Mustang Clutch Replacement

[quake101]

Author: W.O.T. Stang

I decided to make a clutch replacement/install guide since it's a fairly common thing most mustang owners go through at one time it their Stang's life. It's not complicated at all, and only basic hand tools and a decent socket set are needed. The only special requirements that I can think of off-hand that you will need is a 12mm 12pt wrench for removing the driveshaft bolts, and a torque wrench for torquing down certain bolts to their torque spec.
 
Also, while your in there, you should change the Pilot bearing, and possibly the throwout bearing retainer. (more on that later.) You will also obviously need the clutch kit itself, bearing grease for the throwout bearing, have your flywheel turned, 4 quarts of ATF (if you decide to drain the transmission), and it's totally optional, but there is no better time to change your transmission mount, tail shaft seal and cross member bushings along with your rear main seal that are quite prone to leaking.

Anyways, on with the install:

The first part is to obviously jack up the front and rear of the car sufficiently enough to where you will have enough room for yourself, and the transmission while it's on the ground along with enough headroom. I used heavy duty jack stands that raised the car enough to where I could sit Indian style under the car for installing the new clutch and gave me plenty of room under the car.

Allow yourself plenty of room to work

Once you have the car jacked up, the first thing that I suggest is removing the negative battery cable. Most repair books don't say to so this for no reason at all. Especially since you will be unplugging some sensors, and working around the starter area. Also, take off the shift knob, the plastic cover and leather boot, and the lower rubber shifter boot. You should also remove the shifter, that way you can fill the transmission back up easily when your done. (don't remove the shifter until your done rotating the driveshaft or you it wont be easy to put it in and take it out of gear for locking the driveshaft in place while your turning the bolts in case your parking brake doesn't work.) It will also be easier to remove the shifter once the transmission is out of the car.

Once you have the easy stuff out of the way, the next step is to remove the driveshaft. This is done with the 12mm 12 point wrench (the closed end obviously) I've found that the easiest method for loosening the bolts is to rotate the driveshaft until one of the bolts are on the bottom, put the wrench in place to where it points towards the ground, and then kick it with the bottom of your foot from the passenger side. Once it breaks loose, repeat the procedure for the other 3 bolts.

Before you remove the driveshaft, take a piece of tape or marker and mark the end of the driveshaft and the companion flange (the round piece the driveshaft bolts too) so you can reinstall it in the exact same position. If it's not installed the right way, it will be out of balance and you will have a bad vibration and have to keep rotating it until it's right again. Also, at this point you may or may not wish to drain the transmission, otherwise some fluid will come out from the tail shaft housing when you remove the driveshaft.

If you want to drain the transmission, put a 3/8's inch ratchet on the bottom right plug and loosen it to drain the fluid (PASSENGER SIDE, don't touch the one on the driver's side one.. EVER). Also, remove the plug-in harness for the backup lights, and the one for the neutral safety switch on the top left of the transmission. Then take the 7/16’s bolt out for the speedometer cable on the back left corner, and remove the clutch fork cover and disconnect the clutch cable from the fork.

Once the driveshaft is removed, your next obstacle is the exhaust. You have two options. You can either 1.) Remove the H/X pipe if the hangers are still attached to the transmission. Or 2.) Take the hangers off of the transmission once you get the cross member off and attempt to fight the transmission around the H/X pipe. I'd HIGHLY recommend removing the H/X pipe if at all possible, as it will make it MUCH easier.

The next step is to loosen the two transmission mount nuts (which are in the center of the cross member), after those are loose, then remove the nuts off of the ends of each bolt on the end of the cross member. It will take a wrench on one end, and a ratchet on the other (Remember, WD-40/PB Blaster are your friends) Once you get the nuts off, you will need to push up on the back of the transmission to remove the weight from the bolts and carefully tap them out. Be prepared for the transmission to drop a little once the final bolt is removed and the cross member drops out.

