Arrrrrrrgggggggrrrrrrr!!!!

Howdy folks, well, needless to say I didn't get back here when I thought I could. I took the flywheel down to get it surfaced, and picked up the new clutch/pressure plate kit. When I got home, I opened the kit, and sure enough, there was a nice little installation instruction booklet with it.
Now normally, you look through one of these things and it has a few little details that are important, but if you're familiar with what you're doin, a brief glance tells you theres nothing you don't already know, or the thing is self explanitory. Like a toaster, or such. Not this one. I don't know who wrote this, and I'm certainly no expert on clutchs, but ...

holy moly...this one was great. Told all kinds of tips.
Thing is, the clutch is one of those things that if ya don't do it right, your fucked. And theres plenty of things to fuck it up if you are not aware of it in the first place. I found at least four things I did wrong taking this beast out. First off, ya gotta remove the transmission CORRECTLY, which in itself is a #$%$(*^ pain in the ass. Getting the car high enough to slide the transmission out wasn't bad. But as usual, Muphy lives under the hood of a car, like an Irish Leprichan.
Just waiting to make your day. This job was no exception. Each and every little phase was enough to piss me off. I'm no youngster so just climbing out from under the car is an exercise in itself. Especially when the garage has so many woodworking tools that it leaves very little room for the car. I own my own woodworking businesss so I have tons of big machines that fill every nook and cranny of my shop/garage. Squeeze in, squeeze out.
Phase one. Set out all the necessary tools. Ha! Now Dad has been a mechanic all his life, so growing up was a lesson in "mechanics 101" for me. When I got old enough to own a car, I also began to see, unless you got enough money put your car in a pro garage, then be prepared to DIY. Over the years Dad has taught me everything including rebuilding an engine. Never a transmission though. Over the years I've amassed a good set of mechanics tools. But for a home mechanic, like the 60 chord system, improvisation is the name of the game, cause some jobs require special tools. No exception here.
Phase two...remove drive line. This car is my daughter in laws 86 Mustang
Simple in theory. PITA in reality. This driveline has a harmonic balancer for the front U-joint, so the only one with bolts is the rear one. No prob. Done it plenty of times over the years. Hmmmm...but these bolt heads have a 12 point indexing pattern on them. Leave it to Ford. They do things their own way. Takes a special tool #40(
ST40). Hmm, no such animal in tool box.
Not much room to get it on with an extension if I even had it either. As usual. GM U-joints, at least on early models have a simple U shaped bracket over the bearings. Small 3/8 bolts too. These MOFO appear to be 1/2" 12 point directly through a plate into the rear end. No prob. . Climb out from under car(CO)Get socket. Climb under car(CU). Ok, look for socket. No such luck. 6 point yea, but no 12 point. BUT, I have a 12 point box end wrench.
Great. Ok, lets get it done.(Lgid) CU. Hmmm, damn these are tight. Need what dad calls a "convincer", which is MORE leverage. I have a few pipes for this, but it has to fit over the other end of the wrench. And you need to use the smallest one possible to keep it tight on the wrench. CO. Find the pipes and pick one. Hmmm, looks good. CU. Damn, doesn't fit. CO. Next size. CU. Cool. Lgid. Slide it over the wrench, and give it a yank to break it loose. Fuck. These mothas are tight. Yank harder. POP!! YOWWWWW!!Damn cheap box end splits and I smash my knuckles into the frame. Cold steel. Blood drips from first cut of the day.
Dads lesson #37. What is your hand going to meet in the event of failure.
I forgot. CO. Clean wound and bandage. Find new wrench. Fuck, no such luck. I have spares for some, but not a 1/2" 12 point. Plan B. Closest size in Metric. 13mm. Cool. CU. It fits. Ok, YANK. Cool, it moves. Now to remove. Good old ford. They're an 1 1/2" long. I turn, still tight. Again. Still tight.

Again, and again and again...1/4 turn at a time. Fuck. My kingdom for a socket and ratchet. Finally comes out. Crap...no wonder. Ford forethought. Locktight on the threads. Gloom..3 bolts to go....Job toughness indicator #1. Lgtd. Takes an 1/2 hour.
Phase 2. I don't know if you've ever removed a transmission from a car, but it ain't just the bellhousing bolts that has to be removed. There are TONS of little doowhackys and thingamagigs, all of which have their own little quirks and take special tool #154 through #197.

AND need special Manual instruction #43 through 62. The clutch cable is no exception.
I love the internet. Just punch into the search engine what ever it is your looking for and VOILA! I punch in 86 Mustang. Cool. Tons of sites to find out anything you need. I find a diagram and instructions. CU dash to look at clutch pedal bracket and cable. Ha!! Need flashlight. CO. Hmm, batterys dead.
Find drop light. Bulb dead. Get new bulb. CU dash. Fuck I hate working under dashes. NEVER enough room to squeeze in front of the seat, and under the steering wheel, and even if you are a Black Belt in Yoga, your gonna use muscles that have long since expired from use since you were a tree climbing youngster. They're screaming at me this morning. Not to mention the sore pressure points from laying on the garage floor...over and over and over. Ha!
Forgive my old fart complaints. Time for Tylonol.
Ok, got the stuff ready. Instructions. Remove the cawl(WTF?) and cable terminal ...right...

