Clutch replacement job

[Louis-Alain RICHARD]

Hi all,

It looks like my 83 urQ will need a new clutch very soon; slippage is now felt on all gears (…with a heavy right feet, ☺).

What I need from you is advices, tips, do’s and don’ts, all that stuff.

I will buy a new kit from a local (Montreal) FLAPS, a Sachs-BOGE part number KF293-01 (fits only urQs and 86-88 5ktq). Price is 425.00 CAN$, expensive but not out of reach.  I will also replace the flange, the pilot bushing and the crankshaft rear main seal.  Slave cylinder is new from 2002.
Do I forget something?
Should I have the flywheel being resurfaced from a specialized shop?

BTW, I have the Bentley. Not very clear on the subject.

Miscellaneous:
Alternator died Thursday night after too much snow eating (snowed a lot recently). Replaced under warranty, the unit on the car was only 18 months old. The funny part was that I was seeing 14V at the battery for the first time since I own this car. WOW, for a moment I though I have covered all_the_electrical_glitches on the car.  Turned out to be a bad voltage regulator…

Had a broken brake bleeder on the left rear caliper since a while.  Replacing it took me about half an hour, including jacking the car, remove the wheel, remove the caliper, heat the broken bleeder.  I was very proud of myself.  More, I can now do the job without going back to my tool box.  Let’s see: 13 and 17mm wrench, pliers, a lever… that’s it!  Thinking of it, it is not a thing to be proud of, it means you did it so many times… Hum, being naturally positive I prefer to think I am almost a real mechanic. Girlfriend approves. She’s lovely.

I won’t need new rear tie-rods.  A 6 inch vise and an inexpensive (60 CAN$) Bernz-o-matic propane-oxygen torch is all you need. Try this (http://www.bernzomatic.com/catal3.htm#OX2550KC) once and all your light-duty jobs will be easier (no interest, yada, yada…).  Of course, this applies only for us, DIY with plenty of spare time. I’d prefer a real acetylene torch, but stocking this bomb in our basement might makes my GF raise an eyebrow… or quit me for a guy with a real boring and reliable car…  Imagine a beige Camry…  Oh no, I don’t mean beige; Gobi is a real nice shade of beige…(TIC). I mean a beige more, like…, you know…, beige like Gobi but less…, you know, a beige with more… Ahhh, forget it!

Oh, I almost forgot.  There is a good reason I want to do the clutch soon; I almost had a face-to-face accident today because of it.  Two-lane road, a Dakota in front of me going about 100 km/h. Tried to pass it, just to discover that the car will not accelerate fast enough to clear the incoming car (too much slippage).  Instead of risking our lives, I chickened and began to move back behind the Dakota just to discover that he applied brakes to help me….  I jumped on the middle pedal, locked the front wheels, almost touched it, finally pulled back behind the truck.

No harm, fresh shorts.

Louis-Alain RICHARD
MONTREAL
83 urQ