Jesus-Ninja
05-03-2012, 08:57 PM
OK, I promised I'd write this up, so here it is/ I apologise now for the absence of pictures, and for the fact that this is being done entirely from memory, but hopefully if you use this in conjunction with other guides kicking around on the forum, you should be able to avoid some of the pitfalls I fell into. Comments, errors, omissions and corrections gratefully received!
Before we go any further, some credits are in order: Nick Mann for his knowledge and repeated responses to my questions. Nutter_John for his insights, particularly regarding the removal of the clutch from the fly. dickytim for his original thread which we used as the basis for this.
I have added Nick Mann's comments in line with my guide.
For clarity: My task was to remove the stock pull-type clutch and replace it with an after market push-type twin plate intended for an Evo.
Time: I would seriously allow a good two days for this if it's your first attempt. As with all things, once you've done it, it's a lot less daunting, but the first time round there is the potential for a lot of head scratching.
Disclaimer: This is what I did / how I would do it in the future. It is not an official Mitsubishi way, and I am not responsible for any damage you cause to yourself, your car, or anyone / anything else. Bear in mind that I had access to a pit, air tools, warmth, readily available hot drinks and a willing friend. The absence of any of these will invariably make the task more arduous. This is a reasonably advanced job, but I will do my best to aim this at the lowest common denominator (ie someone like me!).
Notes: i) I have used the expressions "passenger side" and "drivers side". Some folk get confused with NS and OS, and left and right can be just as confusing, depending on which way you are looking at things. If you are a NS / OS purist - tough. :) ii) There are other gearbox removal threads. read them ad get a more rounded view of the world iii) If you get stuck, don't curse me, but do search and ask on the forum. A lot of what you read in hear is what I gleaned from asking and looking.
Finally: PLEASE read this all the way through first, rather than getting half way through and realising that the next step isn't for you, or you don't own a 14mm socket or whatever. Also, read the posts that follow, as brighter folk than me will undoubtedly add, correct and suggest alternatives.
1) Before raising the car, crack off the front wheel nuts. If you have access to the front hub nut (the large one one that holds the driveshaft onto the hub - it sits in the centre of the hub facing outward. It is castellated with a split pin) on the passenger side with the wheel on the car, then also loosen this: remove the split pin and crack it off. You'll need a large breaker bar and what I seem to remember being a 32mm socket. If you can't access it or the split pin with the wheel on, then you may have to jack up the front, remove the wheel, take out the split pin, pop out the centre of the wheel, put the wheel back on, drop it down, and then crack the hub nut off. If you can't do the above, then you need to get creative - eg put another wheel on (spare / space saver), make up a bar that will bolt onto the wheel studs, get someone to stand on the brake, or get the other three wheels on the ground, handbrake on and stick it in gear.
I don't remove the driveshafts from the hubs. It often takes a long time to get them to release, and I find it doesn't make the job much easier.
2) Jack the front of the car up as high as you can get it. Done it? You need to go higher. ;) We used a pit, which was great for access, and actually you don't need ludicrous amounts of lift to clear the box (I had my front bumper off for another job, so I reckon this may have helped us out), but use your loaf, and perhaps a tape measure. It's also worth noting that on the occasion when we had to put boards back over the pit for something else we found that the gap we had left, albeit enough to clear the box, was hideously cramped for working in if you were intending to do it entirely on your back. When the car is in several pieces, the last thing you want is to realise that you need to raise it further.
3) Take the front wheels off - you can stick these under the car for some added security in case things go pear-shaped.
4) Remove the radiator. I've seen it written that you can get away with just removing the fans, but to be honest it's as much bother to remove the fans as it is to pop the hoses off and undo 4 bolts. It will also give you a bit more room and remove an easily damaged item. Drop the bottom hose off first with a bucket underneath and catch the coolant. Pop the rad cap off - this will help it to flow out. Then pop off the other hoses. Remember, when removing hoses, to "push" them off (large flat screwdriver etc) rather than "pulling" them off which can damage them. Undo the electrics to the fans - it's the one big grey connector that goes into the passenger side fan, near the bobbley aluminium heatsink thing. We are now ready to clear the area above the gearbox.
I drain the rad through the radiator plug, then remove the two hoses at the block end and remove the whole rad with the two hoses. That way it doesn't matter if there is a bit of coolant left in the rad - it needs to rise a long way to get out of the lower hose if it is still attached!
5) The inlet system: Airbox, MAF and turbo inlet hoses need to come out. All joined together with jubilee clips, but also bolted to the block and box in places.
6) The two gear selector cables need to come off. They are attached with some funny split pins that are guaranteed to ping off somewhere, so have some spares ready (or split pins should also be OK - I hope so, as that's what I used!). The two selector cables are mounted onto a bracket - this should come off too (2 x 12mm bolts, IIRC).
I have seen at least two and maybe three different ways that the gear selector cables are attached to the brackets on the box. You may need to have a good look to work out how to release them
7) The clutch pipe work needs to be removed as well. From the slave cylinder to the damper (I think that's what it is - the square ally thing that's bolted down with the slave to the gearbox. I ditched mine anyway :) ) is hard pipe, and then from the damper to the bracket which picks up the flexipipe is also hard pipe, so care is needed to not bend or damage it. What you'd do with this is difficult to say, as in my conversion, I had to turn the slave cylinder the wrong way round, which renders the stock pipe work useless. For that reason I threw away everything from (but excluding) the flexipipe to (but excluding) the slave cylinder. If you are going to retain this gubbins, then I suggest unbolting in this order: Unbolt the bracket on the gearbox that the flexipipe ends on, then unbolt the slave cylinder and damper (the two are sandwiched together), pull it out of the way and leave it stashed somewhere safe, but still connected. Alternatively you can disconnect the flexipipe and reconnect it later, but you'll have to bleed it. Probably not a bad thing, as the fluid could be as old as the car.
