Two full days for a clutch install!?!? WTF?

So I took the Shelby to a shop with perfect reviews, spoke to owner, etc. I dropped off the car at 8am yesterday for a DYAD install. They claim to have put it on the lift at 10:30 or 11am yesterday and are STILL working on it. Tranny is just now getting lifted back into place.

How the F does it take this long to do a clutch install?

Plus, I picked yesterday specifically to avoid severe T storms forecast for this afternoon.

Am I expecting too much here?

what were the expectations set by the shop / you when you dropped it off?

Did you say you needed it Today / Tomorrow / etc?

Did they say they would have it done by x y z?

If not, let them take their time. There could be 2000 reasons why its not done yet. But if you were happy with the price and the install goes well, what's the issue?

Rome wasnt built in a day. Would you rather them rush through and miss something or take their time and do it the right way?

At my shop all the cars come in at night / during inclement weather, so that wouldnt be an issue for me. And if we completed the job but you didnt want to drive it in the rain, we would hold it until it stopped raining, no problem.

Luckily I was the owner of my Shelby when i installed my RXT. The stock clutch is so goddamned big you cant get the input shaft to clear the spring fingers before it gets wedged against the body.

I took a hammer to my trans tunnel and i dont regret it for a second. Most customers having this work done wont appreciate that, so it takes longer to get it out without going jackhammer on the body. Going back in was easy as my RXT was thinner. Pulling a manual ttans out of an S197 is a PITA.

Heres hoping round 2 is easier. Im finally replacing the noisy slave cylinder/ throwout bearing i didnt have the cash for when i did my clutch.

It's a pain in the ass to get that trans out. As long as the price is right and the job is done correctly, I wouldn't have a problem with a shop taking 2 days to get it done. Now if I was charged for 2 full days of labor, that's another story entirely....

Do it yourself then or don't bitch

After sitting here for an hour it's clear that part of the issue is 5 minutes of work followed by a 10 minute break. I don't know ow how you guys work at your jobs but I hope it's more work and less break than that.

They quoted 7 hours of work. When I called at 1 they said "we hope to have it done today but it might be tomorrow." I'm sorry but 3 days is just not acceptable. I could probably do it in 3 x 8 hour days myself.

Would have done it myself if I had a level non-crumbling garage floor in my current house and wasn't in the middle of a move to a new house next week. Im betting I could have done it in 3 days on my back

Pribilof said:

After sitting here for an hour it's clear that part of the issue is 5 minutes of work followed by a 10 minute break. I don't know ow how you guys work at your jobs but I hope it's more work and less break than that.

They quoted 7 hours of work. When I called at 1 they said "we hope to have it done today but it might be tomorrow." I'm sorry but 3 days is just not acceptable. I could probably do it in 3 x 8 hour days myself.

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Then do it yourself. If you weren't quoted a specific date and time that you would have the car back, or didn't set the expectation that you needed it back on a certain day, then what's the problem?

rotor_powerd said:

Then do it yourself. If you weren't quoted a specific date and time that you would have the car back, or didn't set the expectation that you needed it back on a certain day, then what's the problem?

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The stated expectation was yesterday afternoon. I had to call at 4:30 to find out it was going to be today at 5. When I called after lunch they seemed to want it to bleed over to a third day. No explanation other than "it gave is some trouble."

Some helpful responses from others. Yup, big transmission in a tight spot. Bleeding to a second day? Ok with a phone call to let me know. Bleeding to a third day? Yeah that just doesn't hold water.

Pribilof said:

The stated expectation was yesterday afternoon. I had to call at 4:30 to find out it was going to be today at 5. When I called after lunch they seemed to want it to bleed over to a third day. No explanation other than "it gave is some trouble."

Some helpful responses from others. Yup, big transmission in a tight spot. Bleeding to a second day? Ok with a phone call. Bleeding to a third day? Yeah that just doesn't hold water.

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again, if the hard deadline was to have the car ready at X time, and its not done, then it falls on the shop.

However, if there was no true deadline, the expected delivery date can move around depending on workload / tech situation / etc.

I can understand the frustration, but in the end you took the car to the shop, so let the shop do the work at the speed they are comfortable with.

