Clutch Replacement

Insert your clutch alignment tool through your new clutch disc, push the tool into the pilot bushing in the crankshaft, then press the disc up flat against the flywheel. Locate the new pressure plate on the dowel pins, install the bolts just a couple of turns each. Now, by exerting appropriate sideways pressure on the handle of the alignment tool, position the disc so that you can slip the tool in and out of the pilot bushing with minimal drag on the splines. There is one spot, with the disc perfectly centered, where virtually no resistance will be felt. Once the disc is in the position, tighten the bolts one turn each at a time until they are all fully secure. The tool should still slip in and out very easily; if it doesn’t, repeat the procedure until it does. If the tool meets no resistance, the gearbox input shaft will go in equally easily.

Install your new throwout bearing, being sure to lightly grease the points where it pivots in the yoke. Wire-brush the splines on the gearbox input shaft, then give them a very light coat of white lithium grease. Finally, grease the nose of the input shaft where it runs in the pilot bushing. When reassembling the engine to the gearbox, be sure to get the face of the bell housing parallel to the rear engine plate once the input shaft splines enter the clutch disc; it will then slide all the way home without the need for brute force.