As you suggest, leaving the clutch pipework intact and just swinging it out of the way is the way forwards. Bleeding a clutch system from empty is tricky without a vacuum bleeder.
8) There are a couple of electrical connectors - one is on the bracket that holds the gear selector cables, the other goes straight into the top of the box.
9) I think that's it for the top, but use your brain and make sure that everything that needs to be removed from the gearbox is detached, and nothing is caught. Now for the underside.
10) Remove the cross member. The naming of this had me fooled in another guide, as there is a cross member which runs across the car (the steering rack is attached to it). It is NOT this one. The piece to be removed runs front to rear and has the towing eye attached at the front. There are 4 bolts - two at the front and two at the back. Undo these, and the piece will hang on the front engine mount. Undo the bolt through the mount and remove the cross member. Now, also remove the bracket on the gearbox that the engine mount picked up on. On mine, the loom for the starter motor ran behind this.
11) Remove the down pipes: Take out the lambda sensor from the pipe (22mm spanner is best - it's a bit tight for a proper lambda socket), and then it's 2 bolts on each turbo and two bolts into the cat. Undo these and the down pipes will hang on a single hanger. Don't be a hard man trying to pull the rubber off the hanger. A 10mm spanner will save you the effort.
I pull the lambda sensor cabling through to the underside of the car - if you are lucky the multiplug follows the rubber grommet as you pull it all down from the floor. One multiplug and a rubber grommet are usually easier than a potentially rusted in lambda sensor.
12) Drop the gear oils. There should be about 3L in the gearbox and maybe between a litre and a half a litre in the transfer box.
13) Now remove the front section of the prop. There are 4 bolts that connect it to the next section. You'll find that there will be at least one that is hard to access. You'll need to jack the rear end of the car to clear the back wheels off the ground so that you can turn the prop. In theory it should be possible to lift just one rear wheel, as the AYC diff is essentially an open diff, however I have a towing point which is an excellent place to jack from and lifts both wheels squarely. Once unbolted, the prop can be dropped down and extracted from the transfer box. It's useful to have a container here to catch what will run out of the tail of the transfer box whilst you get on with the next tasks.
I don't undo the prop any more. As I lower the transfer box I slide it forward from the prop, leaving the prop supported on an axle stand.
14) Unbolt the front lower suspension arms from their inner most points. To be clear, these are the straight lower arms, which sit in front of the crescent shaped lower arms. They are the ones with three joints in them: They pivot, inboard, on the big cast iron cross member (the cross member that actually goes across the car ;) ), the shock / strut fork connects to them in the middle (actually, quite close to the outer end), and then at their outermost end, they have a ball joint into the hub-carrier / knuckle. The purpose of disconnecting these is to give the suspension enough play to pop the front driveshafts out of the gearbox.
15) Pop the driveshafts at the inner ends. Don't pull them! There's nothing retaining the inner CV joints aside from the geometry of the suspension and the CV boot. Get a block of wood up to the end and knock them outward. Be ready with rags etc as you may lose some gearbox oil during this. Hang the drivers side driveshaft up out of the way with some wire or cable ties - it's not good to let it hang in it's joint. The passenger side joint must be removed completely. To do this, undo the hub nut which you slackened at the beginning. Now undo the bolt which attaches the fork on the strut / shock to the front lower arm - this will give you the room you need to pul the drive shaft out. The driveshaft will be tight in the bearing, so hit it hard but with great care: You can either put a block of would over it and then hit that with a lump hammer, or put something harder on that will only bear in the middle of it - eg a 1/2" drive socket extension, and if you really have to, you can put the hub nut back on so it sits 1/4" proud of the threads and hit the hub nut directly, but NEVER the threaded end of the stub axle.
I don't remove the driveshafts from the hubs. It often takes a long time to get them to release, and I find it doesn't make the job much easier.
16) Now we can take out the transfer box. You may ask the question "Why can't I take the whole gearbox out?", to which the answer is "you just can't". There's gearbox to block bolt which is obscured by the transfer box and besides the gearbox is heavy and awkward enough as it is without the transfer box adding to it's weight and bulk. There are 6 x 17mm bolts holding the transfer box to the gearbox - 3 top and 3 bottom. I've seen one guide that claims there are 7. We spent a long time looking for the mythical 7th bolt. It isn't there, and there was nowhere for one to go. All of the botls are accessible from the driver's side, under the car, using a variety of extension bars for the top ones - once you've got each one sussed, they're actually quite easy. Remember what you did, as you'll need to do the same when refitting. There are 5 bolts the same length, and one which is longer and it's obvious where this one goes, so you can just bag them up together. Once the bolts are out, there are two schools of thought on removing the transfer box...
I do 16b before I do 16. If the transfer box moves before you get the layshaft out, then the layshaft might not want to come out!
16a) The first is to simply thug the thing out: unbolt it and pry it until you wish you were dead and that you'd listened to the other way. Be warned though, trying this way and then changing your mind has it's perils because if, after trying it, you regret it, you then have to get it all the way back on before you can try the other method, which can be even harder that getting the thing half way out in the first place. If you do get it half way out, and then can't get any further (as we did), and decide you want to go back to where it was, a couple of G-Clamps, one top and one bottom, nipped up in parallel, will draw the box back in. I'd advise against trying to use the bolts, as there will possibly not be enough turns to get the bolt to bind without stripping the threads in the ally casing.
