ok so it seems the clutch is in need of a replacement
getting that clutch burning smell but no slippage.... have adjusted and seems to be better but hey might as well do it
car has 245,000kms and no idea when it was last change

few questions ( it has been at least 18 yrs since i changed a clutch and that was on an XE! )


1.getting a kit from the local Auto 1 its a clutch pro kit are they any good?

2, need to get my flywheel machined WHERE? and roughly how much?? ( got a quote on a replacement of over $500, this was to minimize the turnaround time and to get the job done in a day ) I could buy one froma wrecker and get that machined instead if so should i get it lightened?

3, replacing the rear main seal and throwout bearing, and clutch cable should i do the spigot bearing??? or leave it?

4, anything else?

do i need like 5 mtrs worth of socket extensions?

getting myself a clutch alignment tool for like $10 to save *#%*#%*#%*#%ing hassles

the job seems pretty easy just a PITA

cheers guys and gals

yeah something like 5mtrs.....

i have that $10 or so tool [plastic version] ..... too much play in it with the spigot i'm using

hava clutch alignin tool from years ago i'll get machined ta fit [altho they did frukc up the last job i gave em!]

Hey, nice tits
(just in case you have not heard that one before...)

Biggest pain in the a*** is the 13mm bolts holding starter motor in.

I have done this job three times entirely by myself... It goes like this (for me...)

• Get front of car over the pit as far as possible to still allow access at front bumper. Unfortunately the pit is not long enough (by about two metres) to reach the driveshaft to differential bolts. Four of the f**k. Sometimes they need CRACKING.
  
• Jack the back of the car up as high as you can and put axle stands under the car body in suitable place so as you do not crush your tits when the car falls on you later.
  Slide yourself under the a** end of the car and head first up to diff where you will need two large ring spanners (work best), one of about 15.3mm and the other about 17.1mm. I think these are actually imperial sizes and the spanner set I use using was imperial and worked perfectly. They are long spanners and you have to crack those nuts by fighting against yourself. Originally, when me and NZEA cracked the nuts on the wagon I had a three foot bar and was hanging off it, whilst he had similar and was hanging off it. Mind you, 300,000km on the clock and never been opened before....!
  
• Once the back of the driveshaft is lying on the ground you can leave it there and reposition to the interior of the car where you should remove the shifter. If you have after market "short throw" or similar you may need to remove this mechanism as well as the shifter (can be removed in one piece).. Try not to drop any little bits of crap into the top of gearbox....
  
• Get under the car and since you're probably unfortunate enough to have a cat converter, work out where the best place to take the exhaust apart is. The connection in front of centre muffler is good. Undo the two 15mm or 17mm bolts holding the gearbox cross member in. Depending on your driveshaft (original manual or auto) there may be a balancer at the front. This will, in my circumstance, prevent you from fully removing the driveshaft from tailhousing as it hits on the tunnel under the centre console before the spline is released.
  
• You may wish to remove thermo fans, but don't bother if you're at all clever. Take the cross member bolts out and be careful - Gravity is stronger than what you think. The gearbox tail end will fall about six inches quite damn rapidly. Unless you have a nice jack under it to hold it there whilst you go have a Pepsi.
  
• About this point in time you will want to have the spare bit of driveshaft that you prepared earlier so that you can remove the big driveshaft and plug the back of the gearbox with the sawn off front from another (auto, manual, same spline...) Either that or use a 8mm hex socket allen key thing to remove the oil drain plug from right hand side of T5 and drain oil first.
  
• Now the gearbox has pulled itself down at the back you can get at the bolts holding the box to the bellhousing and the bellhousing to the donky thing. I have found a universal joint coupling with a spring around it (or a few turns of selotape) on the end of a one foot extension to be ideal for this. Once you have the four gearbox bolts out, you should be able to remove the box. Warning - 37kg may not sound like much, but if you are not prepared for it, it can be a fright.
  
