My new clutch master will be here tomorrow morning, and after talking with my buddy Mike, the question came up of a need for special tools, etc to do this job.

For those of you who've already done this, are there any specials tools required, and secrets or issues in doing this, and about how long did it take you?

Thanks in advance!

 

The biggest PIA in the entire job is seperating the master and slave line. There is a "Quick Disconnect" (a misnomer if I ever saw one) fitting that you have to push in and then it pops apart. Try shooting it with WD40 before beginning this exercise. It think that helped.

Where it's located doesn't help. You are either jammed under the car working up or lying on the engine reaching down. There are tools (fuel line disconnect) but needle nose pliers or two screwdrivers does it just as well.

In the drivers footwell, pull off the clip and disconnect the shaft from the clutch pedal.
Remove the reservoir from the firewall and lay it down. You might want to empty it first.
Depending on who you bought the master from you might need to use the old reservoir so don't cut the line.

Reach in and grab the master and turn it 1/4 turn. (counter clockwise I think) It will just come out in your hand. There are no bolts. It unscrews like a pickle jar top.

Change the reservoir to the new one if you need to.

Pre bleed the new one and twist it back in. Be sure you have it all the way in and fully twisted.

Connect the shaft to the clutch pedal and slip on the clip.

Plug in the QD fitting on the slave line.

I had a new slave with a remote bleeder so bleeding was easy. If you've pre-bled the master you might get away without bleeding. The QD fitting actually makes the install easy by making it possible to have a fully pre-bled Master connect to a full slave. The slave doesn't lose it's prime due to the QD fitting.

Piece of cake.

OH OH OH...While you've got the master-slave line apart...put one of those insulating socks over the line. I always wanted to find out if the sticky clutch syndrome could be cured by insulating the master-slave line. Can't hurt.
Also be sure to snap the master-slave line back into it's holder on the bell housing to keep it away from the heat of the manifold.

 

Perfect example of "Ask and ye shall receive!". Thank you sir!

 

The master I bought when I did mine didn't come with a new hydraulic line,just a new seal to use on the existing line when you switch it to the new master.(not a lot to go wrong with that line)

Just remove the safety wire that's through the rollpin on the end of the old master,push out the roll pin,and the line comes out of the master.
Put a new little rubber "doughnut" on the end of the line,push it into the new master,reinsert the rollpin and safety wire, and that's it.-no inappropriately named "quick disconnect" to mess with.

And if you just jack up the left front ,remove the wheel and the rear piece of fender liner,it's right there in front of you-pinch off the line from the reservoir with a pair of vise grips(gently) and you don't need to worry about removing or draining the reservoir.

Gently pump the pedal(about an inch down) after you reconnect the reservoir line and pushrod,and when the bubbles stop coming up in the reservoir,you're done.

You may also need to adjust the cruise control cancel switch,so don't freak out if the cruise doesn't work the first time you drive it ,just adjust the switch .

 

More great info, thank you sir!

 

The part didn't show this morning, so I tried the Ranger method again (another 1/2 dozen times) and now the clutch it working fine. It appears that (in this case) the Ranger method only seems to help if I drive the car after cleaning the fluid out. If I do it with the car parked, the fluid stays clean. Driving it apparently is "shaking the junk loose" and then it gets up into the reservoir where I can siphon it out.

Great to be driving it again

 

Which clutch master did you order??

I had the same issue and the Ranger method fixed it for a while but IMO once your master has reached the stage of causing the pedal to stick to the floor it's time to get a new master.

That being said, previous posters have done a good job of describing the in's and outs. I would go to Napa or the equivalent and ask them about the right tool for disconnecting that line. It was a nightmare for me as I had a cheapo tool from Advance.

And another thing that threw me was when I reconnected the line to my new master. I was expecting a tight fit with no play but there will be play in the connection. As long as you are not leaking any fluid you will be good to go. Also if you can try to pull the connection apart with all your strength and it does not separate then it is connected. Once again, the "play" in the line threw me off.

 

I'm debating replacing it anyway. My best friends 2009 Z06 did the same thing at 4K miles. He did the Ranger on it and it's been fine since.

I think i'm just going to add it to my monthly maintenence schedule.

 

That's because the so-called "ranger method"....is a band-aid. The only way to exchange all the fluid, is to bleed the systems from the slave.

 

Yep, and of course theres no way to do that with the stock system - unless I missed something.

 

It's possible to bleed the slave without a remote. The factory manual has the procedure. It's just more work than any sane man would do.

There was a post here from someone that successfully put a remote on an installed slave.
That makes more sense to me. But it wasn't easy.

OTH - the Ranger method has been shown to give great results with minimal investment.

 

I take it that if I have to do the Ranger method every 4 - 7 days to be able to drive the car, there's something else wrong?

 

Thats right because the slave unit is probably contaminated with dirt. Only way to keep it clear is to replace it. Not worth it unless you are doing a clutch job.

After I changed clutches and replaced the clutch components, I never had a sticky pedal or dirty fluid issue ever again.

 

I ended up replacing the master from the top side and bleeding it by just pumping a LOT. It's been fine ever since