How to Replace the Clutch on Your MK7 GTI (Every Step)

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]we're installing a new clutch in my Mark 7 and 1/2 GTI. So whether your clutch is worn out, you need to replace it or you need to upgrade it like I do because you're adding some more power with possibly a turbo like I am soon. This is going to be a great video for you to learn everything. We have a rear main seal, pilot bearing, throw out bearing, some other preventative maintenance things as well as the new clutch that we're going to be doing. So, my hope for you is that by the time you get done watching this video, you're going to feel as confident, clear as possible on going and tackling this yourself or with a friend, knowing every nuance, little detail about it, and you know what parts you need and how to just think through this whole process cuz this is a big install, but a very important one. So, I wanted to go extra hard. These are ECS tuning products. We run a lot of those on the GTI. They work great. I'm going to have links in the description. Those links down below are organized and they're also a free and the best way to support myself. So if you buy parts today or you come back in a couple months when you purchase it, if you use those links, that is an absolutely free way to support myself and my family. So from mine to yours, thank you so much for supporting it. And with those links and you guys using them, it makes it 100% possible for me to be able to dedicate my life to this, hire help to get it done clearly and just make the best videos possible for you. So thank you so much for using those links. We have a lot of work to do. Let me open up a couple of these boxes, show you what's inside, and then we'll get straight to work and see what this clutch feels like. We are going to be installing an IS-38 power level turbo. So, this is going to be good for 450 lb feet of torque. This is the stage 3 clutch kit that comes with the lightweight flywheel, 18 1/2 lb. And then we have the clutch setup for that power level.

[00:01:31]It also includes the hardware and alignment tool as well as a throwout bearing. In the process, I got a stainless steel clutch line. So, our clutch is more predictable, consistent versus a rubber line that has some little bit of flex to it. I also purchased the ECS bleeder block to make our lives a little bit easier. And we will get into the install of the rear main seal pilot bearing and the tools for that. This is the kit for the job to handle the power. So, that's why we picked it. If you're trying to decide which clutch kit you should buy, do it based off of power level because you don't want to get anything that's unnecessary to make your clutch pedal heavier. you want it to just feel smooth and right and meant for each other as far as power level to clutch. So, if you have a stock turbo, just do something close to OEM or like a stage two clutch if you want something a little bit more aggressive with a little more bite. If you're in performance driving settings or you want some more personality out of the car, if you want comfort, stay closer to stock. If you want certain power levels like this, make sure you purchase accordingly. Like I said, this is good for 450 lb feet of torque with IS-38 turbo levels. We're going to need something like this. So, that's why I picked it. And this is right around 1,000 bucks for the kit, plus my add-ons. All in for this with the mods, $1,500 or so.

[00:02:54]Step one, we're going to remove the intake and including this shroud piece right here. 4 mm Allen if you have the integrated engineering intake. Intake filter is coming off. Heading to the turbo. Loosening that clamp there using a flaad screwdriver or whatever is applicable for which in which intake you have. It is an 8 mil if you want to use a socket. Slide it off the turbo. Then we have the two rubber grommets for the intake at the base near the battery.

[00:03:19]You'll see on this car there's a cable for an aftermarket amplifier that's just dangling there. So, don't worry about that. Pop that out. You're going to remove the secondary air hose connection. When you pinch it and slide it off. So, if you get hung on that, you can just use a tiny flat blade or a pick.

[00:03:36]>> Oh, you weren't kidding. Nope.

[00:03:38]>> I've never seen that method. Then we have a vacuum line right next to it. You can pull that off. Anytime you take a vacuum line off, you want to spin it.

[00:03:45]So, instead of pulling in case you break the plastic nipple, if you spin it, it'll loosen up whatever bond it's got.

[00:03:50]>> Intake is removed. That's the first major step. Here it is on the bench.

[00:03:54]Step number two is the battery removal.

[00:03:56]We're going to do 10 mm and remove the posts, the terminals.

[00:04:01]I do have a rigged battery holder. That bolt down there with some washers cuz this car came loose with a loose battery. So, your stock one should be there. Hopefully, it's a plastic piece with a bolt similar to this. You can remove it and then this battery will slide out. Check out the terminals.

[00:04:16]They're really dirty. So, that's when we're going to use the first blaster product of the day, battery terminal cleaner and protector. Grab a rag in the can. You can make a little bit of a mess, but just have a rag and then it will clean it off. You can use the old Coke trick, but if you have one of these cans from your local auto parts store or grab it with the link in the description, you can just use this can for probably a couple years. Save all you and your friends cars.

[00:04:39]>> The pink or red discoloration is actually the fluid reacting to battery acid.

[00:04:45]>> You know what you're getting if it's working. Can use some gunk brake cleaner to spray this off with our rag here.

[00:04:50]Light trigger finger to not make too much of a explosion. We have a little brass wire brush, like a toothbrush for your car. Every tool that we use in this entire video, I'll have linked in the description. And that Master Amazon list for garage tools and necessities is super helpful. Then you're going to put a light coat on both once they're clean to use the protector aspect of this product. And if you see any pink, you know you got some dirty spots. You should probably wipe it again. You can see we just have yellow right now. So, we're all clean, good to go. And we're going to leave it like this. And it's protected. Now, we're going to remove the battery and remove my makeshift place holder to keep the battery in place from sliding.

[00:05:29]>> If it works, it works.

[00:05:30]>> Hey. Yeah. If it works, it works. There ain't no judgment in this garage. Now, the battery can come out. You can set this wherever you want. We have four 10 mm bolts holding the battery tray in.

[00:05:39]We're going to get that removed.

[00:05:44]When you're using something as powerful as this, you really got to break it with your hand, like actual ratchet, and then spin it out so you don't damage anything.

[00:05:55]Three. And then the last one's in the corner over here.

[00:06:00]So, there's a clip here that holds the positive harness to the tray. And if you just get a screwdriver underneath it, you can pull it up as you pull up the wire and it should pop off. If you need to, you can go to the backside and work both sides of it to try to get it out.

[00:06:12]>> Got those metal teeth in it grabbing the plastic. So, you got to look at it and then those will come off with a little bit of force. I'm going to work it, but also be gentle. If you look, there's a relief in the back of that battery tray there. So, you don't have to pull it against the master cylinder. It should just slide out like that. And then at that point, you're just managing the front end.

[00:06:30]>> Put all your hardware together. Keep things organized and clean. Make your life easier.

[00:06:33]>> This is your secondary air hose. It usually lives in this area, but what I did was just pull up the coolant hose gently so we don't damage the plastic next. And then I folded this underneath so it keeps it out of the way so we have plenty of access to the starter.

[00:06:45]>> On the starter, there's a 13 mil nut holding the ground wire and loosen it by hand. And then you can power ratchet if you have one. That is in the master Amazon list. That is a lifesaver.

[00:06:56]Stamina through the roof instead of ratcheting with your wrist all all day.

[00:07:00]Now our wire is completely removed. We just want to tuck that as well for now.

[00:07:04]Tuck it under the radiator hose so it stays out of the way. This is the ground nut for the starter. We're just going to throw that on the wiper tray for a second while we pull this 18 mil top starter bolt out. You want to use a regular ratchet to break this bolt loose. It is into the bell housing and they tend to have a lot of torque on them. The last thing you want to do is try breaking really heavy torqued bolts with this and snap the head of your expensive Milwaukee ratchet. So, we're going to stick that in there. 18 mil.

[00:07:29]And then we're just going to break that.

[00:07:33]Once that's loose, I can take the socket, put it onto the Milwaukee, and we'll buzz that bolt out.

[00:07:40]You see how long that bolt is? That bolts literally the length of the starter.

[00:07:44]>> Wow.

[00:07:44]>> It's because it goes all the way through into the engine block >> upper starter bolt.

[00:07:49]>> We're going to take this nut, spin this nut on for later, and then we're going to set that aside. Pick tool.

[00:07:55]>> We're going to use that to remove the red lock on the connector for the starter. So, you can pull just like that. It'll pop right out. Volkswagen are known for having tricky connectors where when you go to press them, they don't want to open. You can use same pick, go in the front side and get underneath the tab.

[00:08:11]Pop it right off. You can see the tab in there. And you're just basically trying to get up under the leading edge of it and pull it forward. So, if you look at this positive battery terminal, you have the black wire that's going to it. It actually runs down here to the starter.

[00:08:23]So, that's direct battery power to the starter. We need to remove that. The way you get that is by popping this plastic cover off. Sometimes they have like teeth on them. You can actually see there's a body right there. That body is on the stud. So, a lot of times you can stick a screwdriver or something in there and pop it off. So, I got the screwdriver in here and we're going to twist it a little bit. And you can see there's a bolt behind there. You also want to be really careful not to damage the starter connector. But, as we go in, we bust that loose. And this connector actually rides on the line. So, you can pull this up a little bit, slide it back, and then get a view of what it looks like inside. That should be a 13 just like the other one. Notice that this is a little long for the situation.

