Hey everyone. Well this is the weekend, my Brat's going to get a new clutch, and fellow board member S'ko has convinced me that we can do it ourselves. I have an invite in the meet and greet section. If any So Cal board member was to come hang out with me and S'ko and help out this Saturday, PM me and I'll give you directions and my number. Food and beer or soda will be provided!

 

So other than that, anyone got any tips or tricks to share? We are planning on pulling the engine to get to it. I also plan to replace the rear main engine seal, the oil pan gasket, and the clutch cable.

 

It's a big job for me and I am a little intimidated by it, but S'ko is supremely confident that it will be no sweat. We are setting aside a time slot from 9 am to 3 pm to do the job, assuming no broken bolts, or other catastrophes. Does that sound like enough time?

 

Any advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

Best,

Crabman

Its really a simple job, you will realize when you are half way through

 

Pulling the motor is indeed the easiest method in my opinion. Your EA71 wont have much stuff to disconnect. Only tip I can recommend would be to mark ANYTHING you disconnect. You will be able to pull the motor complete with alternator, intake and everything attatched... however, make sure you pay attention to which line is the fuel supply and return for the carburator. On the ignition coil, mark which wires are + and which are -. Color coded zip ties work great for this where more than 1 wire connects to one junction.... zip tie the wires with a yellow tie, then zip and yellow tie around the post they attatch to... red to red, black to black etc.

 

If you haven't already, make sure your clutch kit comes with a centering tool.

 

You will need to lock the motor to remove the flywheel bolts (since you are planning on replacing the rear main seal). I cant remember if theres a spot on the flywheel to place a screwdriver to keep it from spinning, but usually to lock my motors I place the piston at BDC on the compression stroke... then feed some rope in through the spark plug hole... then start to rotate the motor until it compresses the rope and will not spin anylonger. Works every time

 

With an extra set of hands, this job shouldnt take more than 4 hours.

have Fun,

-Brian

Here's a tip I got from other board members a while back when i could not for the life of me get the main tranny shaft mated up to the splines on the clutch plate: leave the pressure plate loose and torque it down through the timing hole AFTER the tranny and engine are mated up. I will always do clutches this way from now on.

for what it's worth, i always do a clutch by dropping the tranny, I think most here say pull the engine.

I haven't changed a subaru clutch since high school (many moons ago) but I have done a dozen or so on other vehicles in that time. If you have the clutch alignment tool, it is a BREEZE to line up the splines. I even used a broom handle one time on a VW rabbit. I tried to tighten a clutch one time through the timing hole and needless to say, I didn't get the bolts tight enough and there was catastrophic damaged to the new clutch. The other way the whole thing can be done is spend just a little more time taking both the tranny and motor out, leave the bolts on the pressure plate just loose enough to be able to jimmy the shaft in, then slide the tranny back and finish tightening the bolts on the pressure plate. (To spec) The good part about having the motor and tranny both out..........take the opportunity to power wash everything, including the engine bay. (It isn't everyday that you have the opportunity to wash the engine bay minus the engine)!

Hey there's been a lot of great advice and recommendations so far in this thread. My kit does have the centering tool, so hopefully that will make things easier. I definitely plan on cleaning up the engine bay while the engine is out, but without access to a power washer I am just planning on using some simple green and a stiff bristle brush. I hope that will do the trick. Thanks for the advice everyone. Let me know if there is any more valuable knowledge out there.

Cheers,

Crabman

Well first off, pay someone else to do that Thats my tip

JUST KIDDING!!!! I hope it all works out for you be gentle with that clutch for the first 500-1000 miles, it WILL benifit from a gentile break in, you want it to wear in right with the flywheel so no clutch pops or severely heating up the clutch (i.e. Slipping it up a hill) But your a subaru guy, you already knew that

If you have the clutch alignment tool, it is a BREEZE to line up the splines. I even used a broom handle one time on a VW rabbit. I tried to tighten a clutch one time through the timing hole and needless to say, I didn't get the bolts tight enough and there was catastrophic damaged to the new clutch.

 

 

Not to be argumentative, but the alignment tool doesn't have anything to do with alligning the transmision shaft splines. it mearly centers your clutch plate with the pilot bearing (while you put the pressure plate over it). When i had the problem, I had used an alignment tool. I had struggled to remount the transmission all night. Loosening the pressure plate bolts enough so that the clutch plate could rotate to accept the tranny shaft was an instant fix. As far as not being able to tighten the bolts enough through the timing hole, you absolutely need to use a torque wrench on the pressure plate bolts, but if I recall, they shouldn't be very tight. Just make sure you use the specs from the FSM to torque it down and your in bussiness.

The best alignment tool is the input shaft from the sam type of tranny you have. I got mine from a blown tranny at a bone yard.

That's true on the splines. The alignment tool doesn't line them up, just the clutch plate and the pilot bearing. When the splines don't line up, you spin the output shaft (while the tranny is in gear) and it slides together. I used a screwdriver through the hole that the spring pin goes through (while pushing forward on the transmission). I'm sure there are other good ways to do it also, but I think that was the first MAJOR auto work I did. I was 16 at the time, and it was my first car. I had never worked on anything, and was on a quick learning curve. Good luck on the install! Let us know how everything goes.

 

I'll be installing a set of headers on my Nissan Titan while you are doing that clutch. I'll bet the clutch goes quicker than the headers! I actually have to remove the motor mounts on the Titan and lift the engine to get the headers on!

 

Jon

Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that it went real well, and now my Brat is back to her normal self. Never could have done it without S'ko.

 

I've tried to attach some pictures, but not sure if they are going to turn out.

 

Thanks again for all the advice. This is the biggest job I've ever done on any car.

 

Cheers,

Crabman

 

 

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?UAUTOLOGIN_ID=15433932808&collid=15433932808.549658376208.1206307390460&photoid=849658376208&folderid=0&view=1&page=1&sort_order=&albumsperpage=&navfolderid=2008

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/PhotoView.jsp?UAUTOLOGIN_ID=15433932808&collid=15433932808.549658376208.1206307390460&photoid=769658376208&folderid=0&view=1&page=1&sort_order=&albumsperpage=&navfolderid=2008

Glad to hear everything went smoothly.

 

Both those links are giving me a "Album not found" error.

 

-Brian

Things went smoothly overall. The only thing that snagged us up was that baby pilot bearing in the crankshaft. I had a hard time getting it out and ended up destroying the bearing surface and then using a dremel to grind through the bearing housing.

 

but good time were had in the SOCAL old gen scene.

 

BW

Trying again to post pictures from our awesome southern california old gen meet up and clutch change. She just drove like a dream on the ride into work today.

Good going on the clutch job! Gives you a sense of accomplishment! The first engine I ever replaced was in my brat, and when that baby fired up on the first try afterward, that was the greatest feeling!

 

Well Done:headbang: