Torque Tube and Bell housing removed..........

Slave cylinder/thrust bearing re-install

Okay guys I received the F1 Sensor, or Thrust bearing position sensor yesterday in the mail so I figured I would post a few pics putting it back together. I am supposed to receive the clutch in the mail tomorrow. I will need to go and have it dynamically balanced before getting it back into the car. I also promised a forum member I wouldn't put the car back together until he could stop by and check it out while I have it apart. Maybe I can get a few photos of the balance process for the forum when I take it over.

Okay so of course the process to re-install the thrust bearing is the reverse of disassembly! LOL! Now have at it!

So a few pointers on reassembly, first, I'm assuming that you have already checked the clutch shaft bearing in the rear of the bell housing. It's pretty simple to see, and actually any rear wheel drive vehicle has this in the standard transmission bell housing, the only problem is that you would have to completely disassemble any standard transmission to get to this or replace it. Again, I applaud Maserati's simplicity here. Not only do I like that you can drop the gear box as a unit, the torque tube as a unit, but the bell housing is light and I like the design. There's nothing you can not change in it. Additionally, for guys who have stabbed transmissions before, you are under the car basically jacking, bench pressing the transmission to get it stabbed back into the PP/clutch to mate to the motor. I don't foresee any problems with that with just this bell housing assembly and it's weight in comparison.

So here is the clutch shaft center bearing:

Before I forget, you can push the shaft and bearing out through bell housing as you see I did. Once everything is removed there's nothing to hold it in. However, there's a retaining clip on the torque tube side so don't try to remove it that way. Moreover, before re-assembly make sure this bearing is sitting all the way against that clip on the torque tube side, make sure it's not hanging out like this:


It needs to be all the way back in this fashion below:


Chances are if you attempt to mount the CNC'd spacer back in with it too far up it won't let you anyway. But if it was slightly off it might. Hopefully you would notice but if not it's good to see that it sits absolutely flush. I didn't expect to have any problems with the bearing because again the car only has about 26,000 miles on it. I checked it, there was little to no shaft play as it's installed from the end, and the bearing is semi-stiff as if new when turned. If in doubt though, change it out.

The CNC'd spacer sits flush like this:


If you are looking for something to clean the different assembly pieces covered in clutch friction disc material and other grime, I used acetone. It's a strong chemical, it's the active ingredient in most car paint reducers. Actually, I can not remember it might be the active ingredient in carb cleaner or brake cleaner as well. You can pick up a gallon for less than $20 at a Home Depot or such. Please use gloves, it's strong, dries fast but will cut through all of the garbage on the individual pieces without scrubbing for hours. DON'T dump it into the bearing!

My individual pieces:

Before I forget the allen bolts, or hex bolts are 2.5mm to remove the F1 sensor from the base to put the new one on. It's pretty simple, leave the old one on the base till you have the new one, and just put the new one in it's place. It's grooved or the plastic is raised on the sensor to fit into the base. It's difficult to get it around backwards when you can see how the old one was already sitting in it.

The photos above you will see the brass colored spring retention pins sitting on the thrust bearing sideways. I wanted to show you that you CAN put them upside down, however the springs will not seat right if you do. The last photo above shows you how they should sit.


Here is the springs sitting on the pins, also you have to put most of the other bolts in before you push the thrust bearing/slave cylinder onto it's base. Below you can see the F1 sensor sitting in place with the screw portion pointing forward. The F1 sensor will be the first thing bolted to the slave cylinder base.


Before you push it on make sure you have lubricated the seals, and base just a bit to facilitate movement. Here is a front view, the seals are green:


Here's a side view. Remember to put the bolts in the bottom by the F1 sensor, once you push it together like this the F1 sensor magnet rod will be in the way and you will not be able to put the Hex bolt in. This photo below I took before I did so. I mounted the sensor and clocked the base already then had to take it apart to put the bolt through on the bottom by the sensor:

Here's a photo (below) with the bolts in it sticking through the base. Also notice how the base thrust bearing base with spring is slightly clocked. Remember when we removed it, we had to clock it to remove the base bolts. Now the opposite is true it has to be clocked to install and mount the base, then clock the thrust bearing base back over the hex bolts to install the rest.

Here's everything installed, and torqued down. I figured you knew where the hydraulic tubes went, and the F1 sensor wiring. I made sure with the F1 sensor wiring. I pulled the wiring closer to the sensor so that there wouldn't be any tension on the wire at it's base. Then I tightened the wiring retainers. I could really see this being an issue for the sensor itself if a mechanic put it in and not pay extra detail to the fact that if there were constant tugging or pulling it would short it out. It's not that the wiring from the sensor isn't manufactured well, it's like (crass example) a cell phone charging cable that has been bent over either side, and constantly slightly pulled. Eventually it's going to short or break right at the base of the cable.
If you pull the wiring slightly back toward the sensor and cinch down the retainers it should prevent this and allow the wiring to flex just enough without constant pressure pulling at it. Thus no premature failure.