[00:09:01]So, you can use like a medium socket if you have a medium socket. I don't ever recommend shorts because this is an electrical terminal. We want to gently break that loose. You see that even when I started, it started breaking the nut behind it loose. So, you just have to be careful not to use too much torque because you can spin this out from the inside and never want to do that.

[00:09:23]Okay, there's your 13 mil power nut.

[00:09:25]We're going to pull that power cable off. Your battery positive to the starter is now disconnected. We're going to tuck that behind the main wiring harness here so it stays out of our way.

[00:09:34]So once you take this power cable off, you wrap it around. You actually want to put your nut back on there. Nothing else is going to go on there, but at least it'll keep your nut for later in the same area so it's hidden out of the way.

[00:09:45]>> Next step, charge pipe 7 mil poorly positioned. So we're going to get a wrench up in there. Do it the oldfashioned way.

[00:09:52]>> One little tiny turn at a time. So sometimes when you get your wrench in here and you get it loose enough and you've got a few turns into it and the hose clamp's starting to loosen a little bit to save yourself some time, you can push it and rotate it. And then when you get it about there, it's a little bit easier to access. You get a little more throw for your wrench and you may be able to get a screwdriver with a flatb blade in there to speed the whole process up. Once we get that screwdriver with a flat blade in here, we're not dealing with a lot of torque. So all you got to do is open it a few more turns.

[00:10:20]And as long as you can get it to about there, you can actually use the edge of the vacuum pump. Turn it a little bit more. Then we get pretty good access to it. And once it's that loose, should be no problem for the charge pipe to slip out. We're not going to try to slip it out until we take this T30 out, though.

[00:10:34]Have a T30 on a hand ratchet. We're just going to break that loose. Torque says you can use an impact for, but if you strip it, you're so. All right. So, once we get this loose, pop this T30 out. I believe this T30 is captive, so it doesn't come out. It's just loose and hangs out in there, so you don't have to worry about losing it. Now we've got that somewhat loose. There is usually another fastener down low, something that's holding it on. Get in here. We don't want to damage the charge pipe cuz we got to reuse that charge pipe. All we want to do is really just break the seal.

[00:11:02]Hear that? Hear that pop? That pop was the seal. And then now that that's loose. Should come right out. Nice. Next step is going to be we're going to put that back in there. Now that it's loose, it's not going anywhere. We've actually got to pull these shifter cables. So we're going to grab a pick. So we're just going to put a screwdriver behind here. There's a base center piece there that you want to pry on. This little relief channel will squeeze together and make a little room for it. We're just going to gently pry it. It's going to close itself and then get our fingers in and pop it right off. Then we're going to use a pick again and we're going to pull up this lid here off this little stud. And then once we have that up, this should just pop right off in your hand. This cable comes free. So, while you're still on the top side, if you have a connector like that, which looks like a temp sensor or a speed sensor, one or the other, you're going to grab a hold of that connector. Again, if you can't depress it, it won't pop off. So, if you push that with your thumb, it'll pull the tab all the way up. See it move a little bit. Then, you pop it off of there. Go ahead and free that wiring harness.

[00:12:04]Get out of here, dude.

[00:12:05]>> Isn't that crazy?

[00:12:07]>> Get out of here.

[00:12:09]>> Those are 100 footbs.

[00:12:11]>> Well, you can always teach a mechanic something new.

[00:12:14]All right, tray removal. Now that we're on the bottom of the car, 7 mil. There are 5,000 of these.

[00:12:23]Last one is in the front. Have to fall out on us. It has positive lock locks in it. So, a lot of times what you can do is use your finger and just push up on that. Sometimes what you'll have to do is use a screwdriver and get under this side to pull it out if you can't push that cam up. There it is. First thing we're going to do, we got to pop this radiator hose out of its retainer. So, you pull that clamp up right there. And as you pull it up, that little piece will come out. So, you kind of need to two-hand it. Pick that up. That'll come out. Then, we're going to pull that radiator hose out and around so it's out of our way cuz we are going for that T30 that's directly behind hidden up there.

[00:13:01]>> You can see that T30 in that plastic little housing right there.

[00:13:04]>> 1/4in extension with a little converter 38 to quarter converter so that I can get in there nice and easy. Make this easy on myself as it can be. bust this thing loose by hand.

[00:13:16]And this is another captive bolt, so it won't go anywhere. So once that's loose, this charge pipe should float free.

[00:13:24]You're also going to have to pull this hose off the bottom of it. So a lot of times there's like a little tab you got to push through and can pull that down or you can just pop it off. One of the other. Now that that's free, see the whole charge pipe's loose. So next we're going to move to this side of the charge pipe. Same as last time. This has like a seal on it. It has little threads on it.

[00:13:43]And so you've got to get this to where it's loose enough that it'll come out.

[00:13:47]Sometimes when you think it's loose enough, it's not. So you can go ahead and just bust that pretty dead gum loose. And then you can use your screwdriver against the bottom of the core support here to just kind of work the hose a little bit on both sides.

[00:13:59]Once you've started it, it should just come right off. And then occasionally in a lot of older cars, you'll have a bunch of oil in here cuz you'll have blowby.

[00:14:08]But if you have a properly functioning PCV system, when you open it up, it'll just be a tiny amount of residue and not pouring out on you. Now that that's loose, we're going to work it out.

[00:14:18]>> That's the best news of the day right there.

[00:14:20]>> Right. Uh there are a couple things attached to this. So up here, the ones in the middle are not attached, but this secondary air hose is attached. This is your secondary air pump right here. This basically heats the cat up. When you first start it, it only operates the first 15 seconds when you turn it on.

[00:14:35]This pump turns on and it pumps fresh air into your intake straight to your to basically oxygen enrich your system to wake your sensors up and heat the cat up quicker.

[00:14:46]>> The quicker the cat heats up, the less emissions it puts out. So, now that this is loose, you can see that it will move.

[00:14:53]There is one more up there that we got to go undo. So, there's two, one here and one up top. So, we will have to lower it back down. But, this is just a Christmas tree clip on this. And so, you can just grab it, pull it, and then let me fold that down. So you can see. All right. And there's one more up top we got to go get. And then this whole thing should just move out. All right. So now once we get it there, what we want to do is work it out of that hose that we put it back in. All right. Now we've got this loose. There is one more Christmas tree clip up here that we got to undo.

[00:15:20]First off, we want to come out of this right here, which is not actually anything but a hook. There's no retainer there. Uh, and that'll give us a lot more flex cuz we're not pulling on the wiring harness. Then we're going to pull this Christmas tree clip. And the trick with the Christmas tree clips is to be gentle and kind of rock them as you pull them. And sometimes, dude, they break.

[00:15:37]Like, there's really not a lot you can do about it if they do break because all that's holding them on is this plastic zip tie. This is a trim tool. This is extremely useful when you're trying to take something out like a Christmas tree clip. You can drop it underneath it and then just give it a little pry.

[00:15:50]>> You might need the metal one I have in there.

[00:15:52]>> Yeah, the metal one actually might work better. But the biggest thing is that it's not hanging on one side like that.

[00:15:57]>> It's probably going to break >> when you It Dude, they break so often.

[00:16:00]>> Nope. But we got that one out.

[00:16:01]>> Saved it.

[00:16:02]>> So the trick is is to like when you're trying to pull it out, if it's hanging, it's got the little serrations on it and it'll hang on that serration and fight you. If you stretch it straight and then pull it, it reduces the pressure on each one of those tabs. You're either going to go down or you're going to try to come up. I left the boot on the bottom cuz I like to disassemble as little as possible. So my goal is usually to go down with it. So to go down with it, we're just going to watch all our hoses and connectors and make sure everything's good. The other thing we got to do back down underneath there was the bottom wire harness that we pulled off. We need to put that underneath the hose. So since this is already loose, we're going to go back down and start working on the bottom again. So this, if you're trying to go down, is going to be in the way. So we're going to pull it on this side of the pipe. And then we're going to pull this pipe and start working it down. And it is curved up top. So, we're just going to have to once we get it going, it'll come all the way. But, we're going to have to fight it just a little bit cuz it is plastic.

[00:16:57]Best thing is to try to get that wiring harness over that bolt and remove as much tension from the pipe as possible.

[00:17:03]So, when you're pulling it, it's not really hanging. Now, you do have tabs on the top that we remove stuff from. So, you just want to reach up in there and make sure that you're not hanging up on any wiring harnesses. And if there are any wiring harnesses, you just want to be gentle so you don't damage them. I think we just slid past that one.

[00:17:20]And then now we're just going to work it a little bit at a time. Be very gentle.

[00:17:25]See right here, Cam? If you look, we're hung on that wiring harness right there.

[00:17:29]>> And you just got to be careful. Don't yank stuff, you know. Be gentle. So, I can push it a little bit further back up. Stick my hand in there. Push that harness above that tab. And now we're a little bit freer than we were. And we're going to just work our way down.

[00:17:42]>> Grabbing that. Look.

[00:17:43]>> A little bit down. There it is.

[00:17:45]>> Nice work.