• With the gearbox out, the motor will fall forwards again (or from your view underneath the car, UP). To prevent this use a spare socket handle, hunk of wood or old set of pliers. What you can do is push this into the gap between the firewall (drivers side foot well) and the exhaust pipes. This will hold the motor DOWN at the bellhousing, making your job that much easier.
  
• The selotape universal joint on the one foot extension now will work amazingly well to start removing bellhousing. However, you will (may) need longer extensions. The ones up the top are not to be missed. But you can leave one or two out when you put the bellhousing back on. Seriously WTF.
  
• Obviously having nice tits as your avatar d**k that you're a clever chappy, so you would have worked out some way to unclip the clutch cable yourself by this point and removed the plastic clutch cover bit from the bellhousing.
  
• Once ALL the bolts are out the bellhousing you may not removing the bellhousing. Guess what? The starter motor is bolted in from the other direction. Starter motor has two 13mm headed bolts holding it in. It's a c nt to do yourself. Who put the BBM, coil pack and oil pressure sender there anyway? d***head. The bottom 13mm bolt is easy enough, but the top can be a mission. I found a three inch extension with 13mm socket on end could be got into position from under car and then another two or three foot extension could be attached to that and so you end up cranking the thing from the front of the engine bay. Just be careful not to break the oil pressure sender if you have one (delicate plastic thing on the EF / EL, not sure about the AU)
  
• Unlike me, your clutch is probably not held to the flywheel with old interior dash board mounting bolts, but you should find you can crack them and remove the clutch pressure plate without much problem. These bolts are handy, as the holes through the flywheel go the hole way through. Yes, I know I spelt "hole". Hahahah. It is part of my wicked sense of humour that Mad2 tells me I have. Funny ay bro?
  
• This is a Fiendishly simple invention, but you can use one of the clutch bolts to stop flywheel from turning by screwing it into the engine side of the flywheel .. When the flywheel turns the bolt will hit on a nice bit of metal and stop.it of metal and stop. Don't bother putting the stupid extra bolts holding the sandwich plate back in when re-assembling either actually... Seriously, WTF Ford?!!!!
  
• Cracking the six bolts holding flywheel in is then possible. 17mm I think? Maybe 19. What the f uck.
  
• Spigot bearing is possible to get out without flywheel removal, but go get the flywheel machined. Spigot bearing can be smashed, bent, crushed, or otherwise f cked up. Amazing how much abuse they take actually. You do not need a Ford original part or tool. BNT will sell you a bearing of exactly the same dimensions for $15. Tap that in the back of crank with a using woody wood pecker hammer lite 2.0. (Also could be a good time to find a 6 or 8mm socket and have a think about replacing the rear main seal of engine too? Just an idea. But I am getting bored already.)
  
• Take your parts list and bugger off to get the parts (or use your pre-purchased items, Australian style, not bush Kiwi style)
  
  Insert commercial break here
  
  
• Start putting s**t back together. You would have notice the wiring loom for the gearbox and a few other bits floating around that aren't listed. I have found it useful to leave all that crap hooked over something handy, like water pipe or fuel line and leave it all there along with clutch cable etc etc etc
  
• Set your hamster to "fast" on the hamster wheel in your head and everything is simple enough. The flywheel has NOT come back from the machinists with the holes in the wrong position. The holes only line up in one position. Following some sort of pattern, tighten them up. Don't tighten up one, and then the next, and then the next. Do a crazy cross over pattern. Like doing up wheel nuts.
  
• Use locktite if you want.
  
• Do similar when doing up the six bolts to hold your clutch on. Hopefully the hamster upstairs is still going strong on that wheel and you've removed the bolt from the opposite side of the flywheel by now.
  
• Clutch alignment tools are stupid. If you *really* have to (and it does make things a little easier I guess) use an old T5 input shaft and throw that in the hole before doing up the clutch pressure plate properly.
  HINT - You *so* do not need to align the clutch at this point. Close enough is good enough.
  
