Clutch replacement

[amazon69]

Anything I need to know before changing the clutch on the old '70 131?
I would appreciate any and all tips. ie is it easier to take the g/box out
with bellhousing or not..It is a 4 speed, btw.

Thanks a lot.
Dave

[Pigeon]

Don't take the bellhousing off the engine, take the gearbox off the bellhousing. You need a hex bit in a long and fairly slim extension bar and socket to get the two top bolts out (or the long arm off an allen key brazed into the end of a length of electrical conduit with some tommy bar holes drilled at the other end), but this is the way it's supposed to come off, and it has the advantage that you don't have to cope with the size and weight of the bellhousing when trying to juggle the gearbox back into position afterwards. Separating the bellhousing from the engine can come as a separate task afterwards.

If you have a crane, or a strong beam in your roof to hang a block and tackle off, it's just as easy, if not easier, to take the whole engine and gearbox out as a unit and do the clutch change out of the car. Amazon engines come out so easily that although this looks like a bigger job it's less hassle than trying to align the gearbox lying on your back under the car and trying to get the bolts in with one arm while the other arm which is holding the box up is rapidly turning to cabbage and then trying to drop it on your chest slowly enough not to break any ribs when your cabbage arm gives out altogether. I've tried all sorts of combinations of different jacks and props and arrangements to lift the gearbox from inside the car with a piece of rope through the gear lever hole and found that they all get in the way more than they help, so have reverted to the cabbage-arm-and-swearing method in the end, and used the whole-lot-out-in-a-lump method the next time...

If you want a REALLY EASY clutch change, drive a Transit