Jnape

Do you have a remote bleeder? Do you get a good amount of fluid out per bleed stroke? Still can be the master. Or the tear down begins.

Carcass

This is the best way to tell if your Clutch is going to work,or if you need a shim, BEFORE you get the whole car back together and find out it doesn't(Written by Joey at Tick Performance,he oughta know)-I did it this way and it worked.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/manual...need-shim.html

You can also check the air gap at the disc with a feeler gauge BEFORE you reinstall the entire drive train,someone may chime in with the proper clearance (I'm thinking .005-.007,but it's been a long time,so I'm not sure )

There really is no reason you should need a shim with the clutch you installed,it actually sounds more like air stuck in the system,or a bad master.(I know it's new,but nowdays,that doesn't necessarily mean it's right)

bobwoodkat

I once had a problem like that with a old Z bar set up. When I held the clutch to the floor it would stay engaged. What it turned out to be was overtravel. If the travel is to much the pressure plate will reverse direction and push the clutch back on the flywheel. Try holding the clutch pedal half way down and see the clutch disengages.

leviathan125

No, I don't have a remote bleeder, but I was wishing I did. I might go ahead and order one since it looks like I'm going to have to take it all apart again. Yes, each time I would open the bleeder valve, a good amount of fluid would shoot out (clutch pedal was being held to the floor by a friend). I repeated this step numerous times and it never got better. After that didn't work, we opened the bleeder valve and just let the fluid come out while keeping the reservoir full. After doing that for awhile, we started the process of bleeding the hydraulics over again (pump the clutch pedal a few times then hold to floor, open bleeder valve, close bleeder valve then start the process over again).

How man times should it take with a all new hydraulic parts installed to bleed (holding the clutch down and opening closing the bleeder valve)? 7-10 times? More? I think since I have to remove the exhaust and tunnel plate anyway, that I will try one more time to bleed to **** out of it, but I'm pretty sure that route has been exhausted. It sure would be nice if that was all the problem was though.

lucky131969

The problem with not having a remote bleeder, is it's very difficult to see no air is present in the fluid. With a remote bleeder, I attach a clear tube to the bleeder valve, and submerge the tube in brake fluid. When I get nothing but solid fluid, and not bubbles.....I'm done.

RX-Ben

carcass is correct - you need to check the gap. Regardless of what your clutch mfg says, unless you want to take a chance, but the mfg certainly won't pull the clutch and install the space if you have a problem. Measuring will take 5min, ensures things will work properly.

bearcatt

The Tick m/c is capable of pushing more fluid than the stock m/c.

Yes it can cause damage if it pushes the pressure plate to far.
That's why it is important to not over adjust it initially after installation.
Adjustment are made little by little.

The hydraulics on GM LSX powered cars have proven to be an inigma.

I've been through many clutch woes when I had my 2000 Pontiac Firebird M6. On that car I had the tranny out a half of dozen times trying to get things right. I put in a stock clutch, Spec I and finally a LS7 clutch. I tried shims, no-shim, bleeding over and over with no success.

Once I put in a brand new pre-bled GM master cylinder it got better but still not great. Out of desperation I decided to try a Tick because
of the successful results others had. It made the clutch pedal a little harder to push but it fixed the issues I had. I drove it for 10K with no problems before I sold it.

On LS1 Tech there is thread after thread with clutch woes on the F-bodies. I'm new to the Vette community but it's looking like the same issues plague Vettes too.

Not all master or slave cylinders are created equal either. It seems that some master cylinder rods are longer than another on the same part. Also there has been times when some slave cylinders are taller or deeper than another again on the same part. Why the differences in manufacturing? That's a good question.


To this day there seems to be no definative answer as to why there seems to be so many issues with the clutches on GM LSX power cars.

I've replaced clutches on many cars and it's usually just bolt and go but not on some of these Vettes and F-bodies. It seems to be hit and miss in terms of first time success with clutch installs.


.

81c3

And the verdict is???

lucky131969

Yet the pro's do it mutiple times a day with success. I would guess, that the majority of clutch install issues reported on this forum, are due to the installer........not the clutch...or the vehicle.

leviathan125

Three weekends ago we dropped the rear end, transmission, and torque tube for the second time to figure out why the clutch wasn't disengaging. When we pulled the torque tube, the pressure plate was exposed, and you can see a group of 4 of the metal "fingers" were lower than the rest. So, we took the pressure plate, clutch, and flywheel off the car and inspected the pressure plate. We placed the flywheel on a bench and installed the clutch and pressure plate back on it and the same fingers were lower. So, defective pressure plate.

There were some damage from shipping when the clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel arrived. There were some scratches on the pressure plate surface and the clutch had a few rough spots around the outer edge. It didn't seem bad enough to really cause any problems. So, I don't know if it was the damage from shipment or if the pressure plate was defective from the factory.

Anyway, I measured the distances to see if a shim was needed on the slave cylinder and the measurements were where they should be. So, I contacted the place I ordered the clutch kit (Partstaxi.com) via e-mail on Saturday afternoon. I had a response Sunday saying they would be shipping out a new clutch and pressure plate that Monday or Tuesday with a return label for my old clutch. The clutch and pressure plate arrived Saturday before last, but I had my son and couldn't install it until this past Saturday.

I'm happy to report that my car is now up and running and I couldn't be any happier now! I would really like to thank Kim at Partstaxi.com for there excellent customer service and standing behind the products they sell. I honestly figured I was going to be screwed and have to order a new one. So, that made my month! It's nice to see companies that still look out for their customers. That seems to be a quality that is few and far between.

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions. I'm glad I can come back on here and not have to admit to installing the clutch backwards!

0PartsTaxi.com

Glad everything thing work out on this. Sorry again for the shipping damage. It is rare, but it does happened. We do everything we can to make sure our customers are taken care of. I'll pass on your message to Kimmie. I guess I'll have to let her take that lunch break thing she has been asking for now LOL. Thanks again, and we're all glad we could help.