Need some help.
Make a long story short I bought a 99 frc H/C/I that the owner said the clutch (mcloed rst) is slipping and would need a new one. Went picked it up and put it in the garage and haven't messed with it until today. I took it down the road and it seems like I have to feather the hell out of the clutch to get it to take off. And after It gets going the car will bog until I reach a certain rpm/speed then it will line out okay. If I let off the gas it'll buck and clank. But if I punch it from 30 mph the car will pull hard as hell. The pedal has to come all the way up before it will fully release the clutch but I still have to give it way more gas then I should have too.
What could this be?
I know it does need a tune so that should solve most of the surging issues but havin to feather the clutch so it doesn't stall has me stumped that it's something else other than the clutch itself.
Any help is appreciated
Thanks

 

Anybody?

 

Your not getting a LOT of replies cause people are having to try to GUESS on the history of the mods.

Some questions that you need to answer:

Who tuned it?

When was it Tuned?

Do you have any DTCs If so,, what are they??? Read them from the DIC.

Intake type? Stock? VARARAM? Hurricane??

Type of intake manifold? OEM, FAST, Holley

Type of Throttle Body? STOCK? LS2?

Miles on engine powertrain??

When was the last time that you cleaned the MAF & Throttle Body

CLUTCH.....

My "GUESS" is, It was installed without the proper "SHIM" thickness behind the slave cylinder. Regardless, you are going to need to pull all of it down and do it over again.

Hope you got a good deal on the car.. Your already into $2000 deep in the wallet between just the clutch and the TUNE!!! And that's doing the work your self!!

A sound recommendation would be to find someone with EFI LIVE or HP-Tuners and have them DATA LOG the PCM. That will tell you how bad the tune is AND, if all the engine sensors are functioning properly.

I'm concerned as to what kind of tune you have (i.e. Speed Density, or stock MAF type Tune) Are you using the O2 Sensors in closed loop and are the sensors responding correctly?? BAD O2 sensors can cause this issue as well as a bad/ dirty MAF. So can a vacuum leak.

What PCV system do you have and is it functioning properly. Is it leaking vacuum???

Its IMPORTANT to properly read and post all the Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) and POST THEM! If there are too many to list, CLEAR ALL of them! Take the car for a nice ride and at the end of the ride, before you shut the engine down READ THE DTCs. Post up what you have.

Then more people will jump in and help ya resolve the issue.

Bill

 

Thanks man. I'll go and try and get the trouble codes read if their is any.
G5x3 cam
Fast 102
Ported 241s
Longtubes
Bigger injectors

The guy who had it before me drove it everyday and then the clutch started slipping ( or that's what he thinks it is) so he decided to sell it. I paid 7k for it by the way. Couldn't get it dyno tuned bc of the clutch.

 

Calloway intake.

 

If the clutch is slipping with the pedal all the way out and you have to go through such gyrations to get the car moving, sounds like either the clutch is burned, worn, or maybe oil soaked from a rear main seal, or leaking slave. Could also be loose bolts PP to flywheel. Who knows for sure. Question to ask the original owner if it ever did right after install, and if so how long ago. It could just be a victim of hard long use.

In any case the drivetrain has to come down to start that troubleshooting. You might look for telltale oil drips as a check, but you are basically at the R&R stage.

 

Ok Ill check for leaks from the slave and such. I know the clutch (mcloed rst) has around 20k on it.
Thanks man.

 

Let's not over think this (like we always do here ) . If it pulls like hell then the clutch isn't slipping. The pedal travel might be off but if the car still pulls hard then the clutch isn't slipping, right ?
Sounds like you have a severe tune issue. Check the codes and call around for a tuner.

