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My gearbox has spung a leak at one of the middle seal sections and is leaving a mess on the drive and so next weekend (long weekend) i'll be dropping the box, pulling the casing apart and reappling the goop between casing segements to reseal the box. Chances are i'll be doing the clutch at the same time. Seeming as though I don't have a hoist or a pit, what would you recommend the best way of raising the car enough to pull the gearbox out? I'm not after dodgy solutions because I can't really afford reconstructive surgery at the moment. I was thinking ramps (I can easily buy these) but I dont think it will give me enough height. Any relatively safe, creative solutions?

Also, can anyone recommend a specific torque wrench? Apart from needing one to do the above work, they're something I find rather sexy and wouldn't mind adding it to my tool collection.

Jimmy.

a car trailer tipped backwards with the front pointing diagonally upwards.

i drove past the carvan park when BOYRCR blew up a gearbox when he was passing through Adelaide. looked ingenious.

hi mate,

It's good to see a fellow owner who gets their own dirty work done.


I think your only safe option would be to get yourslef some jack stands and jack the car up, if your a DIY sorta bloke it's just not safe to do it any other way, and once you have jack stands they're a handy item to have.

with the torque wrench, the best is obviously snap-on, but come on at the price of one you would be sleeping with it under your pillow, sidcrome is the more affordable option that is good for the occasional use, and they ae quite shiny

hope that was somewhat helpful

4 good jack stands, and a trolley jack did me pretty well.

Also if you dont have one already, the workshop manual is godsend, I found getting the gearbox out quite confusing.. the PPF is a bit of an arse...

And a portable bright light on a stick thing.. you gotta have one of those

If you are doing the clutch is should be done as a kit and the usual approach is also to have the flywheel refaced. Wun recently did the job and there are some pointers- see posts . Jackstands- buy reasonable quality and one's that are adjustable- the screw type allow for micro adjustments. Allow at least 10 hours or more - and you cannot get the flywheel refaced on a Sunday. Workshop manual buy or borrow from the library. Ramps in my view are not the answer as it is very difficult to get sufficient ramp angle- even on the front the angle of the ramp can end up by scraping the underside of the bumper ( esp coming down) and the rear does not have an open side in front- ie if you use 4 ramps how do you drive straight on? If you know someone with a full size floor jack with a 2 tonne cap maybe borrow it- this gives a margin for safety and they lift high. Double check where you place the stands that it is a reinforced area. The Haynes manual may tell you where to place the stands. Good equipment will last you many years.

I guess i'm lucky to have a contact who works at a repretable automotive parts store because I just splurged something shocking... Lets see, I bought a Sidchrome Torque Wrench (sexiest tool ever ), clutch & a clutch alignment tool, slave cylinder (my one's started leaking, can't be bothered getting it rebuilt), DBA slotted front rotors, lightweight aluminium trolley jack (waaaay to sexy to refuse), 4 x car stands (the screw type) and an oil filter. (I did an oil change yesterday and my contact forgot to put the filter in the bag so of course i got home, drained the oil, removed the old filter and then went crazy trying to find the new one which was still sitting on the couter at the shop ) All of this was cost price of course so you could say I got an absolute bargain! I've also got a rear caliper rebuild kit and the gearbox upper and lower boots on order at Carco.

Thanks for the tips lads, it's much appreciated. The lads at Carco gave me a tutorial with regards to the work I will be doing as well as pointing out potential fiddly and tricky bits. They also took the time out to photocopy me some pages from their Mazda workshop manual. If anything does go wrong they're only a short trip down the road. Great blokes

Thanks for the tip Mr Morlock Carco have a machined flywheel available for exchange so pretty much I bring my current one in and walk out with a machined one. I'll be removing the box this weekend and putting it back in next weekend. I've also read Wun's post regarding his clutch install and pulled some usefull info from it. I will have a friend with me who has done his fair share of clutches so i should be right in terms of expertise.

