mark221

Anyone replace the hydrolic line with a braided steel line. I bought one and am not having luck with getting the old one off. Any help with how to get the clips off or any hints would be appreciated. My car is an 05 GT Thanks

ford4v429

heres the little clip- you just need a right angle pick to pick it out of the front end of the fitting, then the fitting will pop off to the rear, then you can pull it down enough to compress the ring at the base of the plastic line, and pull the line out of the fitting...

I cant imagine getting that thing apart without lowering the rear crossmember (exhaust/shifter/ugh...) but my eyes aint that great... its extremely tight in there...I'll try to find a pic of the fitting too.

mark221

Thanks any pics would be great. I appreciate the help

ford4v429

finding pic of the fitting is tough...heres one (found at http://www.jpcracing.com/jpc-clutch-...eeder-package/ ) , but its not great- this pic is upsidedown looking at the side facing the transmission. look close at the top left, you see two little silver dots- those are the ends of the clip pictured above, the other side has the little slot the clip sits in... hope this helps

edit- note, after pulling the clip out with a pick(keep a eye on it, mine flew, had to look around for a half hour to find it- and this was after I'd read at least two warnings about watching for it to fly...DOH!), you might need to pry slightly to 'pop' the orings loose- use a flat screwdriver between the left edge of this fitting, and the plastic ring next to the bellhousing...do NOT pry between the ring and the aluminum bellhousing, or you will break the line retaining clip barbs off inside the bellhousing- guess how I learned that if the rings broken it could make popping the line back on difficult, as that ring is all that keeps the line from pushing into the bellhousing when you push the fitting on- pushing it on is very tight too, it clicks pretty loud. you can put the clip in before snapping the line back on- the fitting is chamferred to open the clip, just put the clip in its slot, push the fitting on easy...then push like hell about another 1/16" till it clicks luckily I still had my tranny back enough to clip the broken ring back in(one ear only- but it locked the line in pretty solid- enough to pop the plastic bleeder/fitting back on one more time anyways)
even with transmission crossmember lowered, its a extremely tight fit- I honestly cannot imagine popping that thing back on without lowering the transmission, looks like you would need to push on the bleeder and the whole thing is plastic, looks pretty easily broken,,,good luck on it


lastly, to bleed the thing, forget the bleeder, it is useless in my opinion. do the 'jack the drivers side way up' thing, and slowly pump it up, then with drivers side still way high, put a mightyvac pump/stopper in the reservoir cap hole, pump it up and let sit a little while under vacuum- works great. without a vacuum pump, the 2nd best is just the jacking drivers side/slowly pumping... the reason for jacking the drivers side is, the line inside the bellhousing bends upwards about 1/2" above the fitting, making a 'trap' impossible to evacuate without raising that side of the car

mark221

Thanks a lot I really appreciate it. Dropping the cross member down I don't think is an option for me. I have long tube headers and 3" exhaust and it's tacked together so not going to be fun. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks again

ford4v429

question just popped into my little mind... anyone thats ever replaced the shifter, can you see the bleeder/line thru the rubber shifter boot? just 'wondring aloud' if perhaps the release ring at the base of the plastic tube could be released thru the shifter hole... I dont think so, but never looked when I replaced my shifter- I was too busy trying to worm the thing thru the insanely tight hole in the tunnel

Ford sure didnt leave much room in there anywhere, thats for sure...

one other comment, I noticed when my tranny was down, theres a rubber plug up on the top of the tunnel, looks to be about inline with the bleeder- but the hole was pretty small, doubt it would be any use with popping the line... I'll try to find a pic- *think* I got one of it...


edit- looking at pics, forget the shifter hole, way too far rear...about the rubber plug, cant find a decent pic, but think its inside this hole-