and the oil sump; this will stop the motor form rotating once the gearbox is removed.

9) Begin removing all the bolts that connect the bell housing and engine.

10) Once removed, the gearbox will sit there on the support you have, but will be separated from the engine. At this stage it is best to have 3 people present. One person under the bell housing, one on the rear of the gearbox, and one to pull out the supports.

11) Get under the box and get all the people in position as above. Take up the weight of the box, so that it can be moved back. Remove the supports. Once the supports are moved and the gearbox pulled back, it needs to be rotated a bit, and pop off she comes.

12) Once the box is out you can see the clutch, undo the 9 bolts and the clutch plate will come out. NOW if your clutch is like mine. MACHINE THE FLYWHEEL, mine was so damaged after the 90 km I drove with a slipping clutch, it's not funny.

This is a pain in the ass, as most workshops closed for Xmass, luckily I have contact. To remove the flywheel, there are 6 bolts I think. Undo these and the flywheel will come off. There is a Spigot bush in there so be careful.

13) To put back together simply reverse and go form there and don’t forget to refill the gearbox oil.

Now this is not a full technical write-up, and I should have taken pics, but we were pressed for time. But for all those who need to do this, I encourage you to do so. I have done many FWD clutches, and a RWD clutch is soooooo much easier, just takes time and plenty off skin off the knuckles. LOL.

[shanef]

nice write up mate. one thing i noticed regarding the tailshaft. all you have to do to remove it is remove the 4 bolts on the shaft that goes from the box towards the back of the car. once these are removed, u can slide the shaft in towards the box and hey presto it'll come out.

another thing regarding the cluthc cylinder hose, make sure u clamp it with a set of hose clamps, or u'll have pedal problems when u go to set it back up when its all back together.

[WogsRus]

What i did was to push the slave cylinder in and lock it off in the closed possition. There was no air in there, but i can always bleed the system later.

I couldn't get the first set of bolts undone, so i took the whole shaft out. LOL. But yeah, if you can move them do that.