Well, I just took my car out for some cruising and as I was coming to a stop sign I put her in neutral and the clutch pedal went 'thump' to the floor... as dead as a doornail. You could see where the line looks like it's touching the manifold and the heat wrap is eaten thru. Clutch fluid is all gone dripping on the ground. At least I was only a mile from home and made it back in 1st gear...

Anyone know how much a line is going to be from the dealer...?

 

Shoot, that ain't good. What does that mean for Sunday? Heck, I don't think the cost of the line will be the problem. I suspect it's the PITA of getting up under there and replacing it.

 

That must have been weird to drive. Sounds like it's gonna be a pain to replace!

 

When the C6 first came out a shop installed headers on a members car. The clutch line melted and started a fire. Their was a lot of fire damage and the C6 was sent to the Chev dealer for repair.

I see you have headers so your lucky it only leaked.

 

Sunday is still on. Just 'cause I won't have my car doesn't mean everyone else should suffer. Your right, the line can't be more and a hundred and change, but it's gonna be a beotch to replace it...


No headers, just turbo manifolds with turbos attatched to them... Luckily no fire...

 

I just emailed Gene Culley @ GM Parts House to see if he has a new line in stock. We will try and move the new one as far away from the manifold as possible before we load it up with heat wrap, and maybe try and make a mini heat sheild for the line...

 

There isn't much extra length on the stock line. Dynatech headers come with a bracket to pull the clutch line to the fenderwell/firewall to allow some space and air movement around the line.

 

I used to have Dynatch headers... I wonder if the bracket is still on there...? Either way, I need to get this done. The car can't be down for more than the next week. I'm waiting for Gene to get back to me on the part...

 

If the stock part isn't long enough you might try a local air/hydraulics shop for a custom length line.

I don't envy you bleeding the new assembly, the stock setup for bleeding is really awkward and time consuming.

 

Thanks for the post- I'm going to check clearance btw clutch line and headers now!

 

I thought you have the APS Tom. If you do, then a new stock line won't work, you'll need the APS section that goes in when the turbos are installed. The APS section is rubber with a steel braid cover, which is then covered up by an orange heat shield of sorts.

Here is a pic from their web site.

 

Are you effing kidding me?! If I need that part from APS, it's going to take forever to get... Do I have to drop the turbo/manifold to swap it in...?

 

Yeah, I'm afraid so. You can probably get one from Geoff at Next Level. Just a guess. If not, then you'll have to order it from APS direct. As far as dropping the turbo out, its a pain, but thats what it takes.

 

It will likely be faster to find a good hydraulics place that can make custom lines. Also I'd purchase bleeder from Charlie@RPM.


Mike

 

Great, this effing blows. First I gotta take all this stuff out to assess the damage. From there, I will get a custom line made so this will NEVER happen again. To top it all off, it needs to be done by the 20th of the month!


BTW- the APS orange line is wrapped in another layer of metalic heat wrap... this may have been the catalyst... we'll see once it's all out...

 

i assume the 20th rush is for funfest?

 

Funfest? No, just some local events that are very important to me...

Monday, I am going to call the shop that did the turbo kit install and see what they will do for me...

 

Just curious, if the car was in neutral and the clutch system completely failed at that point, how the heck did you get the car into 1st gear and drive off? I've heard of other members with total clutch failure and still being able to drive home somehow... always wondered about this. I'd really like to know so that the day my slave cylinder fails, I'll be able to drive home.

I suppose if the car is in neutral and you get someone to push the car along at 10 or 20 mph (or start rolling down a hill, etc), perhaps you can just shove it into 1st or 2nd and you'll be off and running....? Not sure how else you'd do it. Must have been a b*tch when you had to come to a near stop.

Several times I've actually accidentally attempted to shift into 1st gear from a stop WITHOUT pressing down on the clutch pedal... the shifter would NOT go into first... at all. I'm glad this was the case or I would have lurched forward an stalled, not so good for the tranny either... again, it puzzles me how you got the car into gear and drove off without a functioning clutch hydraulic system. My guess is that you had to get the car rolling first.

 

I can only assume you can either shove it in 1st or start it in first and start jerking down the street for a few feet

 

I hope the shop who installed the kit can help you out. I was down for a while with mine last Spring for a turbo replacement so I know how bad it can be to get parts. I think Rick Voss, and FastBlackTA, had some clutch line problems with theirs. You might PM them and see what they had to do. The silver heat tape wasn't part of the install instructions. I wouldn't think that would cause the problem, but I don't have it, and I followed the instructions as best I could. Mine looks like the orange stuff in the pic.