Well.. I've done it.

Not sure where to start, but a good place would be the difficulty level. I am not a mechanical numskull, I generally understand the rules of motion and have previously stripped a motorcycle down and rebuild it, I'm somewhat of a DIY enthusiast and have fitted my own bathroom, kitchen, flooring and the likes, but THIS job is the hardest I've ever done.. Its taken me best part of 3 days due to unforeseen problems which have taken me hours upon hours to resolve. I've made numerous trips to buy tools I didnt think I would need, and had to lend some I couldnt locate. But I will share what I have learned so you dont have to waste the same time as me.. Here goes..

First jack up the car. Make sure the ground is flat. My drive is slightly angled and as such the Trolley Jack wants to move more than it should. I should say that unless you have at least one trolley jack, forget it.

Loosen the front wheel nuts.

Put the car on Jack Stands (or if youve got access a hydrolic lift great! as being under a car over and over works your neck and shoulder muscles like you wouldnt believe! I checked Haynes for where to position the jack stands and it wasnt overly clear. Put them on the hard metal corders at the end of the underside - behind the triangular arrow area on the lower door sil. Jack stand both sides. I had mine on the lowest setting, maybe should have gone higher. Oh and i stuck a couple of bricks behind the rear wheels and made sure the hand break was nice and firm. If your hand break is even slightly iffy then you may well get crushed to death.. no joke! I was shitting myself at times as I simply didnt trust those stands.. I'm alive so all good!

Take off the front wheels.

Next disconnect the battery, unsure exactly why but Haynes said so so I did. Probably as youre going to disconnect a lot of the electrical fittings.

Then take off the plastic air box with the VW badge on. 2 bolts at the front, off. pipe to the left.. pull it off. Then yank the bugger off. A smaller pipe will come free from the front of frontal top of the engine. Just remember to put that back on afterwards. If its a chance of rain, cover the 2" metal inlet pipe youve just exposed.. this is the air intake butterfly and you dont want water in it. I put a clean rubber glove over mine and jammed another one in the smaller hole left from removing the smaller pipe.

Now disconnect the electric plugs around the clutch area, gives a bit more room. Pop the black plastic cable racks off the clutch casing(some are small, some are a little larger). They will still get in your way but you can work around them better.

Now remove the 6 bolts (each) from around the drive shafts. The drivers side one is harder to get at as its further away. I used 2 socket wrench extensions and had to buy the male multi star shaped key to fit them. The drive shafts want to rotate as your trying to free the bolts off so I took the bar from my trolley jack, placed it on the foot break and with the bar pointing towards the drivers seat, I rammed the seat forward. This locked the front breaks and enabled me to free off the bolts holding the drive shafts to the gearbox. Remove those bolts or at least slacken them right out. I found that if the bolt comes out to the plastic gator then its free, the gator wants to obstruct it but youve no actual need to take them right out as once they get to the plastic gator they are out.

Next remove the 3 bolts from underneath the wheel hub area on each side. I dont know the name of this part, but if you look under the breaking disc you will see 3x bolts pointing upwards. 13mm each. Undo them and take them off. there is a plate on top which keeps them in place, take that off too and put it aside. Once this is done, grab the break disc and yank it outwards. With any luck the drive shaft will pop off, if not then give the drive shaft hub a few hammer taps and it will dislodge (thanks to the person who said this earlier as it was spot on, i thought i was stuck til i came back to the advice and it worked a treat!)

Now the drive shafts are off and your wheel hubs are looking all over the place but dont panic. Haynes says to tie up the drive shafts but I found they were supported well enough by all the other metal around them. The passengers one gets in your way later but nothing you cant cope with. If you want to remove any drive shafts I would say that the only one to come off would be the passenger one, but I didnt.

Now get yourself under the car and remove the retaining clip off the gear linkage. This section is located at the back of the gearbox just before the firewall on the bottom. One linkage has a small clip youll need some needlenose pliars to get off. One is a rectangular piece of plastic with rubber in the middle retained by a bolt. I made a big mistake here. I prised off the plastic from the rubber as I couldnt get a socket on it due to a mounting rod being in the way. Made good haste at the time but fucked me over later. So take that bolt off. I used a small adjustable spanner. You can not get a socket on it, the space is too small. The circular ended nut with small groves which this bolt goes through doesnt need to be held when you undo this nut as its got a square section unside the unit which keeps it in place, so you only need to get the nut end off. Takes frigging ages - with an adjustable spanner anyway.

So, by now you should have everything off the transmission/clutch unit. There are 2 electrical plugs, one on the front near the bumper and one tucked at the back between the firewall and gearbox, if you haven't already got them off, pop em off now.

