I've owned this car for 5 years now, it is just about to turn 90K miles. First gear has always been finicky, once in a while, if you're not minding it, sometimes it doesn't engage and it pops out of gear accelerating from a dead stop. When I pulled the car out of winter storage this spring, I noticed 2nd gear took a little effort to get it in when the car was cold.

I took it to the dealer last week for a full service, and asked them to change out the gear oil and the transmission fluid. When I told the service manager what I was experiencing, he mentioned one of the cylinders might be shot. I had them change the fluids anyway to see if that made a difference, and just a few days later, it has gotten much worse.

Now there is about an inch of play at the top of the pedal, and the clutch is engaging just barely off the floor. Saturday, the pedal stuck down on me and I had to pull it up with my toe. I am pretty convinced this is the master cylinder, and am leaning toward replacing it myself with the Tick product. I put the car up on jack stands today and located the quick connect on the slave, and the cylinder itself just through the firewall.

I'm no mechanic, but I do have a good selection of tools and some moxy.. I have a machine shop that owes me favors that could drill the pedal mount. The only thing that really worries me is the slave. When you disconnect the brass fitting, what stops it from leaking out introducing air into the slave? I'm not fond of pulling down the H pipe and the torque tube cover to get to the bleeder. My jack stands don't give me enough clearance for that, and I think the 25 year old bolts on the cats are going to all break off as soon as I hit them with the impact. So, has anyone done this job without having to bleed the slave? And is it as straight forward as it looks?

Thanks for the look!

D

I’ll let others chime in on this Tick vs OEM debate — there are fans both ways — but will note that the quick disconnect between master and slave has plugs both ways to prevent fluid loss and most air entrapment.
Fingers crossed it is your master.

Thanks for your response. I take it this isn't a very popular DIY job.

I drove about 20 miles today and at the end of the drive, the pedal was sticking to the floor on every single shift. I decided at 90K, a clutch upgrade was due. I ordered an Exedy Stage 1 Organic kit with the steel flywheel, the Tick master, and a new GM OEM slave. I plan on doing a HCI upgrade later this year, so I am thinking this clutch will have good street manners and be able to handle the extra 100 HP to the wheels.

If I had fewer miles, based on your input, I think I would have just replaced the master and gone from there. Being this is a 24 year-old car, I am going to do all three.

Cheers!

D

Actually, I was suspecting this is where you would end up, and just hoping you wouldn’t have to.
The problem with a clutch change is how quickly it takes on a life of its own. You have to change the slave cylinder and pilot bearing, and since you’re this far in not changing the rear main seal would just be silly. Plus the lack of a reasonable bleed capability causes some of these issues, so a remote bleeder is a must. Torque tube couplers are 20 year old molded rubber — do we not at least look at them since we’re investigating 10+ hours to be in the neighborhood?

OH how true REDZG speaks! PLEASE also consider that you will (should) have the new fly wheel / pressure plate assy MATCHED BALANCED to the balance of the old assy. Otherwise, you could have unwanted vibrations. A new master cylinder is a must. DO NOT FORGET to match mark the flywheel to the end of the crank! There is NO locating dowel and original flywheel clocking is critical for balance!!!
For a HC install, Ide opt for a TIC Master for the adjustability.
If you are installing an aftermarket clutch INSURE that you take the required measurements to figure out if you need to install a slave cyl shim and what thickness it should be!

Failure to do these tips could have you doing the job TWICE OR MORE!

Some MORE while you are in there things to do:

Differential output shaft seals.
Differential Belleview springs/clutches
Rear main seal


BC

I lost my mind and just ordered the HCI package, too. The engine is being pulled out of the car over the weekend, so I will replace the both the front and rear main seals, the oil pump, upgrade the timing chain to like an LS2 dual roller, and then install that new Exedy with the engine out of the car. I also ordered an ATI balancer and might as well pin the crank. At that point, I will get an up-close and personal look at that torque tube. My wife is going to kill me.. lol

Why in the world would GM not have used dowels? I am pulling the engine out for a HCI upgrade, so I won't be dropping the rear end. The rear main will definitely be in that process, but having the transmission fluid and gear oil changed at the dealer last week, they didn't see any issues in the 20 year old fluid they pulled out. Crossing my fingers it all will hold together with the 100 more WHP I am throwing at it.

