I'm about to replace the slave cylinder on my 86GT with a 4 speed Muncie trans. I've changed slaves on Getrag 5 speeds before, which was a piece of cake...the slave fits over two studs on the mounting bracket. However, the 4 speed slave is different...the two mounting studs are part of the slave, not the mounting bracket. What's the easiest way to remove this? It is easier to take the whole mounting bracket off the car, then remove the slave? I'm about to dive into my Helms manual, but thought I'd check here for any quick and easy ways first.

A note of interest...I bought a new GM steel slave for the car. The new slave is inside a plastic bag, inside the shipping box. Inside the bag, along with the slave, was a piece of paper from "Autospecialty Undercar Products", out of Carson, CA. It is labeled "R386, Service Kit Instructions". The TRW logo is in the upper right hand corner of the instruction sheet. Basically, it's a set of rebuild instructions for the slave. Could it be that the General is now having used parts rebuilt, and then selling them as new?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give with my slave...

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Mike...86 GT 4 Speed
"Sucks to be me..."

I just did my slave 86gt 4speed.

The hardest part is getting the heat shield out of the way. In theory the shield should just lift straight up, but after years of heat, dirt and rust it becomes frozen to the slave bracket. I ended up taking the bracket off and then took the thing apart. The two mounting studs are NOT a part of the slave, but they do become frozen again.

SO in summary, try and lift the heat shield straight off, or try losening some bolts if you can get at them, then the shield... Or just take the bracket off.

Good Luck man

[This message has been edited by David Bartlett (edited 07-26-2003).]

Hi David,

On mine, the studs are definitely part of the slave...the new slave has the studs pressed into it. Also, there is no way to remove the heatshield without damaging it, as it's held in place with two tabs that are wedged between the base of the slave, and the mounting bracket. You need to remove the nuts holding the slave to the mounting bracket to remove the heatshield.

I DID get it off...I ended up removing the whole slave/mounting bracket, as you did. There were two bolts holding it to the engine/trans. There is a third nut on a stud that holds the back of the heatshield, but that nut was loose, and it pulled right out. Once I got it apart, one of the nuts was easy to get off...the other one was a bit of a pain, due to the close proximity of the mounting bracket. I was able to get a deep socket on it at an angle, and that was enough to break it loose.

Now to put it back together...I just hope I can get to that 3rd nut in the back to tighten it down...