[00:17:46]>> There's your charge.

[00:17:46]>> Kept it all in one piece, too. Simplest way is usually the best way. All right, now we're focused on the starter. We're going to take this wiring harness bracket loose. It's just got one 13 mm nut.

[00:17:59]Once you break it loose, drop the nut out. This whole bracket should spin free and pop off. And it contains all of your wiring up top is tied to this. And so instead of trying to separate all that stuff, we just take this nut out and push it forward and it stays out of the way. Gives us plenty of access to that 18. Like we did earlier, we want to break this 18 loose by hand so we don't damage our electric ratchet.

[00:18:23]Once that's loose, we can buzz it out.

[00:18:26]Now, support the starter cuz it will fall out if you're not careful.

[00:18:31]Once that's out, yeah, go ahead and pull that bolt out. That bolt, if you look at the starter when I pull it off, that bolt has to go through here and hold the starter on, and it goes all the way here to the actual engine block. So, it actually the threads are right there.

[00:18:44]So, it goes through the bell housing. It is technically a bell housing bolt.

[00:18:48]Here's your starter. This is why you can't leave a starter on when you're trying to do this. This gear is going to sit right up next to the flywheel. And when you're trying, the flywheel has teeth. When you're trying to put a transmission on, this all together is going to affect the alignment. So, it's easier to just take it out. Also, usually Audi or Volkswagen, they hide another bell housing bolt in the housing. Before we get any further, I found out the hard way in the past, make sure you disconnect your ride height sensor if you have an autobond spec car like this with the DCCD. You're going to want to remove that. Dave's going to pop in here.

[00:19:20]>> Trim tool.

[00:19:20]>> Yep.

[00:19:21]>> We're going to get onto here and we're just going to pull on it till it pops off. Be gentle. Yeah. You got to get on the lip of it. Plastic sometimes doesn't work because it's plastic on plastic and everything's moving around. Sometimes we can use a good oldfashioned screwdriver and just be real gentle and grab a hold of that lip against the control arm and it usually will just pop it right off.

[00:19:43]>> There you go.

[00:19:44]>> And so this right here, you just don't want to break that. It's a very expensive problem. So, same procedure.

[00:19:49]We're just going to peel that boot back till it pops off. We're going to stick it up there so it's out of the way so we don't break it. Next, we're going to remove the 034 dog bone mount and where the insert is so that we can move everything around. It's not tied to the subframe.

[00:20:04]>> These are 15s.

[00:20:09]>> You saw the engine and transmission shifted a little bit. Now, we're going to take a thin wall, very thin wall, 21 mm socket. I have specially for this part of this MQB platform car that needs these. I had to go buy this socket. I'll leave it linked in the description.

[00:20:28]All right. So, we're going to stick a pry bar there and just start edging it out cuz they get stuck over time.

[00:20:34]They're in a rubber casing and it's just hard. There we go. Now, it's coming.

[00:20:39]Dave's putting these bolts back in the order they came out so you don't lose them. So, you got the fat one in the obvious spot. Then you got the longer one in the middle. And then you got the shorter one towards the front. Set those all up. Leave them there to keep organized.

[00:20:51]>> So, we're working towards getting this LSD out. You got to pull the LSD before you can pull the transmission. With that torque mount completely removed, we can actually use a pry bar to create enough space to get this LSD up. We're going to start by taking these 15 mil nuts off the ball joints. Three on each side.

[00:21:11]And we will use a pry bar. Sometimes you don't need a pry bar. Sometimes you can just pull it down like that. And our goal is to make space for the axle.

[00:21:19]We're not going to need that space until we take the axle bolts out. Then we'll pull this down and we can actually pull the whole assembly out.

[00:21:26]>> You can either use the brakes or rig a pry bar like this. Dave's doing it one manner.

[00:21:34]>> Once that one's there, you can pull this out and we can zip that out with a electric ratchet. But right now, we want to go ahead and loosen as many as we can before we start electric ratcheting. So, we're going to use this to roll the wheel and we're going to try not to hit the caliper and we're going to hold that down. So, our loose one is now over here. And we're going to work on this one now. We want to get this set up. No extensions if possible so you don't lose any torque. If you watch this as we roll this way, it's going to hold it. So, we're just going to hook into here just like this. We're going to hold it just enough to break it loose. Get it a couple turns loose. We're not having to apply too much torque, but we just want to make sure we roll it around to where we get to the next one. Same deal.

[00:22:17]You want to use enough force to get it loose. You also don't want to go crazy cuz this oil pan is plastic and the last thing you want to do is go yanking this and sending it into the oil pan and creating a problem that you didn't have before.

[00:22:31]So, these come with a retainer that holds both sides. So, you actually want to get both of the same ones out.

[00:22:39]Once they're out, take them, keep them together with this retainer, and then just set them aside.

[00:22:50]The axle is loose. We're going to take those last two bolts out. What we're going to do is we're going to undo this control arm from the ball joint. And then we have a little bit of room where we can pull this ball joint down so it wedges against that control arm. And then at that point, this come completely free. So we can let it rest in there.

[00:23:08]Some people bungee cord it. Some people put a block of wood. Just really depends on what you're trying to do. I like to use the thread of that. As long as you don't bang it, it won't damage the thread. but it actually holds it out enough to where you got enough room to get in there and do stuff with LSD.

[00:23:20]>> That's what it looks like removed.

[00:23:22]Driver's side.

[00:23:29]Same as we did on the other side. We're going to make a little space. Pull that axle out so it's out of the way. And now that we have that out, we have plenty of room. But if you can get it down below that control arm right there in that notch, it'll hold the whole thing out.

[00:23:43]Oil level sensor. we're going to take off and push down. Pop that off. These tabs come off the oil fins on the pan.

[00:23:49]And then we're going to pull these. So again, if you have super strong thumbs like I do, it's not too hard to get them off. If even I have trouble with them, sometimes you can push them on further and push it and it'll come off. If that doesn't work, we go back to the pick. So when we go in, we get under that tab.

[00:24:04]You can see that tab lift and then you just apply a little bit of pressure and it should roll right off. So, if you're ever having trouble like that and you get this connector up and off and you know it's up and off and now it's ready to go, you can either use your tool to push on it. If that doesn't work, we can actually use a screwdriver and we don't want to break it. We want to get a little bit of leverage on it and try to pull it out. You never want to yank the wires. That's a big deal.

[00:24:26]>> So, the method is that you released that center deal with the pick and then the rubber was what was really holding it up cuz the corrosion in there.

[00:24:33]>> The orange thing inside is a rubber weather seal and that rubber weather seal will get dirt on it. You can see in there there's dirt in there.

[00:24:40]>> Mhm.

[00:24:40]>> So, we're going to clean that out before we leave with the contact cleaner or brake cleaner from gunk. Yep.

[00:24:45]>> We'll get that cleaned up before we put it back on and it'll go on no problem.

[00:24:48]>> This bottom wire stays attached to the LSD. So, you do not need to disconnect that one. So, we're going to leave it.

[00:24:55]The next thing we're going to remove is that silver heat shield right there. So, if I come around here, you can see those hex bolts there.

[00:25:02]>> So, I've got a long 8 mil Allen that we're going to try to use. One of the best extensions you can have are these swivel. Snap-on wobble plus is what they're called. So, when you Yep.

[00:25:12]>> Okay.

[00:25:13]>> So, when you basically stick this in, you have the option of fully locked and it's straight or you can pop it out just a hair. And this allows these to wobble just a little bit.

[00:25:22]>> I've never seen that.

[00:25:23]>> So, it just gives your it gives your tool the ability to have like an off angle when you're doing something. If you can't break it loose by hand, you will have to put a ratchet in here. Oh, those are tight.

[00:25:34]There we go.

[00:25:35]So, that's one. Now, the trick with the LSD is in the way, you can't really reach it. So, if you can get it off like I got it off there, and you've got a ball socket, you can hold your mouth right and pull it out while it's still attached to the ball. And that is your one of your heat shield nuts.

[00:25:51]All right. Once it's loose, go until it gets so loose the ratchet won't ratchet on its own. This one's a lot tighter.

[00:25:59]>> If you're watching this video, I'm sorry. I'm all over the place with the zoom, but I'm really trying to get in this really hard spot.

[00:26:05]>> It's very, dude. It's hard for me to see. I'm 6'4 and it's hard.

[00:26:08]>> I got a visual on it, but they're like, "Dude, camera guy, figure out the focus." But it ain't >> it ain't happening. But we got the visual, though.

[00:26:14]>> And then this heat shield should just come right out in our hand. And that's what it looks like.

[00:26:21]>> We are >> 16 here.

[00:26:23]>> Working off.

[00:26:23]>> And a 16 on the back.

[00:26:25]>> The LSD. Getting that off. Detach from the transmission. I like how you use my gold one.

[00:26:30]>> Yeah, it looks cool.

