The DeLorean Owners Club UK Forum

Hey everyone,

Since Ive had my D ive little in the way of mechanical problems. The clutch however has always slipped slightly when going from first to second. Although its not major problem Im thinking its probably gonna have to be replaced when possible. In short, How much is a new clutch, Is it a difficult job to replace it and How time consuming would it be?

Cheers!

A Clucth Kit is about £120 from renault or a good Motorfactor. It's the same as the Renault 30 or Atmo Alpine.

Dont bother with an uprated one as they just give you a heavy pedal and on a D are over kill.

Not to hard to do, but it's a two person job unless you built like a brick poo house. The hardest thing is lining the gearbox back up to the engine.

Dan

I got my clutch from German and Swedish, it was £115.74 including VAT and delivery.

Their part number R-624189 (says Espace 2.9 V6).

That was May last year tho, so not sure what the current price is. The clutch itself was £98.50 + VAT at the time.

Just replaced mine with a QH one will post part number in relevent cross ref, place, Was £110.00 inc Vat. although was in a QH box contents were all Valeo components. Mind you the engine and gearbox were out of the car!! it made it a bit easier. I think the main thing would be plenty of height to work underneath, ideally a pit.
Chris

Myself and Rich Hanlon (and his neighbour in the end!) removed and refitted my Ds gearbox in December 2004, I couldn't have done it on my own.

I got my clutch from GSF . It's a Valeo part no: 7701-466-774. That will get you the clutch, pressure plate and release bearing. Cost £113 inc vat.

We did the job with the car on ramps (I have a particularly high set) and it was a 'mare. I can -just- comfortably carry the gearbox, so you can imagine how hard it is trying to manipulate the thing lying on yer back with virtually no leverage to lift it. In the end it took three of us to remove and refit it like this. If you have a lift or a pit it will be easier, I since learned that using a trolley jack with a plank of wood will allow you to jack up under the box and provides much better support - it works very well on Autoboxes (don't ask)

Don't attempt to do it on your own, the weight of a gearbox falling on yer face doesn't bear thinking about...

You have to remove the starter to get at a plate behind it which has to come out. There are also two farty metal plates attached to the gearbox, which cover the flywheel at the bottom and the LHS the bolts face the back of the car, but are unbolted from underneath. They will be covered in gunge, and you have to undo them 'blind'. These two plates absolutely
-MUST- be removed - a painful lesson well learnt.

Both drive shafts will have to be removed, six bolts on either side of both shafts - yes that's 24 bolts!

You have to disconnect two linkages, one cable, one rod MARK THEM before removal. The clutch slave must also be removed, which can apparently be done without removing the inlet manifold, however mine has been off and on so many times, I found it quicker to remove the manifold...Don't try and get the gearbox out with the slave still attached, you're wasting your time...

You must also detach the clutch line from the top of the gearbox, it is easier to unbolt the bracket from the box, than splitting the line at the union.

There are two brackets at the front end of the box, and four bolts onto the engine. Leave the top two engine/box bolts till last and use a jack or something to support the box weight when you have the bolts out, otherwise all the weight will be hanging on the input shaft.

NB - At this point consider what would be involved if you decide to remove the engine AND gearbox. Although you could leave the slave attached you'd still have to start on removing the rear fascia, disconnecting the fuel lines, removing AC compressor, draining the cooling system, disconnecting the cooling hoses, heater hoses, wiring loom, vacuum pipes, unbolting engine mounts, exhaust pipes, and you'd need an engine hoist....

The box needs -A LOT- of support whilst you slide it back from the engine and lower it to the floor, I had myself and Rich at the front (heavy) end and another chap heaving the end out the engine. Put a thick blanket down, then if you lower it onto someone's fingers they wont get crushed

Remove old clutch. You can't see the rear crankshaft oil seal without removing the flywheel (heavy) but if you notice seeping oil at the bottom of the engine it may be worth checking out. You are supposed to renew the 7 flywheel bolts if you remove them, the Volvo 760 ones are the -wrong- length - too short.