I shall now share some pools of wisdom.. Removing the gearbox is easy, if you do this.. Get under the car and look up. There are 2 supports. One is like a cylinder with a rod sticking out. Retained by 3 bolts. Get that off, undo the 3 bolts and take it out. Support the engine with the Jack if it makes you feel better, I did. I'm health and safety mad. Then look deeper into the engine.. There is another support between the firewall and the engine. The bolt on this support goes from drivers side towards passenger side and goes through an engine mount directly into the gearbox. Undo this son of a bitch to the point when its no longer in the gearbox but is still holding the weight of the engine block. I had to get at it from the drivers side wheel arch with some extensions. Youll have to go back under to check where the bolt is but if you dont take this bolt all the way out you will afford youself a bit more engine support later.

Those 2 bolts I mentioned just there took me 5 hours to realise were holding things in place, Haynes did not mention those being there!

Now Jack up the gearbox just so the weight is supported. I also Jacked up the engine block too..Try and get central-ish on the bottom of it.

Remove the clutch cable from the gearbox.. No need to take it out completely, just undo the 2 nuts at the end - enough so you can pull it off the fork and lift it out of the support at the back. just flop it to the side and out of your way.

Start undoing the Bolts that hold the gearbox to the engine block. There are 3 big ones, 2 smaller ones holding the starter motor and one massive long thin one going though all sorts of countries. Then there are 2 more large support bolts above the passenger wheel Get them all off and remember where they go as some look similar but arent.

Now you have all the bolts off there is nothing but good will and the jack holding the gearbox in place. Be aware that you are about to pry the gearbox from the engine. I had the engine AND the gearbox supported on a jack each and lowered them down a bit.. Basically the engine wont fall out. Its supported by the top mounts on the drivers side and that one at the back you haven't taken the bolt all the way out of, but why take a risk. So lower the engine down til it stops against the wall of the car (evident when looking down the drivers side of the engine and the belt wheels are touching the side and the jack leaves the bottom of the engine). I still left the jack there anyway - health and safety!!

With a jack under the gearbox you have 2 options.. getting under it and shaking it or prying it off with a long jemmy or screwdriver.. either way when it comes off it can move your jack and get trapped. This happened to me. At first I wondered why it wasnt coming away, i rived and rived at it then saw it was still bolted on at the back.. hours wasted there! But when it came off it came off relatively easy then got jammed between the body and the engine. What I know is that it needs to twist out slightly. As you are looking at the car from the front, the right hand on the gearbox end needs to come towards the bumper to avoid contact with other bits of metal which will stop it coming down. Once its free it will lower, but like mine will probably just drop off the jack. No damage done.

So. Gearbox out? Its pretty heavy mind! The rest is almost easy from here on in! At this point It took me a day! But as I say, I was alone and hit some major puzzles!

Armed with my clutch kit I changed the bearing. Really easy just clip the springs around the hooks, stick a little lube on the shaft and its done. Of note, my old bearing was fine, the problem wasnt that (oh and the sleeve on my model is metal and was fine, so i didnt need that part).

I changed the bearing anyway.

Next problem was the pressure plate. This is held on by 12 point bolts of 9mm fitting. I had to go and buy this socket as it wasnt in my set. 3 quid from halfords. Undo the pressure plate bolts and it will come off, as will the old clutch plate. People say to mark where the pressure plate fits but I found It would only go on one way anyhow. Having removed the pressure plate and clutch I wondered why i was having problems and having compared the old with the new i saw that the metal fingers on the pressure plate were too short (meaning the release bearing had to go too far to release the clutch).. basically i cant blame ware and tear on this, some nuggit had fitted the wrong clutch plate previously!

Fitting the clutch is easy. The easiest bit really.. Put the clutch plate on the fly wheel, there will be writing on it to tell you what side goes where ie flywheel side or gearbox side, so you cant go wrong. Put the pressure plate onto it and wind the bolts in loosely. I didnt get a centralising tool with my kit so did it by eye. Its not hard, just make sure your toothed gap of the clutch plate is equal to that of the inner circle, i used a socket wrench extension to nudge it til i was happy. Then tighten the pressure plate bolts up, go diagonal with the tightening so youre not putting too much pressure on one side of the plate at one time. I cant remember how tight, but have the manual if you need to know, but canny tight.

Now its "simply" a matter of putting it all back together!

Tips on this are:

Dont expect to be able to get your box onto your jack and slide it under and up.. NO NO NO.. the box goes in along the floor, then you have to tilt the bugger back and put the jack under it.. THEN YANK it back towards you onto the jack.. Took me about 500 goes to get it on!

DO NOT think you can get the gearbox 'near enough' and think that bolting it up will bring it online.. i tried this and it took me about 3 hours to realise I'm an idiot. Jack the box up so its kind of over the fly weel (you will need to do a lot of trial an error with moving up, pushing in, looking around for obstructions and readjusting before it is near - due to the tight fit inside the engine bay) but once its over the pressure plate and looks like its getting close, get under the car!