[00:26:32]>> I like it. This one I don't like how close the ratchet is to this solenoid body. So, what we're going to do is put a wrench on that and bust that loose with a wrench. 16 mil wrench. And we should be able to get in there like that. If you can't get all the way on, you can go one over like that. And that'll give us enough room. Now, here's the thing. We got to be real careful as we're breaking that loose to not hit that connector cuz if you break that, you're buying a new buying a new LSD. So now we got that loose. We can put a power ratchet on it. Zip it out.

[00:27:08]All right, that's bottom LSD bolt. There should be a couple up top we got to get.

[00:27:11]>> We go from over there to in here by the exhaust. This bolt I'm going to center on right there is what we need to get next. This is the difference between why you would buy a professional mechanics ratchet when it's the degree of angle that I have before that clicks over to the next thing. When I have this up in a car and I'm using this for the torque and I have probably this much space to be able to actuate the ratchet and I really need it to just go up a little bit more. When I'm up there in the socket, I have almost a/ an inch of play between teeth. That's the really big the biggest problem is you get in there and you're trying to actuate it so you can get some force and pull down on it, but I can't actually get it to ratchet up enough because there's so much play between the teeth. So, I'm going to try the gold one again. So, I'm able to actually like kick it up there.

[00:27:56]>> And then I'm just going to have to go blind and pull it myself.

[00:28:03]That's what we wanted was to be able to get in there and grab that. And so now, if you can't get an electric ratchet in there, you can pull it out with your hands manually and just hold your mouth right while you do it. All right. Now, we go up and we get as much throw into those hoses as we can so I can pull down on it and break it loose.

[00:28:21]>> Wow.

[00:28:23]Look at this guy.

[00:28:25]>> Since we're way in the hole up there, we're just going to ratchet as much as we can. Barely ratcheting cuz it's loose. So, all right. We're going to pull that out and see if I can get my hand in there. So the whole thing is moving. So if I take the weight off the bolt, I can spin it out by hand. So you got to like hold hold this case up of this LSD just a hair and it takes the weight off the bolt and then I'm actually able to spin it out by hand.

[00:28:49]>> Here it is.

[00:28:51]>> Now that we got that, we need to make sure that there's no other wires, nothing else that we can damage by pulling it out. I think we got everything, but we just want to double check that >> here. Yep. Okay. You just saw and you're looking at 6 mil Allen head bolt in there that holds the LSD on down inside where the shaft connects. You can see my pry bar right now where the light is showing. And then Dave's got our quarter drive extension deep in there.

[00:29:17]>> Oh my gosh.

[00:29:19]>> Yes, sir.

[00:29:20]>> Let's pull this out and see if it came with it. If it didn't Oh.

[00:29:27]Oh no. So, this is fun. Let's see if >> Oh, bro. I'm dead. I'm dead.

[00:29:36]>> Everything's falling apart.

[00:29:37]>> These are 6 mill Cornwell real Allens, not Chinese.

[00:29:41]>> We will link this quality in the description. You're going to need these.

[00:29:45]Let's give it a rip. Okay, so we got two bolts up in there. You can see Dave's set up with his ratchet and the new socket. Dave's going to line me up with the pry bar. Can you hear this?

[00:29:55]>> Yeah.

[00:29:55]>> Nice. Probably just needed some consistent force. Exactly.

[00:29:59]>> Like just sit on it and weigh on it.

[00:30:01]>> All right, we're in it now.

[00:30:02]>> Put some beef into it. Just let her let her just sit on her.

[00:30:05]>> Pretty sure that's it.

[00:30:08]>> Hey, >> there we go.

[00:30:09]>> Hey, >> there's our bolt holding our LSD in.

[00:30:12]>> As minimal extensions as possible.

[00:30:14]>> Is it wet with gear oil?

[00:30:15]>> It is wet with gear oil.

[00:30:16]>> Interesting.

[00:30:17]>> Smell it.

[00:30:19]>> It'll ruin your nose for the day. You're welcome.

[00:30:21]>> Blubber.

[00:30:21]>> You're welcome.

[00:30:25]There it is.

[00:30:27]There we go.

[00:30:28]Okay, now we're going to push it back towards it. Turn it down like this and work it out.

[00:30:34]>> Do we need to take the >> That's it. Passenger side axle coupler.

[00:30:38]It mates through and there's a long Allen bolt that goes through the tip of that. Holds it into the transmission.

[00:30:44]>> Very cool to see that.

[00:30:45]>> Avoid prying on this plastic diaphragm, >> plastic case.

[00:30:49]>> I touched it for a sec.

[00:30:50]>> All right, so we're going to loosen the two bolts that hold the shifter assembly onto the top of the transmission. We need that off. So, we're going to break them loose by hand. We just want to get on top of them once you broke them off.

[00:31:05]Once those bolts come out, put them in the washer tray for now. And then this should come loose. It might have a third one. It does have a third one. Look at that. So, we're going to get this third one here.

[00:31:19]The third one is a nut, not a bolt.

[00:31:22]Now that this assembly is loose, we can tuck it out of the way. We got to prep the top of the engine. Big screwdriver.

[00:31:29]You're going to push this clip in. Pull up a little bit. And as long as you got it working. Don't pry on this. This is a harness. You can get on the side of where the harness mounts and you can push that tab. And then the whole plastic clip will eventually pop up out of the way.

[00:31:45]There it is.

[00:31:47]Okay. We want to be here on this piece.

[00:31:51]But you want these to be straight, not wonky. And you're going to go through and you've got to figure out how to get this thing lined up. Our goal is to turn this bad boy around. There's one there, one there. Now the angle's a little closer to what we want. We're probably going to have to come down onto this crossbar to get lined up all the way.

[00:32:08]We're probably going to have to hook that preemptively and then put our jack over the top of it. Just like that. So Dave is setting this up because this transmission mount actually is attached to the engine obviously. And so you got an engine mount over there. And when I was new to cars, it confused me. You got an engine mount and a transmission mount, but the engine transmission being a transverse setup going side to side.

[00:32:29]This is the only thing holding your engine up is the transmission mount. So, they both work together. So, you have to have the engine hooked up because as soon as we take off this transmission mount, then everything would fall.

[00:32:40]>> It's going to drop.

[00:32:41]>> Everything would fall.

[00:32:42]>> All right. So, now that we got that in, we're going to try moving this back just a little bit. And we want to try to get it back as far as we can onto these pillars here so that this is as straight as possible. But now that we got it back there, >> that looks really good.

[00:32:53]>> Tighten this down, too.

[00:32:54]>> It's what we're looking for. All right.

[00:32:56]Once that's nice and tight, we're going to start putting some load on it.

[00:33:02]>> What size?

[00:33:02]>> 18.

[00:33:06]>> Okay. When you got the first two out, the third one is where you're going to see some drop. If there's if it's going to drop, it's going to drop now.

[00:33:16]But we really we did a great job of preloading everything. So, if you notice, we pulled that out and there's no movement. First thing we do is take those off. Now, we take the big ones off, but we're going to loosen the big ones and then we're going to let it down a little bit so we can get that bracket out.

[00:33:33]The age old socket stuck between two things.

[00:33:36]>> So, we're going to pull this bolt, the rest out by hand. And then once these are out, we can lower it down a little bit and pull the bracket off the top of the trans, which will make it a little bit easier for us to do our job. We're going to lower this down just a few turns and then we should be able to get this bracket to slide out.

[00:33:55]This is your transmission bracket. Bolts between your transmission and your transmission mount.

[00:33:59]>> Drain pan underneath. Now we're going to remove the hydraulic clutch line. We're going to get under this quick release clip and we're just going to pull it up.

[00:34:08]Pull this one up. And now the whole assembly should just come off line first. We're going to point that line down and let it leak fluid and it is going to drain. And then we can actually pull this off the slave.

[00:34:22]There it is. The ECS kit we have comes with new O-rings. So, you see that O-ring? We're going to replace that. And then there should be a nice O-ring on this line there. And we're going to replace that.

[00:34:31]>> Got some brake cleaner. We're going to go back here to the beginning of where the new clutch line's going to go. He's going to spray it off so we can undo that clip, remove that hard line, and swap in the new quick connect on the new stainless hose. Then we get a pick in there and pull out that retainer clip.

[00:34:48]>> See, I pushed it right there.

[00:34:50]>> Mhm.

[00:34:51]>> And then it's starting to come out. Just got to push it more.

[00:34:55]See, it popped up as I pushed it.

[00:34:58]>> Nice.

[00:34:58]>> And now we're going to hook it, pull it out, which it went out, and it landed on that frame rail back there. If you can see that. See if I can reach my hand back in here and just grab it. There we go. And we'll have to put this clip back in. So, we've got that loose, but we're going to go ahead and let the brake fluid drain out of the hose until it stops before we undo it so it doesn't leak brake fluid in the back. So, if we follow the hose, we're going to replace that, but it's actually brake fluid in the hydraulic system. It shares it. So, that little hose off there heads over to the clutch master cylinder. And then you push the pedal with your foot and it builds pressure and then sends it through this line into the slave cylinder right here inside the transmission. In the ECS stainless clutch line, you have some new clips to use as well as a Christmas tree retaining clip that'll attach to the hose. So, it's all included to make it organized.

