Keep at it Joe!

Not much magic to cleaning, as you're finding. I used brake cleaner, mineral spirits, purple power - pretty much whatever worked - and lots of brushes and elbow grease. Mineral spirits was my mainstay since the fumes weren't as bad as brake cleaner, and it was much more effective than purple power.

I used the breaker bar on my flywheel bolts after nearly stripping the head off of one using my air-powered impact wrench. To each his own... You probably already know this, but those bolts shouldn't be reused.

Are you replacing the clutch? If so, I'd get that flywheel dressed. If not, and if it was working OK before the drop, I'd clean it all up and put it back.

Those muffler straps look brand new!

GK

My flywheel looks a lot like yours, and I just threw in a new disc and was good to go. Unless your flywheel is grooved or warped, there is no need for machining.

Joe - if the clutch wasn't chattering when you drove it and you don't see any cracks or obvious issues the flywheel is most likely fine to reuse as-is. If you have a drill the correct size it may be the easiest way to re-bore that sensor bracket.. Nice job so far, take your time and you will be proud of the outcome!

The clutch was chattering badly, but I also had issues with the clutch folk shaft pulling out of the bell housing (roll pin was damaged) and there was obvious oil/grease on about half or more of the clutch disk. I assume the years of flywheel seal leaks had contaminated the disk.

From looking back at the service records, it has chattered for the last 5+ years and a couple thousand miles. There are no cracks and no grooves and there is a new Sachs clutch and pressure plate (clutch kit) going back in. I would rather not have to resurface it, but I also don't want to outsmart myself.

Joe, i'm the king of overkill but I would have it resurfaced rather than take a chance....

I saw you used a pressure washer on the tranny - are you doing the same to the engine?

I pressure washed the under side of the engine while it was still in the car, but didn't want to go there with it out of the car. The motor is sitting on the ATV jack, so I don't really have access to the lower part. I don't want to go nuts with water on the top side. The main reason I have been cleaning with brake cleaner is that it will evaporate and won't need rinsing.

Resurfacing is not expensive. If you're going to the trouble and expense of a new clutch pack, don't stop short of doing this the right way. The fresh flywheel surface will help bed the new disc, much like new rotors bed new brake pads. Don't forget a new pilot bearing too.

Could Joe take a straightedge to determine whether or not his flywheel is warped or wavy?

Actually, on second thought, I would have to agree with Gary. Even though the clutch fork shaft was loose, it should have had no bearing on the seating of the clutch disc to the pressure-plate and flywheel with the clutch pedal out. At that point, the shaft would have no effect on the performance/seating of the clutch disc to the flywheel.

As Smoove said, it's cheap and even a NAPA shop could do it for you... and as Remo said in Wise Guys, "why take a chance?"
:D

Sounds like everyone thinks to resurface the flywheel to be safe. I'll look into where I can have that done. I know of a machine shop that does a lot of motor work, so that is my first stop. Pilot bearing is on order.

Great job, I too think that the flywheel should be resurfaced you don't want to go through this again.
Brake cleaner is great but it does tend to spot and eat into the yellow zinc pieces. I tend to favor mineral spirits. WD40 also dissolves really caked on stuff.
Have you considered having your engine tin powder coated, it is much more resistant.

We made some more good progress this weekend. I have also started getting regular deliveries from the UPS/FedEx guy....always a good sign. I now have my own copy of the Bentley manual and this box should keep me entertained until the rest of the parts arrive.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385390978.jpg

My wife worked on the engine bay. The worst was around the oil filter.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391132.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391052.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391095.jpg

The paint looks thin in a number of areas, so I am trying to find some matching paint to do some touch up work.

