How to fit a modified clutch release lever or arm

As those who have had their F/TF for a while will probably know, one of the pains that you have to go through is the clutch release arm seizing in the bell housing.

This shows itself by the clutch getting heavy, or the clutch slipping, and finally complete failure.

One solution is to regularly force oil and grease into the point where the arm enters the bell housing and work it until it frees up.

Another solution is to buy a modified clutch release arm from the likes of Mike Satur, for around £30, which has a grease nipple which feeds grease to the contact surfaces and prevents it from seizing.

This is a simple how to, mainly because my engine and gearbox are out of the car. Whether you can do this in the car I wouldn't like to guess. If it is possible you would have to separate and rotate the gearbox, so that the release arm is pointing upwards.

Here is the standard release arm



And here we can see the clutch release fork, which is attached to the lever shaft by an M8 bolt.



Remove the M8 bolt and washer



and the lever pulls out.

You can see the standard and the modified arms side by side in this pic.



Slide the new release arm through the housing and through the fork. Refit the M8 bolt and clip the release bearing into place.



I didn't show the removal of the bearing in this how to because it is a brand new gearbox and didn't have one fitted.

Here is the finished item.





You can see from the position of the lever in the last diagram that you would not be able to pull it out while in the car as the bulkhead would get in the way. Also bear in mind that there are usually a lot of coolant pipes etc in that area too. I think it would be difficult to undo the fork in situ as well. However, there may be people out there who have done it and would like to share.

For the record, the new and the modified levers turned very easily with one finger. I was going to remove the old one from the original gearbox as a comparison, but it was seized solid.