Hey guys, I picked up a good pre-used clutch from a forum member.. The pucks still have tons of life left (barely used).. The flywheel and PP barely show signs of heat or anything..

I'm not going to have it resurfaced as I dont want to worry about having to shim it. I am however wondering if it would do anything, good or bad, to use my DA and a sanding disk and just "clean it up a little".. In my head it makes me feel better to sand it down and make it pretty but am I actually helping it in any way?? Am I hurting anything by doing this?? Everyone talks about having it turned but havent seen anyone clean it up with sandpaper.. maybe there is a reason for that

Oh its a 700OZ Zgrip if that matters, Previous owner states it has 5k miles.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-p...-5k-miles.html

 

Are these parts, GM parts, are they balanced??? If they are factory parts the flywheel was balanced from the factory for the Car it came out of, not your car... the used clutch paret have to be balanced as a unit then you have to take the weight out of your existing flywheel and put them in the used flywheel .in the exact same place as your original flywheel provided the used parts are factory.

 

Its a Textralia OZ700 clutch and billet steel flywheel.. Nothing stock is going back in...

 

Good luck with it... the engine is externaly balance as a rotating assembly, adding weights to the flywheel. You have to ask yourself why the original guy went through all the trouble to put that clutch in , and then take it out so quickly doubling the cost to install. Obviously there was something about the clutch that was not right, and now you have it. IM being a little harsh with you on purpose.. do you really want to invest in an install ( 8 to 12 hours ), the time and cost,,, and then maybe have to do it all over again, when you are displeased as the original owner.

 

I put in an aftermarket clutch and did all the reading about the balance from the factory before hand and how I needed to remove and re-install the weights. I did NOT remove the weights from the factory clutch and put them on the aftermarket clutch.

I do not have any problems with balance of the system.

Aftermarket clutchs are very common for any modded vehicle. If the clutch was working properly for the previous owner it should do the same for you.

FYI - I have a spec twin disc clutch.

 

Hit it with some sandpaper, blow it off and throw it in! If you don't like it, it is just one more weekend of getting to know your car.

If you are paying to have it installed, I have no comment.

 

2GOFAST


QUOTE "If the clutch was working properly for the previous owner it should do the same for you."

That statement is so far from the truth that I have to comment!!
If your OEM flywheel has off set balance pins installed, there is a reason GM put them there. C5 MN6 & MN12 drivetrains are MUCH more sensitive to drivetrain out of balance conditions than a C5 with a torque converter.
Your manual transmission engine goes thru additional steps at the factory to get the engine closer to zero balance to eliminate any drive train vibrations. They add balance pins to the fly wheel and dampener to get the engine VERY CLOSE to zero balance!

ET is giving you excellent advice. Find all the post where people are having SEVERE vibrations around 1500-2500 RPMs and paid ZERO attention to what other people recommended on balance matching the external weights to the new fly wheel. Find the people who no longer have the OEM fly wheel and have to pay an outside company lots of money to find out where the out of balance is on the fly wheel to correct it. .

I agree,, some people throw in a flywheel/ disk and pressure plate and have ZERO issues. Once you experience bad drivetrain vibrations, you will wish you would have done the work correctly the first time..

I had ONE pin installed in my OEM flywheel and I worried about more than damn pin and the balance than I care to explain!!! I went out of my way to get the balance right on the new aftermarket SPEC.. I had my new SPEC Dual Disk flywheel balanced matched to the offset of the old flywheel. I have ZERO vibrations.

I actuall ran the engine with just the flywheel installed to make sure that the balance job was correct!!! Please ecxuse the low light picture 10:00PM at night

CLICK ON MOVIE TO PLAY





Another critical note is: DO YOU or DO YOU NOT need a slave cylinder shim??????????? Hmmmmm.. The "ONLY" way to know for sure is to conduct the critical measurements of the slave cylinder to the face of the torque tube and clutch fingers to the face of the bell housing and see what the air gap really is. If it too big,, you need shims... It shouldn’t be too tight but only measuring will prove that true.

If you don’t measure and the air gap is wrong,,, you could burn up the clutch or damage the throw out bearing. If you don’t balance off set balance the new aftermarket fly wheel,, toss the coin and see what you get!

Bill

 

I am doing the install and I was going to measure the slave.. I had already planned that.. However I am really wondering about this balance issue.. I have put several clutches in LS1 FBody cars with no issues ever.. I would think that a company making $1000 clutches would advice customers of this issue.. From what I am gathering is that I either need to use the stock flywheel and will have no issue or I need to pay a bunch of money to have the new flywheel balanced?? (which I have no idea who would do that around here)

Also, The clutch came from a reputable source, it was installed in a car that was returned to stock before selling.. the clutch caused no issues with the previous owner.. I wouldnt have bought it if I didnt do any homework on it..

 

Examine your OEM flywheel. If it doesn't have off set weights in the holes on the edge of the flywheel,,,,,,,, you are golden!

If it does, find an automotive machine shop in your area and ask them if they can balance flywheels. Ask them if they cam MATCH BALANCE the new one to the old one. Any machine shop worth their weight in salt should be able to do that job.

You could have paid $5000 for a clutch and the company can be world famous. If the aftermarket flywheel assy is perfectly zero balanced and your engine needs XX grams of off set at a specific degree on the flywheel to be perfectly balanced, you will be XX grams off balance.

If all those back in the day F body's didn't have any off set pins in the flywheel,, throwing in a off the shelf clutch will not present any issues. Your were very lucky. Maybe F Bodies ( without "TORQUE TUBES") are NOT as sensitive as Y cars.

I am NOT trying to scare or brow beat you... Just arm you with all the information that I have been able to collect and successfully use.



BC

 

And the info is gracefully accepted and appreicated.. I will certainly take another look at the flywheel.. Luckily my father works as a welder at a local machine shop so I suspect they would tackle the job if necessary