Clutch change M13a engine

So I have started on the engine removal so that I can replace the clutch assembly, the cable and to tidy up the engine bay which includes a spot of welding just in front of the steering box and the same area on the other side of the bay. And what a pain this is. Every electrical connection, loom latch and bolt has been a saga. The torque on the bolts has been such that each one has been unable to start without employing extension bars on the tool. I have had to remove both the inlet and exhaust manifolds for access because of this. Some of them required what I would call specialist spanners because of the length needed and the angle of the head of the spanner. Lucky for me I have an extensive collection and managed to get them all undone. And the starter motor. How is this replaced as a stand alone task? You cannot see the electrical connections from above and below never mind getting a spanner to the feed wire. I am seriously considering fitting a new starter even though the one coming off is working OK. I would not want to have to do it with the car fully built. Even the alternator plug is a struggle. Still it is out now. Onwards and upwards as they say!

I had exactly the same trouble.
Took about 2 days to get it out.
As you say every single bolt is seized solid, and virtually inaccessible.
I ended up removing radiator & alternator in the hope that I could get a socket to some of them from the front.
The connectors are impossible to part without breaking off whatever retainer was stopping it parting.

Then to get it out I lifted the engine off its mountings and drew it forwards.
I sliced the rear mounting plate on the cross-member to get a bit more clearance, and managed to get it back in with the clutch assembled (I used the input shaft to line it up whilst I was rebuilding the gearbox)

Took best part of a week to get it back on the road, but I had to wait for help as I couldn't lift anything, having given myself tennis elbow undoing the bolts (totally inaccessible for anything with leverage) , and really made it hurt extracting the gearbox bearings.


Doesn't it make you cry when the Other Boys tell you they can do a clutch change in 3 hours

Glad it not me then!
I take this 3 hour clutch change with a pinch of salt unless they are doing it on a hyd car ramp. And even then if you are just taking the gearbox out the access on this engine is desperate. Yes, you do not have to take the motor completely off as bolt removal should do it.
I even had to disconnect the front prop shaft to give me clearance to undo some of the tight bolts. As I took the intake off the stay from that to the eng mounting had to come off and the lower bolt on that was a struggle to not only get a spanner on but at the angle where I could get enough leverage to start it moving.
Anyway, I am over the moon as inspection of the clutch plate shows the rivets as near flush as you would want. No damage to either the flywheel or the clutch plate. I am replacing the whole assembly with a Exedy unit along with a new cable. I only want to do this once!

I took the transfer box out too, as I wanted to sort the corrosion on the long mounting before it shattered.
Clever Suzuki put flat plates of steel against the flat alloy mount, and the corrosion is as fast as a LandRover (yes some things do travel faster than the speed of light) Mine were really bent by the solid mass of fur, and the mount was starting to crack like an eggshell, but some new Maruti suzuki mounts and big washers should have sorted it I hope....

I recently changed my clutch on mine, took just under 4hours in and out and driving home(work in a garage) so much easier on a 4poster ramp and and a pillar jack, the only problem I had is that the starter motor was seized a fair bit but a good spray of deblock and a small tap came off free, book time for the clutch is three hours, don't need to remove transferbox just remove centre exhaust section, remove props, remove the rear mount and support gearbox and start to remove box bolts and unclip lamda sensors etc when the gearbox is unbolted pull it back away from engine and rest it on the piller jack no point in going to all the trouble and remove the gearbox fully you can get to the clutch by just pulling the gearbox back enough

Not so easy lying on your back with your chin on the floor then!
I downloaded the guide from the forum to see what they recommend on how to do it. When it came to replacing the release bearing there was no way that it would come off by unclicking the spring and then removing that spring to allow the bearing to slide off the shaft. One the arms of the spring don't always come out as the length of the tag varies and can be too long to clear. Then you have to somehow remove that spring by moving it out towards the fulcrum point of the arm which I reckon would end up damaging it as it is a flimsy bit of wire. I tried it with a spare assembly on the bench and found out. So I disengaged the fulcrum spring from the arm and took the arm off complete. Removed then refitted the new one to the arm and then refitted that back on the box. It also made it a lot easier to clean and re-grease that way.