Anyone done their own clutch?
Discussion
Looking at changing my clutch in the chimaera,will be putting in a heavy duty AP item courtesy of John Eales,I have access to a mate's 4 poster ramp which will make thing's easier,but wanted to know if there's anything to look out for,i've heard it can be done by dropping the prop and moving the box rear-wards enough to change it?
Many thank's.
Many thank's.
T5 box or LT77?
Mines a T5 and I did it at a mates with a 4 post, took way longer than I thought it would, think it was 6/7 hours by the time I drove it back out again. Rear drop links, exhaust, propshaft and then undid the bellhousing from the engine (it came out ok like that by twisting it). Get photos of how the gear stick linkage looks and study them, it's the biggest pig of the job. You have to undo most of it as the bar goes over the top of one of the chassis tubes.
Just cottoned on to what you're thinking, there's no way you can just crack the box back far enough to slide the clutch in Mr Clutch style
Edit: Think that I left the drop links attached and just removed the rollbar mounts, you need to undo something back there to get the exhaust off.
Mines a T5 and I did it at a mates with a 4 post, took way longer than I thought it would, think it was 6/7 hours by the time I drove it back out again. Rear drop links, exhaust, propshaft and then undid the bellhousing from the engine (it came out ok like that by twisting it). Get photos of how the gear stick linkage looks and study them, it's the biggest pig of the job. You have to undo most of it as the bar goes over the top of one of the chassis tubes.
Just cottoned on to what you're thinking, there's no way you can just crack the box back far enough to slide the clutch in Mr Clutch style
Edit: Think that I left the drop links attached and just removed the rollbar mounts, you need to undo something back there to get the exhaust off.
Edited by s p a c e m a n on Wednesday 26th November 19:56
The T5 box comes off from underneath with the bellhousing still attached (think I had to twist it left about 40 degrees to get it out) but you need to remove the gear linkage first, the front part has to be done blind from underneath the car and is a little more than annoying. See pics;
Linkage goes above chassis rail..
The front bolt on the bellhousing is what you have to do blind from underneath. The bolt just spins so you have to grip the shiny pole that it's attached to..
As that pole just slides into the black pipe..
If you bend the pole you're screwed.
Linkage goes above chassis rail..
The front bolt on the bellhousing is what you have to do blind from underneath. The bolt just spins so you have to grip the shiny pole that it's attached to..
As that pole just slides into the black pipe..
If you bend the pole you're screwed.
Be careful when removing the linkage. There are plastic inserts through which the bolt goes which have to be removed. I did not know this as ended up breaking them. They are no longer available.
Having done this a few times I will now remove box from bell housing in future especially if working on your own (I have done it both ways). You will need a couple of socket ujs (I used one 3/8 UJ and one 1/2 UJ and a 3/8 socket for the top left box bolt) as there is not a straight run to a couple of bolts and an air ratchet helps.
This makes access to the bell housing to linkage bar bolt much easier. A 13mm ratchet spanner comes in handy here.
No need to drain fluid just zip tie the prop to back of box as it it comes out you will get drenched.
Don't forget the 4 x 8mm bolts holding the metal plate to front bottom of bell housing.
Take a look at your fuel hose while u have bell housing off.
One for debate (I am not recommending this but it worked for me). I have a dual plate Mcleod clutch in mine which complicates the alignment as I don't have a suitable tool to align the spline of both plates, hence trying the following method (Last time I used the box itself to try and align which was a pain in the rear).
I fitted the bell housing then wedged the clutch pedal down (Making sure the release bearing was square against the clutch fingers) with the box in gear I then offered the box up, a couple of small twists and was amazed it went straight on in a couple of seconds.
Like I say, not recommending this approach and anyway aligning the single plate it easy anyway with a cheap tool, or bar wrapped in tape if like me you are a cheapskate.
Anyway, not a complicated job. I have had a bit of practice now... My box was on the floor of the garage in an hour and 15 minutes last time. I believe some of the guys here can do a clutch swap in under 3 hrs.... I would budget double that the first time around.
Good luck
Matt
Having done this a few times I will now remove box from bell housing in future especially if working on your own (I have done it both ways). You will need a couple of socket ujs (I used one 3/8 UJ and one 1/2 UJ and a 3/8 socket for the top left box bolt) as there is not a straight run to a couple of bolts and an air ratchet helps.
This makes access to the bell housing to linkage bar bolt much easier. A 13mm ratchet spanner comes in handy here.
No need to drain fluid just zip tie the prop to back of box as it it comes out you will get drenched.
Don't forget the 4 x 8mm bolts holding the metal plate to front bottom of bell housing.
Take a look at your fuel hose while u have bell housing off.
One for debate (I am not recommending this but it worked for me). I have a dual plate Mcleod clutch in mine which complicates the alignment as I don't have a suitable tool to align the spline of both plates, hence trying the following method (Last time I used the box itself to try and align which was a pain in the rear).
I fitted the bell housing then wedged the clutch pedal down (Making sure the release bearing was square against the clutch fingers) with the box in gear I then offered the box up, a couple of small twists and was amazed it went straight on in a couple of seconds.
Like I say, not recommending this approach and anyway aligning the single plate it easy anyway with a cheap tool, or bar wrapped in tape if like me you are a cheapskate.
Anyway, not a complicated job. I have had a bit of practice now... My box was on the floor of the garage in an hour and 15 minutes last time. I believe some of the guys here can do a clutch swap in under 3 hrs.... I would budget double that the first time around.
Good luck
Matt
Edited by mattrosersv on Thursday 27th November 10:05
OleVix said:
Had the box out three times, all times I found it much easier to take of the centre console with the dooropener knob/gear stick and detatch the gear linkage from there! Its a right pig from underneath, even if youve done it before.
Never done it this way myself but I know Phazed swears by it rather than at it fiddling with that linkage and those small thin thrust washers is by far the worse part of the job IMO No, as the LT77 box doesn't have the home made TVR special gear linkage. The reason for the linkage is because they made the car originally with the LT77 box, when they updated it to the T5 the gear stick was too far back so they had to make the linkage to bring it forward to the same position as the LT77. Tried to google a picture of the two boxes next to each other but couldn't find one.
lancepar said:
Can I just ask a quicky, does the chassis cross member mean you have the same hassle with removing the Sd1(LT77) gearbox. (I'm still sitting on the fence).
No chassis intermingled linkage with the Lt77 However you wont get the box and bell housing out together in one piece. As you pull the box back it will fowl the chassis before it frees. You have to free the bellhousing from the engine, then get into the bellhousing and undo it from the box, then wiggle them out seperately.
Its good fun
OleVix said:
Had the box out three times, all times I found it much easier to take of the centre console with the dooropener knob/gear stick and detatch the gear linkage from there! Its a right pig from underneath, even if youve done it before.
definately the easiest way.I had a year where i went through clutches more than i filled the tank with petrol! I had the gearbox out 4 or 5 times and the time to remove and replace the gearbox and new clutch came down to about 4 hours all in.
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