16b) The second (and what we ultimately did) is to pull out the shaft that runs through the transfer box from the passenger side driveshaft. Looking in the passenger side of the gearbox, you'll see where you took the driveshaft out. There is an 8mm thread in there. Attach a slide hammer to this and extract the shaft. Put it somewhere safe and then gracefully remove the transfer box. It's heavier than it looks mind (although after you've lugged the gearbox around, this will seem like child's play)
17) Remove the starter motor - two bolts easy peasy. It's tempting to disconnect the electrics, but my advice is to tie it out of the way, rather than risk trashing the motor by breaking a terminal off.
18) Now the rear engine mount - ie the one nearest the bulkhead. A single nut and bolt runs through the middle (14mm at each end) - rocking the engine on the remaining two mounts will help when extracting the bolt. The bracket for the mount is bolted to the box with 3 bolts (14mm?). Take this off too.
19) You may want to consider, at this point, removing the lower gearbox to block bolts (see point 23 below), as once you drop the lot down, you'll have less room, and possibly a jack or axle stand in the way.
20) This next step may require some creativity on your part. I have an engine crane, which is the easiest way to do it. If you don't have one, then you could use a jack, but it doesn't offer the same flexibility, IMHO. Support the gearbox with your crane / jack, and take up the load on the box. On the passenger side gearbox mount, undo the four big nuts/studs that hold the mount onto the box. You may get the nuts off, you may get the studs out. I don't think it matters. Now drop your crane / jack down a touch to take any load off the mount, and undo / remove the single nut and bolt that runs through the middle of the mount / bracket. We called this bolt "chalky" because it was all white and chalky. Maybe yours will be too!! :p Drop the lot down further and remove the engine mount.
21) Swing the whole lot as far forward as you can on the one remaining engine mount and drop it all down. You are looking to be able to get the rearmost part of the gearbox to clear the large cast iron crossmember (the one that goes across, remember?) You should probably support the engine underneath with an axle stand / block of wood, so that you don't strain the engine mount too much. I didn't, but then I was pretty hacked off by the time I came to do this the second time in 24 hours...
22) So, I believe we are now ready to remove the gearbox. Being a pull type, the clutch is attached to the release bearing which is also connected to the fork, which of course is attached to the gearbox. The trick here is to somehow break the chain of engine / flywheel / clutch / bearing / fork / gearbox. There are three options (hint - go for option c)...
22a) Under the gearbox, next to the sump, there is a little rectangular inspection cover held on with a 10mm and a 14mm bolt (the 10mm locates the plate, but the 14mm is one of the bolts that hold the box on the block) - take this plate off and you'll be able to see, as you rotate the flywheel (another hint - a 1/2" drive into the other end of the crank works a treat (but remember to only turn it clockwise, lest you risk loosening the nut!) 6 bolts which are a 10 pointed star. These hold the two piece flywheel together. You'll need a special tool, or bodge something (eg weld a nut on to each, chip them round with a chisel, cut them off, wish them away etc). None of this is appealing, and the mitsi manual says this should never be done as the two halves are balanced together. Why you would do this, when you see option c, is beyond me.
22b) I think this might be the "proper" way of doing it - legend has it that with some clever poking around, either through the round inspection hole in the bottom of the box (covered with a big rubber grommet) or through the hole from which the clutch arm sticks out, that you can disengage the release bearing from the clutch. Having looked at the set up off the car, it's not clear exactly how this works, so "having a go" when you're effectively working blind, having never seen it in the flesh, is simply madness and will waste a lot of time and potentially damage something. Besides which, you still then have to slide the input shaft on out of the clutch, which if not done correctly, can damage the bearing in the gearbox.
I do 22b, but the first time you try it having not done it before it is a right royal PITA. It does get much easier with experience, and also if you have new stuff to play with on the floor to see what needs doing before you try it through small holes into a dark bellhousing!
22c) Many thanks to Nutter_John for this little pointer. In a similar fashion to version "a)" of this step, you can, through the window the clutch arm sticks out of, see the 6 x 12mm bolts which hold the clutch pressure plate onto the flywheel - again, turning the crank, each one of these can be undone - it's a bit tight, and I had to modify a tool to get to them: a deep 12mm 1/4" drive socket with a bit but off the end. A little 1/4" breaker with an extension to crack them and then a little ratchet to undo them. I had a magnetic pick up tool at the ready as well, for fear of dropping one and it wedging something.
23) The only thing holding the box on now is 9 (IIRC) bolts which take a 14mm socket. If you've already removed the inspection cover in 18a) then you'll have 8 left. You may have already removed the lower bolts, as advised in step 19. Having spent a long time looking for a transfer box bolt that wasn;t there, we then managed to completely miss a gearbox bolt that was. This bolt is now known as "The bastard bolt" - it sits on the top of the gearbox, on the RHS as you look over the passenger side wing. There's a bulge in the gearbox belhousing, as if in some other configuration a starter motor might go there. The fella is hidden next to this. Having removed them, it's worth arranging your bolts in a way that lets you readily identify where they came from, as there are a few variations in length.
24) Aside from some prying, tapping and grunting to get the box off the dowels, it should be fairly easy to remove and will then swing / balance on your crane / jack. It's worth noting the angle of dangle, as you may need to lower the box as it comes out. The first time round, we didn't actually use a crane or a jack, we stacked up boards with a final layer of 25mm polystyrene so that the box didn't have a drop, and pushed it off. This may be easier than trying to drag the box on a trolley jack over uneven ground. Once it was off I lifted it, as Mark pulled each board out, until it was on the deck.