[00:35:47]>> It's going to go into your new adapter that goes clutch line to slave.

[00:35:52]>> This is our new bleeder block. This is a replacement for this plastic one, and it has new clips and O-rings.

[00:35:59]>> Now that we got that loose, this should be as simple as like holding this slack, using a spare hand, and just putting some downward force on it. It should just pop right out. And the whole master moves, so you got to like support the master as it's coming down.

[00:36:15]>> There you go.

[00:36:16]>> Otherwise, you'll bust the master.

[00:36:17]>> What's the real difference when you put it on the bench? You got a rubber piece of the hose here and then you got your standard brake hard line. But if you swap it for a one piece stainless, your clutch is going to feel more consistent.

[00:36:28]It's going to feel a little bit more firm and a little bit more onoff for performance driving, for consistency, for personality in the clutch pedal and precision the more consistent this is.

[00:36:40]See the difference here? It's just going to be that much better. And this isn't one of those modifications where one is like you shouldn't run this or you should run this. It's literally just a upgrade. It's not something that you need by any means. So, don't let this feel like you need to spend money that you don't need to. Dave's working on getting the retaining clip out. You can see it right there. He's going to get it out from the frame rail and we'll swap it directly for this one that comes in the hardline kit. We're going to get this new retainer clip, Christmas tree clip in there.

[00:37:08]>> There we go.

[00:37:09]>> Yep. Bingo.

[00:37:10]>> Okay. We're going to take this clip that we pulled out of the master and we're going to put that in the master. And then this should pop through. And you see these are beveled. They're beveled so that when that clip is in there, it will actually push the clip open and snap into place.

[00:37:25]>> Yep. You can see the clip. You press it in. So, you're going to push it all the way down.

[00:37:28]>> Yep.

[00:37:29]>> I did not know you could do that.

[00:37:30]>> Yep. So, we're going to pass this line through exactly where the other one went. And then we're going to turn that corner. We're going to line that up. And then it should pop in once I get my hands in there. And if you're not able to get that through, you don't want to put too much pressure on that master.

[00:37:45]You can pull that clip back out. Dave's got it pressed in the master cylinder all the way. Now he's going to go add the circlip in after the fact.

[00:37:54]>> It is tight in here.

[00:37:56]>> You just have to get it perfectly aligned. It depends on how far you push this line up in there.

[00:38:02]>> Yeah.

[00:38:02]>> And so I think if you overseat it, you're not getting it in. And I think if you undersat it, you're not getting it in.

[00:38:08]>> Basically impossible to film in there.

[00:38:10]But where that circlip attaches to the master cylinder, you can see the new clutch line. And that's just facing down. Then if we hop over to the bench, Dave's going to show you that circlip with it being aftermarket fits really tight. So he took these pliers and snapped it in there like that. He could not get it with his fingers. Had to use this tool with a little bit of persuasion. We're on to bell housing bolts. Now we're going to go hard ratchet and use a ratchet to pull it out. And then we're going to go electric ratchet to buzz it out once we get it loose.

[00:38:43]And just FYI to everybody watching this stuff, be really gentle on that. You break that and you're going to have a bad day. Bell housing numero uno bell housing numero do. What I will do is tuck this clutch line up so we don't accidentally pinch it when we're moving stuff apart.

[00:39:05]>> Now we're down below. You've got one facing this way is breaking loose. And you got two really easy to see right here.

[00:39:13]>> You don't need short sockets or wrenches for those ones.

[00:39:15]>> Mhm.

[00:39:15]>> And then this last one is actually a smaller size. It's like a 16.

[00:39:20]Once we broke that loose, that's good.

[00:39:22]And then >> they're 16.

[00:39:24]>> All right. Once these are all broken loose, we want to leave one still on.

[00:39:28]Buzz out the 18 on the back.

[00:39:31]>> Hell yeah.

[00:39:32]>> All right. One more. So we should go get the get the jack or what?

[00:39:35]>> Yep. We're going to get the jack. And you can tell that all the ones on the top are done cuz if you look right here, it's starting to split the case.

[00:39:42]>> Cool.

[00:39:42]>> Basically, what we're going to try to do is come straight back, get out of the pilot bearing, and then we're going to roll the whole assembly down forward towards us as we come down, and it should come out no problem.

[00:39:56]All right, last bolt is out. So, just watch your hands.

[00:40:00]All right, I'm going to rock it just a little bit and unseat it.

[00:40:04]>> See, it's off now.

[00:40:07]Rock it off. Okay.

[00:40:12]And it's going to come down like that.

[00:40:13]We are sitting on it. That's good.

[00:40:15]>> Okay. I just did a little bit.

[00:40:16]>> A little bit more.

[00:40:18]Okay.

[00:40:20]Okay.

[00:40:21]>> Kind of want to tilt it. Oh, >> that's what we want.

[00:40:24]>> Oh, >> that's what we want.

[00:40:25]>> Oh.

[00:40:26]>> All right. Hey.

[00:40:28]>> This little Come on down just a little bit. See what happens if you go down.

[00:40:32]I'm just going to watch the whole thing as you go down. Hold right there for a second.

[00:40:37]What I'm seeing, we caught this metal plate and I need this metal plate to not be caught anymore. It's like a sandwich plate.

[00:40:46]I'll make you go lower. Oh, >> yep.

[00:40:50]A little bit at a time.

[00:40:53]>> We can try lowering it again.

[00:40:55]>> Just lower it like more than you would think.

[00:40:56]>> Yeah.

[00:40:57]>> And I feel like it just like eventually just goes like >> Sometimes it does.

[00:41:01]>> Okay. It's almost kind of light. Oh, here we go. Look, if I drop it, it's coming out.

[00:41:06]>> Okay, now we're moving. Okay, we're really close. I can feel it starting to rotate.

[00:41:13]It needs to just come forward just a scoch.

[00:41:16]>> Hold on. If I just >> see that as it's rotating up like that.

[00:41:20]>> That's what we needed. You want to push this caliper out one more time. Push that right there. Let me push that over that way. Now, there it is. Just like that. Go ahead and lower the jack for me. There it is.

[00:41:31]>> You good?

[00:41:31]>> Yeah, I got it.

[00:41:33]Come on down. Come on down, big dog.

[00:41:37]Now, remember that orientation? It had to literally turn vertical.

[00:41:41]>> Mhm. So, we just need to when we put it in, it's going to have to be vertical like that.

[00:41:46]>> This is another odd situation. We need a 9 mm 12point. I'll have 12point kit linked below.

[00:41:56]Take the flex plate off.

[00:42:01]>> All right. You can also tell when your clutch is loosening up. You can see these fingers on the clutch plate will all spring out. When you tighten them back down adversely, like when we're going back, as we tighten them, you'll see each one of these start to depress inwards. And you know you've got it evenly tightened when they're all even.

[00:42:17]This is going to come off on little guides here. Just over time it hung on those dowels. See how it's on that dowel and it just is kind of wedged? You're just going to kind of work it a little bit over here, a little bit over there, and then as it comes loose, it should come off. But sometimes you have to convince it a little bit. And then when you get on this side, you got to be ready to catch it. Okay.

[00:42:41]>> Looks like there's dirt in there, >> buddy. Somebody was hot rodding their Mark 7 GTI, my guy.

[00:42:46]>> Is that thing smoked?

[00:42:47]>> That is smoked. There's no wear. They usually have wear lines. Look at the heat on this flywheel. Anytime you see bluing and spotting, that thing is slipping.

[00:42:58]>> I did good. I did good.

[00:42:59]>> Slipping like a brake rotor. Rub your finger on that and feel that.

[00:43:04]>> So, next thing we do, >> we're going to stick some uh triple square up in here and we're going to get these bolts out. And then the whole do mass flywheel is going to come out in our hand. So, you're going to be a 12 or 14, one or the other. 12.

[00:43:21]All right, that's our last one. Gently out she comes on the bench. You can see this in the light so much better. Dude, look at the color on that. Looks like a piece of art. You should hang that on the wall.

[00:43:31]>> Yeah, I'm kind of proud of this one cuz I have like maybe maybe 500 miles I've driven this car since I bought it.

[00:43:37]>> Dude, it's beautiful. It looks like a piece of art, bro.

[00:43:40]>> Yeah, we are ready to do the rear main seal now, which is this whole piece. One piece. To do that, we need to drain the oil.

[00:43:47]>> Oil is going to be like right at the level of that up roll pan. And if we don't drain it, it'll spill.

[00:43:56]She's probably a dirty girl in there.

[00:43:57]>> Tad milky. What's up with the milk? Look at it on here. Do >> we have coolant in there?

[00:44:02]>> It's milky, bro. Look at that. Yo, what is that?

[00:44:06]>> Uh-oh.

[00:44:07]>> Uh-oh is right. That's a milkshake, dog.

[00:44:09]That ain't good.

[00:44:10]>> Head gasket, >> possibly.

