desperate...PLEASE!
 

I crawled under my car tonight thinking..."Ok lets get this clutch in" then I saw everything and maybe it was just overwhelming for me right now with all that has and is going on for me. I realized that I need help[. PLEASE anyone in the GA area that can do clutch work give me a quote on what you would charge or if someone can help me please. I am tapped financially right now (which is why it isn't in a shopin the first place) and need this car on the road for my (including my daughter and wifes) livelihood. I can give you a sob story but it isn't going to help things. Please anyone? Help?

http://www.audiworld.com/tech/eng48.shtml

That should make it less overwhelming....maybe

for a clutch replacement your looking to pay $1800 to $2500 with all parts and labor unless you do it yourself for about $500

^I've been quoted ~$1350 including parts from my reputable shop.

Just labor at 4 different shops around me in ohio range from $650-$950 JUST LABOR. That being said I ordered my clutch yesterday Clutch Masters FX-400, and will be doing the install myself! I plan on making a diy for our forums here too!

Hey, I'm doing this soon too!!! I'm really friggin broke, and I'm considering one of the el cheapo ebay clutch + flywheel kits from ebay. The companies are called XTD or F1. "Stage 2" Clutch and lightweight flywheel for 410 bucks? I know ebay parts are a bad idea, but it's more affordable than the ECS kit which is over 600.

Anybody used these? Thoughts?

Yes others have tried and ended up having to replace them. The last place you want to go cheap is the clutch since it is such a pain and expensive to have to replace again.

You might save some money on that clutch the first time, but if you have to pull it back out you have to buy another clutch kit/flywheel along with the cost/time to pull it out.

This. The clutch is one of those parts you really don't want to leave up to eBay chance.

I recently had my clutch replaced along with having a dual to single mass flywheel kit installed, cost me $500 for parts and 6 hours of labor for a grand total of ~$1100.

www.ringer-racing.com is where I got my clutch, just ordered yesterday! Great customer service! Prices too!

Sounds like you went with the Valeo. Down side to that kit is the fact that it uses a cast flywheel and is only offered in a OEM replacement clutch kit which cant be replaced with any other clutch kits. So if you ever want to upgrade to a clutch that holds more power you have to buy a whole new clutch/flywheel kit. I can actually get that kit right from Clutch Masters since they supply that brand to their local automotive shops. Just not something I would suggest to people that ask.

I have them same one, if it's the Valeo Mike mentioned, and spent about that as well. Been over a year with no issues, I also don't track it either. I would've liked something better but its what I could afford at the time.

upgrade time

Whats the next step up from the Valeo kit? My shop pushes the Valeo, saying that a CM kit is too much for the street.

How is the CM kit too much for the street? If happens to be the most sold kit now for the A4 1.8t. I even have customers running CM 228mm FX400, CM 240mm FX400 and even CM FX850 super single kits on their daily driven A4's.

Even a friend of mine has been running a CM 228mm FX300 on his APR stage 3 A4 for over 5 years. lol

Next step up would be the CM 228mm FX100 kit, it uses a metal backed performance Organic material on the disk and a PP with 1800 lbs clamping load (stock = 1300 lbs) or a South Bend Stage 2 HD-O. The CM 240mm kits use a 2200-2500 lbs clamping load PP. The FX850 Super Single kit has 3600 lbs clamping load.

If you let me know how much power the car is making or how much power you might want to end up making in the future I can suggest the best clutch kit for your needs. I actually have about 9 years experiance when it comes to clutch kits for the A4 1.8t. For years I ran a dual diaphram custom clutch that had 4800 lbs clamping pressure and even used the car as my daily driver lol

Currently I'm chipped, with a 007 DV, and a Carbonio intake. Exhaust would be the next performance mod.

As far as the future, I could really only see myself getting an Eliminator kit.

Seems like the FX100 would be a good fit.

If you have any plans to go Elim kit I would suggest going with the CM 240mm FX100 which is rated for 425 ft lbs of torque at the flywheel. The CM 228mm FX100 is only rated for 290 ft lbs. Chipped K03 makes 245-260 and a K04 can produce around 300-350. Elim kits even on pump gas can make around 360+ ft lbs of tq at the crank/flywheel.

