I changed out the clutch/pressure plate/slave and to bearing etc. last week. MAKG hit the nail on the head!
Those top two bolts were a major PIA to get out. The left one wasn't so bad but the right one was a major task all by itself.
This is what I did. I took the bottom two screws out of the right front inner splash shield and pulled it back and bungee corded it to the shock. I was able then to get a wratchet and 13mm socket on the bolt with a 12" pipe extension on it to break it loose. This was the third time the tranny's been out. Once by the dealer for a new clutch at 11k miles. Then by a pretty screwed up mechanic at 56K in order to fix the low oil pressure.
Anyway the last bozo must have torqued those two bolts really tight. Because I did this job by myself I used a motorcycle jack to hold the tranny after I got it unbolted and removed the tranny mount cross member and simply rolled it back. I measured the old clutch vs the new clutch and the old clutch had less than 3/32" of wear. I replaced it anyway. New everything except I did not replace the clutch master cylinder. I did also notice that the old clutch was 8.5" in diameter and the new one was 8 and 7/8" diameter. Everything fit just perfect.
Going back in with the tranny was kind of a pain. The jack was in the way of me fiddling the tranny back on to the engine. So, I held the rear of the tranny up with a rope tied to a board through the shifter hole. Worked like a champ. I put the two lowest bolts in and then put the mount and crossmember back in. Everything else was simply installing bolts, driveshaft and wires. Oh yea, the previous bozo left the exhaust loose on the manifold. I wondered why I had so much exhaust vibration. No loud noise though. So, that's fixed as well.
The bleeding I was worried about. I've read many nitemare stories here about it. Anyway after I replaced the tubing "O" ring and reattached the line I read the procedure in the Haynes manual. In order to do it myself I used a broom stick to hold the clutch pedal to the floor between the pedal and the seat. Then I opened the bleeder with a wrench and bleed. I repeated this four times and got no more air out. It now works like new and I only spent $301.04 at Kragen for the parts. The bleeding was actually the easiest part of the job. This included a new rear main seal just in case. The local mechanic estimates were $1200 to $1400 to do this work so I saved $1,000+. I have two other cars so I wasn't pressured to get it done right away which was a great help as at 55 years old the cold concrete can get pretty old really fast. I also took the time to pressure wash the tranny and cross members too which took a bit of time. It's amazing the amount of dirt which had collected on the top of the tranny. Not to mention the oily sides and bottom from the years of oil and crap over the last 15 and 1/2 years.
I spent about 15 hours total fiddling with it and I did get some job satisfaction from it and the old lady stayed in the house and left me alone. No honey do's last week.
I'm afraid that I won't be doing it again in another 15 years. I might just be too old by then.
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