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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Replace Clutch after pulling Engine??

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Replace Clutch after pulling Engine??     jadamoon386 04-07-2026 @ 10:39 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 12 Joined: Feb 2026 Thank you all VERY MUCH, just ordered a complete clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing, flywheel pilot bearing and clutch alignment tool) from the folks at Kentucky Clutch. kubes40 04-07-2026 @ 6:46 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 3616 Joined: Oct 2009 There is NO WAY I'd even consider doing a clutch replacement without replacing all the respective parts. IE, disc, plate, throwout bearing and pilot bearing. I have had personal experience with clients that had INSISTED on replacing only "certain" parts to save a few bucks. Not one was pleased with the results and a number of them came back to have the "old" parts replaced at (much) additional expense that would not have been necessary had I swapped out all the parts the first time. I came to the point where I'd refused these jobs unless the client allowed all parts to be replaced. Your flywheel should be ground. Yes, a lot more work but well, "do it once, do it correctly". Heck, the engine is out, not that big of a task to drop the oil pan and remove the flywheel. With the transmission out, be certain to check the throwout bearing shaft bushings and the shaft itself for wear. A small amount of wear in these places has a large exponential effect on pedal travel. By the way, someone had been "in there" before. Ford did not install a pilot bearing, rather they had installed a bushing. Makes me wonder why someone had "been there" previously and by the appearance of your clutch and description of pedal travel, they did not perform a quality repair. RE: manifold removal. To remove the nuts that hold the pipes on to the manifolds, heat is your friend. Get the nuts very hot and they will come off without damaging anything 99% of the time. The nuts should be brass as original. Why brass? They didn't weld themselves to the steel studs as steel nuts would do and brass absorbs heat much quicker than steel. Mike "Kube" Kubarth This message was edited by kubes40 on 4-7-26 @ 6:50 AM 40 Coupe 04-07-2026 @ 5:14 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1814 Joined: Oct 2009 There is a lot of material left on the clutch disc but it does appear to have some glazing from slippage. and the fly wheel looks good. Hard to tell about the pressure plate from a photo. There are several other factors that can effect the operation of the clutch such as the arm on the throw out shaft and the length of the linkage. the fingers for the throwout and the bearing. The clutch pedal needs it's retracting spring, it has to rest on it's rubber bumper and the linkage should be adjusted for 1/2 to 3/4"movement of the pedal before the throwout bearing touches the three fingers of the pressure plate. Soak with penetrating oil for several days, they may have been installed with never-sieze, the front bolts are shorter and larger diameter. This message was edited by 40 Coupe on 4-7-26 @ 6:44 AM carcrazy 04-06-2026 @ 8:45 PM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 2044 Joined: Oct 2009 You are right, it is a lot of work to pull the engine to replace the clutch! If this were my car, I would replace the pilot bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate and throw out bearing. If the car has had clutch chatter, I would consider having the flywheel surface machined. To remove the bolts which retain the exhaust manifolds to the engine block, heat the bolts up with a torch until they glow red, touch a beeswax candle to the base of the hex head of the bolt and allow the melted beeswax to work it's way into the joint between the bolt and the manifold. This may take several applications to get the melted wax to penetrate into the threaded area. Allow the bolts to cool back to room temperature and remove the bolts. jadamoon386 04-06-2026 @ 4:34 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 12 Joined: Feb 2026 The 1937 Ford I purchased supposedly has only about 35K miles on it and the owner said that it probably needed a new clutch because it was not engaging until the pedal was almost all the way up when it began to engage. I actually had to replace the clutch/brake wooden floor board because someone opened up (tore up) the wooden clutch slot ALOT so that the clutch arm could release further. I pulled the engine and sent the photos to Kentucky Clutch and Chris said that he would only replace the throw out bearing, pilot bearing and send me a clutch disk alignment tool. I'm sure that most of you know that it is really is ALOT of work to pull an engine but after talking with Chris I'm kind of confused. He said all the photos I sent look real good. Thoughts? Also, Any advice on how to remove the exhaust manifolds without snapping any bolts?

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