I hated the idea of this, as I always worried about being crushed, but having spend ages making sure I was safe I eventually got under it and grabbed the gearbox with both hands, i jiggled and rattled that bastard and it didnt take long til it was butt up against the engine block. If it doesnt go on, you have to check youre clutch plate is central, luckily mine was, id just tried to avoid going under the car at this point and i made a very frustrating and time consuming mistake! 2 people would be good about now, but i did it by myself.

Once the box is on and the dowels in the corners are either on or very very close then you can come out and place some bolts in, dont nip them up just yet.

Then bring the bolts near so its supported by the engine and jack it up to meet the mounts on the passenger side under the battery. It took me a few nudges and kicks to get it online but once it was supported by those bolts I new I was on the home straight. rebolt everything and tighten it all back up

OH, i forgot.. I drained the gearbox oil when the box was off. The reason for this was ease. I dont have a syringe or a funnel so pouring it in when its in front of me and on an angle was nice and easy. The hard part was getting the fucking nuts off. They are 17mm hex nuts and these are HARD to find. I borrowed one off a mechanic. My box had 1.5L of oil in it when i drained it. The manual says 2.7L. I need to put more in mine but its currently got (and has had 1.5L in it) BE AWARE.. out of all of the bolts I removed for this job, the oil drain plugs were the stiffest.. a real bitch to get off!

Some tips: There is a temperature sensor plug above the big bolts at the top of the gear box. be aware to stay away from this, my wrench slipped and I crashed into it.. the things retainer snapped and I had a mass coolant spillage and another repair to deal with..

Also on the underside of the gearbox there is a small plate which has a smaller bolt, comes off really easily, its the flywheel cover plate, thin thing with one bolt at the bottom.

When refitting the drive shafts ONLY do so when the 3 bolts from the underside of the wheel hub are back in, otherwise youll trap the lower arm and will have to take the drive shaft off again! (this happened to me!)

Start by setting the clutch bolts all the way in, then work out to the desired biting point. I had to bring mine all the way down to get it nice. Out bad, in good!

As a result of this job I've saved myself a fortune. I was quoted 235 pounds (the cheapest) to do this. I spent 74 quid (not accounting for tools but they're an investment!). My clutch is well light, a bit too light! The rattle is gone, but the stiff gears remain.. looks like I've got another job on my hands, but after 3 days of an extreme abdominal workout i think ill have a break.

Many many thanks to those who helped with this, I hope this 'little' explanation is helpful to someone!

Regards

Marc

Fair play for getting stuck in! 3 days is a very long time but I bet you feel happy about doing it yourself!

I found getting the driveshafts out were easier if you left the wheels on, if you're under the car with a baby 3/8s extension, you can use the wheel to turn the shaft easily (to get to the other bolts), and use the wheel as grip to stop it turning when you're loosening them.

But yeah, it's easy when you know how! Getting it back in is a right pest though!

Wow, great post. Thanks for posting this.

I'm going to be doing mine next week, it's been delayed a bit because I recently discovered another problem that requires more urgent attention(oil breather needs cleaning/changing). I've temporarily solved my stiff clutch problem by doing the "alternative pedal box fix" that's stickied at the top of this forum, it works and takes all the strain off of my brand new pedal box 100% but the cable doesn't sit flush as it should. That means there is more movement required to release the clutch than there should be so you have to have the cable adjusted slightly too tight which will definitely cause some damage if left long term.

You will have saved me a hell of a lot of time with this, now I can get all the tools I'll need before I start. I've got two trolley jacks already which will be handy. I think I've pretty much got it down in my head, just a few questions:

• Where did you put the jack when you first jacked the car up to get it onto the jack stands?
• So is that a 17mm male hex socket I need for the gearbox oil plug? Like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-38323-Drain...d_sim_sbs_diy_3
• How did you get the oil plug out in the end? Did it just need a lot of force of did you use a breaker bar or something?
• When disconnecting all of the electric plugs around the clutch area should I take note of what ones go where? Or will it be pretty obvious when I come to plugging them back in?
• Do you know if you need to get the wheels aligned after taking off part that connects to the wishbone near the hub? I think I remember someone saying to mark up the position they were in but you still have to take it to a professional to get it bang on. I may be wrong but if you haven't had it done Google it just in case. It's mentioned here: http://www.alignmycar.co.uk/WheelAlignment...uNeedToKnow/faq
• What did you mean by setting the clutch bolts? Do you mean adjusting the clutch cable?

Try and keep an eye on the forum over the next couple of weeks because if I get stuck this place will probably be my first port of call(well after Google) lol. If I have trouble with anything else or if I have any extra tips I'll post them in this thread as well so hopefully the next person who's trying to change their clutch for the first time will have pretty plain sailing.