25) Now you can drag the gearbox out and study the madness of a pull clutch. We never did work out how on earth you remove the clutch, and opted for angle grinding the fingers out of the diaphragm and proceeding from there. Maybe someone else can offer a more elegant solution?
26) If you are changing the flywheel, then you'll need to remove the old one first (obviously...). It has 7 bolts which are a weird sort of 16.5mm - basically, a 17mm socket with a bit of play. An air impact gun will shift these, or alternatively a breaker bar, but to use a breaker bar, you can't use someone else at the other end of the crank, as you risk loosening the crank sprocket. You could make a metal bar with a couple of holes, which bolts to adjacent holes (the holes that the clutch bolted to) to brace the flywheel, or you could make a little plate, as per the manual, to bolt the flywheel to the block, or you could jam the teeth in the ring gear. The flywheel will come off with some shims behind - if you are replacing with an evo clutch, you don't need these. NOTE: At this point it's worth considering replacing the rear crank oil seal. It might be fine, but it'll be old and closer to giving up than a new one, and it'd be a shame for the sakes of a £20 seal to not do it.
27) Time to put it all back together. Go and clean your hands before handling the new clutch and flywheel, as you'll be all oily.
28) New flywheel on - I think the torque settings are just over 100Nm, although we went for about 130Nm, having found those values on an Evo forum. Remember to thread lock the bolts, and to use new ones. If you have one of Nick Mann's kits, then you will have new bolts, and of course the adapter plate that goes on first. The 7 bolts are not evenly spaced, so the three (crank, adapter and flywheel) have to be lined up correctly.
29) Now bolt the clutch up to the flywheel. You'll need an alignment tool - if you have a twin or triple plate, then you'll need a special splined alignment tool to line up the splines on the friction plates. Follow your clutch supplier's instructions for torque settings and the tightening order - this is likely to be in a diagonal fashion. I believe the torque settings are something like 16Nm for a single plate and 32Nm for a twin.
31) Time to prep the box: If you're converting from push to pull, then the fork needs to be reversed. The fork sits on a shaft, which is located with a single 10mm bolt. Take out this bolt. Look toward one end of the shaft (I forget which) and you'll see a hole for it to slide through in the bellhousing. This hole has a little metal cover in it, which you can drive out from the inside. The shaft will, with some persuasion, come out and release the fork.The fork has two springs and a couple of felt washers. I binned these. Turn the fork round and reassemble. The push set up then has a "normal" release bearing - ie it's not attached to the clutch. This slide's down between the fork, and holds the fork in the centre of the shaft. There are two lugs on each side of the bearing, which the fork picks up on. Put a BIT of molygrease on the splines to help it into your new clutch, and a touch of high temperature grease between the tips of the fork and where it pushes on the bearing.
32) Now we have to fast forward a bit in my story to the point at which the gearbox is back on, after much huffing and puffing. Mounted and ready for the ancillaries to go back on, when I realise that the fork isn't on the release bearing properly. The whole lot has to come off again. Arggghh!! Turns out that if the bearing comes forward when the fork is back (ie when manhandling the gearbox) and it rotates 90 degrees, it can slip between the fork. What a PITA! It may be the case that provided it all stays in place until the box is bolted up, that once the box is on, this can never arise. I wasn't going to take any chances, so on the back of the bearing (ie the solid metal holder as opposed to the actual race) behind one of the lugs that the fork engages on, I tack welded a little steel plate. Not load bearing, but enough to make sure that the bearing cannot come off the fork. Overkill, possibly, but I wasn't going to refit the box again with the risk of it repeating.
33) All that aside, refitting is pretty much a reversal of removal. The only difference being that of course you don't need to reassemble the clutch inside the bellhousing. This is, I think, where a crane makes all the difference, as it's very easy to manoeuvre the box into place. The trick is to get the spline in first. Don't worry about orientation or lining up dowels. So long as it's "near enough", your priority is getting the input shaft into the clutch. This means getting the tip of the shaft in first - tricky as you can't see, but looking at the distance of the ring gear from the bellhousing will help as a guide. Once the tip is in, you need to make sure it's square - ie the gap between the belhousing and block is the same all the way around. Then push and swivel along the axis of the input shaft until the splines line up and it slides in. Now you can rotate it to line up the dowels. At this point, lying on your back and pushing with your feet is as good as anything.
34) Now you can bolt the box onto the engine, and using your crane / jack, lift it all up and then work backward from above. There's not really much to write about the refitting, aside from making sure that you put back everything you took off - including the fluids!!
35) Finally, if you've gone for a push type, you'll need to modify the slave cylinder. Your kit should come with instructions. If it doesn't, then here's what I did. Remove the bleed nipple from the cylinder. Remove the input banjo. Where the input was, fish out the little plastic plate and spring. Bin these. Where the bleed nipple was, file or machine the face of it flat. You are going to put the input banjo here, so you need a good seal, ideally with new copper washers. Measure the depth of the hole where the input used to be, and then measure the bleed nipple. You want the bleed nipple to be able to bottom out and seal, so depending on your slave cylinder, you may need to shorten the body where the nipple goes in. I know that Gowf managed to avoid this, but if you want to bleed the system, you need to have the nipple at the top.
36) Pull the boot off the cylinder and pull out the rod that the piston pushes. Your push kit should come with a new rod in a frame that goes where the old rod used to. Put the boot onto this, and refit the boot. The slave cylinder now mounts backward / upsidedown (depending on your perspective) and the frame goes over the cylinder to engage on your now backwards fork. An adjustment screw takes up the slack.
