The most dreaded failure happened to me last week and that was my clutch going out for good. I was very confused as to what it could be since I had already repaired/replaced all the hydraulics the last time this happened (I did double check this, not ruling it out and confirmed it was functioning properly). I never once suspected the clutch was the issue since I have receipts and service records from the previous owner showing it was replaced.
A few days later after I borrowed my dads inspection scope, I looked inside the bell housing through the fork hole. Prior to doing this the only thing I could imagine was the cause of all this was possibly a damaged throwout bearing :shrug: since the previous owner/mechanic used the supplied bearing with the Exedy kit (this seems to be no no here) so I had convinced myself that was the problem but once I saw the bearing was there and intact I had a major WTF moment. . .
The only thing I saw was dust and convinced myself that the disc had failed. .
Over the entire weekend, up until yesterday morning I worked diligently to remove the engine/transmission from the car and also separate the transmission (which was a PITA!! !), I used the "Missile Silo Method" by myself and it worked much more efficiently than my friend and I moving the damn thing around all over the place for over an hour without any luck.
So after I got it apart I found this:
This was surprising to me since there were only ~11,000 miles on this clutch!
I have an Exedy stage 2 on the way and will be ordering preventative maintenance stuff like cam/crank seals, water pump, timing belt and tensioner bearing.
Oh yeah, gotta order the damn power steering control valve too since I neglected removing it and of course broke both vacuum nipples off the stupid thing! So for anyone doing a removal/install of the engine, take everyone's word and remove the valve because no matter how careful you think you are shit happens, that's what toilet paper is for
In this thread I see that someone else also had a Exedy stage 1 failure, I wonder if the metal piece that broke off of mine did the same with his but caused more damage? ?
http://www.alltrac.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=44138