Clutch & Flywheel Replacement

[c4koh]

All,

Per my other thread (clutch disk disintegration), I'm half-way through the replacement... being, I removed everything and just received from Carolina Clutch a new lightweight aluminum Fidanza flywheel, and Stage 2 kit.

There is not too much written up in the "Solutions" on clutch / flywheel replacement, so I'm going to summarize my notes (I take notes on every task, and also photos, which I then go through backwards upon re-installation... I'll write them up and share). Since I've researched many notes, some replies from folks who have very good experience leave a lot of detail out, and so to help people like me, who may not have the same level of experience, but certainly want to try it - happy to encourage it!

So far, two dilemmas presented themselves, which extensive searching didn't clarify one way or another:

1. re-use of old existing flywheel bolts.
I got a replacement set in the clutch kit from Carolina Clutch, but also got from Jerry's Gaskets the ARP "torque converter" set.
I could not ascertain if the original bolts should be re-used: I could see no information that they were, indeed, torque to yield so I think they could.
However, they are 2 inches long and the different thickness of the single mass flywheel v. the original dual mass flywheel, from what I could gather, confirms need for new, shorter bolts.
I'm traveling at the moment, but will easily confirm this when I get back.

2. use of red loctite on the flywheel bolts and pressure plate.
In the "solutions" section, Red Loctite is recommended for the FW and PP bolts. And I've hunted high and low on the internet, and it seems folks use red, use blue, or use nothing... as long as they're torqued correctly, it seems all good.
Now some folks did have their FW bolts working their way loose, but judging by the post, these may not have been fully torqued and/or the engine was being revved very high (9000+ RPM).
So in conclusion, I think that you could get away without red loctiting them, and the blue is a sort of useful option compared to nothing in keeping them snug.
But... even if you could get away with it, I've decided to red loctite them. My figuring being it certainly can't hurt, but more since the flywheel and pressure plate bolts are very easy to get to, they can be heat-torched out when I replace... so I decided for it.

And one question, which Tom @ CC confirmed, which was "which way around does the [Stage 2] clutch disk go" - answer is the raised spring cage (i.e. where the spring cage extends out of the main plate, and there is the funnel spline tapering out around an inch... the other side of the plate being completely flat)... the flat side should go against the pressure plate, and the raised spring cage and spline snout should poke into the flywheel...
If I understood it correctly, again, I'm traveling so will check when back... but believe so.

Would anyone have any gotchas for putting it all back together? Any other advice?

Will write up my removal and re-installation once complete.

By the way, on a scale of 1-10, getting everything out was a 7. Liquid Wrench used on all bolts, which I do as a matter of course just in case (not sure if every bolt needed it, but since the spray takes 1 second, I do it out of habit). Really not too bad, and the C-Beam plates which I was worried about were no problem at all - just lock a spare wrench above to stop it spinning, and the bolts came right off.

Car is jacked up on 21" "SUV" stands, which works well enough, and with just me (no help!) all was doable... trickiest part was maneuvering the transmission on my makeshift transmission plate (2" x 8" x 1 foot slab of wood with a small 1.5" detent drilled to rest the transmission oil drain plug), placed on a regular jack... I've since got a better transmission jack for that, but perfectly doable by one person.

The only pain was the clutch bell housing bolts, because of their positioning, and the catalyst heat shields bolts (IIRC two small 10mm bolts).