[Magnum6464]

Well, here is my thread on my clutch bearing and clutch.

I was driving for a little over an hour when I had an issues when pressing the clutch, it was not empty but not as strong but did spring back. The issue was the clutch was not releasing and an awful squeaking sound on idle and crazy loud when pressing the clutch.

Before I start, I have to say thank you to a few people, in Blue Land Ernie whose thread on Clutch Removal is simply amazing as well as vvassallo’s. Mike (AceMaster) who spoke to me for almost an hour on the phone LD for help, advice and confirmation on a special contact (originally from Ernie). We spoke like we knew each other for years.….thanks Mike. Last but certainly not least….Daniel at RICAMBI…..damn….this guy is AWESOME!!!!! Thanks for all your help Daniel....

So I jack the car, remove the rear tires and inner covers. Then I remove the 2 bolts on each end and the two on each side right under the brake lights. Jiggle the bumper with my wife who is in shock that I’m taking a Ferrari apart and place the bumper on two lawn chair cushions.

I removed the Stebro Exhaust, remove the bottom plate under the clutch housing, then pry apart the housing and then I reverse it to expose low pressure plate fingers. I touch them and the fingers break with absolutely no pressure. Crap…..then I remember AceMaster’s post about a contact name for Friction Materials in Long Beach CA who made a plate for him and Ernie. So I give them a call and the guy there said yeah, sure no problem, send me your plate and give me about 3-4 days to do it. So shipping there and back and a few days there, I can have it in a little over a week.


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Mario

[Magnum6464]

So I call up Ricambi and make an order with Daniel over the phone. I ask some dumb questions and he helps me out like a long lost friends. Excellent service and awesome positive attitude…..So after speaking with Daniel, I remove the bearing and as I pull it out, about 2 ounces of fluid shoots out all over the floor. I remove the flange and then she starts leaking at a pretty stable flow (I have a container now under there)…..at this point I am kind of freaking out because I smell it and its gear oil… (I don’t remember reading that in the step by step process). Now I don’t know if I missed reading it or if it’s expected but at this point, I am thinking SOMETHING IS WRONG…..WTF do I do?!?!?!? I pick up the phone and call Daniel, in a relaxed, not worried voice he replies, yeah…..it does that, it’s normal, don’t worry it will stop and continues to calm me down by asking flange questions. So tomorrow I am mailing the pressure plate out.

The first picture, the grease is about 2-3-4mm all over.....You can see where I rubbed it with my finger......that doesn't look too good....


I have been working on this for 2 days and its pretty cool to be able to do this without a 2 post lift.



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Mario

[Granucci]

I applaud your attempt and it looks like it's going well. Yes Ernie and Daniel are good resources for some of this and I can see why you freaked out. Great read so far and look forward to the thread.

[Magnum6464]

Thanks Granucci….after reading posts after posts and seeing how it is relatively easy (but time consuming) to do the job, I figured I would jump in.

I like doing stuff like this, to me this is fun, frustrating at times but fun.

It will be nice to get everything back together with new parts and all. Up to now, I only encountered one problem; the 9 bolts that hold the pressure plate to the top cover are Allen bolts with a nut on the other end. Whenever I use Allen bolt, I always find a way to strip one or more. And, being consistent, I didn’t disappoint myself and I stripped 2 of them (I HATE ALLEN BOLTS).

So I placed the cover in a wood vise and used a pair of large long nose vise grips and squeezed the rounded head and took the nut off the other side with a socket. Now they will turn the other way (to crew them back in) but If I have to do this again (I hope not but who knows) It will be vise grip time again.

So I am thinking, if I have to replace 2 of them, they will not be the same weight and could cause vibration? Or should I change all 9 of them just to be sure?



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Mario

[tazandjan]

Mario- Ferraris use an annular throw-out bearing which uses the throwout bearing as the clutch slave cylinder. There are seals around the clutch shaft that prevent the brake (hydraulic) fluid from reaching the clutch itself. When you removed the thorowout bearing, the brake fluid leaked out of the system.

So one part of a clutch job will be filling and bleeding the system after reassembly, which is probably covered in the other instructions you saw on FChat.

[Magnum6464]

Originally Posted by tazandjan

Mario- Ferraris use an annular throw-out bearing which uses the throwout bearing as the clutch slave cylinder. There are seals around the clutch shaft that prevent the brake (hydraulic) fluid from reaching the clutch itself. When you removed the thorowout bearing, the brake fluid leaked out of the system.

So one part of a clutch job will be filling and bleeding the system after reassembly, which is probably covered in the other instructions you saw on FChat.

There was a splash of oil that came out when I removed the bearing and that was brake fluid (I sure hope it was....LOL). But when I removed the flange, the oil that came out of the back of the plate smelled like gear oil……


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Mario

[tazandjan]

Mario- Interesting. Did not realize that interface was wet.

[Magnum6464]

Well, not wet, it has two holes with o rings there where the fluid come out of. I should have taken a picture.....

Maybe I will tonight.....



