I Think I Have A Clutch Problem
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
I Think I Have A Clutch Problem
Had a RPS clutch installed 6 months ago. The installer failed to torque the pressure plate bolts correctly, which eventually lead to a broken pressure plate. Bought a Textraila clutch pressure plate, and billet steel fly wheel. After putting 450 miles on the Tex, I started to get on it a little. I have discovered a pretty bad vibration around 4000 RPMS, this is under a load, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears. It is also present in neutral at 3500-4000 RPMS, not quite as bad, but definately there.
Could there be something out of balance or what. The peddle feels great, and it seems to be grabbing good.
Bought the clutch from ECS, and will call tomorrowand see what policies are in place for this type of situation, and if anyone else has had this problem.
What do you guys think?
Rob Edwards
Could there be something out of balance or what. The peddle feels great, and it seems to be grabbing good.
Bought the clutch from ECS, and will call tomorrowand see what policies are in place for this type of situation, and if anyone else has had this problem.
What do you guys think?
Rob Edwards
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 15,960
Likes: 21
From: West Norriton PA
St. Jude Donor '08
Corvette motors are neutral balanced.
More than likely your pressure plate and flywheel are improperly balanced to your motor.
Does the vibration go away above 4000 RPM ? If so it's a balance problem.
More than likely your pressure plate and flywheel are improperly balanced to your motor.
Does the vibration go away above 4000 RPM ? If so it's a balance problem.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
Originally Posted by ajg1915
Corvette motors are neutral balanced.
More than likely your pressure plate and flywheel are improperly balanced to your motor.
Does the vibration go away above 4000 RPM ? If so it's a balance problem.
More than likely your pressure plate and flywheel are improperly balanced to your motor.
Does the vibration go away above 4000 RPM ? If so it's a balance problem.
Yes, I can push the car through the vibration. It happens around 4500 Rpm's
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
Talked w/ Jared from textralia tonight. This guy answered and took my call at 8:30 Texas time. He said they have never had a clutch that used their fly wheel to have a balance problem. He also told me not to worry, that they would get me a new clutch if necessary. The guy seemed really nice and very willing to help. This is a plus. Customer service goes a long way w/ me.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,012
Likes: 15
From: Jensen Beach FL
Originally Posted by 97Rob
Talked w/ Jared from textralia tonight. This guy answered and took my call at 8:30 Texas time. He said they have never had a clutch that used their fly wheel to have a balance problem. He also told me not to worry, that they would get me a new clutch if necessary. The guy seemed really nice and very willing to help. This is a plus. Customer service goes a long way w/ me.
Life Time NCM #2196
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 82,597
Likes: 1,712
From: Converse TX
Good to hear the support for the problem with the new setup, what was wrong with the RPS? I have one in mine and I be my mechanic did torgue it right and I have had no issues in over 4500 miles with Sick HP
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 24,652
Likes: 298
From: NJ
St. Jude Donor '05-'08
Originally Posted by peter pan
Good to hear the support for the problem with the new setup, what was wrong with the RPS? I have one in mine and I be my mechanic did torgue it right and I have had no issues in over 4500 miles with Sick HP
I think with every C5 Clutch some work great for some customers and some don't. funny how the same clutch in 2 different cars can be like night and day.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 14,639
Likes: 39
From: Winston-Salem North Carolina
St. Jude Donor '08-'09
Originally Posted by Wicked Weasel
I think with every C5 Clutch some work great for some customers and some don't. funny how the same clutch in 2 different cars can be like night and day.
, took mine out after 12k.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,226
Likes: 3
From: Lakemoor IL
Are you still using the RPS disk?
Tex clutches come shipped zero balanced and you cant install them wrong because they have dowels that only let you install the PP to the flywheel one way. My Tex has zero vibration issues and drives very close to stock.
Did you use the same installer that didnt torque your PP down correctly? If so I would use someone else next time!
Tex clutches come shipped zero balanced and you cant install them wrong because they have dowels that only let you install the PP to the flywheel one way. My Tex has zero vibration issues and drives very close to stock.
Did you use the same installer that didnt torque your PP down correctly? If so I would use someone else next time!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
I am using the Textralia, and only went w/ RPS first time because I couldn't get the Tex. at the time. There was nothing wrong w/ the RPS, it was the install. Did not use the same mechanic this time.
We had the tires balacned and discovered one of the wheels are bent. The tech. balanced most of it out. The majority of the vibration is gone. The rest may be attributed to the slight wheel hop from the bent wheel. One thing I don't understand is the slight vibration in neutral. The guy that worked on the car thinks its just the harmonics of the engine. Perhaps it was there before and it just seems worse now.
The motor is a 408. I wonder how much vibration is expected to be felt in the shifter at 3500 RPM's. No vibration before 3500 and clears up around 4200 RPM's.
