Andrew,
First off, Gareth's
experiences here will help enormously...
Fundamentally, you don't want to disturb the clutch hydraulics. Carefully remove the slave cylinder by pushing it in a little and rotating anti-clockwise to release it from its bayonets. Wriggle it out and tie it up and out of the way. before doing so, put a block under the clutch pedal so that there is no risk of the pedal being operated and shooting the piston out of the slave cylinder. The pushrod will stay put and it's not as risky as has been rumoured in the past. Under no circumstances try to disconnect the hydraulic parts of the clutch. Bleeding is possible but it's a horror of a job.
Before attempting, remove the LHM reservoir, ABS block and battery tray to give plenty of access.
The 'box will split off the engine easily and you'll then see the release bearing stays very firmly attached to the clutch diaphragm spring. It cannot be reused nor can the 'box be mated back again with the bearing in place.
Refitting involves a new clutch and when new the release bearing is separate and not attached to the clutch diaphragm spring. The bearing has a special "C" clip on it and this has to be engaged with the clutch diaphragm spring AFTER the gearbox is back in place. The design is such that although once home the bearing is almost impossible to remove, fitting it is easy.
To refit the 'box, attach the new release bearing to the clutch operating arm forks and offer the 'box up in the conventional way, taking care not to cause the gearbox input shaft to bear any weight and being sure the clutch driven plate is properly aligned and central. Slide the 'box fully home and tighten the bell-housing bolts. Now to engage the release bearing. use a hooked tool through the slave cylinder hole to grab hold of the operating arm and pull the tool toward you with a sharp tug. This'll cause the bearing to snap into the diaphragm spring with a small snick. You can tell everything is home properly as most of any fore and aft play on the arm will have disappeared. The bearing can also be engaged by pushing the arm from the starter motor cutout. It achieves the same result.
Take care here as you only have one go at this job. Once the bearing is engaged, that's it, game over. Well not strictly as the bearing
can be removed but it is a devil's own job.
Once all is back reassembled and nearly complete, the clutch slave can be refitted. It is VITAL that the pushrod rests on the depression on the end of the operating arm and does not drift off to one side. Use the remains of the original tripod on the slave cylinder to ensure the pushrod remains fully parallel to the body of the cylinder and there is no danger of it dropping out of parallel.
This picture shows the end of the arm looking down the slave cylinder hole.
And this picture shows the slabve cylinder ready for refitting with the pushrod securely held parallel with the remains of the original tripod. The tripod was there when new to do this and to prevent the pushrod falling out in transit.
If it does go horribly wrong with the slave, it can be sorted but it's a nasty job. keep the pushrod parallel and take care and no worries.
This is a diagram of the clutch:
And finally, this is the special tool for engaging the release bearing:
But I use this:
Hope that helps Andrew. Only skimmed the surface here. Any more questions, fire away...
