I believe I'll be shopping for a replacement clutch in the next yr. or so (80K miles) I just wondered approx. how much I should expect to pay for a stock type replacement, parts and labor in Ca.?

 

With my motor already pulled, it cost me just over $800 (labor included)-- without the motor pulled...


I have no clue. I would assume quite a bit more?

 

In order to get to the clutch, the exhaust system, the rear suspension cradle and the trans/diff/torque tube assembly all has to be removed. It's about 10 hours of labor, depending on who's doing it, the experience and expertise, availability of a lift and air tools.

Parts are somewhere in the $500 range, plus you should consider replacing the pilot and throwout bearings, as well as the slave cylinder. I would strongly recommend a remote bleeder be installed at the same time. Another thing to consider is the installation of a tunnel plate, since it will be completely exposed and simply a matter of removing 36 bolts.

 

I installed a tunnel plate years ago. A local exhaust shop installed it for $25.00 or so (labor). I don't have a lift or I might do the clutch myself. I don't drive aggressivly so I'm expecting atleast 100K out of this clutch, but I'm getting prepared

 

You don't need a lift, you can do it on jackstands and 2 jacks.

I would replace all the clutch hydraulics, it's easiest to do when everything is taken apart. Definitely replace the throwout bearing, if that thing goes, it'll annoy you with the rattling. If everything is dropped, only extra work is minor work with a slide hammer. The bearing itself is only about $12 or so for a Delco.

+1 on the remote bleeder.

Get new flywheel and pressure plate bolts. In fact, get ARP bolts.

And while you have the shifter off, might be a good time to put a short throw in there.

I went with the LS7 clutch kit, for a little more than $400, that should last you quite a while.

One of the members led my project and we completed a trans swap, LS7 clutch and long tube headers in 18 hours. It was a marathon session.

 

I would certainly agree that the LS7 clutch kit would do you the best. It is the best bang for the buck on the C5.

 

Except you don't need a slide hammer for the throwout bearing, it's the pilot bearing you need a slide hammer for. The blind hole bearing puller from harbor freight works awesome for this job and it's cheap. The throwout bearing can be purchased separately, but is included with the purchase of a new slave cylinder. If you're not a DIY guy, plan on between $1200 and $1600 in labor plus parts...

Here are the parts you should plan on purchasing

Clutch Disk
Pressure Plate
Flywheel
ARP Bolts (Pressure Plate and Flywheel Bolts)
Pilot Bearing
Slave Cylinder (Includes throwout bearing. You should definitely replace the slave while your down there. You have to pull the drivetrain to replace it)
Speed bleeder (Cheap and really helpful)
Master Cylinder (Consider an adjustable if you decide to go aftermarket, if not, replacing the stock one is optional. You don't have to have the drivetrain out to replace the master)

 

Gene is an awesome guy to buy from. If you're buying GM parts, give him a call...

 

I believe I paid right around $700 labor for Vengeance Racing to swap a LS7 clutch kit into my Z06 not too long ago. The clutch kit, new bearings, new slave and remote bleeder was another $650-$700 or so. Pretty pricey job overall but what the heck, gotta pay to play.

 

If I can find labor for $700.00 I'll be a happy camper. I was anticipating around $3K for the whole job.

 

That's an unbelievably deal on labor. I knew I was gonna do the job myself, but I called around to get a couple of quotes just to see how much I was saving... The cheapest shop (which I wouldn't have trusted to do the job well) was $1,100 and the most expensive was, of course, the dealer at $1,550 for just labor, not including the parts...

 

No way you should pay more than 10hrs of labor, so worst case at most places would be $800-1000 labor. The parts will be around $750-900 depending on the options you chose.
Keep in mind that the LS7 required me to loosen the bellhousing to get installed so that was a bit extra involved. But a knowledgeable mech who has done this more than a few times should be able to do this in one full day with a lift easily.

I did mine in my garage on jack stands over the course of a couple weeks. But I was waiting parts, have long tubes installed (PITA), replaced the starter and was doing other stuff at the same time as well as cleaning everything as best I could without going totally nuts.

Also, good time to address the leaking diff/tranny issue if you have it. With that many miles on it I would opt for new axle seals anyway. Labor should be nothing since it is all apart anyway. Takes less than 10 mins to do at that point.

Also remember that you need to buy the clutch as a kit because of the balance issue. If you buy an aftermarket clutch and GM flywheel you should get it balance checked prior to install so you don't end up with vibes.

Remote bleeder is a must these days....

 

My car is in the shop right now. Ordered the LS7 clutch off here from east coast performance, remote bleeder, bearings, LS6 master and slave. Local shop doing the labor for $750. Everything is costing my just more then my exedy single disk thats in there now.

 

I called a local shop and they quoted me 10 hrs. labor. Total job would run around $1700.00. New flywheel, clutch disk, pressure plate, throw out bearing and slave cylinder. That's less than I expected.