2G AWD Clutch install

Disconnect the battery terminals and remove battery and battery box. I pulled off the the battery cables (the negative cables are circled in blue), and then removed a plastic tray (it just lifted right out) and then there is this metal tray with 4 bolts in it (one of which is circled in red).

Air canister and intake tube used to be where the red circle is, now replaced by some tools. The turbo inlet is green, the mass air sensor plug (if you can see it) is blue. Location where the IC pipe->throttle body hose used to be is circled in yellow.

Disconnect mass air sensor and waste gate solenoid valve wiring connectors. Remove vacuum hose pointing towards back of car off waste gate solenoid valve (this hose leads to turbo wastegate). Remove air canister/mass air sensor and intake tube that runs from sensor to turbo inlet. You might also want to remove the hose going from the upper I/C pipe to the throttle body, just for ease of access later.

The shift and select cables are circled in blue here.

Remove cotter pins on both the shift cable and select cable. There is a washer on either side of each cable connection (4 total). Remove 2 bolts from shift cable bracket on top of transaxle. Move cables toward back of engine compartment and out of the way. (This part was a bitch for me because one of my cotter pins broke off inside, and I spent about an hour trying to hammer it out with a hammer and varying size screws, eventually having the best luck by hammering one end of a needlenose pliers into the hole, and then grabbing at what little was sticking out the other end with another pair of needlenose pliers.)

Remove (3 bolts) clutch release cylinder hydraulic line bracket on top of transaxle. You can see it here in red next to the shift cables. 2 bolts on top, one underneath, which is easier to get to from under the car.

Disconnect the speedometer cable and reverse light switch connector from the transaxle. The reverse light switch connector simply unclips, but the speedometer cable is back by the rear motor mount, and that is a pain to get out. You have to unscrew a 10 mm bolt which is difficult to get to, and then you have to pull the cable out. I don't have any pictures of this, but they are the only two cables attached directly to the transmission, so they won't take too long to find, especially if you have your service manual.

Remove the transaxle bolts that can easily be accessed from engine compartment (leave one to hold the tranny in place). Remove the starter mount bolts and move the starter away from the flywheel. There are about 5 bolts holding the transaxle to the engine, all but the rearmost bolt are easiest accessed from above the car. Starter bolts were red in my car, easy to find and get rid of, once out the starter will come away from the transmission easily. It took me a while to get the starter back in place because it is so obscured by other parts (like that annoying intake).

NOTE: The starter wires do not have to be disconnected from the starter

NOTE: The cruise control cables or ABS hydraulic unit are located between the battery and airbox. They should not have to be removed.

Loosen the front wheel lugs. Don't forget this. If you raise the car before loosening the lugs, just have someone stand on the brake while you loosen them.

Raise the entire vehicle high enough to allow the transaxle to be lowered onto a floor jack and pulled from under the car while still on the floor jack (1G car pictured). NOTE - Do not put jack stands under any part of frame forward of the steering rack. Some of the frame members under the engine/transaxle must be removed. Remove the wheels.

Drain the transaxle (1G shown) and transfer case. The transfer case fluid can be left in if it was recently changed. The fluid will leak out at the rear driveshaft once the driveshaft is disconnected. To avoid this always keep the back end of transfer case higher than the front. Note the screwdriver wedged between the fender cover and the transaxle in this pic - this is unnecessary in this case, as the fender cover should already be removed. The screwdriver is useful when draining the tranny when the cover is not removed, as it keeps fluid from splashing off of the cover. (The drain plug is circled in pink, 24mm; the fill plug is circled in red, 17mm).

Remove the 2 large nuts (19mm) from the front/top end of downpipe. Remove the bolt holding the downpipe bracket to the engine block (if usefd) (14mm?). Remove 1 small bolt holding exhaust to floorpan slightly ahead of catalytic converter (12mm?), and one bolt holding a ground cable to the exhaust (10mm). You will be fighting the downpipe (green) when it comes time to get some of the transfer case bolts out of the way. You can see in red where the transfer case used to be. If you can remove the downpipe from the catalytic converter, it will make accessing the transfer case bolts much easier.