And that's as far as I have got. I'm awaiting a new CV boot, as we identified that mine was split, so I won't be able to confirm success of failure until then, but anyway - that's what I did!
Before we go any further, some credits are in order: Nick Mann for his knowledge and repeated responses to my questions. Nutter_John for his insights, particularly regarding the removal of the clutch from the fly. dickytim for his original thread which we used as the basis for this.
I have added Nick Mann's comments in line with my guide.
For clarity: My task was to remove the stock pull-type clutch and replace it with an after market push-type twin plate intended for an Evo.
Time: I would seriously allow a good two days for this if it's your first attempt. As with all things, once you've done it, it's a lot less daunting, but the first time round there is the potential for a lot of head scratching.
Disclaimer: This is what I did / how I would do it in the future. It is not an official Mitsubishi way, and I am not responsible for any damage you cause to yourself, your car, or anyone / anything else. Bear in mind that I had access to a pit, air tools, warmth, readily available hot drinks and a willing friend. The absence of any of these will invariably make the task more arduous. This is a reasonably advanced job, but I will do my best to aim this at the lowest common denominator (ie someone like me!).
Notes: i) I have used the expressions "passenger side" and "drivers side". Some folk get confused with NS and OS, and left and right can be just as confusing, depending on which way you are looking at things. If you are a NS / OS purist - tough. :) ii) There are other gearbox removal threads. read them ad get a more rounded view of the world iii) If you get stuck, don't curse me, but do search and ask on the forum. A lot of what you read in hear is what I gleaned from asking and looking.
Finally: PLEASE read this all the way through first, rather than getting half way through and realising that the next step isn't for you, or you don't own a 14mm socket or whatever. Also, read the posts that follow, as brighter folk than me will undoubtedly add, correct and suggest alternatives.
1) Before raising the car, crack off the front wheel nuts. If you have access to the front hub nut (the large one one that holds the driveshaft onto the hub - it sits in the centre of the hub facing outward. It is castellated with a split pin) on the passenger side with the wheel on the car, then also loosen this: remove the split pin and crack it off. You'll need a large breaker bar and what I seem to remember being a 32mm socket. If you can't access it or the split pin with the wheel on, then you may have to jack up the front, remove the wheel, take out the split pin, pop out the centre of the wheel, put the wheel back on, drop it down, and then crack the hub nut off. If you can't do the above, then you need to get creative - eg put another wheel on (spare / space saver), make up a bar that will bolt onto the wheel studs, get someone to stand on the brake, or get the other three wheels on the ground, handbrake on and stick it in gear.
I don't remove the driveshafts from the hubs. It often takes a long time to get them to release, and I find it doesn't make the job much easier.
2) Jack the front of the car up as high as you can get it. Done it? You need to go higher. ;) We used a pit, which was great for access, and actually you don't need ludicrous amounts of lift to clear the box (I had my front bumper off for another job, so I reckon this may have helped us out), but use your loaf, and perhaps a tape measure. It's also worth noting that on the occasion when we had to put boards back over the pit for something else we found that the gap we had left, albeit enough to clear the box, was hideously cramped for working in if you were intending to do it entirely on your back. When the car is in several pieces, the last thing you want is to realise that you need to raise it further.
3) Take the front wheels off - you can stick these under the car for some added security in case things go pear-shaped.
4) Remove the radiator. I've seen it written that you can get away with just removing the fans, but to be honest it's as much bother to remove the fans as it is to pop the hoses off and undo 4 bolts. It will also give you a bit more room and remove an easily damaged item. Drop the bottom hose off first with a bucket underneath and catch the coolant. Pop the rad cap off - this will help it to flow out. Then pop off the other hoses. Remember, when removing hoses, to "push" them off (large flat screwdriver etc) rather than "pulling" them off which can damage them. Undo the electrics to the fans - it's the one big grey connector that goes into the passenger side fan, near the bobbley aluminium heatsink thing. We are now ready to clear the area above the gearbox.
I drain the rad through the radiator plug, then remove the two hoses at the block end and remove the whole rad with the two hoses. That way it doesn't matter if there is a bit of coolant left in the rad - it needs to rise a long way to get out of the lower hose if it is still attached!
5) The inlet system: Airbox, MAF and turbo inlet hoses need to come out. All joined together with jubilee clips, but also bolted to the block and box in places.
6) The two gear selector cables need to come off. They are attached with some funny split pins that are guaranteed to ping off somewhere, so have some spares ready (or split pins should also be OK - I hope so, as that's what I used!). The two selector cables are mounted onto a bracket - this should come off too (2 x 12mm bolts, IIRC).
I have seen at least two and maybe three different ways that the gear selector cables are attached to the brackets on the box. You may need to have a good look to work out how to release them
7) The clutch pipe work needs to be removed as well. From the slave cylinder to the damper (I think that's what it is - the square ally thing that's bolted down with the slave to the gearbox. I ditched mine anyway :) ) is hard pipe, and then from the damper to the bracket which picks up the flexipipe is also hard pipe, so care is needed to not bend or damage it. What you'd do with this is difficult to say, as in my conversion, I had to turn the slave cylinder the wrong way round, which renders the stock pipe work useless. For that reason I threw away everything from (but excluding) the flexipipe to (but excluding) the slave cylinder. If you are going to retain this gubbins, then I suggest unbolting in this order: Unbolt the bracket on the gearbox that the flexipipe ends on, then unbolt the slave cylinder and damper (the two are sandwiched together), pull it out of the way and leave it stashed somewhere safe, but still connected. Alternatively you can disconnect the flexipipe and reconnect it later, but you'll have to bleed it. Probably not a bad thing, as the fluid could be as old as the car.
