Technical Clutch replacement issue with bell housing Fiat 500 0.9 automatic / Selespeed 2012!!

[chrisstar]

Hi folks,
I would need some advice on the exact procedure on how to get the bell housing off an automatic Fiat 500. The entire clutch replacement procedure is pretty clear through many helpful posts in the fiatforum. However these are mainly ore exclusively regarding manual transmission cars.
Battery tray, driveshafts, engine mount etc are OFF and i am supporting the engine block and the bell housing currently with jacks.
Most of the bell housing bolts are off in my regards but the beast WON'T COME OFF.

My questions are:
1) which bolts exactly do you need to take off the bell housing in order to get it removed? (Maybe a picture showing them would help)
2) does the Selespeed robot HAVE to be removed beforehand or can you just unplug the electric wires and leave it on top of the housing?

 

[chrisstar]

Some picture of the current state and state before engine mount removal

 

[chrisstar]

Hi folks,
I would need some advice on the exact procedure on how to get the bell housing off an automatic Fiat 500. The entire clutch replacement procedure is pretty clear through many helpful posts in the fiatforum. However these are mainly ore exclusively regarding manual transmission cars.
Battery tray, driveshafts, engine mount etc are OFF and i am supporting the engine block and the bell housing currently with jacks.
Most of the bell housing bolts are off in my regards but the beast WON'T COME OFF.

My questions are:
1) which bolts exactly do you need to take off the bell housing in order to get it removed? (Maybe a picture showing them would help)
2) does the Selespeed robot HAVE to be removed beforehand or can you just unplug the electric wires and leave it on top of the housing?
3) what are the differences in clutch replacement between a manual and automatic transmission?

 

[puntodeltathema]

Remember there is a nut and stud too - the nut is near where the starter motor (which I assume you've removed) fits in. 18mm head.

Check the black tin plates underneath between engine and bellhousing - there may be a couple of 10mm bolts holding them on. This has caught me out before!

Otherwise just follow all the bolts round the circumference, noting there's a variety of sizes and some are part of the gearbox mount. And there's one right at the top - may be buried under a hose or wiring. Have a look at a gearbox for sale on eBay - a good source of info for where the holes are!

I have always removed the robot to make life easier. It's only five bolts on top and two at the front - though to turn it top to bottom (clockwise if viewed from the engine side) to remove it you need to loosen off the front frame of the car (where the radiator is). I think it is technically possible to leave the robot on but obviously the gearbox will be that bit taller. Removing the robot makes the gearbox much lighter and gives better grip. You'll need to do all the relearns anyway. Cover the hole with something (duct tape is good). Assume the oil is out if you already have the driveshafts out

Actual clutch replacement is as per manual. Check the release fork as the selespeed system can be fussy about bends and cracks.

A bit of humping and swearing and hopefully you'll be there.

 

[chrisstar]

Remember there is a nut and stud too - the nut is near where the starter motor (which I assume you've removed) fits in. 18mm head.

Check the black tin plates underneath between engine and bellhousing - there may be a couple of 10mm bolts holding them on. This has caught me out before!

Otherwise just follow all the bolts round the circumference, noting there's a variety of sizes and some are part of the gearbox mount. And there's one right at the top - may be buried under a hose or wiring. Have a look at a gearbox for sale on eBay - a good source of info for where the holes are!

I have always removed the robot to make life easier. It's only five bolts on top and two at the front - though to turn it top to bottom (clockwise if viewed from the engine side) to remove it you need to loosen off the front frame of the car (where the radiator is). I think it is technically possible to leave the robot on but obviously the gearbox will be that bit taller. Removing the robot makes the gearbox much lighter and gives better grip. You'll need to do all the relearns anyway. Cover the hole with something (duct tape is good). Assume the oil is out if you already have the driveshafts out

Actual clutch replacement is as per manual. Check the release fork as the selespeed system can be fussy about bends and cracks.

A bit of humping and swearing and hopefully you'll be there.

@puntodeltathema
Thanks mate for your reply. Highly appreciated.
I'll check the whole circumference of the bell housing again tomorrow for any remaining nuts or studs.
However i have seen one stud at the front end very ( and i mean very) difficult to get to or at least to undo; unsure whether that one has to be removed or not?
I'll try to leave the robot on top and will give feedback on how things advance

 

[puntodeltathema]

Depending on the model some of the main bellhousing bolts have smaller studs and nuts on top of their heads holding wiring brackets and stuff. I think the Twinair has at least one of these near the front. So first you have to remove the small (10 or 13mm) nut on the stud, remove the bracket, then underneath there is usually an 18mm hex (the "real" bolt, as it were) which a long socket will undo.

 

[chrisstar]

Update:
The bell housing is loose and halfway off. The culprit was a remaining bolt right next to the rear starter motor bolt. Quite a nightmare to get it off as space there is very limited and the bolt was kinda stuck, but in the end it worked out fine.
Now, with the robot on, it's quite a challenge to get the whole thing out and as i don't wanna damage any front parts of the robot, i'll take it off in the end as well.
Has anyone ever done a complete service of the robot and if yes: is it a challenging and i suppose time consuming task? And where to get precise instructions regarding this procedure?