Remove the 5 mounting bolts from transfer case. Push the transfer case towards the driver's side until the splined shaft in the transfer clears the transaxle. The bolt locations (where the transfer case used to be) are circled in red. This part is a PITA, but with a screwdriver/pry bar you can force it away once you get the bolts out. If you think this is tough, wait till it comes time to separate the passenger axle.

Here I am holding the transfer case. Ironic since twingles is the one who ultimately got it out. The mounting holes are circled.

Remove "Right member" (long structural member running front to back on drivers side with tranny mount on front) - 2 bolts rear, 2 bolts front, and one through the tranny mount. Remove the "Gusset" (small triangular structural member on passenger side) - 1 long bolt on the left, 4 shorter bolts on the right. Here is the right member, sitting on the floor of my garage. The gusset is just another piece of metal that is under the transaxle.

Remove the small bolt from the bottom of the flywheel inspection cover on the bottom of the bellhousing. The cover can stay bolted to the engine block. (Note that this picture is from the 1g VFAQ, and the oil pan has been removed for an engine rebuild. You do not have to remove the oil pan to change the clutch)

Remove front wheels and "Under Cover" (Cover is located on inner side of passenger wheel well, it is plastic and covers the side of transaxle). I only needed to remove the passenger side wheel. The driver side axle comes out as you remove the transmission, but if you don't mind a little extra labor it is probably safer to get the driver's axle out before you remove the tranny. The undercover is clearly blocking the tranny, you will have to either fold it back, or remove some lower i/c piping to get it off all the way. Disconnect the lower control arm (the curved one) from the passenger side from the subframe (2 large bolts and two small nuts at the frame. The lower control arm is circled in red. IMPORTANT: DO NOT disconnect the brake hoses.

Remove the lateral control arm (the straight one), one HUGE bolt on the frame side (This one seized on me, it took me a number of hours to remove; just pray it doesn't happen to you). You will also have to disconnect the fork attached to the lateral control arm, there is one large bolt through there. The whole assembly (lower control arm/brakes/hub/drive axle) can be pulled out disconnecting the inner CV from the transaxle. Turn the steering wheel so the tie rod is fully extended towards the side you are working on. A pry bar must be used between the CV joint and the transaxle on the passenger side. If it is too hard to remove the axle, just stick a screwdriver in there and break the oil seal to pop it out, it cost me $5 to replace and I wish I had done it before I spent an hour trying to pry the axle out. WARNING: I have been told that this method will mess up your alignment, so take into account that you will need to fix that after you reassemble your car. Circled in blue is a shot of the passenger side axle after I removed it from the tranny. Man that thing was a PITA.

On the driver's side, everything is the same, except an intermediate bearing assembly (half way down the drive axle) must be unbolted from the back of engine block (2 bolts). After unbolting this bearing assembly, tap the bearing assembly slightly away from the transaxle until the inner CV joint is disconnected. If you are nimble, you can get the drivers side halfshaft out when you remove the transmission, and you can avoid messing with the drivers side suspension. In green I circled the intermediate bearing assembly bolt locations. In red you can see my (remanufactured) starter.

Remove the two bolts holding the clutch slave cylinder to the bellhousing (1G shown). Move the slave cylinder towards the front of vehicle and out of the way. It is best to tie a plastic bag around the slave cylinder to keep the pushrod and piston from coming out of the cylinder body (which will require a total bleeding of the clutch system).

IMPORTANT - The slave cylinder hydraulic lines DO NOT have to be disconnected. Do not push the clutch pedal in with the slave cylinder unmounted.

Remove the upper transaxle mount and any remaining transaxle bolts. At this point I removed 5 bolts from the upper transaxle mount, and three from the rear transaxle mount, not including the one bolt holding it in place. I also remove the front transaxle mount (two bolts: it used to be connected to the right member from step 12). I went on to disconnect the lower intercooler hoses, which get in the way when you are trying to lower the transmission, and allowed me to completely remove the passenger side under cover. Not all of this may be necessary for you, but it certainly made my life easier.

