went to the local drag strip last night for the first time ever to get a baseline on what my lt4 was capable of. had a blast making 5 passes with a best time of 13.04 @ 105.7. then as i was leaving the track and pulled up to the exit i pressed the clutch pedal to the floor so i could come to a stop and a very loud rattle with a slight grinding noise came from the clutch area with a vibration felt in the clutch pedal. while driving the car home no noise or vibration was felt unless the clutch pedal was pressed to the floor.i was wanting to get some input from anyone who has encountered similiar trouble. i didnt know if the entire clutch assembly needs replacing or if it might just be the throwout bearing or some other problem. the car only has 36000 miles on it. i know there has to be someone else who has experienced a similiar problem on the forum. :confused:

 

Well yessir, I'll bet I know EXACTLY whats wrong. Your clutch post has a lock screw (looks more like a disc) on the backside of it. That disc is now laying in the bottom of the bell housing, or is about to be, and the clutch pivot post has started to back out. Lucky you! Now you get to drop the exhaust, remove the C-beam and slide the tranny back far enough to tighten it back up. If you've never done it before it'll only take you about 2 days work.

Same thing happened to me. It's not REAL common but it's happened to a few that I've heard of on this board. You can probably drive it like that for a few thousand miles - 'till you can't push it in far enough to make the clutch safety switch w/out serious grinding. It is "machining" (hehe) the backside of the aluminum pressure plate with the pivot arm. My car started doing it at about 45K miles but I never took it to the track. With as few miles as you have now I would probably not do the clutch yet. Just slide it back far enough to tighten it up and use just a tiny amount of lock tite on the locking disk.

When I finally got round to it and tore mine apart. I put in a new clutch from Carolina clutch and a new pressure plate of course. I made the mistake of machining the F/W though. Thought I could get away with it at the time since I didn't have too many miles on it. Nope. Now I got a "Box-of-Rocks" rattling around inside my bellhousing (my 2 dual masses are fervently seeking their independence - so to speak) and a new Aluminum F/W & sprung hub clutch disk from Carolina Clutch STILL waiting for me in the garage floor.
One of these days... :rolleyes:

good luck bud

later
dr


[Modified by DavidR, 2:16 PM 11/30/2003]

 

hey man i certainly appreciate your input. i will have to decide if it is worth the added trouble to go ahead and replace the clutch assembly

 

If it 'll help you any in making that decision I had to replace my clutch/PP/TOB at @40K. My FW was borderline and on looking back I should have just gone and replaced that as well. :smash:

BTW nice times at the track. :thumbs:

 

I would say the same as DavidR.
Mine did it also..it gets worse real fast.
Don't plan on driving it too long.

 

Happened to mine at 28,000 miles. Once I pulled the trans the locking bolt fell out and the piviot ball was backed out a few turns. My clutch, pp was still good but since it was apart I installed all new parts from Centerforce (except flywheel).

 

thanks guys. i guess i will replace the entire clutch assembly while it is apart now i need to know what cluthches are recommended.

 

You can get good prices from Carolina Clutch on the OE clutch disk, Pressure plate and T/O bearing. I don't think they sell the O/E style flywheel though. You need to make that decision as well - whether to stick with your original flywheel, put in a new one or go with a single mass aftermarket. The single mass f/w's are WAY cheaper than O/E dual mass, they're more reliable (don't have to worry about the "box-of-rocks" syndrome) and can be resurfaced. The aluminum, I hear, allows quicker revs as well and might help out in the 1/4 mile times. It has a steel surface on the face which can be resurfaced or replaced if need be. The Fidanza aluminum f/w IS available from Carolina Clutch. The disadvantage of single mass is that the tranny is a bit noisier at idle at a light with your foot off the clutch. Guess I'm about to find out. I have listened to one in a friends car and it didn't sound too bad to me at all.

One other thing, you need to switch to a "sprung-hub" clutch disk if you go with a single mass. The O/E is not spring loaded.

good luck
dr