CM 240mm kits include Clutch kit, Flywheel, new Flywheel bolts, PP bolts, Throw-out bearing and an disk alignment tool. Just had a shop order a 240mm FX100 with Steel flywheel package for their customers B6 1.8t that is chipped K03.


Here is a link of a customer posting a review of the CM 240mm FX300 on his chipped K03 B6 A4 1.8t.

wait mike a ko4 can make 300hp+??? say what how do u acheive this goal?

Read it again, I said a K04 can make 300+ Ft lbs of Torque. As for hp the K04-15 peaks around 250.

Well my "baby" is sitting on jack stands outside. I have only been able to put in around 3 hours of work so far. I haven't achieved anything other than getting the cat unbolted (including getting the two O2 sensors out), and getting the passenger side drive axle off...which kind of worried me. When I went to un-screw\un-bolt it they were all loose. I mean no resistance to undoing them by hand. When I moved to the drivers side tonight I just about stripped the bolts...currently looking for the 12 point bit. There is a guy I work with at work that come to find out is SAE certified and is more than willing to help with some of the work....can't let my "baby" go. Its so sad seeing her in this shape. I wish the DIY on audiworld or whatever it is had a more extensive photo walk through.

gotcha i was about to say i want a k04 put one on order haha

So went to orileys this morning and got a 12 pt t40 bit. come to find out the previous owner (also happens to be a PREVIOUS friend) had a guy that was a mechanic for audi to work on his car. The last thing he had done to the car before I acquired it was the front axels were replaced. Now the idiot rounded off two of the bolts and I can't get them out. Anyone have any suggestions? I am also having a hard time getting the starter off. Again it would have been nice to have more photos in the DIY for this. but got the cat off and man that thing is dirty as hell. If I were able to I would definately be putting on a high flow cat but Im getting closer to getting the tranny out. My friend is bringing his floor jack over tomorrow so we can lower it. I will keep yall updated if anyone cares.

keep up with the updates as I am doing this with in the next week also. I know audiworlds diy could use some more pics and is why I plan on making a diy with lots of pics for our forum!

I should have dragged my camera out. And the guy that did the DIY in audiworld pulled his cat out from below. He said it was too hard to pull it from the top. I pulled it from the top. You just have to turn it the right way. I will pull my camera out because I will need to take a pick of something and ask what to do with it. Has to do with the shift rod I think is what I have been looking at.

There is a shaft here that only has a single bolt going to it.
A) Is this the shift rod?
B) Do I just take the bolt out and pull the shaft out?

Well I have hit another issue. I am sitting there looking at all of the trans to engine bolts. all but three are accessible. Three of them screwed in with the head of the bolt towards the engine are blocked by the support for the engine. Either the guy that did the DIY had an earlier model and didnt have this issue or he figured out how to get them out. There isnt enough room to get a socket on a ratchet in the space given and the support blocks it JUST enough so that I cant get a wrench on them. Anyone have any ideas? It was hard enough getting a jack to lower the trans its going to be impossible to get an engine lift. Im beginning to think I am screwed.

You have to lower the rear subframe to get to those lower bolts or you have to lift the motor/trans up slightly to get to them. You can leave those bolts out when you put the transmission back in, making pulling the trans out again much easier. All B5's have the same subframe and the same transmissions, so there is only going to be 1 DIY to cover all B5 A4's.


To lower the rear part of the subframe you have to remove the back 2 bolts and loosen the front 2 bolts.

Yes you loosen that 10mm bolt and pull the shifter linkage off the transmission arm.

There is also a shifter support arm that bolts to the transmission. It is the other arm that is next to the shifter linkage arm. It bolts to the transmission with a 6mm allen head bolt. Need to cut down the short end of a allen head tool to loosen it.