The transaxle can now be removed towards the passenger side of the vehicle. The transaxle does not have to come away from the engine block very far before lowering it down. Actually the subframe does not allow the transaxle to be moved very far away from the engine block. The back of transaxle can be pointed slightly down after it is a few inches away from the engine block. The transaxle will come out by yourself, but putting it back requires 2 people (TS- - or strong legs and tough knees). Putting the transaxle back is easier with a transmission jack. Also make sure you have a clutch disk alignment tool: $25 for a generic one, or $6 if you are lucky enough to find one specific to our cars.

Remove the throwout bearing from the transaxle and install a new one.

NOTE - The throwout bearing has a small steel spring clip holding it in place. Note its' orientation to facilitate reinstallation. Grease the inner hole of the throwout bearing lightly, and pull the clutch fork from its' pivot ball, grease the socket in the fork, and reinstall the fork.

Disconnect the six bolts holding the pressure plate to the flywheel. Remove the pressure plate and clutch disk. Be careful not to let the clutch fall on top of you. I was sore for a week from where it landed on me. That and I got covered in clutch dust :P

Remove the 7 bolts holding the flywheel to the crank.

Ok this is much easier with an impact wrench of some such tool, but if you can wedge a wrench in between the flywheel teeth and some solid part of the car you can keep it from moving long enough to put a breaker bar on it. Just make sure you are using 6 point sockets, or else you will end up stripping a bolt just like I did :~(. I had to buy a hand held grinder just to get that damn bolt off. Once you have taken everything apart, putting things back together is relatively simple. The following is a suggestion from Tom Stangl on how to get the flywheel bolts off:

This is made much easier if you get some strap steel and drill two holes in it. Bolt one end to one of the pressure plate mounting pads, and one to the block. You may have to bend the strap to get it to fit right. Shown is the tool I made out of 3/16" strap steel, which is overkill for a single clutch install, but I use it for many installs.

IMPORTANT - The flywheel should be resurfaced to ensure correct seating of the new clutch assembly. The flywheel is stepped (the height of the pressure plate mounting pads over the clutch pad surface) and should be cut on the clutch seating surface and pressure plate mounting surface the exact same amount if using a stock clutch. This will insure pressure plate finger travel will remain at the original level. If using an aftermarket clutch, use the step height recommended by the manufacturer. This is extremely important with CenterForce Dual Friction units.

While the flywheel is off, now would be a good time to check the crankshaft end seal for leakage, and to see if it is dried out and stiff. If it is stiff, you might want to change it, though that will require removing the oilpan. Better to change it now than maybe have it leak all over your new clutch.

Reassemble in reverse order. Torquing all bolts is important, but flywheel and clutch assembly bolts MUST be torqued properly and Loc-Tite applied to them.

When installing the flywheel, use the tool you created when removing it, or put a 1/2" ratchet or breaker bar in the crankshaft sprocket. Then use LocTite on the flywheel bolts, snug them all down, then torque them in steps, alternating every other one, until you reach the specified torque (90 6bolt flywheel shown - 7 bolt is similar, just tighten the next bolt that is farthest from the one you just did that hasn't been tightened already - just like bolting rims on a car).

When installing the clutch disc and pressure plate, buy the $5-10 plastic clutch pilot tool, hold the disc against the pressure plate lightly, slip the tool through the pressure plate into the clutch disc, then place the assembly against the flywheel. Slide the pilot tool into the hole in the crankshaft to align the clutch disc. The rotate the pressure plate until the holes for the mounting bolts and locating dowels all line up, and press the pressure plate onto the locating dowels. Then hand tighten the pressure plate bolts. When torquing the pressure plate to the flywheel, make sure to tighten it down in steps, alternating bolts in a star pattern (just like the flywheel, but much lower torque) to avoid warping the pressure plate. Tighten down in multiple steps until the bolts pull the pressure plate down to the mounting pads, then torque the bolts in a star pattern also.