• Put bellhousing back on. A little teeny weeny bit of locktite on a couple of bolts is not a bad idea to be honest. About this point it is a good point to go play with the missus for a while in preparation for the starter replacement. Good luck with that. Do not get the top bolt threaded. Good luck with that too.
  HINT -Another Fiendish plot... Purchase a stud (thread) the same as the bolt and put the thread into position before starter motor goes back in. Then you can just put starter motor over the studs and put suitable nuts on, thus making life easier for ever. Seriously, WTF Ford?!
  Anyhoooooo....
  
• Make sure that the little red wire with the clip on the end is still connected to the starter housing.
  
• Now you can reconnect the clutch cable to the clutch fork. This is a good idea. Especially if you have a friend handy or a nice block of wood to hold the clutch pedal in against the firewall.
  This, dear friend, allows you to put the gearbox into position without the use of a bloody stupid alignment tool. You stick the front of the gearbox in the hole, give it a wiggle and lean forward on it slightly. Of course, I had a spare input shaft or two so the clutch was perfectly aligned this time. But the last three times I did not have a spare input shaft or the spinning hamster wheel to rely on.
  
• Can I please recommend, good sir with the tit signature, that use of a little locktite on the four bolts holding the gearbox to the bellhousing is a good idea. Avid readers of my blog will remember how my previous T5 install was hitting on opposing sides of the drive tunnel when going from power to compression. Turns out one bolt had gone forever and the other three were only held in by the skin of their teeth and the T5 had moved a good 12mm away from the bellhousing resulting in clockwise and anti clockwise motions in corresponding positions to the throttle position.
  
• About this point in time it pays to put the driveshaft back in the end of the box before taking the "holdie downie device" out and lifting box up back into position and bolting exhaust back together.
  HINT - If there are signs of driveshaft rubbing on tunnel at suitable points along driveshaft (ie - driveshaft is polished or looking otherwise lathed) you may wish to consider putting a 3mm washer on each side before putting the crossmember back up. This will lower the back end of the gearbox giving slightly more clearance. I know AU roads have no real issues compared to our goat tracks, but occasionally you must have hit a bump at high speed and cringed? Maybe? Maybe not.
  HINT TOO - Long ago having worked out that a red high temp gasket maker silicon IS FRIGGEN AWESOME, I have thrown away the silly little stamped gasket at this point of pipe work and also have thrown away Fords bolts. Got some stainless bolts and nuts to suit as was entirely sick of dealing with hard to remove pipe components. Have never looked back. Just make sure to use HIGH temp gasket maker gunk and use a bit extra to make sure. This will act as locktite on the 316 SS bolt and nut.
  
• Remember to do up the driveshaft to diff bolts. And CRANK those bastards. Even with locktite I have managed to undo them with a few weeks of wearing out old tyres. This resulted in a bit of a balance issue with the driveshaft, that ended up vibrating its way through the rear seal and bearings of the original T5. At least I learnt.
  
• Put the shifter back on, if you didn't use the "not bothering to align the clutch" process you may want to adjust clutch pedal position via 15mm open ended spanner next to brake booster.

Do not buy a five puk clutch unless you want to draw attention of every f**k wit in the country.

I do not take responsibility for any process, product or concern therein. Following any of my advice is considered fool hardy by those in the know. Take one look at my own car. Would you trust me? Seriously?

And there it is. 2222 words. Post number 3641. Not long until 3666

cheers feind

helpfull!

almost tempted to take it to the mech to do it

but i really want to do it

You'll be fine mate. Just have a mate / wife / school kid within shouting distance to hand you the tools when you need them.

thats the issue i got no one to help me
dad's out as he working, g/f has work do, sis has no idea what a socket is and her bf can barely speak english but he is BIG mmm

kinda need to do it on thursday night as i can get dad to take the flywheel to get machined on friday
then have fri night and sat arvo to install...

As long as you have the car at a decent height / a pit... You will manage. Set aside a decent amount of time though. Don't know if "thursday night" is going to do it for you... You might have to ride that bike of yours for a day or two....!

yer the plan is remove thursday night and refit friday

yer will have to pull the monster out of the shed and ride it
which is PITA as my wrists are f**k!

gah might be easier to pay a mech $500