As you suggest, leaving the clutch pipework intact and just swinging it out of the way is the way forwards. Bleeding a clutch system from empty is tricky without a vacuum bleeder.
8) There are a couple of electrical connectors - one is on the bracket that holds the gear selector cables, the other goes straight into the top of the box.
9) I think that's it for the top, but use your brain and make sure that everything that needs to be removed from the gearbox is detached, and nothing is caught. Now for the underside.
10) Remove the cross member. The naming of this had me fooled in another guide, as there is a cross member which runs across the car (the steering rack is attached to it). It is NOT this one. The piece to be removed runs front to rear and has the towing eye attached at the front. There are 4 bolts - two at the front and two at the back. Undo these, and the piece will hang on the front engine mount. Undo the bolt through the mount and remove the cross member. Now, also remove the bracket on the gearbox that the engine mount picked up on. On mine, the loom for the starter motor ran behind this.
11) Remove the down pipes: Take out the lambda sensor from the pipe (22mm spanner is best - it's a bit tight for a proper lambda socket), and then it's 2 bolts on each turbo and two bolts into the cat. Undo these and the down pipes will hang on a single hanger. Don't be a hard man trying to pull the rubber off the hanger. A 10mm spanner will save you the effort.
I pull the lambda sensor cabling through to the underside of the car - if you are lucky the multiplug follows the rubber grommet as you pull it all down from the floor. One multiplug and a rubber grommet are usually easier than a potentially rusted in lambda sensor.
12) Drop the gear oils. There should be about 3L in the gearbox and maybe between a litre and a half a litre in the transfer box.
13) Now remove the front section of the prop. There are 4 bolts that connect it to the next section. You'll find that there will be at least one that is hard to access. You'll need to jack the rear end of the car to clear the back wheels off the ground so that you can turn the prop. In theory it should be possible to lift just one rear wheel, as the AYC diff is essentially an open diff, however I have a towing point which is an excellent place to jack from and lifts both wheels squarely. Once unbolted, the prop can be dropped down and extracted from the transfer box. It's useful to have a container here to catch what will run out of the tail of the transfer box whilst you get on with the next tasks.
I don't undo the prop any more. As I lower the transfer box I slide it forward from the prop, leaving the prop supported on an axle stand.
14) Unbolt the front lower suspension arms from their inner most points. To be clear, these are the straight lower arms, which sit in front of the crescent shaped lower arms. They are the ones with three joints in them: They pivot, inboard, on the big cast iron cross member (the cross member that actually goes across the car ;) ), the shock / strut fork connects to them in the middle (actually, quite close to the outer end), and then at their outermost end, they have a ball joint into the hub-carrier / knuckle. The purpose of disconnecting these is to give the suspension enough play to pop the front driveshafts out of the gearbox.
15) Pop the driveshafts at the inner ends. Don't pull them! There's nothing retaining the inner CV joints aside from the geometry of the suspension and the CV boot. Get a block of wood up to the end and knock them outward. Be ready with rags etc as you may lose some gearbox oil during this. Hang the drivers side driveshaft up out of the way with some wire or cable ties - it's not good to let it hang in it's joint. The passenger side joint must be removed completely. To do this, undo the hub nut which you slackened at the beginning. Now undo the bolt which attaches the fork on the strut / shock to the front lower arm - this will give you the room you need to pul the drive shaft out. The driveshaft will be tight in the bearing, so hit it hard but with great care: You can either put a block of would over it and then hit that with a lump hammer, or put something harder on that will only bear in the middle of it - eg a 1/2" drive socket extension, and if you really have to, you can put the hub nut back on so it sits 1/4" proud of the threads and hit the hub nut directly, but NEVER the threaded end of the stub axle.
I don't remove the driveshafts from the hubs. It often takes a long time to get them to release, and I find it doesn't make the job much easier.
16) Now we can take out the transfer box. You may ask the question "Why can't I take the whole gearbox out?", to which the answer is "you just can't". There's gearbox to block bolt which is obscured by the transfer box and besides the gearbox is heavy and awkward enough as it is without the transfer box adding to it's weight and bulk. There are 6 x 17mm bolts holding the transfer box to the gearbox - 3 top and 3 bottom. I've seen one guide that claims there are 7. We spent a long time looking for the mythical 7th bolt. It isn't there, and there was nowhere for one to go. All of the botls are accessible from the driver's side, under the car, using a variety of extension bars for the top ones - once you've got each one sussed, they're actually quite easy. Remember what you did, as you'll need to do the same when refitting. There are 5 bolts the same length, and one which is longer and it's obvious where this one goes, so you can just bag them up together. Once the bolts are out, there are two schools of thought on removing the transfer box...
I do 16b before I do 16. If the transfer box moves before you get the layshaft out, then the layshaft might not want to come out!
16a) The first is to simply thug the thing out: unbolt it and pry it until you wish you were dead and that you'd listened to the other way. Be warned though, trying this way and then changing your mind has it's perils because if, after trying it, you regret it, you then have to get it all the way back on before you can try the other method, which can be even harder that getting the thing half way out in the first place. If you do get it half way out, and then can't get any further (as we did), and decide you want to go back to where it was, a couple of G-Clamps, one top and one bottom, nipped up in parallel, will draw the box back in. I'd advise against trying to use the bolts, as there will possibly not be enough turns to get the bolt to bind without stripping the threads in the ally casing.