I wanted a change of pace from the motor and focused on the tins. This was the worst of them and really the only rusty part I have found on the car.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391579.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391312.jpg

My weapon of choice to clean the tins up was a wire brush on my drill. I found clamping them to the work bench like this worked well and kept my fingers out of harms way. I would suggest putting something (piece of wood, washer, etc.) between the clamps and the tins to keep them from being dented.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391408.jpg

Here are all the tins ready for paint. Ironically, the weather was too cold yesterday to paint, so that will have to wait until another day.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391475.jpg

Next up was the motor and transmission mounts. Replacement of these is pretty straightforward. Remove the two bolts on either end of the mount.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391836.jpg

Once the nuts and bolts have been removed, the mount will just pull out. Reverse to install the new mount. Here is the transmission with new mounts installed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385391935.jpg

Next up was the fuel filter. Disconnect the line at the bottom of the fuel filter. You will need a second wrench on the filter to break the connection loose. As you might expect, the filter is full of fuel and makes a mess when you disconnect the line. Put some paper towels at the base of the filter to help soak up the spilled gas and have someplace close by to dump the fuel once it has been removed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392012.jpg

New filter installed. Make sure you have the filter installed the correct direction. An arrow tell the direction of fuel flow through the filter.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392072.jpg

Next up was pulling the oil cooler. Loosen the four nuts on each corner of the cooler. These are the nuts at the top. There are two more opposite these on the bottom. A long extension helps with the bottom left nut.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392132.jpg

The cooler removed.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392200.jpg

Like the fuel filter, the oil cooler still has oil in it. Remember that there are now four open holes on the cooler for oil to leak out. Don't do like I did and create an oil spill on the garage floor......twice. :mad: Pull the cooler free and dump the oil in a container.

Great progress! Be sure to plug those oil cooler holes, you don't want anything - dust, debris, wire-bristles - to find it's way in there.

I used Rust-oleum Ultra High heat on my tins. Bonds to bare metal, no priming needed, resists high temps, needs no special baking or curing routine, and looks good. I used this on my muffler as well - so far, so good.

Gonna go show my spouse that pic of your spouse cleaning the engine bay - atta girl!

GK

While the cooler is out, I did some more motor cleaning.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392564.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392588.jpg

I couldn't really tell if oil was weeping out of the thin casting area, but I put some RTV on it. I later found that there is another thin casting spot on the other side (to the left in the picture) that I will have to seal up tonight.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385393135.jpg

Yuck!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392729.jpg

Better.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392799.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385392826.jpg

Not sure what I will be working on tonight, but it is nice to see things start to go back together.

Joe - I would use JB Weld on that casting, not a fan of RTV for longevity and that is a one-time job.

Joe, looking great so far! Couple of points:

- it's easier to slide a medium screwdriver into the brake rotor cooling slots and let it rest against the caliper as you remove/install the cv bolts (keeps you from getting up to set and release the e-brake).

- definitely resurface the flywheel. Chatter causes hot spots and yours has a few minor ones.

- buy a gate strap at any hardware store and drill out one of the holes to hold your flywheel in place while you torque it back up (you'll never hold it using that screwdriver method you used to remove it). Slide the hole you made larger over one of the tranny mounting studs and secure the flywheel with a clutch bolt temporarily.

Nice job tackling this big job yourself! When she's back running and leak free, you will feel very satisfied.

Thanks for the tips. I had been wondering how to hold the motor still while I torqued the flywheel bolts. Agreed that the screwdriver will not hold the flywheel. It wasn't really doing anything in the picture.

I am not seeing the picture. Not sure if it is my computer.

I ran into my first real problem tonight. :( I was replacing the o-ring on the oil thermostat and when I went to tighten this nut,

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385523317.jpg

it never tightened down snug.

I was able to get the nut off with a pair of vice grips and the threads on the stud have disappeared.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1385523409.jpg

My first thought was that I torqued it down too tight, but it never even got tight. Anyway, now what to do? Can I replace this stud and if so, how do I go about it? Or should I re-tap the stud with a smaller die. I'm not in love with this idea. Any help would be greatly appreciated.