96 LT4 Clutch Recommendations
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 16,091
Likes: 819
From: Dallas Texas
2025 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
96 LT4 Clutch Recommendations
Hi everyone. This will be my first clutch swap, but I have my dad's help who has done it several times on C5's. Trans is out of my car.
I was happy with the stock clutch pedal feel. In my opinion, it wasn't overly light or heavy. It'll be a street car 90% of time.
The most I ever plan to do to my LT4 power wise:
lt4 hotcam
Ported heads and intake
Longtubes, free flowing exhaust
AO Forced Air
And tune, of course.
Not concerned with saving money, just want the best option.
I was happy with the stock clutch pedal feel. In my opinion, it wasn't overly light or heavy. It'll be a street car 90% of time.
The most I ever plan to do to my LT4 power wise:
lt4 hotcam
Ported heads and intake
Longtubes, free flowing exhaust
AO Forced Air
And tune, of course.
Not concerned with saving money, just want the best option.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,356
Likes: 291
From: MA
If your dual mass flywheel is in good condition then go with a stock replacement disk ( if your pressure plate is stock and in good condition use that too).
All the replacement pressure plates and throw out bearings for the C4 6speed cars are all made in China and are not as good as the originals. It doesn't seem to matter what brand or name is on them they all come from the same Chinese plant with questionable reliability unfortunately.
If your dual mass flywheel is bad then go to the RAM C4 conversion kit. It is all made in the USA . The kit converts the stock pull style pressure plate to a normal pull style. It comes as a kit with everything except for the flywheel bolts and input shaft alignment tool.
I also recommend a shim for the transmission since the transmission is going to make noise without the dual mass flywheel now.
The shim can be purchased from Bill Boudreau ZF doc.
I went the stock type setup and I had slippage from all the Chinese junk. I ended up buying the RAM the second time around and am pretty happy with it.
Good luck!
All the replacement pressure plates and throw out bearings for the C4 6speed cars are all made in China and are not as good as the originals. It doesn't seem to matter what brand or name is on them they all come from the same Chinese plant with questionable reliability unfortunately.
If your dual mass flywheel is bad then go to the RAM C4 conversion kit. It is all made in the USA . The kit converts the stock pull style pressure plate to a normal pull style. It comes as a kit with everything except for the flywheel bolts and input shaft alignment tool.
I also recommend a shim for the transmission since the transmission is going to make noise without the dual mass flywheel now.
The shim can be purchased from Bill Boudreau ZF doc.
I went the stock type setup and I had slippage from all the Chinese junk. I ended up buying the RAM the second time around and am pretty happy with it.
Good luck!
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 16,091
Likes: 819
From: Dallas Texas
2025 C4 of the Year Finalist - Modified
I was thinking RAM also. Anyone have a link that describes their options? Such as the single disc, twin disc, organic clutch etc. And yes, I will buy a few thing of ZF Doc.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 396
From: Northwest Ohio
+1 on the RAM setup IF the DMF is toast OR you want to lighten the flywheel. I went with the steel +organic disk. Supposed to be rated 450+ hp…and that’s the lowest strength one. If you really want to go to the RAM setup, either email or call them…they can help you.
If you are stock or not pushing well over 400 I’d just go with organic for the streetability.
You can also just google/pull up their portions for the c4 on their site.
Again if your DMF is fine I’d consider getting a trued up PP from zfdoc…that did NOT work well for @grandspt but might for you.
To me the two best options are DMF with stock style setup or RAM if you are going SMF. Just do the cost comparisons for SMF conversion…depending on your selections it wasn’t that far apart for me.
If you are stock or not pushing well over 400 I’d just go with organic for the streetability.
You can also just google/pull up their portions for the c4 on their site.
Again if your DMF is fine I’d consider getting a trued up PP from zfdoc…that did NOT work well for @grandspt but might for you.
To me the two best options are DMF with stock style setup or RAM if you are going SMF. Just do the cost comparisons for SMF conversion…depending on your selections it wasn’t that far apart for me.
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2022
Posts: 41
Likes: 15
From: Salem, NH
If your dual mass flywheel is in good condition then go with a stock replacement disk ( if your pressure plate is stock and in good condition use that too).
All the replacement pressure plates and throw out bearings for the C4 6speed cars are all made in China and are not as good as the originals. It doesn't seem to matter what brand or name is on them they all come from the same Chinese plant with questionable reliability unfortunately.
If your dual mass flywheel is bad then go to the RAM C4 conversion kit. It is all made in the USA . The kit converts the stock pull style pressure plate to a normal pull style. It comes as a kit with everything except for the flywheel bolts and input shaft alignment tool.
I also recommend a shim for the transmission since the transmission is going to make noise without the dual mass flywheel now.
The shim can be purchased from Bill Boudreau ZF doc.
I went the stock type setup and I had slippage from all the Chinese junk. I ended up buying the RAM the second time around and am pretty happy with it.
Good luck!
