Diablo Refresh

As my car had the new Murcielago clutch upgrade, I wanted to take a look at the slave and master cylinders. The slave cylinder was brand new and I could see this down through the engine bay, it also had the braided hose upgrade, so all that was fine. [sorry didnt take pics, but will return to this again soon]

 

However, my inspection of the master cylinder was showing the tell tale signs of imminent failure, in the pics below you will see the fluid is running down the fire wall, its basically seeping from the the pushrod which means the seals are done.

 

 

I pulled back the runner boot for a better look,

 

 

I have new patten part master cylinder on the shelf, so will install that in the next day or two and compare it to the OEM. [will update with pics soon]

 

 

While inspecting the master cylinder I noticed the steering shaft boot had perished and this leave the cabin open to the elements, so Ive a new one on order and will replace that and update too.

 

The accelerator pedal was looking bad, and I didnt want to remove it to paint at the moment. So I decided to use another method

 

 

Pedal housing removed

 

 

I have some matt black vinyl wrap, took measurements of the pedal and cut and piece to suit

 

 

Close up the pedal had a few rough spots that would show as lumps behind the vinyl,

 

 

so a quick sand to smooth it off

 

 

Wipe the pedal down and then apply the vinyl

 

 

with a heat gun, I then lightly heathed the vinyl so Im able to fold it round the sides and back of the pedal and remove any air bubbles, I then re installed the pedal housing and used 3 new black bolts as apposed to the silly looking silver ones, after a quick wipe down and hoover it already looks much better

 

I have new clutch and brake pedal rubber on the way too.

Please forgive my spelling and grammar mistakes, I though I could go back and edit after I update my thread, but I see I can't, once the post has been up for a while.

Please forgive my spelling and grammar mistakes, I though I could go back and edit after I update my thread, but I see I can't, once the post has been up for a while.

 

No worries, there have been very few sprinkled in some fantastic content! Looks great, and the vinyl pedal came out very nicely.

 

Keep it coming.

 

No worries, there have been very few sprinkled in some fantastic content! Looks great, and the vinyl pedal came out very nicely.

 

Keep it coming.

 

Thank you kindly, yes the vinyl is very good, I've used this method on a few other vehicles over the years, on various different bits; its extremely hard wearing too, and as a tester, I'll leave it on my pedal to gauge how good it wears, but I do know that it will most certainly be fine for the next year or two. It's cheap to install and doesn't require the pedal to be removed, which is a bonus.

Wow! Excellent write up. I have been holding off installing some CF rear light bezels because I thought it was going to be really difficult. After seeing your pics, it looks rather straight forward.

 

My only concern ... in the first pictures on your thread, it looks like you are not using any jack stands and using the jack to hold your vehicle up ... maybe I just don't see the jack stands.

Great thread of useful Info. What do you mean about the Murcie clutch though? The only diablo clutch options I know of for the diablo are the OEM one and the kevlar one.

Thanks for all of the information and pictures. Your car looks great keep up the great work!

Wow! Excellent write up. I have been holding off installing some CF rear light bezels because I thought it was going to be really difficult. After seeing your pics, it looks rather straight forward.

 

My only concern ... in the first pictures on your thread, it looks like you are not using any jack stands and using the jack to hold your vehicle up ... maybe I just don't see the jack stands.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the comment!

 

Hardest part is reaching the 4 bolts, but with some patience its no problem. I'll show the re-install too, hopefully the Newley painted bits will be ready today.

 

You are correct, there are no axle stands in the first pic, but that's because I wasn't working directly under the car. I reversed the car up onto the ramps I have in order to gain a bit more height at the side where the jack point is; then I put the jack under to raise the wheel off the ramp, so I can remove the wheel to inspect the brake pads, lines and remove the wheel liners to have a nosey in there. It's quite safe on the 3ton jack while just doing a quick side on inspection on these items.

 

There is however "ABSOLUTELY NO WAY" I would "work under" any vehice without it being secured on jack stands or professional ramps, even then I tend to double up on safety; this is the most important thing when it comes to laying directly under any vehicle.

 

 

Great thread of useful Info. What do you mean about the Murcie clutch though? The only diablo clutch options I know of for the diablo are the OEM one and the kevlar one.

 

Mike Pullen in the UK, does a clutch upgrade, which involves using the Murcielago one and some other bits, this upgrade makes the pedal really light and the car allot more pleasurable to drive. He did this work on my car a few weeks ago.

 

For more detailed info, I would suggest giving him a call as he can explain better than I.

Sudesh great write up, very informative, thank you for taking the time, keep up the great work

Congrats on your buy, you can certainly tell you are a car guy through and through, love your write ups keep them up

Beautiful day here in Ireland, so I like to make the most of it, not often we seen 20+C here lol

 

In preparation to replace the master cylinder, Diablo needs to be raised/Jacked up as I need access to slave cylinder to bleed the system at the final stages.

 

There are many methods to jacking the car and use of the jack stands, I checked the workshop manual to gauge these point too, but decided to go a different route.

 

So with the aid of my trusty ramps, I reverse the car up. I have plenty of clearance at the front too.

 

 

I use a good 3 ton jack and rubber compounded support

 

 

At the side of the car are specific jacking points, they are the little raised square shapes

 

 

I jack the car up high enough for front wheel clearence, and then place another ramp in reverse position under that wheel. I also keep axle stands underneath for safety, just at this point.

 

 

Very slowly release the jack and let the wheels easy down onto the front and rear ramps.

 

 

 

REPEAT THE PROCESS FOR THE OPPOSITE SIDE

 

 

After all 4 wheels are on the ramps, I take the jack to the rear of the car and raise it again to add jack stands at sides [using jacking points]

 

 

Car on all 4 ramps, level and very safe.

