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Hello,

I am going to pull the engine next week in order to tidy and paint the engine bay, re-wrap the loom, change the clutch and replace engine mounts. Is there anything i should know before i get started?

The engine is a 998 with non verto clutch and remote gear change. I take it i will need to disconnect the remote gear change. Is this easily done? Can i leave it hanging in the car?

I understand i need a puller to change the clutch on a non verto. Is this correct?

Thanks a lot for the help. Much appreciated.

Daniel

If it’s the cast remote it’s much easier to disconnect than the later one, just undo the 4 bolts.
Follow the Haynes manual and you shouldn’t have any problems. You’re bound to forget to disconnect something so lift slowly and keep an eye on the engine.
There’s a bit tilting needed to get the diff past the body work,

Other than that make sure the engine hoist is on flat even ground

Sounds good. I will pick up a haynes before i start. Thanks,

Daniel

The two things that most people forget, this applies to "experts" as well as novices, is the speedo cable & the earth strap.

Re the remote, if its a big alloy one, I favour removing the single bolt at the gear lever end first then the 4 bolts at the gearbox end. You can leave it dangling, but you do run the risk of breaking the rubber mount at the gear lever end.

Take it steady, don't force anything & remember that if it comes out it goes back in.

Make sure you get genuine engine mountings as some of the pattern ones are too thick & are an absolute Bstard to fit.

mark

would you know of any 'experts' who have forgotten to remove the earth lead recentley.......

I know someone who forgot to remove the speedocable and clutch hose yesterday

'Hands up', but not too recently, I once forgot to release the earth cable, but the engine shot up beautifully when it broke, I will not repeat this oversight! Not a problem on A+ engines as the earth cable is attached with the upper engine stabiliser. As regards the remote gearchange, once the engine & gearbox is out of the way, I always tie it up in it's normal position with a piece of wire, to the clip on the bulkhead crossmember where the speedo cable is normally attached, That way it doesn't hang on the rear mount all the time your engine is out.

My recent run in with earth straps was at my mate Wil's house.

He had "taken everything off" in preparation for me dropping round to lift it out, he had tied a long plank of wood to the engine in expectation of having a person on each end we would be able to lift it straight out.

First try, it seemed a bit heavier than expected, we tried again, failed & again.

After the 3rd attempt, I queried with Wil whether the aforementioned strap had been released, he assured me that it was off. BUT, After checking we found a 2nd earth strap that he hadn't spotted.

Needless to say when we tried again it was like the engine had been fired out of the engine bay like an ejector seat

It did however take about a month for my back to recover.

All good advice thanks. I can't wait to have a shiny new engine bay and a reliable clutch. My mate Steve and I just put his twin cam back in his Elan S4 the other night. That was fun.

Daniel

Sorry Daniel, I meant to include a reply to your flywheel puller question, you do indeed need a puller regardless of clutch type, in basic form, the non-verto is different from the verto type puller, but there are some on the market now with the necessary bits to do both.