All the replacement pressure plates and throw out bearings for the C4 6speed cars are all made in China and are not as good as the originals. It doesn't seem to matter what brand or name is on them they all come from the same Chinese plant with questionable reliability unfortunately.
If your dual mass flywheel is bad then go to the RAM C4 conversion kit. It is all made in the USA . The kit converts the stock pull style pressure plate to a normal pull style. It comes as a kit with everything except for the flywheel bolts and input shaft alignment tool.
I also recommend a shim for the transmission since the transmission is going to make noise without the dual mass flywheel now.
The shim can be purchased from Bill Boudreau ZF doc.
I went the stock type setup and I had slippage from all the Chinese junk. I ended up buying the RAM the second time around and am pretty happy with it.
Good luck!
here is video of the Ram install on a supercharged C4… a lot of useful info in that vid. I’ve spent HOURS researching clutch options on this site and what grandspt says is in a nutshell what the consensus of opinion that I found. My trans is currently out of my 1993 and Bill @ZFdoc recommended I reuse my DMF based on photo’s I sent him. Getting a New LUK China Clutch kit from Carolina Clutch but if my DMF were toast RAM would be the way I would go. When Bill emailed me about my clutch situation he told me he was currently out of the shim for the shim kit and didn’t know when he would be able to make more. Carolina lists it as a product on the C4 page on their website you just have to really look for it. I haven’t called to see if they have stock in house or not…
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 6,119
Likes: 1,994
From: St. Charles MO
Whether your flywheel needs to be replaced or not, I would not recommend the expense and extra work of the RAM conversion if your original pressure plate is still good. If you need a new flywheel, just get a steel single-mass one and consider the countershaft shim kit already mentioned. Then just get a good organic disk (but if you ditch the stock dual-mass flywheel then be sure to get a sprung-hub disk) and you're golden. If you still have the stock INA throwout bearing, I'd even consider reusing that. The problems come when you have to get a new pressure plate and throwout bearing: all the new replacements now are made in China and they are not good. If you have to replace both of those, then that is when I would start thinking about the RAM conversion.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,720
Likes: 557
From: Seattle Washington
I second everything grandspt says.
here is video of the Ram install on a supercharged C4… a lot of useful info in that vid. I’ve spent HOURS researching clutch options on this site and what grandspt says is in a nutshell what the consensus of opinion that I found. My trans is currently out of my 1993 and Bill @ZFdoc recommended I reuse my DMF based on photo’s I sent him. Getting a New LUK China Clutch kit from Carolina Clutch but if my DMF were toast RAM would be the way I would go. When Bill emailed me about my clutch situation he told me he was currently out of the shim for the shim kit and didn’t know when he would be able to make more. Carolina lists it as a product on the C4 page on their website you just have to really look for it. I haven’t called to see if they have stock in house or not…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZUZiS_qg...SIkaIECMiOmarE
here is video of the Ram install on a supercharged C4… a lot of useful info in that vid. I’ve spent HOURS researching clutch options on this site and what grandspt says is in a nutshell what the consensus of opinion that I found. My trans is currently out of my 1993 and Bill @ZFdoc recommended I reuse my DMF based on photo’s I sent him. Getting a New LUK China Clutch kit from Carolina Clutch but if my DMF were toast RAM would be the way I would go. When Bill emailed me about my clutch situation he told me he was currently out of the shim for the shim kit and didn’t know when he would be able to make more. Carolina lists it as a product on the C4 page on their website you just have to really look for it. I haven’t called to see if they have stock in house or not…
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZUZiS_qg...SIkaIECMiOmarE
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Drifting
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,356
Likes: 291
From: MA
To the OP, if you need to replace the flywheel, throw out bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate and the hydraulics then the RAM is very similarly priced.
Contact RAM, Mike Norcia was very helpful answering all of my questions.
Also the RAM conversion kit requires a few measurements to select the proper shim for the hydraulic throw out bearing. Not hard to do at all!
RAM also recommends drilling a hole in the bell housing. I did not. I found that the opening where the stock clutch fork use to reside was enough for me to align and inspect the hydraulic throw out bearing. The RAM included hydraulic lines exit through the stock clutch fork opening too. I used an inspection camera to make sure the bearing was on the transmission input shaft.
But if all you need is a clutch disk just replace that and reuse your stock DMF, pressure plate, and throw out bearing.
Contact RAM, Mike Norcia was very helpful answering all of my questions.
Also the RAM conversion kit requires a few measurements to select the proper shim for the hydraulic throw out bearing. Not hard to do at all!
RAM also recommends drilling a hole in the bell housing. I did not. I found that the opening where the stock clutch fork use to reside was enough for me to align and inspect the hydraulic throw out bearing. The RAM included hydraulic lines exit through the stock clutch fork opening too. I used an inspection camera to make sure the bearing was on the transmission input shaft.