Whether you decide to remove the flywheel to check the oil seal or not, it is certainly worth replacing the Pilot Bearing. I had a clever technique to get it out if you don't have a bearing puller, email me if you want details. Don't bother with Volvo for a replacement. Take it to your local bearing place and they will be able to match it off the shelf, its bog standard and cost about three quid. Part Number SKF 62032

I eyeballed the clutch alignment, although you can get a special tool.

When refitting the box, use a piece of long string to bow-tie the clutch release arm back, then once in situe pull the string out. Otherwise the release arm will fall out just when you're utterly knackered from heaving the box in place - and you'll have to do it all again!!!!

The engine will have tipped backwards on its mounts without the gearbox to counterbalance it. You'll need to jack up the rear of the engine to level it out again, go easy or you'll damage the engine mounts. Now you get to test out your clutch alignment skills :?

You will have to reset the linkages after refitting, I didn't bother marking them since my shift was all wrong anyway...

Refit and bleed clutch system.

It took us a whole day to get the box out, and another whole day to get it back in again, then I rebuilt the inlet manifold/engine the following day since I was too knackered to carry on!! There was a lot of learning to be done, and a lot of time wasted making mistakes, I'd still give it two days if I were you.

The most demanding job I've done, but oh so very worth it in the end

I was lucky in that Andy Carvosso and Tourettes did Flopsy's clutch in Andy's workshop in Southend

Luckilly, Andy's range of tools included airtools, and the gearbox was out in just over an hour. My old clutch was absolutely shagged, there was no meat left on it at all (might have a photo somewhere....)

Including breaks for several cups of tea, fish and chips, and Tourettes and Andy's comedy show, the whole job was completed in under 6 hours - and that included a bit of faffing about with the gear linkages once everything was back in. Also, the O/S hand brake cable had to be taken off, as in a previous life it had been routed under the gearbox rather then over it, and it was preventing the gearbox dropping down.

Thankfully, Andy has done several DeLorean clutches in the past, so that coupled with having professional tools definately sped things up.

Needless to say, palms were crossed with folding beer tokens for doing the work

Its a very daunting job tho, Rich's description of the work involved sums it up totally.

Found some pics:

Gearbox out, driveshafts off, clutch out and OS wheel off -



Flopsy's old clutch - I've seen more meat on a butchers pencil!! :lol:



A nice big space where the gearbox goes!

Wow, it would be SO much easier to get to those rear brake hose fixings with the gearbox removed! (ask me how I know :wink: )

With the gearbox out you can also see how good a condition your chassis is in. Flopsy's looks great!

Oh joy, the Esprit clutch is so much easier as you work from the top,,,no lying on your back getting crap in your eye and trying to get the bugger to line up :lol:

My clutch is still on the next to do list (slips and judders but surprising how intermittent it is).

The first signs of wear were when pulling gently away from rest that the car would judder a little unless more revs were applied to either beat the judder or settle it down.

More recently I can now sometimes drive without noticing there is a problem and on other journeys it can now be so bad that it sounds like an automatic ( :wink: ) and will only put the power to the wheels with steady acceleration otherwise the engine races ahead faster than the transmission can deal with it...

The clutch slave was changed around a month ago as that was leaking. The master was replaced around 4 years ago.

I thought wear was wear, so how can it suddenly behave itself and be so intermittent? :?

Whoa! Errm, I'm in well over my head with this one. I dont have a clue. I'll have to get some help. Cheers for all the replies, I'll deffinatly be referring back and no doubt posting more questions as I go. Dont think I'll attempt it for a while tough. College priorities, 2 weeks to go and I'm freeeee!

Thanks alot!

Chris Hawes Wrote:With the gearbox out you can also see how good a condition your chassis is in. Flopsy's looks great!

it aint that good Chris........been on the 'to do' list for ages......

Anyone know of any online links to somewhere to buy one?

Cheers

dmcscott2002 Wrote:Anyone know of any online links to somewhere to buy one?

Cheers

what the clutch or the chassis? :wink:

Try German and Swedish's website, its something like www.gsf.com - a google search will bring it up.

I put their parts reference further up this thread.