So after my test drive of the new NC tomorrow it will be up on the stands for my car and the work will begin. I can't wait to get my hands dirty! It's all been pretty well documented before so i'm not sure i'll post a photo diary. Maybe i'll do one for the gearbox reseal though. I'll also be giving the underside a thorough degrease and clean. I can't wait to start

Mr Morlock wrote:Good equipment will last you many years.

This is one the best pieces of advice my old man taught me. "By quality tools, look after them and you'll have them for life. One tip though, NEVER EVER LEND YOUR TOOLS TO ANYONE. EVER!" Now that i'm buying my own quality (and rather expensive) tools, i can appreciate this statement a little more.

Jimmy.

I got this torque wrench its very expensive around $200 dollars a few years back.


The only down side is you can't use it to un-do nuts otherwise you will spoil it (so can never figure out how tight the bolt was on to begin with).
On the upside its very accurate and has a wide range of torque settings goes from 10 pounds to 120 pounds so can do sparks (17 pounds) and PPF bolts (120 pounds).
I recomend it so you just buy one good tool that does everything.

I was going to do clutch install on both jackstands and normal ramps (with the front wheels on the ramps so you can rotate the rear wheels this way) and leave the trolley jack under the diff for good measure.

Some tools I found really useful are:
14mm, 17mm 6 point sockets (the ones used for air tools) so you don't strip and round nuts off.
Lots of extensions of various lenghths but in total at least 2 foot woth.
A good quality 12mm and 14mm open end wrench to remove the starter motor, drive shaft bolts, clutch slave etc etc. (Everything in 17mm I can get a socket onto)
The 1/2" drive swivel thing (do not proced without this).
'breaker bar' with this you can undo any bolt no matter how weak and frail you are. (Leaverage is little weak asian boy's best friend, only FFG scrapes his knuckles on the ground like a gorilla)

http://www.kincrome.com.au/web/catalogue/search/product_display.php?partnumber=K030003

best bloody spanners around! save sooo much time its not funny, I just wish i had $150 to drop on a set.... hey wait, uncle kev....

Im fortunate to have a father who has a fully kitted out snap on tool box, about 99% of his tools are snap on or blue point, this makes doing anything so much easier, you have not only the right tool for the job but the highest quality.

i have to say though my favourite tools are the four "go jacks" that you put under the wheels, they jack up mechanically and then roll around with ease... soooo cool

I've done a clutch with four stands and a trolley jack before. I'm sure there are better solutions but you should be right with that as a minimum.

Best of luck either way.

My old man is a fitter so Im lucky to have plenty of tools around the house, and if I need something I don't have his workshop is a 5min drive away.

madboy wrote:http://www.kincrome.com.au/web/catalogue/search/product_display.php?partnumber=K030003

best bloody spanners around! save sooo much time its not funny, I just wish i had $150 to drop on a set.... hey wait, uncle kev....

I was using his Sidchrome ratchet ring spanners just the other day, he has a metric set and imperial. They are fantastic to work with, save your pennies and get a set.

Sidchrome and Kincrome ftw!

Excellent tools and reasonably priced as well.

I got a 33 metric piece 1/2 drive set, best $200 I've spent.

Sidchrome used to be an Aussie co and the product was made here- I think it was Siddons. If memory serves me they guaranteed the tools for life. You bought Sidchrome tools probably once only. Today along with the others they could be made anywhere- do they actually tell you? green_comet's dad would probably know- the pro's know their steels and tolerances.

I think they are now made in Tiwan etc, some say the quality of the tools isn't as good as it used to be.

Mr Morlock wrote:Sidchrome used to be an Aussie co and the product was made here- I think it was Siddons. If memory serves me they guaranteed the tools for life. You bought Sidchrome tools probably once only. Today along with the others they could be made anywhere- do they actually tell you? green_comet's dad would probably know- the pro's know their steels and tolerances.

showing your age m8, I think sidchrome still guarantee their product for life, might need to show proof of purchase to get that replacement these days tho