When it came to my EP3 I knew that the clutch had needed replacing for a little while but put it off because I only drive it at weekends but decided that I didn’t want to put it off any longer so bought an Exedy Stage 1 from Stevie at Eightspeed.
After doing some research and reading good reviews I ordered some Amsoil gearbox oil from Opie Oils as well some bits for my service which was just about due.
A while back, when I knew the clutch would need replacing had planned on getting someone to fit it for me but once I had it I thought I might as well do it myself. I was a little bit anxious because I’ve never fitted one before but like a lot of people I enjoy working on cars so thought I might as well give it a go, especially as I could take my time to make sure it was done properly as I don’t need to drive it during the week.
No ramp for me, I had to jack the car up as high as I could get it to give me enough space to work.
As most people probably know, changing the clutch on an EP is a bit of a pain because you ideally have to remove the sub-frame in order to drop the gearbox.
Up until this point everything was pretty straight forward, I had been following a couple of online guides and a workshop manual I had saved to my phone.
As I had to drain the old gearbox fluid I took the opportunity to put a Spoon magnetic gearbox plug in.
I even put the fiancée to work!
Next up was to remove the bell housing which proved a little more tricky. The engine was only being supported by one mount and a jack by this point I found it helped to lower the engine a tad to give me a bit more room to manoeuvre the box.
Finally got it out
Old clutch
Clutch removed
Old vs. New
Stage 1 all lined up
Now for the hard bit, refitting the bell-housing (after fitting the new input shaft bearing)!
This took ages; it was bad enough trying to remove it on my own but getting it back in was a nightmare. Once I did get it in and had all the bolts lined up I couldn't get the bell housing to sit flush with the gearbox and was left with a 10mm gap.
I gave up that weekend and left it there until the following week after calling my mate to give me a hand. I made a start and wouldn't you know it, I managed to get it flush literally 2 minutes before he turned up!
He stayed and gave me a hand re-fitting the sub-frame but just before we did I fitted some Energy poly engine mount inserts which I had sitting around for over a year before.
Energy Suspension inserts
Old mount before
Inserts fitted
Car vibrates a lot more now but feels great when accelerating, no wheel spin at all so far. I'm not sure if this is down to the mounts or the new Continental Contact Sport 2's I had fitted just before changing the clutch, It may be a combination of the both, but either way its feels fantastic to drive!
I took it easy with the new clutch for a little while just to make sure everything was OK and that there weren't any problems. Luckily I had to drive up north for a booking I had so I could put a few miles on the clutch.
