I am looking at purchasing a 89 ZF black tag equipped car which the owner states has a new Centerforce clutch and a single mass flywheel. My questions is whether or not this is the "style" flywheel for this tranny? There is a "ticking" noise at idle coming from the area. The owner states its due to the flywheel, claims a single mass revs quicker. According to him the car drives out great. Any insight to this one?

Also, the engine is ZZ4 based with aftermarket heads, cam, TPIS miniram, etc.

Thanks guys

 

All ZF's originally came with a dual mass flywheel that weighs about 40 pounds. A lot of guys retrofit single mass flywheels for reduced rotational inertia, but by doing this you are removing the damping mechanism for the clutch. SM flywheels work great, but the downside is that you may hear a ticking or knocking noise at idle with the clutch out that is transmitted gear rattle noise from the transmission. Black tag trannies are more likely to make noise with a SM flywheel because they have quite a bit more more gear rattle than blue tags (ask me how I know ). Also, if the flywheel is aluminum, there is a potential that the noise can be very loud. Steel flywheels tend to mask the noise quite a bit.

The noise is normal and won't hurt anything.

 

I live in this world! great set up; but you have to learn to live with the noise; push the clutch in and it will go away; mine even does it at low RPM while driving (I have a black tag); also have a new blue tag in the garage next to the car as a spare since the transmission is out of manufacturing days now...my noise is more than a "ticking"; it's a pronounced rattle..the car performs very well, however!

 

Thanks! The owner said all of this but I wanted to double check. This will be my first Corvette and I dont want to inherit too many problems right of the bat. Thanks again.

 

They also take a little getting used to.

 

What takes some getting used to? The noise, the shifter throws, etc?

 

You lose some inertia by going to an aluminum single mass flywheel, so you have to rev and feather the throttle a little more. I also went to a stouter clutch at the same time, so mine grabs hard and can want to stall if I don't keep some load on it. (I'm presuming your SM is aluminum one)

 

Has the OP driven this '89 ZF car?

 

Not yet, its several hours away. I just wanted to know what to expect.

 

I went with a 16lbs steel flywheel on mine. It's not terrible, but you still have to throttle into it a little leaving a light. I have my idle dialed in at 850 rpm, which both cures most of the lope in the cam and makes the rattle go away

-- Joe