Engine Swap Forum

I'm going to replace my clutch on my S13 tomorrow and while I know what to expect from installing a clutch I haven't had the chance to do it on an RWD transmission before (I've done it on my transaxle).

I kind of had two questions: one, do I have to remove the driveshaft and drop the transmission or can I leave the driveshaft and lower it and the transmission as one and still have enough room to remove the clutch and install a new one? 

Second, do I need to drain the gear oil first before I remove the transmission or not?  Will it spill out where the bellhousing is attached to the engine?

Thanks anyone!

changing the clutch without a lift on a 240sx SUCKS REALLY BADLY if your not skinny like a twig.
You do not need to remove the drive shaft, that is why it is a 2pc from factory.

Second, no you do not need to remove the rear gear oil from the rear differential to do it, What I do is either leve the spline thingy from the drive shaft in the trans, or get a rubber gluve and put the glove around the hole.

Just take the drive shaft off. It unbolts from the diff easily, but when you pull it out of the tranny it lets out all the fluid. So have a oil pan ready, its only 2.5 quarts in the tranny. Then you have a few connectors, the engine-tranny bolts, tranny crossmember and your lowering the tranny!

But get a tranny jack attachment!!! its a PITA to get it on/off without it.

And do it right and get the flywheel resurfaced. The surface the disk contacts is actually raised up compared to the surface the pressure plate bolts to, and that will affect how well the clutch holds if its not there. I did two clutch jobs w/o getting it done, and Im just putting my engine back together (RTVing the front cover/oil pan) and putting in another clutch right now Im sure it'll be alot better this time.

~Alex

thanks for the help guys.  I did end up removing the driveshaft, it wasn't that hard, I just disconnected the four bolts down the shaft instead of the six big ones closer to the oil seal.

BUT, lol, after removing everything, I have been having a huge pain trying to actually get the transmission out, and I couldn't figure out why until I realized there was some lip around the top of the bellhousing hitting the firewall/tunnel.  Going to try again tomorrow, I'm rotating the transmission 90* as that looks like it will help it clear the tunnel/firewall area. 

lol yeah rotating the transmission helps allot

use this time to bang out transmission tunnel for future swaps.

Un needed untill he finds where to hit it....

Also you need to jack the front of the engine up, so the rear drops. That'll help alot too. And yes it'll take alot ofmoving the tranny around to get it on and off. Thats why from now on Im just going to take the engine and tranny out at once. It takes me 40 minuets to pull my sohc, and an hour if I take the tranny with it. And its much easier and makes it easy to clean/work on.

~Alex

 I spent five hours today just trying to get the transmission back into place lol.  And guess what?  I didn't get it.  Such a huge pain in the ass.  I couldn't quite get the input shaft into the center of the PP.  Of course, I didn't have the engine tilted (as I just read that, that would have probably allowed my to get it in).  I didn't have the shifter removed, figuring I pulled the transmission out without removing it, I could probably put it back in without removing it.

Try again tomorrow.

take the shifter out. either take the 6 bolts out or the ring clip.

~Alex

dude, no matter what, DO NOT FEEL BAD! It took me 2 days to get my transmission back in on the ka! I ended up doing everthing in the books to get it back in. I dropped the cross member, tilted the engine, AND clocked thetransmission 80ish digrees. It took my friend getting really really pissed for it to happen.

lol, I FINALLY got it in.  I ended up taking the shifter out, it made it somewhat easier, but still not a lot easier. I wish I did more weight lifting in college and HS than I had, maybe I could have just benched the transmission to get it in.  Well, I sort of did that, I finally got the input shaft to rest on the teeth of the pressure plate, then I prayed hard and just lifted and shoved. 

What a pain.  I thought about bashing in the tunnel with a hammer, but I'd rather not risk my chassis rigidity lol.