clutch/bleeding
4/6/14, 03:23 PM
#1
legacy Tms Member
Thread Starter
clutch/bleeding
finally got around to putting a clutch in yesterday, was not fun... the bleeder fitting is pretty much a joke, as the line on the slave inside the bellhousing is above center...
Anways, per advice found in here, tried the 'jack the drivers side up and pump it', it helped a lot (parked on a steep bank and pumped it up), stopped and got some rubber stoppers for the mityvac pump, tried that, even better yet- so pulled back on the bank again and vacuum bled it again- seemed to get ALL the air out, nice firm pedal now.
think the vacuum alone might still leave a little in the 'trap' made by the poorly thought out line inside the bell, looking at it, no matter what inclination the car is at, either the top of the slave, the line' or the stupid bleeder fitting will always have at least one uphill spot to trap air. seems 'best' shot at bleed is a really sideways lean, then vacuum... pedal feels great again
i did notice a rubber plug in the tunnel right about above the bleeder, but didnt feel like pulling the console to see if bleed from inside might be possible.
anyone thinking about swapping clutches- expect fun getting the manifold nuts off, and separating the bell from the block- steel pins in aluminum block= lots of careful prying, and the dust shield rusted to one pin on mine, was trying to bend- fun getting everything apart when all the prying surfaces are soft aluminum. I cant imagine doing this without a lift/jack... the thing is crazy tight down there, max angle of the engine, bell hitting the firewall, the pilot still sits inside the pressure plate fingers, gotta tip it to get it out, but it has near zero clearance... I used a hyd scissor lift table with a cheap manual scissor tranny jack on it (left the wheels off), as my days of pulling a tranny out on my chest are over...last one left me sore for a week- sucks getting older, and I'm not THAT old
really the worst part was the 02 plugs at the rear of the block- very tight down there when trying to plug/unplug stuff... I fumbled around blind for literally a hour trying to plug the last one in from up top... and the bleeder is barely worth messing with. the tilting the car and pumping did a lot more- tilting/vacuuming worked great... and noone stocks pilot tools anymore- found one at Advanced, but its not worth more than its scrap value, could move the disc around like 1/4"... so sacrificed a old nutdriver to the lathe and made a tight fitting one...think the bigger dia was .875, pilot .670, dont recall/didnt jot it down...
Anyways, anyone wanting to bleed one after a clutch install, best I found was both tilt the car drivers side up, and pull a vacuum on the reservoir for a while, done
Anways, per advice found in here, tried the 'jack the drivers side up and pump it', it helped a lot (parked on a steep bank and pumped it up), stopped and got some rubber stoppers for the mityvac pump, tried that, even better yet- so pulled back on the bank again and vacuum bled it again- seemed to get ALL the air out, nice firm pedal now.
think the vacuum alone might still leave a little in the 'trap' made by the poorly thought out line inside the bell, looking at it, no matter what inclination the car is at, either the top of the slave, the line' or the stupid bleeder fitting will always have at least one uphill spot to trap air. seems 'best' shot at bleed is a really sideways lean, then vacuum... pedal feels great again
i did notice a rubber plug in the tunnel right about above the bleeder, but didnt feel like pulling the console to see if bleed from inside might be possible.
anyone thinking about swapping clutches- expect fun getting the manifold nuts off, and separating the bell from the block- steel pins in aluminum block= lots of careful prying, and the dust shield rusted to one pin on mine, was trying to bend- fun getting everything apart when all the prying surfaces are soft aluminum. I cant imagine doing this without a lift/jack... the thing is crazy tight down there, max angle of the engine, bell hitting the firewall, the pilot still sits inside the pressure plate fingers, gotta tip it to get it out, but it has near zero clearance... I used a hyd scissor lift table with a cheap manual scissor tranny jack on it (left the wheels off), as my days of pulling a tranny out on my chest are over...last one left me sore for a week- sucks getting older, and I'm not THAT old
really the worst part was the 02 plugs at the rear of the block- very tight down there when trying to plug/unplug stuff... I fumbled around blind for literally a hour trying to plug the last one in from up top... and the bleeder is barely worth messing with. the tilting the car and pumping did a lot more- tilting/vacuuming worked great... and noone stocks pilot tools anymore- found one at Advanced, but its not worth more than its scrap value, could move the disc around like 1/4"... so sacrificed a old nutdriver to the lathe and made a tight fitting one...think the bigger dia was .875, pilot .670, dont recall/didnt jot it down...
Anyways, anyone wanting to bleed one after a clutch install, best I found was both tilt the car drivers side up, and pull a vacuum on the reservoir for a while, done
4/12/14, 11:19 AM
#2
Mach 1 Member
Join Date: August 28, 2005
Location: Winnipeg Mb. Ca
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You're right about R&R the trans. I spent 2 hours trying to get 1 bell housing bolt out as the bolt head was rounding out more and more every time I tried different wrenches, sockets and extensions. One LS manifold nut hard to get at and left side trans harness clips.
The tunnel clearance was horrible for trans removal. I did the r&r on floor jacks. Trying to get the trans out was a ridiculous angle. It ended up slipping off jack and fell to floor about a foot, fortunately nothing broke. Reinstall was even worse trying to get input shaft to clear clutch fingers. I used 3 helpers to reinstall. A jack man, one pushing down on engine from top, myself and another to lift and guide front of trans into position.
I'm wondering if just cutting two cast ears off the top of the trans would have helped as they seemed to be the problem with trans to tunnel clearance. I would assume they were there for factory install or maybe trans rebuild fixture? What do they do at Ford, pull the engine and trans?
The tunnel clearance was horrible for trans removal. I did the r&r on floor jacks. Trying to get the trans out was a ridiculous angle. It ended up slipping off jack and fell to floor about a foot, fortunately nothing broke. Reinstall was even worse trying to get input shaft to clear clutch fingers. I used 3 helpers to reinstall. A jack man, one pushing down on engine from top, myself and another to lift and guide front of trans into position.
I'm wondering if just cutting two cast ears off the top of the trans would have helped as they seemed to be the problem with trans to tunnel clearance. I would assume they were there for factory install or maybe trans rebuild fixture? What do they do at Ford, pull the engine and trans?
4/12/14, 01:41 PM
#3
legacy Tms Member
Thread Starter
Ive heard lowering the rear of the subframe helps...guys with superchargers HAVE to do that, or remove the blower(which still leaves them tight as ours were).
next time I'll drop the subframe- kudos to you pulling it off with just stands- that had to be a bear of a job...
next time I'll drop the subframe- kudos to you pulling it off with just stands- that had to be a bear of a job...
4/12/14, 06:21 PM
#4
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Join Date: August 28, 2005
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Funny, I just finished reading on another site the removal of the trans lowering the sub-frame a couple of inches. Would have been nice to know before I started, lol. So much for reading the service manual. It didn't mention anything about the sub-frame.