 

The rst clutch is a twin disk . Like most race clutches , they grab and stick like hell. It will not feel like your old Honda accord. I bought my 97 with a monster stage 3 clutch all ready installed. Worst thing ever ! It was like a on/off switch. Feather it to death to get off the line in traffic, bucking , squeaking, stalls, but hey it holds 700 HP. I know the twin disk are smoother but with cam surge and a clutch your not use to, it can be a hand full. I put a factory disk back in mine now it's actually fun to drive .
You might want to try and bleed the clutch for a better feel.

 

A quick goggle search shows your cam is 232/240 duration and .600/.610 lift. That's a lot of cam. My guess is you will never be able to just ease off the clutch at 1000rpm and pull away smooth. Your going to make great power up top but sacrifice some bottom end.

 

It pulled hard as hell in second gear and first. Didn't get it over that. I'll try and bleed the clutch and see if that helps. To rule out the master can t I remove the hose that connects to the slave? And if the pedal is hard the master is good. If it's soft then master is bad?
Thanks alot for everyone's help so far

 

Here us all the DTC codes I pulled up

SDM 58
B1001H
U1000H
U1016H
U1096H

BO RFA
U1096H
U1064H
U1016H
C2120H

 

And I can't tell what kind of throttle body I have. If it's stock or aftermarket.
The injectors are green tops skm.I'm figuring they are 42lb injectors.

 

If the car (the OP doesn't say) has an adjustable clutch master cylinder, such as a Tick (for example), that may be one good place to start looking, in addition to the other things mentioned.

Btw, the McLeod RST is NOT a "on-off" clutch. It has excellent street manners/driveability and mine is not a hand full in the least.

 

If you have a remote bleeder, bleeding the clutch is always the very first place to start.

Then you have to ask,, what MASTER CYLINDER do you have??

Stock GM??

OR

TICK??

If you have a TICK Master, you can adjust the peddle actuator rod length to set your Master Cyl piston stroke. When I first adjusted mine I started out with the rod fully collapsed and expanded it until I started to get piston stroke. Then you lengthen it until the clutch disk and the pressure plate are no longer making contact (PROPER AIR GAP) Then I just gave it an additional 1/2 turn on the adjustment rod.

I have a SPEC Twin Disk clutch and it has never been and ON /OFF feel clutch. With the TICK Master the peddle pressure is a little more than I would like but, I well use to it now. The clutch takes all that I can throw at it.

98dropta

Your engine is pretty much a copy of what I have on my 02 Z Same cam specs, injectors, FAST 90, VARARAM, LT SS Headers,

Clear all those DTCs and see if they come back.

Let us know what a good bleed does for the clutch.

Bill

 

Thanks bill I give they clutch bleed a go. Not for sure if it's a tick or gm. I'll look under the pedal and should be able to tell and get back on that.

 

sounds to me like the tune has more to do with it than anything, if the car is pulling and rpms aren't jumping up then the clutch probably isn't slipping... the car could possibly have a wot tune and they neglected the driveability part and that could be a cause of the issue... some tuners are lazy and will also turn codes off instead of fixing the root cause so even if something is wrong it won't trip the ses light and it will not register in the dic either, you really need to have someone look it over in my opinion... $7k for an frc with mods is a steal granted it is in decent shape so the previous owner probably knew something was wrong

 

Yea im gonna have to find out all the mods so I can send it in for a baseline mail order tune then get it dyno tuned.
Did just find out it has a tick master cylinder in it so that's a plus. It's a nice *** car for 7k. Needs a little work but only what I'm discussing now. I knew I was getting a project when I got it that maybe needed a clutch and def a tune. Body is perfect and interior is a 9/10. I just can't seem to figure out what tb I have bolted to the fast 102.

 

That's an early LS2 OEM TB. That's what will bolt to it. The LS1/6 TB will NOT fit the FAST manifolds or the C6 OEM manifolds.

Heres a comparison shot of the LS1/6 and LS2:







I ported both

 

not to hijack, but we have the same taste in colors!


Sure sounds like a tune issue


A good diagnosis would be to just run it on a dyno and see of the clutch holds up. Then go find the right tuner.