The cross member and it's two bolts and trans mount holes

For those of you who have the exhaust still on the hangers, the underlined part is for you. Those of you who have already removed the exhaust, skip to the next paragraph.

When you remove the crossmember, you will see how the mount and exhaust hanger are retained by two bolts on the underside on the transmission. Remove the mounts two bolts and drop the mount and exhaust hanger (you will see how they fit between each other) Once the hanger is free from the transmission it will give you a little more clearance and drop the exhaust down a little. It will make it a LITTLE easier to navigate the transmission out, but i still recommend removing the exhaust.

Ok, now that we have the cross member and exhaust out of the way, we can finally get to the meat of the matter (dropping the transmission)

Start by loosening the 4 transmission to bellhousing bolts. Once you get those bolts loose (don't take them out yet) get ready for the fun part. It's easy to remove a T5 by yourself, but be prepared for the weight and clear a spot for it. (it's about 75 lbs)

Loosen the 4 bolts the rest of the way and hold the tranny parallel to the bellhousing to prevent binding between the clutch splines and the input shaft, and slowly pull back on the transmission. You will feel it pop out from the clutch and when it does all you have to do is pull it out from the bellhousing and then set it on the ground. You should see something that now looks like this!

Pictures of the transmission removed showing the bellhousing.

As you can see, all that is left is the bellhousing until we get to the clutch. For the people who didn't remove their H/X pipe, you can also see how much more room you have without it being in the way.

Now that you have the transmission removed, you can check the throwout bearing retainer. This is what the throwout bearing rides and slide on when you operate the clutch. The stock piece is aluminum, and very quick to wear as will be apparent by a groove in it. If it is worn, now is the best time to change it to the steel replacement. Although it is totally optional, but recommended. Like they say, do it right or do it twice.

Picture of the old bearing retainer. If it has a bad groove it should be replaced.

New steel bearing retainer

The next step in our clutch job is to remove the starter. If I remember correctly it is secured by two bolts and one wire (depending on your year) Once the starter is removed you can begin unbolting the bellhousing bolts. A few of the upper ones may need an extension, but they shouldn't be too hard to get too. Once they are all out, pull the bellhousing off of the dowels and you'll see the pressure plate. Also remove the clutch fork from the bellhousing and "throwout" the old throwout bearing.

Begin removing the 6 pressure plate bolts from the flywheel and when you get them all loose the pressure plate and clutch disc will come off a the same time, so be ready for them. Also, its a good idea to thread the bolts back into the flywheel that way they aren't lost and easily kept in place.

Old Pressure plate front & back

Old Clutch Disc

At this point, you will see the flywheel. Whenever you do a clutch job, it is very important you remove the flywheel and take it to a machine shop that can turn it for you to make it smooth again. As you can see in the below pictures, the before and after pictures are a huge difference. Replacing a clutch without resurfacing the flywheel will tear up your new clutch, cause clutch chatter, and just be a waste of time and money for the few extra steps it takes to prevent other problems. You can see all the hot spots in the flywheel from years of use.

Before

After

Removing (and installing) the flywheel is very simple as long as you have a 1/2" breaker bar and a bar to use to hold against the pressure you put on it. Just use opposite sides for removing.

Once you get these bolts out, the flywheel is a pretty hefty little devil, and it's teeth are somewhat sharp, so be careful removing it. Also if you must remove the rear engine plate (the metal thing behind the flywheel) make sure it is put back into place before your done. Otherwise you will have to take it all apart to put it back on)

After this, you take the flywheel to your local machine shop to get it turned. While your waiting you can do the pilot bearing, and the rear main seal (optional, but also recommended)

Congratulations, your almost half-way done with the entire procedure! Take a break if you want get ready for the installation of the new clutch.

Changing the pilot bearing is not as hard as I've heard some people make it sound. I forget the exact size, but I BELIEVE it's a 13mm. You will see the pilot bearing behind the flywheel when it comes off. You can either rent a puller to get it out, or do what I did.

