Has anyone done a clutch hydraulic line with the engine in?

[UrS6]

It looks like a real pain in the ass. I have a braided steel line that I'd like to put in along with the new master and slave. I need to fish the braided line up through the grommet that is in the cowell underneath the brake booster. Am I dreaming that this can be done with the motor in the car?

[nubcake]

If the new line is flexible - that's totally doable. Get a piece of wire through the cowl down to gearbox, connect it to the clutch line (optionally wrap with some duct tape to "streamline" the transition), fish it back up.
Loosening rearmost subframe bolts might make this a bit easier.

[P1054]

Having just installed the 01E in my car (again), I can say that it should be doable how nubcake described it (the heat shielding may cause a little grief but still should work). The toughest part in my experience is getting the line attached to the slave cylinder, but again it's doable. Works best to lower the rear of the trans, either by loosening the rear subframe bolts or by removing the trans mounts. Probably would want to loosen the snub mount at the front of the engine too. You might be best off fishing the line down, attaching it to the slave cylinder below the transmission, and then installing the slave with the line already hooked up. Bleeding it is another tight squeeze, I ended up making a remote bleeder setup with an auto-bleeder screw. It made it much easier.