Putting a new clutch in a 400i | FerrariChat

Putting a new clutch in a 400i

Discussion in '365 GT4 2+2/400/412' started by dstacy, Oct 16, 2009.

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  1. dstacy

    dstacy F1 World Champ
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    #1 dstacy, Oct 16, 2009
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    There wasn’t any doubt. My clutch was beginning to slip a bit under load. It was time for a new clutch.
    Now considering you could spend 15% of the car’s value on a clutch job, this wouldn’t be the first clutch I’d ever installed, and I had plenty of time I decided to do the job myself.

    Now that it is done I can tell you is this is not a job for the faint of heart. The shop manual lists all the steps, “remove this, back off that, blah, blah, blah…” what it should say is, “Disassemble entire running gear system until all parts have been removed. Once completed remove remaining parts from vehicle until all are in one big pile because when we built this car we never thought you’d actually want to take the transmission out someday.”

    For some future glutton for punishment I’ll let you in on the secrets in this post. The big problem here is getting the trans back far enough so it will fall. The torque tube is in the way even when it has been slid all the way back. The tolerance is literally a matter of millimeters. It’s that close.
    • The half-shafts have to be disconnected. You can leave the end connected to the differential, but the other end has to be loose.
    • Once you disconnect the torque tube nuts from the trans you have to disconnect BOTH bolts from the coupling that connects the shaft to the trans shaft. You do this through a little hole in the torque tube. The coupling has to be completely removed. Don’t try to leave it in; the trans will not go back far enough with the coupling in place.
    • Loosen the differential mounts and slide the differential back until it hits the gas tank cover. It has to be touching the cover. Once again, it has to be all the way back. This isn’t easy. Getting that torque tube to release from the trans is a bit of work.
    • Disconnect the trans support, backup lights, speedo sensor.
    • Disconnect clutch cable. Believe it or not this might take you forever. It’ll seem like forever since your arms will be over your head and cramping while you try to get at the nut that holds the cable to the trans. Just for fun the folks in Modena recessed that nut so you won’t be able to get a wrench on it. Oh, and a deep well socket won’t be deep enough because the cable itself will try to push it off the nut.
    • Take a string and wrap it around the gearshift knob. Then tie it to the steel part of the steering wheel. Now go back underneath. Remove the front 2 bolts that hold the gearshift housing to the trans, they won’t drop all the way but you’ll get them out. Then break your arm in 3 places so you can twist it enough to reach the back 2 bolts that hold the gearshift housing onto the top of the trans. (a sledge hammer and a friend who isn’t squeamish will work best here) Once you have those 4 bolts removed just let the gearshift hang. Don’t worry it won’t be in your way (not yet anyway)
    • Remove the bolts in the bellhousing.
    • Now slide the trans back until it hits the torque tube and realize you’re an inch short of having enough room to get this dam thing out.
    • Wrestle with it for an hour.
    • Go have a beer.
    • Wrestle with it for another hour and think to yourself, “Crap man, this thing is apart and I don’t see any way it’ll come out. How am I ever going to get it back together?”
    • Go have a bourbon.
    • After a nice nap slide the trans back as far as it will go. You’ll have about an inch of clearance between the bellhousing and the engine. Remove the bolts holding the pressure plate.
    • Shove the torque tube to the right (it makes a difference) and the rear of the trans to the left and you’ll have 1 or 2mm of room to drop her down.
    A couple of notes. Don’t believe the factory manuals, the part number for the clutch alignment tool is IH10 it is the same for all V12’s, they aren’t different.

    The outer diameter of a 400i clutch disc is exactly the same as a TR6 with 75% less horsepower. You wonder why these clutches wear out?

    If you resurface the flywheel make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing. Do NOT turn it. You want it flat ground.

    Don’t cheap out and resurface the pressure plate. It is so small the stress it is under is really a poor design and will wear out the spring rate so if you need a new clutch the PP is already gone even if it looks ok. That’s a lot of HP through a very small surface area.

    The balance point of the transmission is directly under the drain plug. I know it doesn’t look like it, but trust me it’ll balance on your jack just fine there.

    You’ll be amazed how crude the castings are for the transmission case. The holes for the clutch linkage to go through look like they were chewed out rather than formed in the casting. An interesting note is there is no difference in a right-hand drive or left-hand drive transmission casting. The linkage holes are BOTH there.

    If you’ve worked on your cars before and are pretty good at taking your time, solving problems, and figuring out how things are put together this is a job you can do. It takes a lot of time, a bunch of skin from your knuckles, and isn’t that expensive. You’ll need help in 3 places; dropping the trans, raising the trans, and adjusting the linkage, other than that you can do it by yourself.
    I took my time, did some cleaning as I went, and did it over the course of a couple of weeks. Including a friend who helped me along the way I’d say I had 30 or 40 man hours in the whole job.
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  2. Ashman

    Ashman Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Dave

    Awesome, simply awesome! Thanks for that info. How much did the parts cost and did you get a quote from your Friendly Ferrari Shop for the labor or for the whole job?

    Thanks for posting!

    John
     
  3. dstacy

    dstacy F1 World Champ
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    John,

    I did get a quote from a fairly well known, and trusted, independant Ferrari shop. If I remember correctly it was between $3,500 and $4,000 which didn't include pulling the flywheel and having it resurfaced since I didn't know it needed to be done until I had the tranny out. Having done the job I don't think their quote was out of line, I just didn't have the ready cash so I had to do it myself.

    I don't have the invoices with me at this exact moment but I can get pretty close on costs. The disc, PP, and bearing ran around $675 with shipping. I think I paid $50, maybe $75 for the flywheel resurface. A couple of seals at $50 or $75 and the whole deal ran $825 or so.
     
  4. alastairhouston

    alastairhouston Formula Junior

    Apr 19, 2009
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    Magnificant job,also entertaining.
    I had the same job done here in UK and the junior mechanic working beside the 'real' mechanic had spent a few hours pretending it was easy when I heard him say 'help'
    Great diagrams if I ever had the brains or skill to do that well done.
    Regards
    Alastair
     
  5. dstacy

    dstacy F1 World Champ
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    <laughing> Yep its a big job.

    I'm curious Alastair. Would you be willing to tell us how much it cost you to have it done in the UK and how long ago it was?

    If you're not comfortable, no problem.
     
  6. alastairhouston

    alastairhouston Formula Junior

    Apr 19, 2009
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    I had it done 2 years ago about 10 000 miles have been done since then, cost me about £2500 unfortunately dont have my folder got all the details of expenditure etc in there, its with the car which is currently getting the engine stripped. I use Roseneath Engineering small firm and very good.

    I am jealous of you guys that can do the tech side and dream about doing a rebuild myself. I am also not rich which isnt a great combination for a Ferrari owner!

    The cost for engine out stripped and overhauled and replaced all fine is 12 to £15000 depending how much wear etc on the engine parts. A big collector I know in Europe spends around £20 000 but then thats for cars that are worth a couple of million so its a bargain!

    Diversifying
    I have just picked about 20 bunches of red grapes from my greenhouse I have never made wine before have I enough to make a couple of bottles with that?
    I am stopping at the winemaking shop to get the stuff containers etc. Should be a laugh why not. Chateau novice.
    Regards
    Alastair 400GT 1977
     
  7. dstacy

    dstacy F1 World Champ
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    Thats $4,077US at today's exchange rate so right on the money for what I was quoted.

    Have fun on the wine :)
     

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