Take a bar of soap (any kind will do, as long as it's bar type soap) or grease (although the soap method I like better because it's not as messy) and tear off tiny pieces of soap and stuff them in the hole behind the pilot bearing. Keep stuffing the soap in as much as you can and compress it with the socket on an extension and a hammer. It will take a few minutes, but eventually the soap will have nowhere to compress to, and will start pushing the pilot bearing out. It's a very strange thing to do, but it's a foolproof method of getting the pilot bearing out. Installation of a new one if very simple, just put it right back in (after cleaning the soap out of course)

The rear main seal is another item that is not all that hard to remove. Basically what I did was took a drywall screw (or anything sharp like that) and screw it into two sides it the rear main seal. Once they were in there i just pulled them out evenly and it slipped right out. Installation of the new one is a bit harder, as you need to find something that fits over the entire seal to push it in evenly (or rent a seal installer) but once you get it in, it's done and that's all there is too it.

The only other thing I mentioned, is the rear transmission seal (known as the tail shaft seal.) If it looks worn out, then it's a good idea to replace it. Basically you just take something very small (like a SMALL flathead screwdriver) and bend the lip out and pry the old seal out. Once it's out, put the new one in place and carefully tap it into place, or find something that fits around it, to tap it in evenly, and that's all there is to it.

Reinstallation of the clutch is really very simple. Everything you did is pretty much in reverse order, although there are a few things to watch for.

The first thing is to get your flywheel back from the machine shop. As you will notice it will be nice and shiny again and ready for another clutch. It's VERY important to make sure that when you work with it, that you do not get it (or any other clutch component) soaked with grease from your hands or anything else.

So the first thing you want to do, (after your done with the pilot bearing and rear main seal if you opted to do so) is to put the flywheel back upon the crankshaft. You will notice that the flywheel will only line up one way. It's impossible to put it on wrong, because the bolt holes will not line up. Snug the bolts up and get your torque wrench out. (This is also another reminder to make sure that you have the rear engine plate on before you put the flywheel on. Or it will look like my picture below.)

Once you get the bolts finger tight, set your torque wrench to 80 ft/lbs and tighten all flywheel bolts in a criss-cross pattern. Once that is done, the picture will look like below (except with the plate behind the flywheel.) Now that the flywheel is installed, the next thing to go on is the clutch disc and pressure plate.

The resurfaced flywheel installed

In the clutch kit, you will see that you have a clutch alignment tool, which looks like this.

Clutch alignment tool

The purpose of this (as the name says) is to line up the clutch disc & pressure plate to the flywheel to ensure it's centered and even. First goes the clutch disc. Set the clutch disc on the pressure plate with the words "flywheel side" pointing out to where you can read them, and where they would be facing the flywheel.

Once you get them sitting against each other, put the clutch alignment tool through the fingers of the pressure plate, thru the center section of the clutch disc, and put it on the flywheel. Line up the bolt hole for the pressure plate (just like the flywheel, it only goes one way) and start finger tightening bolts. Once they are finger tight, set your torque wrench to 20 ft/lbs and tighten the pressure plate bolts in a criss-cross pattern. The hardest part of this is lining the pressure plate up with the flywheel. Once you get the bolts tightened to 20 ft/lbs, remove the clutch alignment tool, and your done! The new clutch is installed, now we just have to put everything back together! By now, it will look like the picture below!

The new clutch kit installed

The next piece to go back on, is the bellhousing, but first we need to lube up the new throwout bearing with high temperature (wheel bearing) grease. Spread some grease on it's inner bearing and also, put some on the bearing retainer of the transmission now, so you don't forget and your already in the grease. Once you get it greased, slide the new throwout bearing into the clutch fork, and snap the clutch fork back onto the inside of the bellhousing.

Now that the throwout bearing is ready to go, line up the bellhousing to the rear engine plate and bellhousing dowels. Once you get it lined up, start finger tightening bolts into all of the bellhousing holes. Once they are all finger tight, set your torque wrench to 35 ft/lbs, and tighten them all equally.