[00:44:12]>> Oh god.

[00:44:13]>> But the worst kind where you get coolant in the oil. That's terrible. Yeah, dude.

[00:44:18]That's milk. That's not okay. That's very bad. Oh boy.

[00:44:22]>> We may be >> we may be >> maybe in for a head gasket, dude. That's definitely not oil. Like I've done a thousand oil changes and that is >> that is not okay. Papa Bear.

[00:44:32]>> Oh man.

[00:44:32]>> No bueno. Senor, >> we should look at my expansion tank to see if what level is that? What's the reveal?

[00:44:39]>> Hella low.

[00:44:40]>> No way.

[00:44:41]>> Hella low, dude.

[00:44:42]>> The bottom of the bottle, dog.

[00:44:45]>> Yes.

[00:44:46]>> No.

[00:44:47]>> We're under minimum. Uh, should we do a compression test before we do a head gasket?

[00:44:54]>> We can. If you're getting coolant in the oil, that doesn't necessarily mean you're losing compression. It just means that you're leaking coolant into the oil.

[00:45:03]>> We can pull the coils, pull the plug, stick a camera down in there, and look and see if there's coolant in there.

[00:45:09]>> Okay.

[00:45:09]>> If there's coolant in the cylinders.

[00:45:10]>> It wasn't misfiring is what's crazy.

[00:45:12]>> Wasn't misfiring. And it probably wasn't blowing smoke.

[00:45:15]>> Nope.

[00:45:16]>> Maybe it just happened. could have. So, >> I was really wanting to drive this with a new turbo. Now, now I'm sad.

[00:45:22]>> I know.

[00:45:22]>> We were a long way from that day, but we'll get there. It's okay. Dave can fix everything.

[00:45:27]>> Don't worry.

[00:45:27]>> This is the first.

[00:45:28]>> Really?

[00:45:29]>> And on 10 years of doing this.

[00:45:30]>> Damn.

[00:45:31]>> So, I'd say my time's due.

[00:45:32]>> Yeah.

[00:45:33]>> Good thing we did it. What if we never did re rear main seal? Just start ripping on this thing.

[00:45:37]>> I'm telling you, we put a brand new clutch and we put the turbo ripping the tires off.

[00:45:41]>> Stage three is 38 big turbo.

[00:45:43]>> Oh, dude. No. No. This thing would have let go a like first mile we'd have been white clouding it.

[00:45:49]>> Oh man, >> I'm so sad.

[00:45:51]>> Catch this. So, we're going to pull the oil filter out. See if we caught it or if this is milky or not.

[00:45:57]>> It's milky. It is.

[00:45:58]>> I already told you.

[00:45:59]>> It's not.

[00:46:00]>> Dude, it's not that bad.

[00:46:02]>> But it's like >> Look how look how much you have clear oil in the center and you have a little bit of milk dripping off of this.

[00:46:10]>> So, did it just happen?

[00:46:11]>> It just happened.

[00:46:11]>> It just happened cuz it's mixed still.

[00:46:14]And that's probably why it had it made it here, but it didn't make it here yet.

[00:46:17]>> The cooling system >> I for sure parked it when it's hot and it sucked it in.

[00:46:20]>> Mhm.

[00:46:21]>> 100%.

[00:46:22]>> Yeah, you got it.

[00:46:23]>> Then it started to push it back up and I probably shut it off.

[00:46:25]>> Mhm.

[00:46:26]>> Or started it up to move it cuz I moved it twice.

[00:46:31]>> Mhm.

[00:46:32]>> Since I ran That's what mixed it.

[00:46:33]>> That's what mixed it.

[00:46:34]>> Cuz it originally when oil sits in coolant, it will the oil will sit like above the coolant cuz oil weighs less than water. And so typically if you got a car that's got a ton of coolant in the oil, you go to drain it, it'll be pure coolant and then all of a sudden you'll get oil.

[00:46:48]>> Mhm.

[00:46:49]>> And so when it's mixed like this, it's cavitating. There's some pressure behind it.

[00:46:53]>> So, and this is this is very lightly mixed. Like >> Yeah, it's still mixing.

[00:46:58]>> Correct. Uh we're probably going to have to pull the oil pan and wash it out and then pull that oil cooler off and investigate why it failed. Typically, I don't know how we'll rig it up, but we'll rig up something to pressurize that oil cooler on the coolant side. And if I can put pressure on the coolant side, 5 10 PSI, and you can feel it blowing out the oil side, that's a definitive 100%.

[00:47:17]>> Okay.

[00:47:18]>> Okay.

[00:47:18]>> But yeah, that's uh not the prettiest sight.

[00:47:23]>> Let's do a weight comparison. So, let's weigh the ECS clutch. 33 lb 8 oz. All together. Oh boy.

[00:47:33]Altogether, the clutch stock setup 42 lb 11 oz. A little over an 8 lb difference in terms of rotational mass. That is a big difference. This thing is going to rev out so fast and fun. Now, this is the final step before we can start taking stuff out of this trans.

[00:47:53]We're going to end up taking this slave out, which you got to unbolt and change.

[00:47:56]And the whole assembly comes out, including this line. But I wanted to show how dirty that is. It is so thick.

[00:48:01]I'll even risk getting my hand dirty.

[00:48:03]You can't even break through it. It's so dirty. Nasty. We're going to clean the inside up. We're going to clean the outside. We're going to get this thing looking and span, brand new, before it goes back in.

[00:48:19]Here's what we look like after a quick pressure wash. It doesn't have to be perfect. You definitely want it to be cleaner than it was. It was full of clutch material and oil and metal shavings from the clutch rivets that were grinded down. And so, here's what we're left with. So, now you can actually see the bolts for the throw out that we're going to take out. And that'll probably be the next thing we do. need a 9mm mil.

[00:48:42]Once you get those bolts out, it should just come right out in your hand. Super easy. This one is pretty nasty. When you go to roll it, you can hear the bearing is just wore out. Anytime they spin like that, they're totally wore out. Whereas, if you take the new one, it stops immediately. We're going to go ahead and reinstall this. Now, new throwout bearing is installed, ready to go back in the car. This is your factory rear main seal. This is your crankshaft. You got a rear main seal, a rubber seal around it. In VW, these are made into a plate. The older generations, this was paper. The newer generations, it's actually rubber.

[00:49:16]You're going to need a T30 Torx to be able to take it off and just start and work your way around.

[00:49:23]Once you get all your bolts taken loose, this is siliconed on from the factory, so you just want to gently pry against it. We are going to replace this one, so we're not too worried about deforming it when we take it off. You really want to be careful not to deform this plate as you're taking it off. Once you start to get that silicone loose, you'll feel it come loose. Here's your rear main seal.

[00:49:44]You can see all the silicone on it from the factory. And it does have two dowel positions, these dowels here. Now that we get that off, we're just going to clean up all this leftover silicone that's on the surrounding surface. And then we can silicone up the new one and put it on. So here you can use a razor blade or some 3M to try to clean this silicone off. You just want to be really gentle if you do use a razor blade.

[00:50:05]You're just scraping off the silicone and that you're not actually doing any damage to the aluminum of the upper oil pan. And so if you can get in there with just a light touch, you can typically scrape off most of that silicone.

[00:50:18]That saves a lot of the heavy lifting.

[00:50:20]And a 3M Scotchbrite pad you can use to clean up the rest of it. Also, be careful when you're in here. Use a finger or something. Don't cut yourself.

[00:50:27]But make sure that you don't drop any of this in the oil pan. If you drop any of that in the oil pan, it'll be a bad day when it gets into the oil pickup screen.

[00:50:34]But your goal is to start with that razor blade so that when you come back in with this, you're not actually taking that much silicone off. You're just cleaning up the remnants cuz the red Scotchbrite is pretty abrasive. But since we're not on a surface that's like oil, super oil dependent, like the oil pan surface, just cleaning it up with this is fine. All right, here's our 034 kit. Super heavy duty, super thick. You also get to use way less silicone in this little channel. And it does have those dowels from the factory. It does change hardware, though. We go from a T30 to an Allen. So, we got to gear up for that really quick. There we go. 9 Newton meters. We're calibrated. We're going to put some silicone on this. Go ahead and start our process. And then we're going to go up with our Allen bolts from 034. So, when you're doing Loctite, a lot of people like to just put a ton on there. That's about as much as you need. You don't need very much.

[00:51:23]Just a little dab. And we want to use blue. We don't want to use red or orange, blue. That means when you go to take it off ever again, it comes off without breaking anything. All ready to go. So, let's put some silicone on this thing. We're going to use this L-ring der. And we're talking a thin bead consistently all the way around. You don't want to use too much because it will get in your oil pan. That is the last thing you want. The reason they have this big recess right here is there is a cut in the lower roll pan where it meets the block. And so that's just going to cover up a crease.

