nissan rear main seal, driftworks lightweight chromoly flywheel, exedy sports paddle clutch

Another order from the UK, this time for the driveline on the s13. I'm a big fan of replacing things while you're in there, and this is no exception. 

I picked up a single plate paddle clutch by Exedy through Driftworks, and the matching lightweight chromoly flywheel, also from Driftworks. I love the instructions on the back of the clutch. Only in Japan. 

This was one of the only clutch and flywheel combinations I could find for the CA18DET. There are many misleading articles and threads online about using SR clutches on the CA, requiring some amount of shimming, likely modification of the bell housing, and many crossing of fingers. I wanted something that bolted on and was guaranteed to work. I even called competition clutches who sold a clutch for a CA, possibly a FWD CA, and wouldn't guarantee it's function, but were fine with me ordering it and letting them know. Nope.

I pulled off the pressure plate and inspected. There was some circumferential scoring but nothing too deep. There was a significant amount of dust covering everything, but seemed normal. All in all it didn't look too bad.

The disc also didn't seem too bad as far as thickness of the pad goes and apparent remaining life. I was still glad to be replacing this while the motor was out though.

The pilot bushing was actually broken, however. I'm not sure if this occurred when I removed the transmission or at some other time in it's life. Either way, it would be replaced.

The flywheel itself seemed to have uniform corrosion on the inside web, as well as a bit of surface rust on the outside where the clutch pressure plate did not contact. Again, not a lot of damage on the working surface of where the clutch disc sat.

As a perfect example of fix it while you're in there, once the flywheel is removed, the rear main seal is exposed and NOW IS THE TIME TO REPLACE IT. I don't care if it's leaking or not. Mine did seem to have a bit of excess oil around it which could have been from environment of the 100k miles it had already traveled, but I was not going to take that chance.

I removed the bracket cover, rear main seal and bushing housing, cleaning off all the old gasket material, pressed the old seal out, installed the new seal, installed the assembly back on the car, and used ample amounts of RTV to seal the new cover.

I laid the clutch pressure plate over the flywheel to figure out which holes the pins needed to be installed for my application. I then very carefully pressed them in with a tapping mallet. They are definitely an interference fit.

At this point I installed the flywheel with the new ARP bolts, I believe for a Ford Pinto, with blue Loctite and the thread fastener ARP goop as instructed, tightening to recommended torque in a star pattern.

Double check your clutch disc is facing the correct direction, in this case with the protruding center section facing aft.

I installed the new pilot bearing, centered the clutch disc with an alignment tool, and bolted down the pressure plate, again in a star pattern with blue Loctite to the correct torque. And of course she's pink.