A friend of mine needs a new clutch in his 88 AW11 (4agze/5 speed). I have done many clutches in many different cars, but never one of these. So, I am looking for some details to make sure I am not getting in over my head before agreeing to help.

I admit that I am in enemy territory here. I am a Fiero fanatic. I assume that the process is pretty similar between the Fiero and the MR2. In a Fiero, you would drop the rear cradle (which would require draining coolant, unhooking some wires, unhook fuel lines, remove clutch hydraulic line, remove shifter cables, then remove a few bolts to drop the entire thing out the bottom)...then split the engine and tranny, replace the clutch, and put everything back together.

So...is the process pretty close for the MR2? Any problems that I need to be aware of? Anyone have a pic of what the MR2 looks like with the engine/tranny pulled?

http://www.mr2zone.com/mk1-mr2-download-manuals/

this should help

Yes, Canyon_carvers....that is a huge help. All that I could have asked for and then some. Has anyone told you how wonderful you are lately?

Just make sure it's the right clutch, if that's really a 4A-GZE MR2, it's a different clutch than the 4A-GE.

I've done the clutch on my AW11 in 6 hours before.

And that was without an engine crane to help put the box back in. The worst part is getting the car high enough when you only have 2 axle stands...imagine axle stands on top of bricks...Getting the box back in is a time consuming exercise.

@ Cowspatoot
^_^

thanks! that's what we're here for, to help each other out

Good luck. An SC is far more complicated to change clutches on than an NA because of all the extra wiring, hoses, SC, etc. The E-51 transaxle also weighs a lot more, about 125 lbs. total. The transaxle can be removed without dropping the engine, but is not easy. No coolant has to be drained though, as you can disconnect the coolant connectors from the trans without disconnecting hoses from them, but just barely. You'll need to also disconnect the front, rear, and left motor mounts, so that you can hinge the engine downwards on the driver's side, leaving the right motor mount connected, but loosened. Prying the trans apart from the block can also be a pain, but doable. The worst part is getting that heavy-@ss trans off the clutch because it weighs so much. I did it with a friend, with just the back of the car jacked up, and it was not fun. Not much more fun putting it back in, lol.