Whats involved in changing the clutch?

[bebbetufs]

I'm going to do the cambelt soon and after lending my car to my parents for a while I notice the clutch seems worn. It enages at the very top of the travel and when I got the car back it had a faint smell of burnt clutch after having been backed up the drive.

Should I do this job while I do the cambelt or is it a separate enough procedure to justify waiting until it actually lets go?

Is there a way to measure clutch wear?

 

[Mentalpen]

I'm no expert but surly it's transmission out and nothing to do with the cam belt?

Symptoms might be excessive chatter with it depressed or try doing say 25-30 and depressing the clutch and getting the revs to about 4 or 5k and bring the clutch up in 6th. The revs should drop right down. If they stay well up I'd say it's slipping.

 

[bebbetufs]

Yes, but if a lot of the same parts have to be removed for both jobs it might pay to do them at the same time...

I just had a look in the workshop manual. It seems fairly complicated, driveshafts must be removed, front bumper must come off, front subframe must go, battery and intake box must come out...left engine support must be removed... There could be some time saved by doing this at the same time as the belts, but then I don't want an overwhelming amount of work all at once.
I would love to hear from someone who has done this.

 

[Mentalpen]

Yes I get your point but I was more referring to have you got the ability to get the transmission out?

As in, it isn't light and it's usually done on a lift with transmission jack and two people? Having those will greatly reduce the time it will take, therefore you will have lessen workload

 

[bebbetufs]

I have a workshop with plenty of space so I can take my time. I don't have a lift, but I might buy one soon. Still. I should be able to lift the car high enough and support it on jack stands to do this?

I have an elephant lifter. With the intake and battery tray gone, could I not use this to lift the box from above and lower it onto a dolly?

 

[sideways danny]

cambelt and clutch are unrelated, and opposite ends of the engine. Completely unrelated jobs

 

[Mentalpen]

I would say you would struggle with the on jack stands.

There is a company you can rent workshop space with all the tools by the hour but I forget there name. It may be worth googling? For what you rent it at for the X time it will take you may be worth it in time saved.

I'd be making sure the clutch was gone first though.

 

[mitch1990]

Doing both together wont save time as they are no where near each other

 

[Foxspeed]

you might as well drop engine and gearbox all out in one go!

 

[Chrisgti6]

Just crack on and do it yourself (once confident that is the issue!).

I managed to drop the gearbox and subframe on my Pug 307 last year to change the clutch and flywheel and that was on my sloped driveway! Couple of decent axel stands (TALL ones) should give you plenty of room to drop what you need.

OK so it took me 2 days, but only cost me £400 instead of £1200.

Here's pile of bits mid way through!



Properly pikey!

 

[bebbetufs]

Excellent picture.
If the jobs are as unrelated as people say I think I'll just do the belts and wait for the clutch to go completely. I need to assemble my 944 and I don't want to end up with two cars in bits.
What is the estimated life span of a clutch under normal driving? Would you expect to have to change at 56K km?