D

I’m a little confused mate…why does the engine have to come out for head, cam, and intake? If it is…dropping the rear end craddle and tube are childs play and maybe another 2 hours labor added on. I say this becuase…in order to pull the engine…the torque tube and bell housing gotta be pulled.

Spend money once. As you are paying for labor… Do it all now or else you’ll be back again and spending good money twice. If you yonna blow the car apart…fix everything your wallet will allow. The added power will always find the weakest link…and thats no fun.

JOE How very true that is!! I did a heads cam install on my 02 ZO6 (engine in the car) and I even installed ARP HEAD STUSD! Oh,, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND using head studs vise the TTY (torque to yield) bolts. There are sooooo many things that I did to prevent the "I love my job so much I did it twice " rule. Oh,, WHY go thru the expense of ARP Studs??? LOL!
Ive seen TWO cases personally and herd of a lot more where the TTY Head Bolts STRIP out if the block while finial torqueing. The two outer head bolts are the worst for this issue for some reason. NASTY!!
Studs help eliminate that occurrence. If I am EVER involved in doing a head install job for myself or someone, I wont do it unless they use Studs.

NOTE 1 CAUTION!! When reinstalling the heads, Make absolutely positively sure (check twice) that the head bolt holes are 100% dry and clean. The head bolt holes are BLIND HOLES and if there is any water/coolant, dirt in the hole, the head bolt will crack the block due to hydro locking the head bolt before its fully seated! I use long Q Tips to check for water/coolant. I use a cut off wheel and cut slots in one of the old TTY bolts so I can run it into each bolt hole to clean out all the threads in the head bolt holes.

OP

What lifters are you going to use? What Pushrods and are you going to use?
Are you going to measure them for the correct length?
Replace ALL of the plastic lifter buckets with new GM buckets!!!
Recommending a trunnion bearing upgrade
Inspect the long trunnion support saddle bar for excessive wear in the trunnion saddles... . I would just replace them as they are wear items and do get sloppy.

BC

Sage advice Bill. I have a thread chaser for this exact reason. I did pony up and buy ARP head bolts instead of studs for my future head swap...but by and large...the studs is the way to go if you can afford it. In my SBC 350 days...stripped bolt holes in heads was never a thing. We never chased bolt holes...barely blew out the antifreeze

There is a lot of things the OP has to consider now that the car is blow apart. It can get spendy quick but bulletproof is always the goal.

Joe

SPENDY VERY QUICKLY! LOL!
You have to remember the Ole Racers Creed

CHEEP / FAST / RELIABLE Pick TWO cause you cant have ALL THREE!

Oh, And then there's the dampener saga. I replaced my junk OEM damper with a Powerbond/Dayco Damper and side pined it to the crank. Also used the ARP Damper Bolt. I also installed an LS2 timing chain with the chain dampener. My block was factory drilled for it. They now make a kit and dampener that doesn't need the block drilled holes for the factory damper.

OP,, What clutch will you be using?? If its aftermarket, make sure that you do all the measurements to determine if you need a slave cyl shim and what thickness it needs to be. DO NOT ASSUME that it needs one or not. That can be a FAILURE in its own! world! The TIC Website has a nice write up on the procedure and they sell the proper shims/shim kit.

I also recommend re- installing the TT ONLY and then installing the Trans/Diff to the TT. Makes the job SO much easier and you dont risk warping your clutch disk by accidently dropping the assembled drive train before its fully inserted into the pilot. bearing.

Man, I could go on for the rest of the day. But, I wont!

BC

The original job was just to replace the clutch, but when I threw the mods at them, the performance shop decided to pull the engine. He didn't want to be working around my fenders, front end, etc. The owner of the shop has an LS swapped RX7. I just pretty much followed his blueprint to power.

These are all great questions. The pushrods, springs, and retainers all come in the BTR kit. I got the titanium upgrade even though I will never rev to 7K. I think the LS1 bottom limit is around 6250.. The only heads I could get quickly were a remanned set of LS1/LS6 243/799s. They already had lifters and springs with them, but I am not sure what they are. They are sending them out for polishing Monday. They are going to pull the springs and retainers out and use the ones that come with the kit.

I am shocked at how hard it is to get parts.. Trick Flows are a 6-month wait, Fast Intakes are a 6-week wait, etc.. I even thought about looking into an LS3 Crate since I am quickly racking up the bill anyway, but even getting a long block will take a couple of months.