How Do I/Change CRB Without Removing Engine

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Stephen Grant/ Martin Woodham (with Top tip from Gareth Harrold) checklist for replacing Clutch Release Bearing without taking the engine out of the car.

Since i've been asked for this a few times, I thought I might as well post it here; this is basically Martin Woodham's method for getting the CRB off without completely having to lift the engine out. He kindly lent me his notes (and answered all my stupid questions), I added a bit as I went along, and here they are. As you can tell from reading the notes, I'm about as inexperienced at doing this sort of thing as one can be, and it all worked fine for me, so it's not that big a deal. I'm not sure how much time this saves over taking the engine completely out, but anyway, I hope it's of some use to someone.

The object is to undo just enough stuff to be able to move the engine forward about 4" or so, which allows you to get your hand in, free up the old CRB and pop the new one on. Let me know if any of it is unclear or if I've missed anything out from my notes.

Up on axle stands, disconnect the battery, drain the coolant.
Disconnect the Apollo (if you have one) breather pipe to the cam cover at the cam cover end and cable-tie the pipe onto itself so that it's not going to leak oil.
Undo the two bolts holding the expansion tank, disconnect the expansion tank pipe and put the tank somewhere out of the way.
Disconnect the top radiator hose and the submarine hose somewhere so that it can all move forward with the block.
Disconnect the exhaust pipes at the manifold. Take the silencer off. I also took the collector off, which, in my case, was a really bad mistake because in the time that they were disconnected from the manifold, my primaries managed to spaghetti themselves in an unbelieveable fashion, without any obvious assistance from myself. When it came to putting it all back together I had a mare trying to coax them all back into the right place, given that the bodywork cutout restricts movement and that the top two pipes had ended up underneath the other two. It might just be my exhaust system - I think i've got a 4-1 external collector competition exhaust - but next time i'm leaving the collector on, or cable-tying the primaries together!
Disconnect the cable ties for the starter motor wiring, take the heat wrap off if you have it, get the starter motor off (the top bolt nearest the block is quite tricky to get access too), and note that there is an earth lead between the bottom bolt and the battery.
Disconnect the two hoses going into the heater if you have one, the vacuum pipe that connects on the plenum (I guess that's what it is anyway) and anything else that isn't going to have enough slack to deal with the block moving forward 4" (on mine i had to disconnect the blue electrical connector on the block, just below where the clutch cable goes into the bellhousing, the yellow electrical connector on the top of the plenum and the water temperature sensor lead on the water rail at the back of the block, but inevitably this isn't all going to be the same for you). It's probably a good idea to disconnect the clutch cable at the bellhousing end as well.
Disconnect the fuel rail and also the low pressure return. Suprisingly little fuel leaks out.
The Apollo needs to go up over the chassis rail that it sits next to. Release it from the belt that holds it into place and try to twist it up without spilling oil out of the breather pipe. I found this was fine and I could get the tank completely out of the way before the engine started coming out, but I guess it depends on the length of the hoses. If you can't, then just keep an eye on it and keep moving it as the engine comes forward.
Put the engine hoist on and a jack under the bellhousing.
Take the strain on the hoist.
Undo the two long bolts that go through the engine mountings into the chassis. Undo the 6 bolts that go between the block and the bellhousing. Coax/bang/prise the two apart (screwdriver between the two helps)[Top tip from Gareth - when splitting the engine/gearbox depress the clutch pedal - This pushes the two apart with out the need for screwdrivers etc]
Bring the engine forward as far as you can. You should be able to get your hand in to the old CRB. If it's the old design (which it probably will be), it's quite a lot of levering to get it off - you can get a screwdriver in there from above to help; I ended up pulling the whole arm off the retaining pin a couple of times, but then i'm an idiot. If you do pull it off, it just pushes firmly back on. Eventually the CRB comes free and you can get it out by just swinging the engine a bit further with your hand; it just needs to clear the gearbox shaft. Smuggle the new CRB on in the same manner and fix it to the arm. It's definately a much looser fit, but make sure it is definately connected on both sides; I didn't, and the engine had to come back out again (idiot!).
Put it all back together again, refill with coolant, bleed the air out, take it off the axle stands and off you go.

Well, that's the theory anyway. Given that I managed it, it must be easy.....

Martin/Stephen/Gareth?

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