dave_hl

i've done mine a couple of time... made sure the car wasn't gonna move anywhere on the jackstands... positioned myself right under it with my knees anchoring me and then using a plumbers wrench or a massive shifter just pull it and its come. I think a large amount of it is positioning yourself correctly.. i had feet facing front of car and then you sort of are pulling towards your head... you can get a LOT of force that way using all your core muscles to get right into it.

ahhh i love youtube... kids getting hit in the face or falling over never gets old http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh0x4mTAIto&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO3zbXcVhCM&feature=related

thats possibly the funniest thing i ever have seen. surely there is no way that was on childrens tv...

thats so cool... this guy has balls... i certainly wouldn't be standing inbetween those 2 coils

what are the chances... This would have to be one of my favorite SNL skits ever i think.. (couldn't find it on youtube) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8200332771933982429&ei=2a7ISOrPHKTaqAPV76C9Ag&q=robert+deniro+snl&vt=lf

Car is on the road, everything works perfectly. no unusual noises to vibrations so i guess it went together fine.. just gotta put a gasket or seal of some sort in the exhaust join I unbolted in the process, though it sounds pretty dam untamed with exhaust leaking out just after the extractors I look like an L plater learning to drive at the moment; i'm not used to a clutch which will grab and not let you be sloppy when taking off. thanks for all the tips and help lads, its quite satisfying to successfully rip the car apart, fix it and put it back together on your own.

i got it! you can call me, the magic man. or the magician. either is fine. Just kept working it and got it flush eventually bolted it in and its going nowhere fast. A fair workout though! ill put all the other bits and pieces back together after work tomorrow and then hopefully its a smooth drive. i'm lookin forward to feeling how the fresh clutch grabs.

got a new hole put in today, not where the old one was though! right next to it, but i've roughly calculated that i've lost about 4-5g of weight from the old hole and having to put a new hole next to the one in the pressure plate, so i put it on with 4g washer, hopefully will suffice. I'm putting the gearbox back on right now, i've got it all the way except for the last 15mm, no matter how much wiggeling and pushing i can't get it flush! any tips anyone??? cheers.

what i have considered doing is removing the black bumper, making a mold out of foam to go where the bumper was and then fiberglasing that mold and then screwing it in to replace that black bumper to give it a smooth flow over the rear end. would take a lot of work though and require a little cutting but would look dam nice if it worked. I haven't had the balls or patience to do it yet though, all i did was remove the bumper, leave it like for a month or 2 and then put it back on.

i have that exact front on my 280. Dunno where it came from, was put on the car about 20 years ago long before i bought it.

shield your eyes!!! here's my 280.

nah, if you think it might screw it up then i might take it apart, might not take long, i might be able to save the hole if i take the clutch/fly off and put it in a drill press, probably worth it. thanks for the input guys. i'll let you know how i go.

thats not the answer i was after, zedman. I'm tempted to do it the quick way though still. whats 1 bolt in comparison to roughly 25-30pounds of weight. But i suppose when its spinning that fast it doesn't take much to throw it out of wack, and then i could be doing crank bearings i guess...?

yeah the balancing issue was something i thought about too. But i didn't end up getting it balanced anyway, the bloke at the clutch shop who machine my flywheel said unless you're revving up at 12k then dont worry about it, its not worth it. Yeah if i had of drilled a hole in my lovely crank i'd be kicking myself in the head and then throwin the towel in and calling lube mobile i think.

nah nah i've got all the flywheel bolts in, thats on the crank fine. Just the pressure plate attaching to the flywheel, its sitting flush and i put a big arsed screw driver in there to see how easily its gonna lift up where the bolt snapped and its sitting pretty darn tight. I was using a slightly longer ratchet then normal, but its probably mostly due to my bulging muscles ya know I was turning it pretty hard, but not ridiculously... i suppose the pressure plate bolts aren't super thick. I should probably invest in a torque wrench, or convince my dad to anyway! in fact it wouldn't surprise me if there is one hiding in the tool shed somewhere. so my original question; should i really fix this or will i be right and just proceed to install the gearbox..?

If one were to over torque a pressure plate bolt and it snapped, and one then proceeded to drill out the bolt but was too lazy to take the pressure plate and flywheel off to use a drill press and so as a result F*&^'d the hole, would they be the stupidest person alive to leave the pressure plate with just 5 out of the 6 bolts holding it and proceed to install the gearbox, or would everything work a-ok and though not advisable work fine.

just measured my flywheel and realized its a 225mm, they must have put that in there when it was converted to manual instead of the 240mm. I then weighed it and its spot on 16 pounds, they must have lightened it too! Probably why the bloke i took it to said he couldn't take much/any more weight of it. Have returned the 240mm clutch and should pick up the new 225 tomorrow.

ah, that make-a the sense. cheers.

this may be a dumb question but how on earth do you balance a clutch/fly assembly together before its in the car?? you wouldn't be able to bolt the flywheel onto the engine if the pressure plate and disc were already attached to it.

$50! tell costa to give me a special! My haynes didn't say anything about matching my clutch/fly assembly with the harmonic balancer, or is it just making sure its all centered and even with the centering tool..? I've gotta wait till at least monday to get my fly machined, so i might try going about replacing the pilot bushing and seal tomorrow. cheers for the tip.

harmonic balancer... sounds fancy? or is this the thing you stick in the middle of the clutch disc while you're bolting in the pressure plate to keep it all centered...? and what sort of rough cost is a lighter flywheel?? im guessing a 2nd hand one on my budget. is it the sort of part you need esspecialy for the zed.. or can i steal a 240mm one off some car at the wreckers.

Well got myself an exedy sports tuff heavy duty clutch kit, cars putting out a bit under 120rwkw and im not always nice to it so thought i'd get something a bit beefier then what was in there. Pulled it all out today, the disc was so worn; down to metal on both sides, the rivots were nearly falling out and had the tops shaven off them and the springs were all lose. i'm surprised it still worked semi alright. As i half expected the flywheel is a bit burnt and has a slightly uneven surface, does anyone know a decently priced machine shop? im in Mont Albert. I also just read evans post about his clutch troubles and people talked about getting the flywheel/clutch combo balanced when the flywheel gets machined. Is this just lathing the flywheel so its completely even, or is there something else that can need doing. My last question is with a centering tool, ive read just using a socket extension woks fine, or is it advisable to get my hands on an actual proper centering tool. And is it worth looking into a lightweight flywheel, i've read they'll help the engine to spin up faster but not give more HP, but if you go too light the car will stall easily. considering im an unemployed student i think i'll leave it how it is for now. cheeeeers fellas.

I didn't have my P plates up and i got pulled over (which is why i didn't used to put them up), but I made something up about changing from red to green ones and he let me off. spose there are some power trippin coppers out there jealous of the old zed!

Another nice little site for you all... a mate linked me this: File2HD.com it will download any flash/mp3 from any website. great for grabbing youtube vids but even better for myspace songs, because unlike other 'grabbing' websites it gets a better quality 128kb from myspace instead of the regular 96kb ones with dirty bass you usually hear when you stream. Im going to town on it, myspace is the best for rare remixes and small artists which aren't on limewire or even have EP's or albums to buy/download.

I worked it out, 240mm is for the 2+2 and turbo.