[00:51:58]That's it. The factory rear main plate is stamped steel. And the problem with them is they warp when you take them off. And you can't probably see, but like it's already warped. What causes to leak when it's on the car is the heat expansion and contraction causes this thing to flex a little bit. And then the internals of this seal, there's a spring inside of this, which I don't even see the spring in this one. So, this is a different kind of seal. And it was leaking. It was leaking. You can actually look in there and see the wetness of the oil right there. So, this was actually leaking. That's one of the reasons the transmission housing was full of nasty stuff is that all that black stuff is clutch material. When the clutch burned down, it was wet in there and so it just matted and made this huge gunky mess. This is billet, so it doesn't flex when you go to take it off.

[00:52:42]And the seal that they included is a lot higher quality than the factory seal.

[00:52:47]It's got a spring in there that provides even tension where this one did not.

[00:52:50]This one just uses its pressure as the rubber there. We're going to snap this PB on. No more leaks. It does have an installer tool in it, which is this black plastic thing. When you push it on, it helps spread the seal to get over the crankshaft, and it'll actually pop out as we're done. Stick this up there.

[00:53:05]Try to center this. Push her on gently.

[00:53:08]Just like that. Then make sure it's lined up properly before you push it all the way on. Once we got it hanging out there like that, before I push it, I'm going to go ahead and put some hardware in it. typically follow the outer pattern. So, we'll do one side and then we'll do the other side. All right. So, if you've properly applied your silicone, I've hand tightened all these bolts. You'll actually be able to see how much that little bead of silicone that I put on, you know, it squirts out a little bit. It should be on every corner. You should be able to see it.

[00:53:37]And so, that's why you got to be careful not to use too much. If you use too much, it'll be like the factory one.

[00:53:41]It'll end up on that main cap. And you never really want that cuz if it gets loose later on from heat or oil, it'll end up in your oil pan. And then we're going to go in a star pattern like we put the bolts in.

[00:53:56]It's very important that you torque these and lock tight them because 2 L in general have a lot of vibration and you don't want this backing out. Now we're torqued on. You can actually take this install tool off and then uh that's what she looks like when she's properly installed.

[00:54:12]Last step before we put the clutch and the flywheel on is we want to go ahead and put this on.

[00:54:18]So, this actually tucks behind that rear main there. It's supposed to. And then you go on to the dowels. The old rear main had a big flange here that would hold that. This does not. So, we're going to have to do our best to hold this on when we put the trans on. We have the transmission on the table. We got our fill right here. We took that loose already. Made sure that's going to for sure come out. And then we're going to come in here with a 10 mm Allen and we're going to drain this fluid and put new in because we don't want to have any water from cleaning it. Should I put gloves on?

[00:54:45]>> Yes, you definitely should. Go. Oh.

[00:54:46]>> Oh, just too late.

[00:54:47]>> Just pull. Go.

[00:54:52]>> Another opportunity for the gunk brake cleaner.

[00:54:58]>> And then I'm trusting you right now.

[00:54:59]Cam, >> I'm left-handed right now. This is not good.

[00:55:02]>> What you got, buddy? You got this. There it is.

[00:55:09]Let's clean our surfaces.

[00:55:15]All right.

[00:55:17]Only one specific position that this flywheel will bolt on. So, this hole here is crooked. So, we've got to rotate this until they're all perfectly lined up. You want to do some uh mantra chanting right now? And you hear it? I'm going to be fast and be awesome.

[00:55:35]I'm going to squeal the tires off and maybe not cost any more money. All right, we're going to snug these with this impact. And then we've got a very specific torque pack.

[00:55:47]All the click clacking from this impact is all that Loctite that comes on these studs, which is really nice.

[00:55:56]Okay, 22TB is our first number. So, we're going to do 22 ft-lb.

[00:56:02]One of the reasons that I end up using an impact for most of these is because the flywheel is going to is going to move. And so what you're going to end up trying to do is going over there and holding the crank bolt so that I can do these. And the impact actually got 22 off the rip. Kids at home, don't grab this tooth flywheel with your bare hand. All right, you spin. No, I'll hold it on the tightening setting. All right, you ready?

[00:56:26]>> Yep.

[00:56:30]All right. Now, set it to 90°.

[00:56:36]>> Okay, >> there you go.

[00:56:40]Then we're good to go. We just want to make sure that there is no contaminants on that disc. No contaminants on each one of these clutch pots. Now, we got one last one. We're use a clean edge of our rag and hit this one more time with some brake cleaner and just make sure that this surface is completely contaminant free so that our clutch has nice bite when we break it in. And now we're going to put the clutch in.

[00:57:02]>> So, a little bit of Loctite on the pressure plate bolts.

[00:57:05]>> Just a dab. So, we're going to set this up here with our clutch alignment tool inside of it. Careful not to touch the pucks. And with that, we're going to let that sink inside of the alignment area. And that's going to hold. Now, there is a little bit of movement. See that little bit of movement? So, we just want to try to like center that as best we can when we put that pressure plate on. That's going to hold for now. So, our dowel holes are the tiny ones. See that one? And then this one. We're going to go up and around that alignment tool onto the dowels. And see our third dowel lined up perfect. Now, we're going to put our bolts in. Roll that in a little bit. And come down here and roll this one in a little bit.

[00:57:42]And then we're going to go to this one.

[00:57:47]And the way you know the way you know you're even is you can actually watch your fingers on the clutch. And like these two are higher. So we know that's the that's the next place we're going to tighten.

[00:57:58]>> Whoa. I watched it move.

[00:58:00]>> Yep. They move as you go in.

[00:58:06]We're just going to make sure they're tight. And we did put Loctite on them so they don't come out on us while we're chooching down the road. Those are in and tight. And we centered our clutch.

[00:58:18]So now the next part, Cam, I'll give you the satisfaction of pulling the clutch tool.

[00:58:24]That's it. Big dog.

[00:58:25]>> Dave is sliding the alignment tool back in to make sure it all goes in clean.

[00:58:30]>> Nice and tight fit. As long as this tool with very little effort will go in and out of that shaft hole, >> you know, it's going to be okay.

[00:58:36]>> Trans when you put the trans up there, you won't have to do a bunch of, you know, finagling. It'll just go right in.

[00:58:41]>> Should be 15 lb feet. Star pattern.

[00:58:46]Oh no.

[00:58:48]>> Oh no.

[00:58:49]>> I was supposed to put that in before.

[00:58:51]>> Oh no. No. No. No. We're just going to add just a just a dip dab of grease to these splines. Not a lot. Just enough to lubricate this because this is going to go through the clutch. And we just want to make sure that that slides through nice and easy. Here. I'm going to tuck these preemptively over the top of this.

[00:59:08]So go ahead and loosen the strap. No more strap. Not strapped in.

[00:59:13]This is almost vertical, which is where we had it last time. Gently we go.

[00:59:18]>> Okay. Well, >> we're all by hand now.

[00:59:20]>> All right. Go ahead.

[00:59:21]>> Got fluid coming out the top all over my shirt.

[00:59:23]>> That's fine.

[00:59:26]Now, as we're going up, we can rotate to the back a little bit. Like that.

[00:59:33]>> Up. Just a little bit. I want to go this way.

[00:59:40]All right. Hold on a second. Trying to make sure we're not binding on anything.

[00:59:45]>> Okay, we're rolling. Rocking and rolling.

[00:59:48]>> How do you feel? Are we in the splines?

[00:59:50]>> We're close. We're not in. We just need to raise the back just a little bit.

[00:59:53]Other way. Dude, we're really close to going on actually now that we're on everything. We might have to raise the motor up a little bit. We're going to run into that crossmember as we're trying to go this way with it.

[01:00:03]>> Yeah.

[01:00:04]>> Um, so >> ladder.

[01:00:06]>> Yeah.

[01:00:09]Ready?

[01:00:11]I'm just going to come up a little bit.

[01:00:12]Try to go up with the trans just a hair.

[01:00:15]Tell me if we're clearing that crossmember now.

[01:00:18]>> No, I feel like you should come see if you can manhandle it in.

[01:00:22]>> Okay. Yeah, we got plenty of room now.

[01:00:24]So, what I need is the back of it to go up more.

[01:00:30]There we go. That's what we needed.

[01:00:33]>> Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, dude. It's right there.

[01:00:36]>> The motor might need to go up just a hair.

[01:00:40]There it is. Right there. There it is.

[01:00:42]>> All right. Now, while I'm holding >> I'm kind of holding it.

[01:00:45]>> I'm holding it. Now, spin the spin the crank.

[01:00:50]>> We're We're starting a spline cuz you're spinning the axle right now. I just don't What I don't want to do is put a bolt in and pull it together.

[01:00:57]>> Unless it like goes together, if that makes sense.

[01:01:00]>> Hold it there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Is that it?

[01:01:02]>> Yeah. That's scaring me how that's moving on here. But >> I push it on there purposely.

[01:01:08]>> Oh, yeah. There it goes. That's it.

[01:01:10]>> Okay, that one's threaded in.

[01:01:11]>> Put an 18 on that and just get it a little closer on the thread.

[01:01:17]>> Not too hard. I'm on the dowel now.