As of now I'm going to let it go, and enjoy the ride. I think if I'm not careful I will get to focused on problems that may not be there, and not enjoy the car.
We had the tires balacned and discovered one of the wheels are bent. The tech. balanced most of it out. The majority of the vibration is gone. The rest may be attributed to the slight wheel hop from the bent wheel. One thing I don't understand is the slight vibration in neutral. The guy that worked on the car thinks its just the harmonics of the engine. Perhaps it was there before and it just seems worse now.
The motor is a 408. I wonder how much vibration is expected to be felt in the shifter at 3500 RPM's. No vibration before 3500 and clears up around 4200 RPM's.
As of now I'm going to let it go, and enjoy the ride. I think if I'm not careful I will get to focused on problems that may not be there, and not enjoy the car.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 889
Likes: 0
From: DFW tx
I had a year of clutch balance nightmares. Car was pretty close to undriveable. Very frustrating as this happened shortly after I had h/c installed.
When I finally found a shop that knew what they were doing (LG Motorsports), they diagnosed the problem as a bad pilot bearing and bent torque tube. Not exactly sure how the pilot bearing got destroyed (and I mean destroyed) and the torque tube bent, but guessing it was due to an improper install, which sounds familiar to what you are dealing with.
The shop that did the original install tried several times to fix it with no luck. Their end response was that vibration was "normal" from an aluminum flywheel, and "some LS1's are not balanced properly from the factory". Their suggestion was to pull the engine and balance it.
Obviously they were wrong as I have been driving it for over a year and a half with no balance problems since LG Motorsports fixed it.
Just noticed you said your vibrations kick in around 3500, that is exactly where mine did.
When I finally found a shop that knew what they were doing (LG Motorsports), they diagnosed the problem as a bad pilot bearing and bent torque tube. Not exactly sure how the pilot bearing got destroyed (and I mean destroyed) and the torque tube bent, but guessing it was due to an improper install, which sounds familiar to what you are dealing with.
The shop that did the original install tried several times to fix it with no luck. Their end response was that vibration was "normal" from an aluminum flywheel, and "some LS1's are not balanced properly from the factory". Their suggestion was to pull the engine and balance it.
Obviously they were wrong as I have been driving it for over a year and a half with no balance problems since LG Motorsports fixed it.
Just noticed you said your vibrations kick in around 3500, that is exactly where mine did.
Last edited by Jeff Jeff; Sep 9, 2006 at 12:26 AM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 3,012
Likes: 15
From: Jensen Beach FL
Originally Posted by 97Rob
I am using the Textralia, and only went w/ RPS first time because I couldn't get the Tex. at the time. There was nothing wrong w/ the RPS, it was the install. Did not use the same mechanic this time.
We had the tires balacned and discovered one of the wheels are bent. The tech. balanced most of it out. The majority of the vibration is gone. The rest may be attributed to the slight wheel hop from the bent wheel. One thing I don't understand is the slight vibration in neutral. The guy that worked on the car thinks its just the harmonics of the engine. Perhaps it was there before and it just seems worse now.
The motor is a 408. I wonder how much vibration is expected to be felt in the shifter at 3500 RPM's. No vibration before 3500 and clears up around 4200 RPM's.
As of now I'm going to let it go, and enjoy the ride. I think if I'm not careful I will get to focused on problems that may not be there, and not enjoy the car.
We had the tires balacned and discovered one of the wheels are bent. The tech. balanced most of it out. The majority of the vibration is gone. The rest may be attributed to the slight wheel hop from the bent wheel. One thing I don't understand is the slight vibration in neutral. The guy that worked on the car thinks its just the harmonics of the engine. Perhaps it was there before and it just seems worse now.
The motor is a 408. I wonder how much vibration is expected to be felt in the shifter at 3500 RPM's. No vibration before 3500 and clears up around 4200 RPM's.
As of now I'm going to let it go, and enjoy the ride. I think if I'm not careful I will get to focused on problems that may not be there, and not enjoy the car.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
Originally Posted by craig04c5
Yep that can easily happen. Its good to just let it go and enjoy!
Some times the fact is nobody is wrong and everything is alright.
I'm glad someone agrees. Thanks!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 900
Likes: 0
From: New Bern NC
Clutch vibration became more noticeable. Had the car tuned at RPM on Mon., and the tech. there said it was definately a balance problem and was not acceptable. Called Textralia and, Jared the tex. rep. has a clutch in the mail. No arm wrestling at all. Will change the clutch over the week end. Hope that is the end of this. To have a problem is one thing, but to have a problem and no support from a vendor would really be bad. That is not the case here. Textralia has done everything they could to help this situation.
Rob Edwards
Rob Edwards
