Spec me a clutch

bainbridge

bainbridge

bainbridge

Soldato
Joined
9 Dec 2009
Posts
5,496
Location
Bristol
Hi Motors,

So the GF wants to continue her long term relationship with a 2007 vauxhall astra 1.6 petrol. It's done 110k, the clutch is very worn and I'm going to change it myself. I've done all the servicing on our cars for many years but always used a garage for major work, so changing a clutch is new to me. What is a good brand of clutch kit to go for? ECP sell 3 clutch kits:

Transmech
Sachs
Luk

Are any of these decent? Is there a "go to" brand when it comes to clutches?

Also, if anyone can direct me to a reasonably priced clutch alignment tool which has the scope to align various models of car I'd appreciate it.
 
For the likes of an Astra the Sachs will likely be fine I would think, LUK seem to be used quite abit in the older BMW community so might be worth a look.
 
Luk or Sachs are generally OEM factory fitted clutches. Keep an eye out on Amazon, they seem to do absolute bargain prices on LuK clutches sometimes.
 
LUK is fine, check ebay, got my TT one from there including flywheel. I would change that too just because you'll have the car apart...

Change the slave too...
 
Did the clutch on my 2009 1.6 turbo Astra H.

Took my ten hours and had to drop my subframe enough to get the box out far enough, mine did have a 6 speed box so not sure if you'd have more space with your engine.

I was £163 from carparts4less for a LUK kit with slave cylinder.

My flywheel had excessive backslash/slop but I wasn't prepared to change that.

I used a 1/2" extension wrapped in electrical tape to pack it out as an alignment tool.
 
I did 1.8 vectra and gearbox change. Absolute bugger had to drop engine and pull it out wheel arch. I just used a broom handle and a socket extention bar with elec tape to align it all up.
 
Clutch specialist will be about £90 quid labour for something like that surely?
 
bainbridge said:
Update:

Clutch is now slipping so I've ordered a 3 piece LUK kit for £164.

@Jonny ///M What was the most difficult part of the job?

@Clarkey What makes this Astra so difficult?
Click to expand...

For me it was the subframe bolts inside the wheel arch as they were rusted solid from never being off. The other ones under the bulkhead have captive nuts which can be a royal PITA if they start to spin too. Mine being the 6 speed might have made it tighter than yours but I had to keep dropping the subframe until the arse of the gearbox would fit into the wheel arch and even then it was still awkward to get tools in to remove the pressure plate.

Here are a few photos I took whilst doing it https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...ur-car-today.18472267/page-1404#post-33525614

I'd crack the hub nuts whilst on the deck
Jack it up and remove wheels
Drain the gearbox oil, check the fill plug turns first. I had to refill through the gearbox linkage hole...
Drive shafts out, not sure if you have the extra one I do that runs behind the block. Need to undo the lower arm to hub bolt to get the shafts out.
Starter motor off whilst you're back there.
Battery out and move coolant bottle out the way.
Disconnect gear linkage cables.
Gear linkage out, needs to be rotated a certain way to get it out.
Disconnect front and rear engine mounts.
Disconnect the gearbox mount on the right hand side of the box
Engine will drop so support it with a jack + wood or something.
Bell housing bolts and a lot of wiggling and swearing.
Clutch pressure plate bolts.
I was doing slave cylinder so a couple of bolts hold that in, biggest PITA was bleeding that thing.
 
Jonny ///M said:
For me it was the subframe bolts inside the wheel arch as they were rusted solid from never being off. The other ones under the bulkhead have captive nuts which can be a royal PITA if they start to spin too. Mine being the 6 speed might have made it tighter than yours but I had to keep dropping the subframe until the arse of the gearbox would fit into the wheel arch and even then it was still awkward to get tools in to remove the pressure plate.

Here are a few photos I took whilst doing it https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...ur-car-today.18472267/page-1404#post-33525614

I'd crack the hub nuts whilst on the deck
Jack it up and remove wheels
Drain the gearbox oil, check the fill plug turns first. I had to refill through the gearbox linkage hole...
Drive shafts out, not sure if you have the extra one I do that runs behind the block. Need to undo the lower arm to hub bolt to get the shafts out.
Starter motor off whilst you're back there.
Battery out and move coolant bottle out the way.
Disconnect gear linkage cables.
Gear linkage out, needs to be rotated a certain way to get it out.
Disconnect front and rear engine mounts.
Disconnect the gearbox mount on the right hand side of the box
Engine will drop so support it with a jack + wood or something.
Bell housing bolts and a lot of wiggling and swearing.
Clutch pressure plate bolts.
I was doing slave cylinder so a couple of bolts hold that in, biggest PITA was bleeding that thing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for replying. This Astra is a 2007 model and it already has several seized bolts which I've had to work around to do normal routine servicing jobs. TBH I think I might have bitten off more than I can chew with this job. I'm very organised, I clean and label the parts as I go, but I have no gas to put heat on seized parts and the clearance once the gearbox is separated looks really tight, like keyhole surgery.
 
Might be worth paying someone to do it as once you start it's a pain if you have to get help.

My steering rack is leaking fluid so I've booked it in to get it swapped out for a recon unit at £370 all in, I could do it but can't be bothered messing about with the subframe again and/or seized bolts.
 
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