[01:01:23]See if we can get any of these lower bolts on. And that way it's got a bunch of them just kind of hanging on there.

[01:01:27]Yeah, that one's threading in no problem.

[01:01:33]What I don't like is that it's somewhat like almost all the way together. And I know it's all the way together because it's together, but it didn't like slide together.

[01:01:41]>> I think it's just so tight.

[01:01:43]>> It might be.

[01:01:44]>> It didn't stop ever and just bind is what I'm not worried about.

[01:01:48]>> It didn't bind. It's spinning the clutch right now.

[01:01:51]>> Yeah, we're good.

[01:01:51]>> All right. Well, we'll call that in.

[01:01:57]>> So, make sure you get this bell housing bolt, these two, and then I was getting this big 18 on the back. And we got everything in place. Now, we're going to go back up top, get our transmission jack in. We want to route this clutch line into its holder so that it's out of the way. And then we have a big bracket that goes on there if you remember.

[01:02:17]>> So, bell housing bolts on.

[01:02:21]And then the second one goes back here.

[01:02:30]We're going to start by putting this mount in. Since we routed our clutch cable, >> you can see that the clutch cable is in that retaining clip and then it comes out right here. We're going to work our mount down in this hole.

[01:02:46]And we're going to tighten all three of those really quick.

[01:02:53]Now we can work our transmission up on the jack. We're going to start working those bolts in the holes.

[01:03:02]We're going to grab these.

[01:03:04]Line these up.

[01:03:11]>> Yeah, buddy.

[01:03:12]>> We're back in.

[01:03:13]>> How you feel?

[01:03:14]>> Feels good. It's going to go from here.

[01:03:16]>> We're the first time about to be off this jack in a long time.

[01:03:20]>> Oh, yeah. This cross the support bra.

[01:03:22]>> She's about to be hanging on her own juice.

[01:03:25]>> Getting her sea legs back.

[01:03:28]>> Straight up off the top. play a song for the car or something. Call up 98 KUPD and be like, "Look, to dedicate the song to my Mark 7 that's been torn apart for a long time." Okay, so we have this bleeder block from ECS Tuning. And what I did was I slid it onto the nipple from the throttle bearing. Popped this clip in. Slid the clutch line in. Popped the clip in. You can see it's all nice and tight. You can't pull it apart. Now, the next step is to fill up the brake master cylinder with some approved brake fluid.

[01:03:58]And then we're going to pull this little rubber cap off of our bleeder. I'm going to stick a wrench in there with an air bleeder and we're going to suck all of the air out of that whole system and we'll see if uh we have good clutch pedal. So ECS's bleeder tool has a one-way valve in the bleeder nipple. So you don't need a second person to pump and you don't need a vacuum bleeder. The vacuum bleeder is for the stock version.

[01:04:21]So what we're going to do is we're going to crack this no more than a quarter of a turn like they said right there. And then we're going to push that clutch pedal in by hand slowly. And we should see clutch fluid here. And because it's a one-way valve, we'll be able to pull the clutch pedal back slowly and pump that a couple times, watching that level and watching for no bubbles to come out of here.

[01:04:40]>> Then we have that hose going into this little catcher right here. You can use a water bottle, whatever.

[01:04:44]>> All right, back in we go. We made sure we were topped off. All right, very slowly push that pedal.

[01:04:51]All I'm still getting air coming out.

[01:04:55]Still getting big pockets of air coming out.

[01:04:58]>> Oh, there we go. Oh, wow.

[01:05:01]>> Starting to feel like a clutch pedal again.

[01:05:03]>> That's a That's a stage three clutch right there.

[01:05:05]>> Yes, sir.

[01:05:05]>> It's leg day. So, you think we're good?

[01:05:07]There's no more air.

[01:05:08]>> No more air.

[01:05:11]There you go. Step right out.

[01:05:14]>> Yes, sir.

[01:05:15]>> All right. Going to put the cover back on. The little nipple level is directly between Min and Max. Fun fact, most like oil change places you go to change your oil, they top off your brake fluid. Your brake fluid is a direct indicator from the from the day you get the car, it's full max. As you use your brake pads, they get lower and lower and lower. The pistons in your calipers get further and further out. That fluid comes down to the minimum line. When you hit the minimum line, you typically need brake pads. So, a lot of times what'll happen is people will fill this up and then I'll go to do a brake job and you compress all the calibers and the next thing you know it's just dripping out of the master cylinder overflow because they overfilled it.

[01:05:52]>> So, if you've never had somebody top it off, typically don't leave it in between the men and the max. Unless you get new brake pads, in which case you want it right at the max line and then over time you'll be able to instead of have to like look in there and see. You can actually use this as a as a >> brake wear indicator, >> temporary indicator. I mean, it's never a good replacement for actually looking at the pad yourself, but >> Oh, yeah. Now you can see it right in the middle.

[01:06:16]>> I think it's on already, bro.

[01:06:18]>> This is going to drop in here and go in the hole.

[01:06:24]Let me get those big giant starter/bell housing bolts.

[01:06:32]Okay, I'm going to roll up under the bottom and do the bottom one really quick.

[01:06:37]That one's in. We now have this thing that goes on.

[01:07:43]That should snap on there.

[01:07:44]>> Mhm.

[01:07:46]>> Got it.

[01:07:47]>> All right. So, this needs to go in upside down like this. And I need it to pass that knuckle there. There we go.

[01:07:58]There we go.

[01:08:02]That's it.

[01:08:02]>> Dave's doing the paper trick on the socket and the bolt head for the bolt that connects the LSD to the trans. It's hard to thread this thing in.

[01:08:13]Yeah. Mhm.

[01:08:21]Dave's buttoning up the battery. I've got the integrated engineering flashing dongle. We have everything underneath buttoned up. We'll do a little bolt check here in a second. I'm going to get this plugged in and start flashing the IS-38 Apex tune file. We're done. You might be wondering, what does it drive like? We have a lot more work to do to this car, which by the time you're watching this, I've done, we've been driving it. The clutch pedal, is it harder to press? Yes. Is it more consistent with that stainless steel line and the way this clutch is? Yes.

[01:08:49]Does it rev incredibly quicker? Yes. The rev matching is more satisfying. The rev hang is gone compared to before. The big trade-off is the noise at idle and the chatter that a lot of people might be talking about that you've seen or you haven't yet. It's a very real thing and I'm going to show you here in a second.

[01:09:06]But before we do that, drop a comment down below to show our appreciation for Dave. I'm so thankful for him. I would not been able to make this video for you to help you spend more time enjoying your car than being frustrated. All these years of experience show, and honestly, if I followed this video, I would for sure be able to do it with a friend. jack stands, drop it down on the ground. You know where everything's at.

[01:09:26]You can get to it. You know the processes, the nuance of everything. So, I'm stoked for everybody and the GTI community to have this video. And I'm very proud of Dave and I's work to make this possible. I love it. This is what I'm most passionate about. But let me show you what this idol sounds like. If we stand outside the car, this is what it sounds like.

[01:09:50]If you have some tunes on and you just go about your day, it's not that big of a deal. Now, one thing that's very important to understand is that it's way louder after you first install it. Once the clutch got broken in, it quieted down quite a bit, but it very much is there. It sounds like a a really noisy fuel pump in my opinion or really noisy injectors. I've had different cars in the past where the injectors are so ticky and so loud. It's kind of what it seems like. You listen with headphones.

[01:10:22]The untrained ear would for sure be like, "Oh, what's wrong with my car?"

[01:10:25]You'll quickly learn like that lightweight chatter is just the clutch and it's nothing to be weary of. Now, let me explain what that noise is if you have no idea what's going on right now.

[01:10:35]That noise used to be absorbed by your dual mass flywheel that had a little bit of play. It would catch it and soften it. Your engine doesn't just make power in perfectly smooth like linear like if it was a line on a graph. It wouldn't.

[01:10:50]It's it's little bursts, right? So now we have a single mass flywheel that has no play in it. And then we have the puck style clutch plate. It's just sitting there kind of just at idle. Then when you push the clutch in and disengage it, it completely goes away. Now when you get up to speed and those that clutch is is moving at a higher RPM, that noise goes away. So, it's only at idle at a low RPM when it's in neutral. You get used to it pretty quickly. And if you have a car that needs this type of power, you kind of know what you're in for. And then the type of power and the fun that it creates, it's really easy to not really care. But if you are a stickler and you want to have as quiet of a clutch as possible, going the more traditional OEM route as far as style dual mass with a regular clutch, not the puck style, then that's something to consider. I like driving the setup. The clutch is very short. It's at the bottom of the pedal.

[01:11:38]It did take a little bit to get used to, but man does it put the power down. And this car, with the mods I have coming up in future videos, rips. So, thanks so much. I hope this helps you install your clutch no matter what option you got.

[01:11:48]I'm going to leave the previous Mark 7 and a half video here for the series and a Mark 8 video for you right here because I know you like GTI. If you're new to the channel, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you can keep up with what we have going on to help you spend as much time enjoying cars as possible instead of being frustrated.