Brave enough to change a clutch disk?

I would recommend going with the Hills Engineering throw-out bearing. The part is said to not crack like the Ferrari part. I had my flywheel machined and repacked along with replacement of the T/O bearing (using Hills) and seals last year on my 1995 F355. I watched Eric and Bruce do the clutch on their 348 and they made it look easy. There are alot of great posts with pics on FChat with step by step to do the seals and T/O bearing. Next time I need to work on the clutch I most likely will do it myself (with the help of some 'stoogies').

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296274&highlight=t%2Fo+bearing

 

Read a few of the threads here. Assuming that nothing is broken, a 355 clutch is a pretty easy job.

Welcome!

 

I have done both t/o bearing and clutch in the last couple of months. Very easy, about a 4 hour job start to finish. Easier than a clutch on just about any other car as you don't have to split the engine and trans. Regarding the flywheel and pressure plate, I checked them when I pulled them apart and both were smooth with no high spots, so I just scuffed them and put it back together with a new disc. I just made sure the pressure plate went back in aligned the same. I used the Hill t/o bearing, it looks to be a very well made piece. On a '95, the collar is a little different so they sell a collar to mate up to the t/o bearing but after measuring, the only difference is the width between the spring pockets so it's not necessary to replace both. Since I had bought it, I put the new collar on but verified the old one works.

I purchased a stock Valeo disc for around $300 and kept the old one to have rebuilt for future track use.

 

I did the clutch on my 348. It's pretty similar to doing the double disc on my car. Since you are handy with a wrench you'll do fine. Anyhow here is my thread with the how to, when I rebuilt the pressure plate. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=296274

 

I say go for it. Plenty of good advice already given about the process and eliminating as much of the Ferrari tax as possible. Just take lots of pictures and post them up so we can see the process.

 

And here is a very nice how-to for repacking the flywheel.http://www.myferrari.page.tl/348-Clutch-Replacement-Part-4-The-Flywheel.htm

Now where's my race tickets? LOL. Just messing with you.

Welcome to FerrariChat.

 

Here's the procedure I've followed, to my mind it's the best I've found despite being originally posted in 2004!.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=134766000&postcount=1

 

Welcome to Ferrari Chat mate.

It's an easy job, have a crack yourself.

 

As for step by step - here's how it goes:

1: turn the kill switch off in the trunk
2: remove the 2 air boxes in the engine compartment
3: remove the heat shield over the muffler
4: jack the rear of the car up
5: remove thev2 air channels (diffuser panels) under the rear of the car
6: remove the rear most wheel well panels
7: disconnect the license plate light connector (on the PS of the car)
8: remove the rear bumper - there are 2 bolts on each side behind the wheel well panels you just took off and 2 more on each side behind the muffler
9: remove the muffler heat shield and muffler
10: disconnect the 2 wires to the starter
11: Remove all of the nuts holding the bellhousing and clutch/flywheel assembly to the car. You can unbolt and remove the starter either now or after the assembly is off of the car, your choice. Remove the bellhousing assembly.
12: remove the throwout bearing from the car - this is one small bolt on the bracket right above the t/o bearing. You might have to tug on it pretty hard (I did) once the bracket is off. The clutch fluid will all now come out of the car, so be sure to have a drain pan under it.
13: Mark the orientation of the pressure plate and flywheel then remove the allen bolts holding the pressure plate. Pry the pressure plate off, shouldn't take too much force to do so.
14: Inspect the pressure plate and flywheel for uneven wear and any surface roughness. Chances are if the clutch engagement was smooth before the clutch started slipping (and you didn't drive too much with a slipping clutch) and there's no contamination it will be fine.
15: Put the new clutch disc on the flywheel (making sure the proper side is facing the flywheel) and align it using an alignment tool or 2 sockets - this is how I did it, I just found one socket that fit the flywheel and one that fit the disc. Then I wrapped tape around the flywheel socket until it was a tight fit into the clutch socket and used this to align the clutch. I also lightly scuffed the pressure plate and flywheel using 200 grit sand paper.
16: Put the pressure plate back on - and tighten the bolts in a star pattern. Remove the alignment tool.
17: Install an outer seal in the Hill t/o bearing if that's what you're using - I used the seal from my old t/o bearing as it was in perfect shape. If you do this, you have to be careful not to damage it.
18: Install the t/o bearing - it was a very tight fit due to the new seals so I had to gently tap it on with a rubber mallet. This was probably the most difficult part as I could not get it on by hand and I didn't want to damage any seals.
19: Install the bellhousing. If it doesn't slip right on (likely), put the car in gear and spin one of the rear tires while pushing on the bellhousing. Once the splines line up properly, it'll pop right on.

The rest of assembly is the reverse of removal. You will have to bleed the clutch when you're done, but it's similar to bleeding brakes. That's the only part you may need a helper for if you don't have a power bleeder. I used a couple of pieces of cardboard between the grill and bumper to get the gap right when re-installing.

 

Is it necessary to have an SD2 for the F1 cars to reset the clutch? If so, does it have to be done prior to driving at all? My clutch is ok at the moment, but had wondered this since I plan on doing the clutch myself as well.

 

No, an SD2 is not needed. I did my F1 clutch 5 yrs ago without an SD2 and it worked great so far. There's threads on FChat on how to do the auto-calibrate.

 

Great, thanks so much. I'll research it.

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress.

 

How do you know for a fact you will have to repack the flywheel? They are generally better at keeping the Kluber grease within their bowels than our 348 versions. Just wondering what symptoms have lead you to that conclusion - rattling, vibration, gear oil infused Kluber grease leaking from the inspection plate or something else?

Good luck with your project, doing a clutch on these cars is not difficult and it's rewarding to work on your own car.

 

I can hear the flywheel rattle on shutdown so I will need to repack mine, luckily (not really) I now have to either rebuild my T/O bearing or get the Hill one because a leak developed one the winter...

 

Does that mean you need to re-pack it? I thought that just kind of went with the territory (ie a feature/consequence of having a dual mass flywheel).

 

Yes


No

 

Wonderful, another noise to listen for . I'm hoping it's fairly obvious?

 

Is the rattle going to cause any other damage if allowed to continue (ie. don't repack the F/W)

 

I am wondering if your triple seals are leaking.