dmc8163 wrote:Thanks mart,
I'll post photos as soon as I figure out how to do it.
Back to neverending questions. I was feeling very
comnfortable that I had the ability to do this. But my
manuals state that i should align the clutch housing
face and the bore. I've read the directions and looked
at the diagrams and still don't get it. Is it really
necessary? I have a dial indicator and metal base
but I don't have the special tool that installs in the
pilot bearing. Are there other places that have
directions?
Hopefully this will be the last "bump" in the road.
Dave
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I doubt it's necessary to go to the trouble of alligning the
bell to the center of main bearing bores in the block with
a dial indicator. That's something you *might* want to do
if you were building an all out "professional class"' race
motor (like for a fuel dragster or somthing!) - particuculary
one that uses all kinds of custom made or aftermarket parts
- like a non-production, aftermarket block fitted to an
aftermarket scattersheild, clutch can or adaptor , that *may*
or *may not* have been properly machined, matched (or even
intended!) to go together! That's when you've got to start
checking and verifying everything. For most everything else,
using mostly stock parts, the factory tolerences will be ok.
Remember that Mother Mopar built the Street Hemi cars on
the same regular assembly line as everything else they built.
On the assembly line, bells and the otherwise completed Hemi
engines came down the line and were screwed together in
whatever random order the that parts happened to arrive at
that point on the line. Nobody bothered measuring , matching
or custom machining the bells to the blocks. The only real thing
to check is that the stock dowell pin that aligns the bell to the
the block is still there and that is clean and not damaged.
(The same goes for the hole in the bell that fits over the dowel pin
too) if all checks out ok, I'd just put the bell on, tighten the bolts
and go.
One thing you might want to do that will make installing and
lining up the cllutch disk easier, is to get a spare input shaft
from a junk tranny and use that as an "alignment tool" to
center the clutch disk on the flywheel. Put the disk on the
flywheel face and instal the pressure plate, but only tighten
the bolts finger tight. Then, with the disk loosely sandwiched
between the pressure plate and the flywheel, use the
spare input sfaft to center the clutch disk to the pilot bearing
in the end of the crank. Then, with the spare input shaft
holding the clutch disk in place, torque the the pressure
plate bolts to spec and remove the input shaft. Now, when
you're ready to instal the tranny, the clutch disk will already
be centered and the tranny should just slide in place. It's a heck
of lot easier to do it this way than lying under the car and
trying to line up the clutch disk by manouvering and finessing
a a heavy, bulky tranny around!
One last thing. Hardwear and small stuff is cheap. To save
trouble and aggrivation later, spend a few bucks now for
the little stuff that often gets overlooked. Use new, proper
flywheel and pressure plate bolts, a new pilot bearing and new
throw-out bearing. Make sure the clutch fork is in good
shape and that it's not bent or damaged in any way .Ditto for
the pivot ball that the clutch fork rides on too. Also, make sure
the flywheel surface is rust-free, smooth and unmarked, that
its not burned or glazed and is dead square. If there's any
question at all about the condition, spend a few bucks and
have it resurfaced. For what extra it'll cost for the little stuff
to do things right, it's not worth chancing stuff that's old or in
any way questionable! When doing a clutch, do it right....and
you'll only do it once!
mart
P.S. Almost forgot. Yyou asked about the "special tool" for
installing the pilot bearing.I just use a scrap input shaft (the
same one I use for aligning the clutch disk) with the gear cut
off and cut down so it's just a short stub about 3 inches long.
Place the new pilot bearing over the nose of the input shft,
center it in the end of the crank and then press it into the
hole by *gently* tapping on the end of the input shaft with
a hammer. You know how to remove an old pilot bearing
from a crank too, right? Fill the hole in the pilot bearing with
wheel bearing grease. Then, take the same cut-down input
shaft as above, place the nose of the shaft into the grease
filled hole in the pilot bearing and hit the shaft with a hammer.
Each time you hit the shaft and force it a little deeper into the
hole, the grease being non-compressable, gets behind the pilot
bearing and forces the bearingt out of the crank
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