Hi Guys, I've driven back to my Dad's house to get some space to make this clutch change which has cost me a few quid in petrol. I tried to give myself plenty of time but now I'm sat here at 11 at night and I haven't even got to the clutchall plate yet. I've been following the Haynes manual mostly though I've not removed the gear lever because I was struggling to find the clip to remove and I've read it's not entirely necessary. I reckon I can work out the rest of it but I'm struggling to remove the driveshaft. The Haynes manual is as vague as ever and says that I need to follow the instructions for removing the driveshaft but I can leave it secured to the hub. I'm not sure if I need to separate the ball joints, I'm guessing I should need to but I'm hoping I don't have to. I'm really struggling to get them off and I've been at it for about two hours and I'm sat here trying to be quiet with a hammer.

Thanks.

Edited 4 September, 201213 yr by Twinnie

The gear lever you are trying to remove is probably better named the shifting rod.

That rod is attached with a 8 mm spring pin, not with a circlip. (see item 30 in PDF attached)

You have to detach track rod end from steering knuckle arm.

You have to pull ball joint of outer CV joint out of the wheel bearing housing.

Edited 5 September, 201213 yr by adurer

As above, you will need to remove the bottom ball joints - there's no way to get the driveshafts out without doing this. You can then remove the inner CVs from the gearbox (although I always remove the outer CVs from the hubs as well as it makes working on the car a lot easier and is a piece of cake to do - lessens the chance of damaging anything, particularly the inner CVs when removing/replacing the gearbox as they are fragile and can be broken if you bend them too far (yes, I have done this!).

You can remove the box without removing the gear linkage, but again it's fairly straightforward to do, just a small drift to drive the roll pin out, and an M6 bolt for the steady bar.

Although the Felicia box isn't heavy (it's the lightest one I've come across in an FWD car), it's still best to make it as easy as possible to do as getting the input shaft aligned to the new clutch plate can be awkward sometimes, so the less stuff that's in the way of you doing that the better, IMO.

So, in short - Drain gearbox oil. Remove driveshaft hub nuts, bottom ball joints, shafts out of hub, shafts out of gearbox. Remove steady bar and linkage. Remove starter motor, wiring to reverse light and oil pressure switch. Remove speedo cable. Remove earth cable/s. Remove flywheel sensor (not just the wiring, you'll break it if you leave it in place and try to move the gearbox). Remove plate under box by flywheel. Remove bolts, done.

I may have missed some stuff, that's just from memory. HTH.

Thanks for that, I ended up giving up (obviously) but I was really struggling to get the ball joint separated. There was nut and bolt securing the ball joint in place and I managed to get the nut off with a little help from a nearby wall, a ratchet, and my entire body strength. I couldn't get thebolt out however though I wouldn't assume it would be threaded into the actual ball joint as well as the nut; I had it turning a little but when it pushed out a little it got stuck on the calipers which I also couldn't remove. I sprayed some penetrating fluid on everything and it's had two days to do it's stuff now so I'm hoping that when I go back it'll be a little easier to get off.

Do I not need to remove the track rod ends then? I had a look at them and I couldn't work out how to remove them and the Haynes manual wasn't a lot of help. Did you bother removing the gearbox mount? A lot of people have said you can do it a lazy way and not bother with that and you haven't put it in your list.

I'm going back tonight so hopefully I'll have better luck. Putting it back together didn't seem like it would be too much trouble although I haven't messed around with ball joints for years so I'm a little concerned about putting them back together.

Also, I followed the Haynes manual but I don't remember removing a fly wheel sensor, I did unclip a little yellow thing but I don't remember the Haynes manual calling it a fly wheel sensor and I seem to remember it was yellow so it could have been the earthing cable.

Thanks again.

The pinch bolt for the bottom ball joint is often rusted in place - careful application of heat and penetrating fluid should get it out, but you'll need a new bolt (nothing special, I think M10 from a local bolt shop will do the trick).

You don't need to undo the track rod ends - there is enough "swing" to get the outer CVs off without doing so. One less thing to go wrong.

I forgot to put the gearbox mounts in the list - undo the rear one first (engine will swing forwards), and then undo the gearbox end mounting (2 bolts that are vertical, one from below, one from above - one has a lock nut). Obviously you'll need to support the engine when you do this, I've done it with a jack and a thick bit of wood in the past, or an engine support bar as well.

What engine is your car? Dunno about a flywheel sensor on the 1.6 and I'm near certain there's not one on the diesel. 1.3 MPI and SPI have them though, they are at the top of the bellhousing, right next to the engine. 3-connector plug goes into it, it's held in place with a single M6 bolt.

I've got the 1.3 MPI. I'll have a look for it, I was going to give the gearbox a last look over before I did actually took anything off.

Thanks, I'll probably be back begging for help when I'm trying to do it.

If it's the MPI then it will definitely have it - it's on top of the bellhousing, about in line with the clutch lever, and right by the engine block. If you try to remove the gearbox without removing it, then the teeth of the flywheel will damage it, usually beyond use (some are plastic, some are metal - the plastic ones die very easily).

You have mentioned several times the Haynes manual not being helpful.

Can you scan or take photos of those pages?