Now you can start to remove the actual VC itself, unbolt the stabilsing bracket at the top, you will have to worm youself around to get to the bolts which are at the rear, then undo all the other bolts which hold it on, give it a light tap on one of the lugs to get it to spin slightly and break the seal, when it moves you can then pull on the output shaft and it will pull out, now you will hit the cast iron bracketry which holds the alternator etc..... What to do? Well, I got out the angle grinder and a small die grinder with a TCT cutter and ground a couple of mm from the lug of this item, it is pictured here below, it took a few goes, but the VC and its housing soon cleared it and plopped out, this is what you should now see, Just like giving birth, well, probably just as messy anyhow. Before you go too far make sure you make note of the precise relative positions of the two spacer rings and the bearing so they go back in the same way on reasembly. When reasembling make sure you use a new rubber seal and some sealer on the VC housing cover. Once everything is back together refit the drain plug and fill the gearbox up with oil, you will need about 3 - 3.8 litres of either semi or fully synthetic, Comma do a 75/90 semi which is ok for the price for road use. Now the best bit, you have to get all that oil through the gearbox dipstick hole. Yes really! The best way I found is to heat the oil in a pan of boiling water, on a radiator or in the oven maybe, it then becomes more viscous and will flow better, then pour it in via a small funnel. And that's it, another job done.

Viscous coupling support mount.	Alternator bracket	Viscous coupling with cover removed
Viscous plate unit with fluid		Viscous unit plates.

 

Words and photography by Evodelta.

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