16b) The second (and what we ultimately did) is to pull out the shaft that runs through the transfer box from the passenger side driveshaft. Looking in the passenger side of the gearbox, you'll see where you took the driveshaft out. There is an 8mm thread in there. Attach a slide hammer to this and extract the shaft. Put it somewhere safe and then gracefully remove the transfer box. It's heavier than it looks mind (although after you've lugged the gearbox around, this will seem like child's play)
17) Remove the starter motor - two bolts easy peasy. It's tempting to disconnect the electrics, but my advice is to tie it out of the way, rather than risk trashing the motor by breaking a terminal off.
18) Now the rear engine mount - ie the one nearest the bulkhead. A single nut and bolt runs through the middle (14mm at each end) - rocking the engine on the remaining two mounts will help when extracting the bolt. The bracket for the mount is bolted to the box with 3 bolts (14mm?). Take this off too.
19) You may want to consider, at this point, removing the lower gearbox to block bolts (see point 23 below), as once you drop the lot down, you'll have less room, and possibly a jack or axle stand in the way.
20) This next step may require some creativity on your part. I have an engine crane, which is the easiest way to do it. If you don't have one, then you could use a jack, but it doesn't offer the same flexibility, IMHO. Support the gearbox with your crane / jack, and take up the load on the box. On the passenger side gearbox mount, undo the four big nuts/studs that hold the mount onto the box. You may get the nuts off, you may get the studs out. I don't think it matters. Now drop your crane / jack down a touch to take any load off the mount, and undo / remove the single nut and bolt that runs through the middle of the mount / bracket. We called this bolt "chalky" because it was all white and chalky. Maybe yours will be too!! :p Drop the lot down further and remove the engine mount.
21) Swing the whole lot as far forward as you can on the one remaining engine mount and drop it all down. You are looking to be able to get the rearmost part of the gearbox to clear the large cast iron crossmember (the one that goes across, remember?) You should probably support the engine underneath with an axle stand / block of wood, so that you don't strain the engine mount too much. I didn't, but then I was pretty hacked off by the time I came to do this the second time in 24 hours...
22) So, I believe we are now ready to remove the gearbox. Being a pull type, the clutch is attached to the release bearing which is also connected to the fork, which of course is attached to the gearbox. The trick here is to somehow break the chain of engine / flywheel / clutch / bearing / fork / gearbox. There are three options (hint - go for option c)...
22a) Under the gearbox, next to the sump, there is a little rectangular inspection cover held on with a 10mm and a 14mm bolt (the 10mm locates the plate, but the 14mm is one of the bolts that hold the box on the block) - take this plate off and you'll be able to see, as you rotate the flywheel (another hint - a 1/2" drive into the other end of the crank works a treat (but remember to only turn it clockwise, lest you risk loosening the nut!) 6 bolts which are a 10 pointed star. These hold the two piece flywheel together. You'll need a special tool, or bodge something (eg weld a nut on to each, chip them round with a chisel, cut them off, wish them away etc). None of this is appealing, and the mitsi manual says this should never be done as the two halves are balanced together. Why you would do this, when you see option c, is beyond me.
22b) I think this might be the "proper" way of doing it - legend has it that with some clever poking around, either through the round inspection hole in the bottom of the box (covered with a big rubber grommet) or through the hole from which the clutch arm sticks out, that you can disengage the release bearing from the clutch. Having looked at the set up off the car, it's not clear exactly how this works, so "having a go" when you're effectively working blind, having never seen it in the flesh, is simply madness and will waste a lot of time and potentially damage something. Besides which, you still then have to slide the input shaft on out of the clutch, which if not done correctly, can damage the bearing in the gearbox.
I do 22b, but the first time you try it having not done it before it is a right royal PITA. It does get much easier with experience, and also if you have new stuff to play with on the floor to see what needs doing before you try it through small holes into a dark bellhousing!
22c) Many thanks to Nutter_John for this little pointer. In a similar fashion to version "a)" of this step, you can, through the window the clutch arm sticks out of, see the 6 x 12mm bolts which hold the clutch pressure plate onto the flywheel - again, turning the crank, each one of these can be undone - it's a bit tight, and I had to modify a tool to get to them: a deep 12mm 1/4" drive socket with a bit but off the end. A little 1/4" breaker with an extension to crack them and then a little ratchet to undo them. I had a magnetic pick up tool at the ready as well, for fear of dropping one and it wedging something.
23) The only thing holding the box on now is 9 (IIRC) bolts which take a 14mm socket. If you've already removed the inspection cover in 18a) then you'll have 8 left. You may have already removed the lower bolts, as advised in step 19. Having spent a long time looking for a transfer box bolt that wasn;t there, we then managed to completely miss a gearbox bolt that was. This bolt is now known as "The bastard bolt" - it sits on the top of the gearbox, on the RHS as you look over the passenger side wing. There's a bulge in the gearbox belhousing, as if in some other configuration a starter motor might go there. The fella is hidden next to this. Having removed them, it's worth arranging your bolts in a way that lets you readily identify where they came from, as there are a few variations in length.
24) Aside from some prying, tapping and grunting to get the box off the dowels, it should be fairly easy to remove and will then swing / balance on your crane / jack. It's worth noting the angle of dangle, as you may need to lower the box as it comes out. The first time round, we didn't actually use a crane or a jack, we stacked up boards with a final layer of 25mm polystyrene so that the box didn't have a drop, and pushed it off. This may be easier than trying to drag the box on a trolley jack over uneven ground. Once it was off I lifted it, as Mark pulled each board out, until it was on the deck.
25) Now you can drag the gearbox out and study the madness of a pull clutch. We never did work out how on earth you remove the clutch, and opted for angle grinding the fingers out of the diaphragm and proceeding from there. Maybe someone else can offer a more elegant solution?