But if all you need is a clutch disk just replace that and reuse your stock DMF, pressure plate, and throw out bearing.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 396
From: Northwest Ohio
Having said that I did not like the bleeder itself. Perhaps I used the wrong fitting but I could see no other way with the fittings I had and ended up with the bleeder screwed directly into the braided line. This makes vacuum bleeding from below almost impossible (as soon as you loosen air can leak in from around the nut). I would just ask RAM about it (as I should have). @grndsprt probably didn’t run into that. But again I had no issue bleeding it using the old school method.
Add to that if you get most of the air out the master should self bleed anyway with just lots of pumping and it will be fine (either with the stock setup or RAM.
Honestly, and thinking about it more, you should not make this a factor either way, IMO.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,356
Likes: 291
From: MA
The RAM like pedricd has stated has the bleeder nut screwed into one end of the included braided line. So you need two wrenches (forgot the size, but boxed end makes it easier) to unscrew the bleeder from the hydraulic braided line.
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,720
Likes: 557
From: Seattle Washington
I would consider the Ram much better. The Ram Slave Cylinder is a Two Hose set up where most all Stock Masters are a One Hose. The only thing I didn't like about the Ram is there Hoses are to short to take full advantage of a Two Hose system. They need to be long enough to reach all the way to the Master and the Bleeder needs to reach up to the Firewall. I'm sure a phone call when ordering it could remedy this just tell them you want them twice as long. This way there is no need to get under the car. After a couple of years is the Fluid getting dark and you want to change it ? No problem just open the Bleeder Hose and pump away till You like to color again. Try doing that on a C5 or newer Corvette.
Intermediate
Joined: Jul 2022
Posts: 41
Likes: 15
From: Salem, NH
To the OP, if you need to replace the flywheel, throw out bearing, clutch disc, pressure plate and the hydraulics then the RAM is very similarly priced.
Contact RAM, Mike Norcia was very helpful answering all of my questions.
Also the RAM conversion kit requires a few measurements to select the proper shim for the hydraulic throw out bearing. Not hard to do at all!
RAM also recommends drilling a hole in the bell housing. I did not. I found that the opening where the stock clutch fork use to reside was enough for me to align and inspect the hydraulic throw out bearing. The RAM included hydraulic lines exit through the stock clutch fork opening too. I used an inspection camera to make sure the bearing was on the transmission input shaft.
But if all you need is a clutch disk just replace that and reuse your stock DMF, pressure plate, and throw out bearing.
Contact RAM, Mike Norcia was very helpful answering all of my questions.
Also the RAM conversion kit requires a few measurements to select the proper shim for the hydraulic throw out bearing. Not hard to do at all!
RAM also recommends drilling a hole in the bell housing. I did not. I found that the opening where the stock clutch fork use to reside was enough for me to align and inspect the hydraulic throw out bearing. The RAM included hydraulic lines exit through the stock clutch fork opening too. I used an inspection camera to make sure the bearing was on the transmission input shaft.
But if all you need is a clutch disk just replace that and reuse your stock DMF, pressure plate, and throw out bearing.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 396
From: Northwest Ohio
that’s very likely the pilot bearing being worn or a misalignment of trans to engine or both. If it’s not too severe it can be ok for a while, but if bad enough would need to be replaced. I have a thread on my clutch job where I linked to a YouTube vid of my whine sound you can hear to verify if it is a similar thing. Also Zfdoc description of cause etc in there.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 6,119
Likes: 1,994
From: St. Charles MO
that’s very likely the pilot bearing being worn or a misalignment of trans to engine or both. If it’s not too severe it can be ok for a while, but if bad enough would need to be replaced. I have a thread on my clutch job where I linked to a YouTube vid of my whine sound you can hear to verify if it is a similar thing. Also Zfdoc description of cause etc in there.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2020
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 396
From: Northwest Ohio
mine was toasted due to it being greased (pilot bushing self lubricates) and likely accelerated by not getting the bellhousing to engine surface true (so slight misalignment). Even given that zfdoc seemed to think it was ok based on him hearing the YouTube audio unless it got noticeably worse…
Last edited by pedricd; Feb 28, 2023 at 01:34 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 6,119
Likes: 1,994
From: St. Charles MO
TO bearing makes noise generally with clutch pedal depressed when it’s doing work. Foot off pedal and in neutral very likely pilot bearing worn and losing centering support of the input shaft. This transmits a whirring vibration through the clutch disk via the splines/slight wobble…. It’s usually not a big deal up to a point…. Again this would be mostly a “whirring” sound but hard to judge without hearing it.
mine was toasted due to it being greased (pilot bushing self lubricates) and likely accelerated by not getting the bellhousing to engine surface true (so slight misalignment). Even given that zfdoc seemed to think it was ok based on him hearing the YouTube audio unless it got noticeably worse…
mine was toasted due to it being greased (pilot bushing self lubricates) and likely accelerated by not getting the bellhousing to engine surface true (so slight misalignment). Even given that zfdoc seemed to think it was ok based on him hearing the YouTube audio unless it got noticeably worse…