Okay guys so it's altogether. Last notes as it pertains to re-installation. Don't forget to use Loctite or Permatex thread locker. It was on the bolts when removed, it will need to be on it when installed. Also don't forget where your washers were and how they were designated!

Let's discuss torque specs for the inside of the housing, it's important well but before I do here is the other torque specs you will need to install the other parts in the car.......Just put it to the side for now, I just didn't want to forget to add it later on in the thread:

"Flywheel fastening screws: 83 Nm" (newton meters)[ for us in the U.S. we recognize more Ft. lbs so converted that's 61.217 Ft. lbs.]

"Clutch Assembly Retaining Screws 18 Nm" [13.276 Ft.lbs]

"Clutch Housing Lock nuts 26 Nm" [19.176 Ft. lbs]


Here is the torque specs for what we have covered above:

So the fastening screws (those are the regular box wrench bolts on the base) and the fastening pins (those are the long rod looking pins beside the springs), and the hex/allen bolts all are tightened to 7.5 Nm [5.531 Ft. lbs]

Here's a good pic below of what they look like: pin on the right, regular bolt to the left hex bolt in the back-ground of the pic:

The F1 sensor is torqued to 1.2 Nm or about 1 Ft. lb (.88 Ft. lb)

The hydraulic lines are torqued to 18 Nm or [13.276 Ft.lbs]

That's it for this segment!

In retrospect, I wonder if I should ask one of the Admin. to rename this thread, "clutch removal" etc. or something similar so people can find it if need be. I tried to do it myself realizing the title itself is not how someone would normally look for help in these matters.

Stunning Craig, really good going.

Thank you 2b1, we have to look out for each other. If we don't we'll have to pay someone to look after us, and we know how that goes.

Guys I received the new clutch disc in yesterday and posted the measurements on ML but hadn't here. When I measured out a brand new clutch disc I have to be honest I was a bit shocked. It's not half as thick as postulated by another forum member ......here see for yourself:

Inner disc from Pressure Plate to Floater:

Outer disc goes toward flywheel:

Okay guys wanted to stay on top of the thread and post the balance data since I retrieved the FlyWheel, Pressure Plate from the balance shop today. Here is a photo of the information I had him write down. We had a pretty long conversation about the ins and outs of this. Basically what he stated is that as it sat with opposing marks from each other it might be okay from a stock perspective. Like a stock car, Chevy, Ford or daily driver. Actually he stated it would of been closer to 15 grams @ 230 degrees for them. But for a high performance car, and you can see what he balanced it to ( 2.2 grams @248 degrees). He wouldn't advise it. So the long and short of it is this.
From what I can see in the data you definitely should balance them. The shops that were assembling them with it unbalanced were, in my opinion, dancing on the line. Additionally, we talked about balancing the FW-PP, in the car itself, again it's an internally balanced motor he was of the same opinion. You'll never know any of it is on there when it's balanced correctly off the car. He re-balanced the flywheel separately before putting them both together. The factory flywheel was balanced to 4.4 grams @72 beforehand, he balanced it to 1 gram @93 degrees. Either way, I am glad I took it over. I also retrieved the gear box from the shipping company today. I'm ready for re-assembly after changing out the Pilot bearing.

I forgot to post some photos so the guys (ladies if we have them on the forum), could see what it looks like when done.

Photos above are of the balance mark so it's put together correctly.
Photo above is the material removed from the factory to balance just the PP. It's the small metal dot to the left of the blue paint mark.

Last photo above is the material needing to be removed from the PP to balance both together. This started with first putting the marks opposite from each other (as per service manual), however, he ended up clocking the PP more instead of the recommended 180 degree opposite mark directions because it threw the balance off more by having them opposite from each other. So if the PP and Flywheel were a clock, starting from the original mark on the fly wheel as it sat on the car being at 6 o'clock. The PP most out of balance mark is at the 8 o'clock position not the 12 o'clock position. That according to him was the closest balance before he removed the material and finished balancing it.

Pilot bearing removal

Guys I got under the car today to begin getting things back together. First I needed to remove the Pilot/Spigot bearing from the crankshaft:

I think I broke my pilot bearing puller a while back and forgot so I decided on a home remedy to move the project along. Some use grease but I really don't like to use it because it makes a terrible mess and then you have to clean it up. So instead what I always use is bread! Unfortunately the only bread I could find was garlic, so garlic bread from last night's supper was what I used.
Continue to pack it in the hole:

Below I use a 10 mm short socket with extension to pack the bread into the hole because it almost fits perfectly into the center of the pilot bearing. If you use grease you cannot have any space around the socket or it will pressurize and come out.

So for the new pilot bearing I use a dead blow hammer to hammer it all the way in......remember the writing needs to face out. Next I used a 1" Impact socket that was the same size as the outer rim. After I'm pretty sure it's seated with the dead blow. I tap this socket on top so I can hear the metal to metal clink I'm looking for to know that it's seated all the way as it should be.

