Thank God my wife's to short to fully depress the clutch pedal, otherwise I'd never see my car unless I had to work on it for her.
If you end up having to remove your ZF, here's something to keep in mind. Check to see if you have a stock oil pan or, if you're really lucky, a nice stiff aftermarket pan or aluminum pan.
You have to "tilt" the engine and trans to get it out of the car. The rear of the trans has to be raised up to pull the whole thing back far enough to get the center shaft to clear the clutch. To do this, you have to put a block of wood under the oil pan at the farthest back poistion you can and jack it up a bit. The stock pan is very likely to compress upward into the crank. Mine did. Many others have too.
There are a couple of ways to go about fixing this if it happens. Pantera Performance makes removable, bolt in, crossmember and parking brake brackets. You sawsall the old ones out and drill and bolt the new ones in. This allows you to remove and replace the pan with a heavy duty one.
I, however, chose the hillbilly method. When I fired up the motor and the crank was "clacking" off the pan, I shut it down. Called a towing service with a flatbed. $50 later I was at my friend's welding shop. We pushed the car over the pit. Got a slide hammer. Tack welded a large nut to a large washer. Tack welded that assembly to the bottom of the steel oil pan. Screwed in the slide hammer. Gave it a couple of pulls. Problem solved. No one can see this mickey mouse stuff, so don't tell anyone I did it.
I brought along oil and a filter and when we had confirmed the crank was no longer hitting, I changed the oil and drove home.
I know that this approach will crystalize some oil at the tack welds and I know that this approach is going to horrify some folks, but we kept the tack welds small and the heat low. It didn't require much force to pop the pan out.
If I ever pull the motor for a rebuild you can bet I will buy the crossmembers and a HD oil pan. But for now...hillbilly ho!
Later, Mooso.
You have to "tilt" the engine and trans to get it out of the car. The rear of the trans has to be raised up to pull the whole thing back far enough to get the center shaft to clear the clutch. To do this, you have to put a block of wood under the oil pan at the farthest back poistion you can and jack it up a bit. The stock pan is very likely to compress upward into the crank. Mine did. Many others have too.
There are a couple of ways to go about fixing this if it happens. Pantera Performance makes removable, bolt in, crossmember and parking brake brackets. You sawsall the old ones out and drill and bolt the new ones in. This allows you to remove and replace the pan with a heavy duty one.
I, however, chose the hillbilly method. When I fired up the motor and the crank was "clacking" off the pan, I shut it down. Called a towing service with a flatbed. $50 later I was at my friend's welding shop. We pushed the car over the pit. Got a slide hammer. Tack welded a large nut to a large washer. Tack welded that assembly to the bottom of the steel oil pan. Screwed in the slide hammer. Gave it a couple of pulls. Problem solved. No one can see this mickey mouse stuff, so don't tell anyone I did it.
I brought along oil and a filter and when we had confirmed the crank was no longer hitting, I changed the oil and drove home.
I know that this approach will crystalize some oil at the tack welds and I know that this approach is going to horrify some folks, but we kept the tack welds small and the heat low. It didn't require much force to pop the pan out.
If I ever pull the motor for a rebuild you can bet I will buy the crossmembers and a HD oil pan. But for now...hillbilly ho!
Later, Mooso.
The clutch mystery is solved. A friend dropped by with his pal who just happens to be a whiz kid with the Japanese import race cars here. He took a look at the car and fixed it in a few minutes. He related that hydraulic clutches have air bubbles that stick in the lines. As I pumped the fluid through the lines, he tapped on the lines and sure enough bubbles that hadn't come out during normal bleeding exited the bleed screw (I guess that the tapping on the lines released the bubbles). Prior to this, I had pumped a large bottle of hydraulic fluid through the lines in attempt to clear the bubbles, completely replacing all fluid without getting all of the air out. During this time, the line ejected bubbles and eventually came out clear. I guess that he was right, more bubbles eventually came out and the clutch now works.
Thanks to all that offered help!
Thanks to all that offered help!