I am sure , yours is not the only car in that shop.
I personally work on several vehicles at a time duri ng the day.piss and moan all you want , wont make the time go any faster.
One of the many reasons i despise people like yourself, that claim they could do something in x amount of time , but have never gotten off tbe chair lo g enough to do anythi g but bitch .
There are way too many , that complain, and make claims , but have never done the work, nor even know where to begin .

ashleyroachclip said:

I am sure , yours is not the only car in that shop.
I personally work on several vehicles at a time duri ng the day.piss and moan all you want , wont make the time go any faster.
One of the many reasons i despise people like yourself, that claim they could do something in x amount of time , but have never gotten off tbe chair lo g enough to do anythi g but bitch .
There are way too many , that complain, and make claims , but have never done the work, nor even know where to begin .

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Yeah thanks for "despising" me. You don't know me. I've done 100% of the work on this car, except this clutch job for reasons I stated earlier. I've done clutches in a half dozen vehicles from imports to pickups.

Again, thanks to those who've posted helpful responses.

Typical shop that makes promises they can't keep. I'd be pissed off too if I had a firm ETA and they blew it by days, not hours.

A Lincoln dealership does most of the work on my car. I have replaced 2 clutches in my car, and both times I dropped it off the night before, and I went pick it up the next afternoon at closing time.

Best thing to learn especially being a mustang owner the more hp you make the more likely things will break the more frequently things break if you can fix it yourself you have to come to be okay with the fact that things will take time. Sometimes more time than expected. The shop that does my work when I can't for whatever the reason may be is great maybe even getting a job there but anyways a month/month in a half ago I dropped it off on a Thursday they had to order parts and one was coming from California. Fast ward next Thursday came and I saw their name on my phone and was happy thinking yes their done. WRONG! The owner told the parts guy he was taking care of me so come Thursday the parts guy was like where's his parts and the owner was all what do you mean your the parts guy you tell me. And the parts guy said I thought you meant you'll take care of it meant you'll take care of it. So anyways after a week they just ordered my parts and got it back that following Monday I believe. Lol a week and four days later for a driveshaft, springs,panhard bar, and sway bar relocated, and a bigger pulley which wasn't installed. Maybe that'll make you feel better knowing things happen. If your making power and things break this will probably happen again you should come to realize that people aren't perfect things happen sit back and be patient.


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I'm a certified master tech that's done every type of job's across multiple brand's. With that said, when I went to replace the clutch on my Shelby, I expected to have it done in less than 3 hours base on my past experience doing the job on other vehicles. At hour 5 of the job I was extremely frustrated saying how the F they get the trans in and out smoothly. Considering they drop the body on the drive train at the assembly plant they never actually measured the amount of space required to clear the input shaft without hitting the firewall/trans tunnel. Anyway, if the tech hasn't pulled a trans on one of these and just gave you a estimated time factoring in the other cars he has to work on mixed in, I can see it being pushed to 3 days. Also bleeding the air from the system is a pita and even when its blead can feel too soft and make one think something's wrong.
Until you replace one yourself you won't understand. Anyone attempting this in a driveway on jackstand's got big balls and has my respect. Not saying it can't be done.

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^^^^^ Well said. I cant tell you how many times I mother****ed my car, the powertrain team, the body engineers, the assembly engineers and the asshole that designed the factory clutch. Ive been wrenching for 12 years now and that was the worst first attempt at a repair job ive ever done.

Like I said, once the RXT was in the trans went in very easy. Im hoping in a few weeks when I replace my slave, Ill be able to get the trans out in normal fashion. The trans tunnel mods my hammer made should help too lol.

Also, Id definitely recommend upgrading the factory plastic hydraulic line to a McLeod stainless steel braided line and bleeder assembly. It will still require alot of clutch pumps to properly bleed all the air out, but that bleeder should definitely make the job easier.

The Mustang and GT500 are very simple cars, mechanically. A few things here and there are PITAs but most everything is something a weekend warrior can handle. I salute ANYONE who has pulled a GT500 trans out in the garage or driveway with jackstands.

I blame the shop. If they started at 8am, then perhaps it could have been done the same day, 7 hours total time. Who were they kidding (themselves), that they would pull it apart and fix it, starting 1.5 hrs before lunch? When 4:30 comes, everyone starts taking cig breaks, bs'n with the parts counter, etc. They should have started earlier, and gotten your car back by 5pm.

Shit happens. Not every install goes 100% to plan.

I've been guilty of putting off jobs I think won't take long until latter in the day then to find out I under estimated or encountered issues I didn't expect.

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