Now that the bellhousing is reinstalled, go ahead and put the starter back on the bellhousing and tighten the bolts down and the wire(s) for it. After that move the clutch fork in and out to make sure it's aligned properly and that the throwout bearing is seated in the correct position.

Now it's time to lift the transmission back into place. This takes a little bit of work, but really isn't too complicated. When you lift the transmission into place, you have to get the input shaft between the fingers on the pressure plate, and into the splines on the clutch disc. The easiest way I've found of lining them up, is to hold the transmission into place and put your finger in the hole where the speedometer cable connects and turn the output shaft with that until you feel the splines line up and then very easily push the transmission's input shaft into the clutch. You'll know when it goes in, because the front of the transmission will by flush with the bellhousing. Once you have the transmission lined up, put the four transmission to bellhousing bolts back in, and tighten them down.

After this, the next thing to tackle is the cross member. Line it up on each side, and then line up the two studs for the transmission mount in the center of the cross member. (Also, those of you that removed the exhaust mount, make sure you replace it before going any farther)

Once you get these lined up, put the bolts back into the cross member sides, and tighten the nuts down on each bolt (using a ratchet on one side, and a wrench on the other) After those are tight, tighten down the two center transmission mount bolts, and your done with the cross member. It should now look like this!

At this point, you will want to reconnect the two plug-in harnesses, and the speedometer cable and screw. Once those are done, the next step is to replace the driveshaft. Remember the mark we made on it earlier? Make sure they are both lined up again, and tighten the bolts. (removable loc-tite would be handy right now too, just to be sure.) Tighten the bolts by hand, and then when they are tight, put the wrench on the bolt and the go to the driver's side of the car and lightly kick the wrench with the bottom of your foot (easiest way to tighten them VERY tight) The last thing you want is your driveshaft bolts to fall out and your driveshaft falling out!

After you replace the driveshaft, the next thing you can do, is fill up the transmission with new ATF. To fill the the transmission, replace the bottom plug, and remove the top plug on the right side. Once it's removed, go above and start filling up the transmission through the shifter hole. Watch through the hole from inside for ATF to start leaking out from the top (fill) plug, and when it does, replace the fill plug, replace the shifter, and your done!

Now that the entire clutch is back on, the bellhousing replaced, and the transmission secured, the next step it to reconnect the clutch cable to the clutch fork, and replace the plastic cover. Once that is done, next is the H/X pipe. I imagine you know how that's done, so I won't go into that, but make sure you don't forget about plugging in your oxygen sensors when it's all back on.

Now that you have it all back together, double check to make sure you don't have any parts/bolts/etc left over, and that all of your connections are plugged in, and everything is secured. Lower the car and go inside the car and pull the clutch pedal towards you. This will reset the clutch's automatic adjusting system for the new clutch. (it should make a ratcheting noise, but if not don't be worried, it may have done it on it's own.) Once you do that, give it a few presses to make sure it is smooth, and not binding on anything.

Once you are sure that everything is done, start up the car and check for any kind of rattles/vibrations or anything else out of the ordinary that you didn't notice before. Put your car in gear, and then slowly engage the clutch and make sure it grabs properly. It may make a sandpaper like noise at first, but this is normal. It is just the new clutch surface wearing into the fresh material on the flywheel and pressure plate.

Once you are sure everything seems to be ok, take a quick glance under the car, just to double check nothing is loose, leaking, or hanging, and then take your car for a test drive. The clutch break-in period is very important. If I remember correctly, it is 500 miles on normal driving. Do NOT do any hard shifting, or harsh clutch dumps at all during this period. It's very important the clutch breaks in smoothly and properly or you will have what's known as clutch chatter. Which is basically where it feels like someone is shaking the entire car violently when you let out the clutch.

Once the 500 miles has gone by, your clutch should be plenty broken in and ready for all that you can give it until the time comes again!

I hope this article helped out anyone that used it. The above information is known to be correct, but there could be some small errors that may need corrected. It was written for the sole purpose of the general idea as to what the job entails.