S40 2004 MkII - Clutch replacement
 

As someone who brakes excessively on the clutch, using it more like a brake than my actual brakes, I have had to replace it. The last time I broke heavily from 60 on the clutch, the whole thing popped, I lost drive and couldn't move an inch.
I wondered what the hell could have went wrong until I seen the inside of my transmission..
[That asbestos fibre all over is the disintegrated friction plate which should be covering the outer metal radius.]

Generally an 8 hour job at a garage for upwards of £600, I ended up spending one and a half days, with a few nights after work chucked in. It ended up costing around £150. The extra amount of time was to do with the stupid little things that end up happening such as, dealing with idiotic factors/parts dealers, waiting on parts, holes in CV boots, wrecked bolts and magically stuck joints which need demolishing in order to come off.
(One major surprise in this engine bay was the amount of 'Ford Motor Company' images everywhere, mental.)

Just to overview quickly on the job (spare your first £20 on a Haynes manual), the aim here is to remove the transmission which is a nice, smaller than usual, block bolted to the nearside of the engine. The front wheels need to be removed and the front of the car jacked up as high as possible. Then starting in the engine bay, the battery, airbox and nearside engine mount need to be removed (the engine needs to be supported for this, either from the top with a bar settling in the engine bay channels with a hook to the top engine mount, or the way I did, supported underneath with a trolley jack). The transmission needs to be drained now before the fluid spills when dismantling. With the wheels off, the driveshafts from each side need taken out, a few things support these such as the ball joints and lower control arms, and the intermediate bearing bracket.

The main step is then unbolting the transmission from the engine block. It's recommended to use a transmission jack obviously but with two people it can be taken off with a little struggle. With one person pulling and angling the transmission on top, the other person can lie underneath doing the same and then lowering the detached transmission onto their chest. The actual struggle comes when trying to remove the block from under the wheel arch (the nearside wheel liner also needs to be out at this point).

With that removed, you'll now see the clutch where you can unbolt the pressure plate and renew the clutch. There should be a pressure plate, clutch plate and bearing in a renewal kit.

At this point it's a case of refitting, renewing certain nuts and clips, and filling the transmission back up with fluid.

(New things you'll need during replacement. A clutch kit - 2 ball joint hub nuts - 2 driveshaft hub bolts - 1.9L transmission fluid - A transmission sump plug - A transmission drain plug - 2 Air hose clips) *Be careful with the driveshaft gators or you'll have hassle replacing them.