 

 

PLEASE REMEMBER, I DO ALL THIS WORK AT MY OWN RISK -

 

IF YOU CHOOSE TO DO THE SAME - IT WILL BE AT "YOUR OWN" RISK AND I CANNOT BE HELP ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY ACCIDENT THAT MAY OCCUR

 

 

I THINK THIS IS AND SHOULD BE FAIRLY COMMON KNOWLEDGE ANYWAY.

 

 

Cool bits replacing the screws in the pedal cover and the vinyl cover idea. I had to put new screws in there too (I think the factory attachment method was flimsy rivets rather than the nickel plated screws you pulled out of there). ...going to be watching this thread everyday!

In order to replace the clutch master, the panel in the trunk needs to be removed, some of the bolts on mine were replace with easy twist lock/unlock type which are quite handy, but there are still 2 allen bolts to remove

 

 

 

Nothing too complicated here, just push the washer bottle through

 

 

I then gently laid the panel on its face which fitted snuggly in the trunk

 

The clutch master is tucked far back

 

 

Only one pipe goes into the unit

 

 

Remove the cap followed by a small mesh filter that sits inside the plastic container

 

 

The pieces removed

 

 

Place some old rags/towls or similar below the master cylinder, please remember clutch fluid can damage paint and other items if left to penetrate, so wipe up any spillage right away.

 

 

I use a sealey plunger and long tube to suck out as much old fluid as I can

 

 

Once you get as much out as possible, its time to loosen the metal clutch line, carefully loosen it and pull it out to one side, there is no need to bend it as there is enough free flex to move it away.

 

 

So the first parts is done, cylinder is drained but leave the rags in place as there will still be drips coming out.

 

Next its onto the back breaker lol

 

The master cylinder is bolted from the inside, 2 bolts that hold it in place through the firewall and a nut and bolt through the fork to the clutch pedal,

 

 

hardest bolt to reach is the one on the top side of the rubber boot

 

 

I take the nut/bolt out of the fork, first.

 

 

Now remove the bolts holding the cylinder, make sure you get all the washers and remember the orientation of each item.

 

 

All is free now, so back to the trunk and slide the old cylinder out

 

 

Old one and the bits

 

This is the new cylinder I bought on ebay, it was less than half the price of one from Lamborghini UK and its got the same marking and make on it.

 

 

Cap and internal mesh is the same

 

 

 

 

Only difference is the end piece, but thats no big issue as Ill just re-use the old one.

 

 

So just to get the measurements exact, for clutch pedal play the way it was in my car, I lined everything up and

 

 

You can see the difference at the fork, [even if the end piece were the same, the new one is further down the threads.

 

 

So loosen the retaining nut

 

 

screw the fork up until its level with the old one

 

 

Now bring the retaining nut forward to the correct position, but dont tighten yet, as I need remove the fork

 

 

Take the fork off the old OEM unit and replace on the new one, at this point to double check the lengths, you can also cout the number of threads before and after the retaining nuts [Old vs New] Mine matched perfect.

 

 

Old OEM fork on the new unit

 

So the re-install

 

Slip the new unit back into the position

 

 

Put the pipe back in position, but dont tighten fully yet.

 

 

Back into the footwell next and the new piece is through

 

 

Start bolting it all back together, no need for huge amounts of torque here.

 

 

Now tighten up the hard line

 

 

 

So new clutch master cylinder is installed, next is to bleed the system.

 

I use the same pump [cleaned] to re-fill cylinder

 

 

 

Now to the slave cylinder to open the bleed nipple

 

 

Remove rubber cap

 

 

I use the old skool method of one man pumping the pedal, while I open and close the bleed screw and keep re-filling the master cylinder until all air bubbles are gone.

 

So a simple piece of kit, old jar with a clear rubber hose and bleed nipple adapter

 

 

Attach to slave bleed nipple

 

 

 

I must apologize for the next bit as I was unable to photograph the pumping of the clutch pedal, while opening and closing the bleed nipple etc, could have been doing with a third person to take pics.

 

But basically my bro is in the car, and im underneath at the slave cylinder, I open the bleed nipple and yell "PUMP"

My bro pushes the clutch pedal in, and keeps it there, a few seconds later I close the bleed nipple and he pull the pedal out

 

The above process is repeated many times, until I can see the fluid running nice and thick through the clear hose and its "bubble" free [no air]

 

You also need to keep popping out to refill the master cylinder as it doesnt hold much fluid.

 

I worked out that my bro pumped 6 times, and then I filled the cylinder again, safer this way and stops you sucking air in again.

 

 

So all finished, put the filter back in and the new cap, wipe down the area if there is any spillage and thats it!

 

I noticed this hose was perished at the tip while in there, so just cut the bad section off and its good to re-install

 

 

 

 

Something I noticed when I viewed the car was that it took 2 people to open the engine cover, I knew this wasnt correct obviously. So today I had a look at what was happening, and something thats so simple can have such an affect.

 

The little rubber stop mounts on the left and right side were much too low, this in turn gave no spring type affect, to the latch lock, so when the release was pulled the weight of the cover kept it in the locked position, unless a second person was there to pull it up.

 

These are the rubber mounts

 

 

They are threaded below and you just trun them by hand up or down as required, I turned mine up until the cover was level with the rear fenders and the now when I pull the latch, I hear the engine cover click open and only 1 person needed!!!

 

Good result!

OH! Almost forgot, received the black grill and light covers back this evening, Looks nice!

 

Hopefully get time to install tomorrow.