Ed's DIY clutch replacement

[m666 edd]

I've been working on replacing the clutch on my NSX when I've had the spare time / appropriate weather.

With help of the service manual, some info from Kaz, Mutley's write up and a write up on nsxprime.com I started work on the job. The first thing was to get the car at a suitable height to work at. The axle stands that I have had too much of a curve to it so I got my dad to mill down the edges of the stands to ensure the weight is supported on the stands correctly by the jacking points only.

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/1%20Axle%20stand%20milling.jpg

The amount removed
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/2%20Difference.jpg

Rubber strips stuck on top to save damaging the jacking points
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/3%20Rubber.jpg

First preparations on the car:

The battery was disconnected
Removed 2x starter power lead bolts and put them back in place without the lead.
Removed top 17mm starter motor bolt.
Removed 2x slave cylinder bolts
Unbolted gearbox earth. Put bolt back in.
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/4%20Starter%20etc.jpg

[m666 edd]

Loosened the wheel bolts and jacked the car up to this height:
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/4%20Height.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/5%20Height.jpg


Managed to get the car a bit higher by putting the trolley jacks on blocks to get the car to 430mm (as high as the stands go).
Wheels removed
The first thing removed at this point was the rear engine beam (U shaped):
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/6%20Rear%20beam%20removed.jpg

Handbrake cable housing bolts removed
Rear anti roll bar removed therefore bottom bolt of shocks removed.


Camber positions recorded
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/7%20Camber%20bolt%20positions%20taken%20note%20of. jpg

[m666 edd]

Lacking some photos from here on...

Wishbone bolts removed completely and hubs and wishbones supported.
Gearbox oil drained
Passenger driveshaft removed from gearbox and end bagged
Driver’s driveshaft removed from int shaft and ends bagged

The Int shaft was stuck due to the mount being corroded due to a stainless bolt being installed upon the gearbox's last removal (presumably) so decided to remove it when the gearbox gets removed.

Gear linkage covers removed
Gear linkages unlinked and tied out of the way

Misc connectors disconnected / unbolted from gearbox.
Starter motor unbolted and removed

Gearbox supported by trolley jack
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/8%20Ready%20to%20remove%20gearbox.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/9%20Ready%20to%20remove%20gearbox2.jpg

All gearbox bolts loosened.
2 front gearbox mount bolts removed
Rear gearbox mount unbolted
Passenger side gearbox mount removed
Engine stiffener removed
Clutch inspection cover removed
Gearbox bolts removed
Gearbox prised off with 2 large screwdrivers
Clutch fork pull out of position

As the gearbox was pulled away from the clutch the int shaft was carefully removed. The int shaft and the mount were separated in a vice (don't worry rubber was used!). The corrosion needs cleaning up before re-installation.

The gearbox was move and tilted until it cleared the clutch/release bearing and lowered out of the way.
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/10%20Lowered.jpg

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/11%20Existing%20clutch.jpg

[m666 edd]

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/12%20Existing%20clutch.jpg

Pressure plate unbolted from clutch and removed along with release bearing
Friction discs and mid plate removed
Flywheel unbolted and removed from engine
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/13%20Clutch%20removed.jpg

New clutch carefully disassembled
SoS flywheel bolted onto engine with loctite applied and torqued.
Friction plate positioned with alignment tool
Gearbox splines, collar and release bearing greased appropriately
Pressure plate positioned over alignment tool with release bearing in between
Pressure plate bolts carefully installed (with loctite) in a numbered sequence with half turns and finally torqued.

http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/14%20SoS%20Clutch%20installed.jpg
*Here you can see that the release bearing was installed in the incorrect position and was not in the correct recess of the bearing. This was only discovered after the gearbox was reinstalled so the clutch ended up being dissembled / assembled twice along with the gearbox!

Greased release fork in 3 places and put into gearbox housing on retainer
Gearbox raised on trolley jack while manoeuvrings around parts of the car and aligned by eye
Some highly technical persuasion by the use of my feet and legs to get the gearbox closer to the engine until it wouldn’t move anymore and was rather solid feeling
Put 3 bolts through the gearbox ensuring equal distances between each which formed a triangle.
Gradually tightened each bolt in turn to ensure all gaps remained largely the same.
When gearbox was nearly all the way in the clutch fork was moved to the inside of the release bearing and back on the retainer. *The first time around I didn't try moving the fork until the gearbox was all on and then realised it couldn't be installed correctly due to the release bearing position.
http://www.ripper.eclipse.co.uk/nsx/Clutch%20job/15%20Clutch%20fork.jpg
A bit hard to see but this was with the release bearing installed incorrectly which caused the clutch fork not to pivot enough.

Gearbox bolts fully tightened until the gearbox was completely reinstalled flush.

I then refitted the side gearbox mount and bolts followed by the front and then rear.

I installed the slave cylinder to check clutch feel before reassembling anymore of the car. The clutch movement feels great so confident it will work correctly.

I shall continue the reassembly this weekend.

[AR]

Great write up!

[Sudesh]

Great write up!

X2! Nice work work and well done for tackling this without a lift, hope the re-install goes well for you.

[britlude]

all looks very familiar... well done!

[mutley]

It's ajob I've done on my car twince, and I hope to NEVER EVEWR have to do it agian.

Well done Ed, I hope you have the same feeling of accomplishment as I got, hopefully it's all runing well and never needing done again too.

Jim

[m666 edd]

I wrote this all rather quickly last night before sleep so probably missed some bits. Mostly copy and paste from my basic log I was keeping.

Some rough weights I recorded using some really old scales:

5kg SoS flywheel
3.5kg Tilton flywheel
11kg SoS sports clutch & flywheel
13.5kg Spec dual plate clutch & tilton flywheel

So the flywheel I've now put in is heavier than before, but the clutch overall is lighter. If I had known the SoS lightweight flywheel wasn't that light, at least compared with the existing. I probably would have paid to get a different one and balance it if I had already known. Should still be OK though I guess.

I'm just looking forward to driving the car again. This year other than a few small drives I've pretty much only been to Japfest in it and really enjoyed it with the seats I have fitted. FYI there were no problems on the MOT as he couldn't fail the fixed rails I made as the categories and choices given on the computer said something along the lines that if seat adjustment is fitted, it must be working.