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Mario

[Saint Bastage]

Just as a FYI...I F*ing HATE allen bolts also. I did find a little solace in a suggestion from a friend. The Allen bolts I've stripped (about 50% of the ones I've touched) have been stripped during the removal process when a lot of "un-centered" load is applied by the fulcrum effect of the wrench and the inability to keep it seated in the bolt. I have countered that by using a socket type of allen wrench on my air impact gun. It allows me to loosen it while keeping seat pressure on the allen driver. seems to have worked well so far...try it.

[Magnum6464]

I use manual allen keys.....maybe I should switch to socket types


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Mario

[tazandjan]

I have a set of metric allen sockets I picked up to work on my Dino in 1975 or so. Have never rounded out a hex head with them. Believe it or not, they came from JC Whitney when they carried some really good stuff.

[Magnum6464]

Got my oil today and my socket...can't wait to work on her Sunday.

Parts are shipped and should arrive next week from Ricambi.

Socket was $19.99
Oil is $9.71 per quart but I got it at $5.61. I asked for a cheaper price and the guy at Napa said if you by a few cases I will give you a deal. So 2 cases was enough so it was almost 2 for 1.....hehehe!!!!!



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Mario

[Saint Bastage]

Mario...why are you using 20w50? Seems very heavy for these cars. I suspect it will impact revs. I think its supposed to be 10w40 and maybe lower for Canada (5w40).

[Magnum6464]

Originally Posted by Saint Bastage

Mario...why are you using 20w50? Seems very heavy for these cars. I suspect it will impact revs. I think its supposed to be 10w40 and maybe lower for Canada (5w40).

Best oil, perfect for my 348... can't get 10w40 in a good oil and 5w40 is junk oil for 348's.....That crap burns faster than a $1000 bag of crack at a crack party.... GONE.....and in Canada in the summer....it's HOT baby....average in the summer is 30-40 degrees.



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Mario

[Magnum6464]

Wrong socket.....dont know what happened. The guy at Napa said he wasn't sure so he ordered two. I looked at one and said, looks like that one....measured it....guess I pulled a fu#$en Tim Taylor on that one.....measure once cut 3 times.

My brain said buy both....my Johnson said "you tha man....pic one and go home"

Hehehehe anyways... I will poist more pictures and 2 VERY interesting things.




P.S. For those who bought the socket based on my picture to put in your toolbox before the end of this thread before I completed the job....ummmm....damn that sucks.....HAHAHA


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Mario

[Magnum6464]

Anyways, I got some brake cleaner, bought a couple cans from two different places and started cleaning. The first can was Certified and the other was Gunk. Certified sucks……the pressure is cheap and so is the cleaning. Gunk, holly crap, it shot out like the winner of an amateur Peter North contest. The pressure was so strong that it was removing without scrubbing like a pressure washer on a wood deck. But I did have to do some scrubbing since I did not have a 20 gallon container.

I did the cleaning of the main surface with a plastic scrubber and it came off really easy. I did the small holes (starter area) with cotton swabs.



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Mario

[Magnum6464]

I was taking the clutch apart and noticed that it was taken apart before and saw that a piece was missing. Now the clutch has worked without any issues and has always been strong. So it’s going back in the same way it has been for probably 5+years.



Second, the bolts that hold the clutch plate to the cover. I could not find exact replacements so I bought new ones.



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Mario

[Magnum6464]

Wife swapped the socket for me today. I needed a minimum of 120lbs on the compressor to remove the center nut with the Civic muffler tailpipe socket.

Now, when you place the housing flat to remove the center nut……..I didn’t read anywhere that when you remove the nut that it goes upwards. I was under the impression that the flywheel would drop…..NOPE. It stays right there but the nut goes upwards. Now the problem with that is the teeth on the socket pop out of the grooves and you sit there like a retard thinking….”holy crap….this bolt is deep?!?!” but all it’s doing is NOTHING…..LOL It’s just spinning not touching the center nut……”insert curse words here because the systems blocks it”.

Now everything stays in place, so I grab a 10mm socket and place it on the center and give it a small tap with a rubber hammer and it slips right out. I pull the housing and DAMN its cruddy in there. I look at the flywheel….WHOOHOOOO…Torx screws…ahhh crap…..just as fun as Allen sockets.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to separate the housing to re-grease the flywheel.

**Why does the word flywheel in my post become an eBay link?!??!**


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Mario

[cribbj]

Originally Posted by Magnum6464

**Why does the word flywheel in my post become an eBay link?!??!**


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Mario

Very interesting thread Mario! Glad you're taking such detailed pics, too.

I've noticed those automatic eBay and Amazon links in some other posts, too. It's a program called
Vigilink that is doing that. It's an affiliate program that allows people to monetise the content on their websites. Read about it here: http://www.viglink.com/

Must be something that Andrew added with the last upgrade....

[a1exander]

Mario
Good effort in tackling the repair yourself.
The question.....why do you not use petrol or diesel with a stiff brush to clean the bell housing area?

The nut on the new bolt looks of larger outside diameter? Will that impact the installation?