26) If you are changing the flywheel, then you'll need to remove the old one first (obviously...). It has 7 bolts which are a weird sort of 16.5mm - basically, a 17mm socket with a bit of play. An air impact gun will shift these, or alternatively a breaker bar, but to use a breaker bar, you can't use someone else at the other end of the crank, as you risk loosening the crank sprocket. You could make a metal bar with a couple of holes, which bolts to adjacent holes (the holes that the clutch bolted to) to brace the flywheel, or you could make a little plate, as per the manual, to bolt the flywheel to the block, or you could jam the teeth in the ring gear. The flywheel will come off with some shims behind - if you are replacing with an evo clutch, you don't need these. NOTE: At this point it's worth considering replacing the rear crank oil seal. It might be fine, but it'll be old and closer to giving up than a new one, and it'd be a shame for the sakes of a £20 seal to not do it.
27) Time to put it all back together. Go and clean your hands before handling the new clutch and flywheel, as you'll be all oily.
28) New flywheel on - I think the torque settings are just over 100Nm, although we went for about 130Nm, having found those values on an Evo forum. Remember to thread lock the bolts, and to use new ones. If you have one of Nick Mann's kits, then you will have new bolts, and of course the adapter plate that goes on first. The 7 bolts are not evenly spaced, so the three (crank, adapter and flywheel) have to be lined up correctly.
29) Now bolt the clutch up to the flywheel. You'll need an alignment tool - if you have a twin or triple plate, then you'll need a special splined alignment tool to line up the splines on the friction plates. Follow your clutch supplier's instructions for torque settings and the tightening order - this is likely to be in a diagonal fashion. I believe the torque settings are something like 16Nm for a single plate and 32Nm for a twin.
31) Time to prep the box: If you're converting from push to pull, then the fork needs to be reversed. The fork sits on a shaft, which is located with a single 10mm bolt. Take out this bolt. Look toward one end of the shaft (I forget which) and you'll see a hole for it to slide through in the bellhousing. This hole has a little metal cover in it, which you can drive out from the inside. The shaft will, with some persuasion, come out and release the fork.The fork has two springs and a couple of felt washers. I binned these. Turn the fork round and reassemble. The push set up then has a "normal" release bearing - ie it's not attached to the clutch. This slide's down between the fork, and holds the fork in the centre of the shaft. There are two lugs on each side of the bearing, which the fork picks up on. Put a BIT of molygrease on the splines to help it into your new clutch, and a touch of high temperature grease between the tips of the fork and where it pushes on the bearing.
32) Now we have to fast forward a bit in my story to the point at which the gearbox is back on, after much huffing and puffing. Mounted and ready for the ancillaries to go back on, when I realise that the fork isn't on the release bearing properly. The whole lot has to come off again. Arggghh!! Turns out that if the bearing comes forward when the fork is back (ie when manhandling the gearbox) and it rotates 90 degrees, it can slip between the fork. What a PITA! It may be the case that provided it all stays in place until the box is bolted up, that once the box is on, this can never arise. I wasn't going to take any chances, so on the back of the bearing (ie the solid metal holder as opposed to the actual race) behind one of the lugs that the fork engages on, I tack welded a little steel plate. Not load bearing, but enough to make sure that the bearing cannot come off the fork. Overkill, possibly, but I wasn't going to refit the box again with the risk of it repeating.
33) All that aside, refitting is pretty much a reversal of removal. The only difference being that of course you don't need to reassemble the clutch inside the bellhousing. This is, I think, where a crane makes all the difference, as it's very easy to manoeuvre the box into place. The trick is to get the spline in first. Don't worry about orientation or lining up dowels. So long as it's "near enough", your priority is getting the input shaft into the clutch. This means getting the tip of the shaft in first - tricky as you can't see, but looking at the distance of the ring gear from the bellhousing will help as a guide. Once the tip is in, you need to make sure it's square - ie the gap between the belhousing and block is the same all the way around. Then push and swivel along the axis of the input shaft until the splines line up and it slides in. Now you can rotate it to line up the dowels. At this point, lying on your back and pushing with your feet is as good as anything.
34) Now you can bolt the box onto the engine, and using your crane / jack, lift it all up and then work backward from above. There's not really much to write about the refitting, aside from making sure that you put back everything you took off - including the fluids!!
35) Finally, if you've gone for a push type, you'll need to modify the slave cylinder. Your kit should come with instructions. If it doesn't, then here's what I did. Remove the bleed nipple from the cylinder. Remove the input banjo. Where the input was, fish out the little plastic plate and spring. Bin these. Where the bleed nipple was, file or machine the face of it flat. You are going to put the input banjo here, so you need a good seal, ideally with new copper washers. Measure the depth of the hole where the input used to be, and then measure the bleed nipple. You want the bleed nipple to be able to bottom out and seal, so depending on your slave cylinder, you may need to shorten the body where the nipple goes in. I know that Gowf managed to avoid this, but if you want to bleed the system, you need to have the nipple at the top.
36) Pull the boot off the cylinder and pull out the rod that the piston pushes. Your push kit should come with a new rod in a frame that goes where the old rod used to. Put the boot onto this, and refit the boot. The slave cylinder now mounts backward / upsidedown (depending on your perspective) and the frame goes over the cylinder to engage on your now backwards fork. An adjustment screw takes up the slack.
And that's as far as I have got. I'm awaiting a new CV boot, as we identified that mine was split, so I won't be able to confirm success of failure until then, but anyway - that's what I did!