Next is the Fly Wheel.......like a lug pattern on a wheel you are going to tighten the bolts back into the crank. I do this all the way around in a clock-wise motion working the bolts across from each other. Don't tighten one bolt all the way down to 61 lbs,..... tighten them little by little. Like divide it in half or three times rather.....like 20lbs all the way around, 40lbs all the way around then 61lbs. That way you don't bind anything. I think I might of even of tightened it in smaller intervals. I do them all by hand then, come back with the torque wrench splitting up the torque spec.

Here's where the original red mark off the fly wheel was supposed to be. I don't think it was important for anything now since it was all balanced separately. I did it more just because than anything else.

Okay sorry I didn't get the photos of this so you'll have to read instead. In the photo below if you remember the 2-5-8 positions was on the original plate. I marked them on the new plate because you are going to use these three bolts initially to snug down the plate with the clutch position tool in the middle so the friction disc is lined up correctly. Use an allen wrench or something similar only to slightly tighten them down. Do not tighten them up too much or it will bind the holes of the rest of the bolts. All of the bolts have to be slightly tightened down in a lug pattern the same as the fly wheel after the initial three. It will be in really small increments, half to 3/4 turns. It will take a little while but what you are preventing here is binding the holes or getting the bolts bound in by tightening them too much at a time. This is even more important than the fly wheel. Also remember when you get close to your torque spec. that it's not that much. To be certain I did not over torque it I Instead of the ft. lbs translated it down to in. lbs. My torque wrench for this has a 1/4" drive. 158.4 in lbs is what it should be torque at for in. lbs.


Next you need to grease the clutch shaft and prepare the bell housing. Once you line up the bolts use the dead blow hammer tapping it on the back to guide it in. If you are having difficulty, once you are sure that the splined clutch shaft is in the correct location, tighten a few nuts opposing each other down. I would shake it, and slap it on the back with the hammer. Tighten it down a bit and do the same thing again. It will come together like this:

As you can see the starter bolts and all nuts are on. I connected the F1 position sensor, and made sure the ground wire was on as well. Till tomorrow........

Remarkable, Craig. And additional garlic flavour!

C

I think the garlic method is a fitting tribute to something Italian and of that stature.

Craig, can I ask a bit more about the spigot/pilot bearing?

The early ones squealed as you know so a superceeded part was released to remedy it.

I was of the understanding that the new part had to be pinned or bonded into place, is that the case?

Otherwise it can still spin in the housing and cause squeeling or is that not the case?

Loving your work by the way!

Lubrication with garlic butter will clearly prevent squealing

C

Conaero said:

I think the garlic method is a fitting tribute to something Italian and of that stature.

Craig, can I ask a bit more about the spigot/pilot bearing?

The early ones squealed as you know so a superceeded part was released to remedy it.

I was of the understanding that the new part had to be pinned or bonded into place, is that the case?

Otherwise it can still spin in the housing and cause squeeling or is that not the case?

Loving your work by the way!

Click to expand...

Spot on Matt

I was thinking about that a few posts back when Craig indicated a bearing change - I recall on one of the forums some tech guy had mentioned the need to do that.

(Good to find that post)

I'm not sure guys about the Sus. part for the Pilot/spigot bearing, was the sus. part a bushing or bearing? What I mean is if the original part was a bushing it would be all brass like I know some manufacturer's use, then I could understand taking a punch and punching around the outer perimeter to make sure it doesn't twist or spin. This bearing is slightly different in that the bearing itself doesn't sit flush. It actually bottoms out and sits outside the crank. Here's a photo:

Then the rest sits inside the fly wheel...

I guess from what I see because of the design itself even if it was brass I don't know if the center punch marks around the outside perimeter would do a lot to hold it like if it sat flush with the crank. I do definitely understand what your saying, additionally that's just my opinion. All of that being stated it wouldn't really matter for this type of bearing anyway, again only my opinion but here I will show you why:
Here is a bushing, side by side with a manufacturer who has gone with a needle bearing type design, before someone asks I found the picture on-line so I could show an example, that is NOT my pink carpet!:

Many manufacturer's have gone to an actual bearing design like above. I removed the seal (and umm for some strange reason garlic bread was stuck in there I had to clean out), as you can see the center rides on these bearing balls. So my thought is, if the outside actually starts spinning in the crank it's because the bearing is actually shot, and the balls have come out or jammed up. Again just my opinion. If you could maybe direct me to the link if you guys know where it's at, lets take a look at it to see if we can improve on it, or if maybe they discuss something I missed I can apply it to my car before I get it together. I will be the first to tell you with so many makes and models of cars I sometimes work on I've never come to a point where I can say "okay I know all of it like it's second nature."

Using a loctite 638 retainer may work well

Not sure Craig, I think you should take advice on this before you reassemble mate. It would be a right pain if you have to take it all out again, it won't do it straight away, it will start doing in a year down the line.

When both bearings on mine were replaced it was the bell housing bearing that needed peening in to place.

Klive, Peening/Pinning, maybe thats where I heard this from.

Can you explain the Peening process???

I think they put a centre pop between the bearing and the bell housing to hold it in place.

Peening is probably the wrong word!