What car are we talking about btw? A 6n2?

The title says 6n2 so I guess so

If you remove the lower wishbone from the hub then its luck if you get it bang on.

I got away without removing the driveshafts but if you need to then loosen the lug nut before you jack up the car or you stand no chance. You can always retighten it up.

Once the other end of the driveshaft is off youll be able to guess if you need to remove it.

If you need more room you can either remove the lower balljoint (no tracking needed) or remove the driveshaft. You might have to take the balljoint off to get 1 or both out

usually just undoing the balljoint is enough.

Easy to get the connections right. Theres the speed sensor on 1 side and the reverse light on the other. You cant mix them up anyway. The starter is also there but they wont fit in the wrong one.

Take a picture if you think youll forget.

The clutch bolts i imagine they mean torque them up in an opposite fashion

The oil plug will be slightly rusted so the bigger the better but shouldnt need loads of force.

Also bear in mind when you are using the two trolley jacks for the engine and gearbox that it will probably lift the front of the car up off the jack stands.

Also i got a set of hex sockets for about £12 so worth while rather than getting 1.

Pm me and ill send you my mobile number.

And the gear linkage has a thick groove so you cant get it on wrong

In answer to your questions....

I got a. Block of wood to spread the weight of the jack and placed it behind the metal seam and about 10 inches away from the front wheel to allow room for the jack stand to go in.

Yes it's a 17mm male hex socket. I'll open that link when I get to a laptop but its 17mm across and goes into a hole of the same shape not over an end.

Initially I tried my socket wrench on those plugs but they wouldn't move so I sprayed them with WD40 and had a coffee and a smoke while I thought of plan b. then I got my torque wrench and wound it up to its max setting - effectively locking it out and it worked. A bit of scaffolding bar over a socket wrench would do it as my torque wrench is only about 6 inches longer than my socket wrench.

All the electric plugs have their own specific fitting and or colouring, you physically can't plug things into the wrong places as they're separate shapes, so no worries there!

I seem to have gotten away with the alignment issue. I did get my marker out when I came to those 3 bolts but the area was mucky and coated in rust and it wouldn't take.. I remember thinking that I could see where those bolts sat as they uncovered some nice shiny metal so stuck to making sure they went back in that same place, it i think I just got lucky!

Yes mate I was referring to the clutch cable - I was drinking whiskey when I wrote that long essay above so apols!

Any other questions feel free, I'm no expert but I won't forget the experience in a hurry!!

I've got some uneven wear on my tyres and I found a voucher online for 50% off of wheel alignments(works out at £15), so I'm gonna be getting that done anyway.

>had a coffee and a smoke 

I think I'm going to be doing a lot of that lol.

>drinking whiskey

Followed by a lot of that.

Haha

Let us know how you get on mate!

It's whisky.

I found the post by Marc very helpful since the Haynes manual does indeed leave out the rear engine mount, the bolt of which goes through the mount, engine, and into transmission.

However I can't get this bolt off. It's very tight. It's a double ended bolt. Think of a bolt with another smaller thread out of the top of the head. In this photo the main part of the bolt is going [upward] into the engine block and the transmission, where starter motor has been removed. The smaller thread is extending downward and the engine mount has been pulled away a little.

The problem is that this bolt is inaccessible with a socket and a breaker bar thanks to the mount being in the way. Using a 18mm spanner is also a problem. There's just not enough room to get any leverage. A pipe over the spanner has too much slack in a space with only a few degrees of movement available.

I don't know how Marc got this bolt off through the driver's wheel arch since the engine mount is in the way. Any suggestions?

Todd.

After putting my camera phone down at the mount and taking a photo into the firewall I can see that the mount is bolted to the firewall with one 13mm bolt. This should let me remove the mount. Then hopefully I can buy a deep 18mm socket and use a 500mm extension through the drivers wheel arch with a breaker bar to crack the problem bolt. It's so tight it moves the whole engine and transmission.

Todd.

Belated update for completeness: Removing the engine mount from the firewall, then using a deep 18mm socket, several extensions, a universal joint, and a breaker bar from within the wheel arch did undo the bolt.

Thank God I found this thread! I'm absolutely knackered! Been trying to remove the engine on a 6n2 1.0 2000 and have got stuck at the gear linkages! I can't work out what's the simplest to disconnect to get the engine and gearbox out. My neck and arms were just giving up today by 6pm.

 Do I need to separate 3 parts... one with a split pin, one with a ball joint and one on the slider rod?

 

Or something else?

 

the last time I did one was 7 years ago and I took the whole front end off (bumper/ligjhts/radiator) because I was following Haynes! but I'm sure I can get engine and gearbox out the top without removing all that!

Managed it! Chill!