Clutch Replacement

Alright I'm bringing this thread back from the junkyard.

We're doing the clutch ourself, finally, and we started on it Friday afternoon. It's Saturday night now, and we've got everything disassembled and the only thing holding us back now is a flywheel resurface/replacement. We were planning on taking care of the flywheel earlier today, but couldn't get to it fast enough. The thing is though is that my dad goes out of town for the whole week on Monday, so if we cant find a new flywheel on Sunday, my car'll have to sit until next weekend, which isn't a huge deal though. I've got a spare.

This is what went down though:
First of all, two of the upper header-to-hpipe bolts were rusted solid, so they broke when we tried to get them off, naturally. We figured we'd worry about those later. I was thinking it'd be pretty much smooth sailing after taking out the hpipe, that is until we reached the upper starter to bell housing bolt. The bolt got completely stripped trying to get it out with a regular socket with u-joints and extensions. We ended up buying one of those craftsman socket bolt-out sets that we'd return later due to it's expense (snotty, I know), but Sears has a great return policy . Anyway once we got that bolt good and gripped onto, the head ended up breaking. I had the idea to cut through the top between the bellhousing and that dust shield with a dremel circle blade to get through that bolt enough, and it worked. Then I took care of those header bolts by drilling them out. So, about 3 Sears trips, 1 home depot trip, and about 2 days later, everything is ready for cleaning and reassembly. It's been 11 years since this all-weather vehicle had it's clutch put in, mind you . My general philosophy now is that broken bolts are to be expected...it's not something a little rust penetrator will take care of. I just hate when you need more tools to fix things while doing the job than doing that actual job itself.

Anyway, I've got a few concerns I need to address. First of all, what would be the best bolt combination to reattach the hpipe onto the headers. We tried autozone and found an exhaust bolt set but didn't look like it'd work right. Also, I took a look at the flywheel, and it feels smooth, but has a lot of dark spots on it (I don't know if you call these hotspots or what). We asked adv auto about them having a new flywheel in stock, and they had one listed but not in any of their warehouses anywere. The thing that confuses me though is that it was only listed as like 50 something dollars, which isnt much more than a decent resurface job. I'd expect the flywheel to cost at least $100. I think it'd be better to just get a whole new flywheel though. Next is torquing the flywheel bolts back up on there. They were easy enough to get off, but I'm expecting we'd need some kind of holder to put then back on their tight. What do those things look like? And finally, the rear seal is due for a replacement. I bought a cheap little seal puller thingmajig that looks like it has different hooked sides to it to kind of wedge the seal upward...I hope it works. Sorry for the big paragraphs but I just got to get'r'done.

BTW, Is Valvoline Maxlife Dextron III Auto Trans Flud (ATF?) alright for the T-5? I bought 3 quarts...and the tranny takes about 2.7, correct? What's the best way to put the fluid back in there? I was thinking I'd just put it in while it was out, and seal the tailshaft off real good with a plastic bag and tape so the fluid won't fall out during assembly.

Also, one more thing. This steal bearing retainer business is really confusing me. I know I absolutely need to put it on too, because the aluminum one is all gouged into...it looks like someone clamped a pair of big vice grips on the outside and just kept turning them...really bad. Anway, about these shims/races, whatever. First of all, I don't know what endplay means, and I'm confused as to what I measure to figure it out. Then there's the little black seal in the middle of the retainer... The steel one's seal is a little different than the old one, and is sharper on the edge of it. It's hard to push up onto the input shaft, and when it goes on, that little circular seal spring is left behind on the shaft when you take off the retainer. I'm talking about the seal in the middle of the steel retainer. Let me know what to do, thanks.

Thanks, does anyone know anything about the steel retainer?

Did you just use the shim that came on the stock retainer?

Also, can I refill the T5 from the shifter hole after it's in the car and off jackstands? I've got 3 quarts, is that enough?

Is that retainer seal removeable? I don't know, but there is something weird about the steel retainer's seal that doesn't quite fit on the input shaft right...maybe it's just me though. Where's the best way to order those shims if I wanted to get some? I'm putting everthing together this coming weekend so I'd need them by the end of the week.

Also, what are the best places to grease? I have some general purpose bearing/whatever lube thats thick and brown in color. What all should I put that on? The input shaft teeth, throwout/pilot bearings...anything else? I want to replace the rear main seal as well, but I'm afraid that if it's not leaking, I shouldn't fix it. I'd just be scared I would put it in wrong and it starts leaking with the new seal in it. If it's not broken, don't fix it, correct?

Thanks for the replies.

I just thought I'd bring this up as well... It's about the top starter bolt. It was completely fused into the starter housing and broke when trying to loosen it. The head of the bolt broke off, and when taking out the bellhousing, the lip of the starter that the bolt goes into broke. I don't know if I can rig up some kind of washer to fix that, or I if should get a new starter or what.

I made a little illustration to explain it better. The lighter part on the top is what broke off, and this is on the starter. Any suggestions?

Alright I measured what I think I need to measure and compared the two respectively.

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Old aluminum retainer

A = ~ 9.0 mm
B = ~ 15.5 mm
C = ~ 19.5 mm

New steel retainer

A = ~ 10.0 mm
B = ~ 15.5 mm
C = ~ 20.0 mm

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Is this what I'm supposed to measure? If so, would I need a shim other than the original?

ttt