I will be replacing my clutch in the next few days. To remove the trans, is it possible to pull it out the top? If not, what has to be removed to lower it out the bottom. I'm assuming the entire subframe/ steering rack, etc., and to do this, I guess I'll have to remove both motor mounts and support the engine.

To those who have personally done this, what has to be removed to get the tranny out of there? I'm not looking for speculation.

 

You don't have to remove the steering rack. You do need to remove the subframe that runs front to back. Jack the car up and take the trans out from below. Easy stuff. I can do my clutch in about 5-6 hours.

 

i dont know what any of the things were called at the time when i replaced the clutch in my old honda but it takes like 6-8 hours to do it. well thats how long it took me to do by myself and i dint know **** so someone with experience and help could get it done fast.

 

So, the main subframe stays in, but the center beam that runs front to back comes out?

 

Yes. This way you can dip the engine down slightly to allow for easier removal and install.

 

Start with the car jacked up pretty high. This makes it easier to slide the transmission out from underneath and it also gives you room to work so your not on your back doing the work. Place a floor jack under the motor with a thin piece of wood between the jack and motor to support the motor. The wood prevents the jack from bending your oil pan or any other metal on your motor. You can then take off the brace running front to back and the motor mount on the transmission. If you have a engine lift or engine crane, you can hook up the transmission so you can lower it to the ground and raise it back up into the right position without struggling. It really helps out when your trying to put the transmission back in and line everything back up. Thats how ive always done clutches. Good Luck!!!!

 

have you done this yet??? how did it go?? i think i am going to have to drop my tranny too cuz my slave cylinder went... and im going to get a new clutch kit.... i never did anything like this big... but how hard can it be right?? plz tell me how it went for you... lol

 

noob question, i never done this before, so does the t-case comes out with the tranny? or does it need to be removed at all?

 

^Sorry man, non-Evo trans drop conversation here...

 

Wasn't too bad, unfortunately I ended up doing it at home in the driveway under jackstands, which significantly complicates the process. Have a couple of friends around to help. Getting the transmission out isn't a big deal, (except for taking the axle shafts out of the diff which can be a real pain) you'll see what you have to do when you're under there. Putting the new clutch in is also easy. Getting the transmission to line up with the engine/ clutch assembly, though, is the hardest part. You'll need maybe four people under the car to accomplish this. Make absolutely certain that the clutch disc is aligned before you try this. It will take some cursing, walking away, etc., but eventually you'll get it.

I highly reccommend making or buying some kind of adapter for your floor jack to hold the transmission up while you line it up. Without it, you'll likely let the transmission hang from the clutch disc, which is very bad.

Most of the work is pretty straightforward- make sure you have big prybars, the proper socket for the axle nuts, and several willing helpers. An impact gun with appropriate sockets also makes the job much faster.


In all honesty this is one of the easiest cars to do a clutch job on, rear wheel drives excluded, of course. On many cars you have to drop the subframe to remove the transmission, but on ours you simply remove four bolts and the center beam drops out.

One more word of advice: before you raise the car up on the jackstands, do all the work you can from the top. That means remove your intake piping, shift cables, clutch line, and as many bellhousing bolts as you can. Once the car is jacked up, this becomes much harder.

Also, though you may just be planning on slapping a new clutch on your old flywheel, you could always buy a remanufactured flywheel from a parts store (or an expensive lightweight one), bolt that up, and return your old one as a core. This saves a significant amount of time over taking your flywheel to a machine shop to have it resurfaced. I cut mine on a brake lathe but I don't reccommend you go this route- flywheels are made of much harder metal than brake rotors.