Ok the rear sub frame is the black support that I see with the control arms attached to it? Doesn't this support also tie in with the motor mounts? I was going to ask about this because I wasn't wanting to take these bolts out and have the engine just drop down plus I tried lifting the engine and tranny to get to them and all I achieved is lifting the front end a little more. So I guess my real question is I can do this without having to hold the engine and tranny up long enough to bolt the motor mounts back to the frame? Or is that exactly what I have to do? Sorry I know I am asking a lot of question but I don't want to mess this up.
Ok so there are two 12pt hex bolts (on the driver side axle) that are FUBAR. Tried vice grips notta, dremeled down one edge so maybe I could get some bite from a vice grip notta. I can only think of two more things to try. A)Pull the cv axel apart and go from there replacing any boots or such, but I don't know where to really start with that and afraid of messing up the axles. B)dremeling the heads of the bolts off and praying that I can move the axle up and continue on removing remaing bolt and replacing bolts as needed. Think either of these would work? Any other suggestions? I mean I am ready to start dremeling the hell out of this crap. Other thing is rear axle bolts wont budge. Got two of em out but I have a solution for that. Just let the tranny down and work those when I have more room.

On a lighter side and interesting discovery. I got all of the tranny to engine bolts out (except the three) and that was a BIOTCH. When I pulled the starter motor off I noticed a bunch of metallic shavings. Wasn't from the starter either. This out to be interesting. I will be working on what was talked about tonight tomorrow after work if I get a reply about these questions and keep yall updated. Thanks for all the help so far guys.

Yes, the subframe is the front end of the car.


To lift the motor/transmission up you first have to unbolt the engine mounts and transmission mounts. Other wise all you will be doing is lifting the whole car up.

You dont have to remove the engine mounts, just unbolt the bottom of them and leave them mounted to the engine.

As for the bottom bolts holding the transmission to the engine. You want to leave 2 other bolt in place while you take out the lower bolts, 1 on either side of the motor will do. This way the transmission/motor are still bolted together. Then you can take out the 2 last bolts and start sliding the transmission back and then down. Make sure to keep the tail end of the transmission up higher then the bell housing side to keep the housing from hitting the coolant flange.

Ok so I finally got the tranny dropped after fighting tooth and nail. Look at the clutch assembly thinking..."Oh lord how am I going to get this off?" Tried but all I seem to manage to do is turn the engine. I was trying to get the allen bolts out and when I tried tapping on the wrench black stuff started falling out. Im guessing whats left of my clutch\pressure plate. I am guessing that I am going to need an impact wrench for this one?

Yes the best way is to use an impact gun. If you dont have one you can use a 12 point socket to hold the front crank bolt keeping the crank from spinning while you take the bolts off and when you put the bolts back in.

So I got the clutch assembly apart. First thing I noticed was the massive amounts of clutch disk dust falling out. Then when I actully got the thing off first thing I noticed was the stock audi clutch disk and thought to myself "Wow Im pretty sure these are supposed to be a bit thicker than say I dont know two cd's stacked on top of each other IF THAT so yeah disk is toast. Then I looked at the pressure plate...sure enough Mike-2ptzero you were 100% on in the other thread I started before this one... its cracked....in three places. I was like "HOLY SHIT!!!" So then I started looking at the flywheel....its smooth no ridges or burns. I'm pretty certain I can get by with a resurface which there is a guy I know that works at a shop sometimes that only charges $30. I wish to hell and back that I could just say screw it and get a single mass flywheel but I don't have another $475 to sink into this repair\upgrade. So few questions. I found a stage 2 at APR. Its a DXD (which I have read something about it being CM) for $435. Now. The only mods I have made are the air intake, muffler delete and I am going to see what it sounds like without the resonator (if it sounds ricy then I am definitely putting it back on. Will this be TOO much clutch for me? Im running the stock K03. Second question being is $30 reasonable for a resurface for a flywheel or does this kind of thing normally run like $200 and I shouldn't trust this. That friend....isn't a guy I would trust with the keys to my car because I don't know him THAT well. The website is from the "AUDI LINKS" link ( http://www.goapr.com/products/dxdclutch.php?id=18tlong ) So if someone could please respond. Mike I know you talked to me about it but I want to be clear and not get a clutch that is going to clamp too much for basically my stock-ish car.

DXD is South Bend's brand name. The SB stage 2 for $435 listed on the APR site is the HD-O which is an organic disk. You can also find it here for the same price but with shipping included in the 48 states.


The HD-O will have a little stiffer pedal then your stock pedal. It is rated for 280tq. If you need a SB clutch that holds a little more power, the HD-TZ and HD-OFE will hold 325 tq.


If you want a stock pedal or slightly softer then stock pedal with high engagement like the stock clutch, you can get a CM FX100 for $425 shipped anywhere in the USA.