Can't get one hand up in that cave let alone a pair of pliers. Plan B. Go to other end of cable at transmission. COCU. Hmmmm..Cable terminates through bell housing. Remove plastic throwout bearing arm cover. Simple. One bolt. There it is. Easy...uh...wtf...how to remove nylon cable bushing through bell housing? Dads lesson #1. Look. Look again. Look once more. Investigate. VOILA! Simple...looks like two parts, reality shows its one...just push through hole towards engine. Cool. Lift cable terminator out through slip hole. Done dea(DD). CO.
Phase 3. Remove Starter. CU Easy...three starter bolts into bell housing, but need socket for hot wire terminal bolt CO. Tool table starting to get ambushed. Re organize for easy visual of target tool. DD. Get socket. CU. Crap, no room for ratchet, CO. Get box wrench. CU. DD. Now for starter bolts.
Need 9/16 socket. CO. DD. CU. First bolt ...find leverage point for ratchet. DD
Not enough. Get pipe. CO. small one...CU...DD, I convince it to move. Two more. Different leverage points. No room. Crap. Shorter pipe or box end. Shorter pipe. CO. DD. CU. .....forget lesson #3. Make sure socket is fully on bolt head and straight with bolt. forget lesson #37. Yank....#$%$%^*&@!!
Knuckle is introduced to bell housing flange. Cut #2, CO.. cleanandbandage(CB).CU. LGTD.

Correct proceedure and finish. DD.
Phase 4. Bell housing bolts. 6, 4 of which are located easy to get to(etgt), 2 of which are RMOFOCD locations(rotton MOFO car designers!!) There should be a law that states a car designer has to work on his design for 2 weeks after manufacture. Ha! 4 are easy. DD. Last two...wait. If these are removed,
transmission may move....better check all other thingamabobs(tngmb) Oh. Hmmmm, stick shift on floor. Can't move transmission rearwards without removing stick shift lever. ????? CO. Internet investigation(Ii). No such luck(NSL) Lesson #1.(L1) Climb in car(CI). hmmm. Remove knob? Cool, just threaded. Now for leather cover. L1. Hmmm, no bolts. Think how RMOFOCD
would hide them. COCU. L1. cool, 3 bolts through floor deck.. CO-CI. L1 Plastic cover on shift lever enclosure with no bolts. Think. Ah. Pry up at edge..snap! Cool L1 works. Hidden snap fasteners. Hides bolt on leather flange. CO. Get ratchet/socket. CI. Remove. Leather flex cover slides up shaft.......part way. WTF. L1..oh, tngmb in way. Have to remove complete shift lever from transmission. L1 CO get different size socket(gdss) Guess size. CI Wrong. CO gdss. CI. Remove bolts. Hmmm WTF. Shift lever in first gear. Better put in neutral to remove. DD. Remove. Cool. Back to Phase 4.
COCU. Remember ratchet. COCI COCU. Fuck. Getting sore.(GS) Hmmm, favorite Dad saying comes to mind when Phase and sequence memory suffers failure...."What town are we in?"(WTAWI)

Oh..2 BH bolts. Oh yea, the RMOFOCD locations. Shitdamn!(%@^) The two top bolts with 2 fucking inchs between the heads and the firewall. Decide to take a break and think about it while I have a smoke(tsb...aka...take smoke break) CO.
Ok lgtd, how to get to those bolts. Ahhhhhhh, L1...cool, 2 long extensions with Ujoint drive for socket and ratchet. Gather and CU. Same ole. These bolts are torqued tight. From undernieth, its about 18" from a clear space for ratchet leverage up to the bolt heads. And theres all kinds of protrusions and tgmb's to get in the way. Manuver the whole kit and kabootal(kk)up to the bolthead. Try to put the socket on while it in turn is connected to a Ujoint. Fiddlefuck(ff) with it for a minute. Fuck. DD. Time for convincer. Dm. Forgot. Try to hang the kk off the nut. No such luck.(nsl) %@^ ..Lay it down and CO.
Find convincer to fit. DD, CU. Re ff with kk. DD. Lgtd. Convince bolts they should turn. Forget lesson #37. Sockets on Ujoints with extensions slip easily from misalignment. Plenty of room for free path hand recovery. Avoid cut #3 and CB. Try again. DD. One to go. Same ole. Convince bolt and start to remove. Dads lesson #57 comes to mind. "Think before moving heavy objects to point of no recovery!!" CRAP!! Something tells me alzhiemers is setting in.
Ok, time to support the tranny AND the engine. Oh my. What do I have? Hmmmm. Time to tsb. ...which is a good place to stop this story for the moment. Hell, haven't even got back to Dads lifes purpose story
Oh well, side trips you know. Hell, haven't got to the purpose of this thread yet...fuck. 60 chords and a journey. What else is new? Life is that way. I have tons of things trailing behind me. Studios, practice, shops, woodworking projects and the faithful HONEY DO's....you know..honey do this, and honey do that...hahahaha. Tons of em. Ok guys. So much for the moment. Still got freeze plugs to replace, which was the whole point of this excuse for not gettin back here sooner in the FIRST PLACE. Meandering brainfart syndrome.
I tell ya, its tough gettin old.
Well, hope your not getting too bored with this shit. We'll get to the 60 soon enough. Hell, took me 25 yrs.

Later
fitZ