drifter5674

Just bought a 1996 Corvette LT4 Collector edition 157000 miles.
Clutch slipping should I replace it with auto parts store clutch or somebody got a better clutch suggestion.
No rattles, noise or rough engagement. Just slips under hard acceleration. Especially in higher gears
Should I just replace the clutch disk or go with kit? Clutch disc, pressure plate throw out bearing and pilot shaft bushing.
Anybody tried a roller bearing pilot shaft bushing or just go back with the normal bushing?

Don't know if it still has dual mass flywheel or not.
It is however whisper quite in neutral and all gears.

Kevova

You will want to replace pressure plate with disc, usually clutch kit comes with atleast disc. pressure plate, and alignment tool some will come with pilot bearing/ bushing. Flywheel will increase cost of kit. At 150k should be the original stuff. As long as no scoring or major damage from heat checking flywheel should be able to be reused. Clean with brake cleaner and scuff with medium sand paper. Throw out bearing should be replaced also just as PM

mtwoolford

I would NOT under any circumstances consider just replacing the clutch disc.

"auto parts store clutch":? you'll be sorry; you don't want to cheap out here; changing clutches on these cars is labor intensive and you only want to do it once; for an idea of what's available and to keep the oem pull type clutch set up, go to the SPEC website; they have every imaginable clutch / flywheel combo.

The oem pilot bearing is a roller bearing; the whole idea behind bronze bushings is that it the pilot bearing does fail, it won't tear up the end of the transmission input shaft.

drifter5674

Do you think any auto parts store clutch, pressure plate and throw out bearing will be ok?
How about roller bearing pilot bushing.
Been years since I replaced a clutch. Auto parts store was about the only option back then

MatthewMiller

These days every pressure plate replacement is sourced from China, probably from the same casting molds. No matter what they say, there's no evidence that a SPEC plate or any other is any different or better than the cheapest auto parts store plate (except that Centerforce attaches weights to the diaphragm fingers, but they have a bad habit of coming off). If the OP has an OE Valeo plate in the car now, I'd recommend that he find a shop that knows how to resurface pressure plates (gotta cut the pedestals the same amount as the friction surface) and reuse it.

I've been advised that the bronze bushing is a better option, for the reason you mentioned as well as it being more durable. When I replaced my clutch, the roller bearing pilot bearing came out in many small pieces.

drifter5674

I figured any kind of bearing failure would eat the pilot shaft. Been more than 30 years since I put a clutch in anything. And auto parts store parts aren't what they used to be. Lot of clutch options for clutch kits on line, but I didn't know anything about them. Figured I would get advice from someone that had already replaced a Vette clutch.
Vette's are like women. Moody and finnicky so its best not to do anything to upset them on purpose. LOL

confab

LUK is good. Sachs is good.

I install LUK exclusively for stock replacement applications here and the quality is very good.

Beware the autozone/advance clutches! The "Lifetime Warranty" isn't reflective of the quality of the part. It's how long you'll be messing with it thereafter.

I don't deal with DM flywheels much. I can say I have never replaced one with another.

Everyone I deal with wants a solid flywheel.. But this is an AG area and I do trucks and SUV's most of the time. Those guys do not mess with DM flywheels. They just replace them.

confab

PS: All of the pilots I've seen are roller now.. When they fail they can damage the input shaft.

I never saw that damage with the sintered bronze bushings.

Are they better? Don't know.. I never measured one for wear at high mileage.

I know they didn't wipe out input shafts.

VikingTrad3r

I just did an L98 with a sachs setup from RA. i used the busing that came with the kit, it was copper/brass coloured and so was the one i took out. Also did the rear main seal as it pretty easy to do while u r there.

mtwoolford

Kevova

IDK about China supplying everyones pressure plates. Valeo is sold by Rock Auto 251.00 not too pricey.

confab

Be sure to check for leaking oil.. If you get it wet, it doesn't matter what brand clutch you install.

MatthewMiller

And that new Valeo is made in China too. The molds that they used in the US and Brazil to make the good OE plates no longer exist. The only molds for those castings in the world are now in China.

Worse yet is the throwout bearing, in my experience. They are all also made in China now, unlike the discontinued OE bearings that were made in Germany by INA. And the Chinese ones are hot garbage. That's actually what failed on my SPEC kit: it blew the seal and sent grease onto the disk's friction material. The second time around, I found an OE Valeo plate modified by GM for its World Challenge cars (lighter and more clamping force) and a genuine new-in-box INA bearing.

Krusty84

The Luk 04-142 disc, plate and pilot bushing kit with alignment tool is $245.21 @ Amazon.

Summit has it for $258.99 and they will match Amazon.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/luk-04-142

VikingTrad3r

and fwiw the sachs i just installed said made in brazil on it.

MatthewMiller

On the part itself? If so, it must have been sitting on the shelf for a very long time. That is a real find! So to be clear, if anyone finds a pressure plate for the ZF6 application that says "made in US" or "made in Brazil," buy it! Those will be considerably better than anything being made currently, which all comes from China.

PS - It's not that Chinese factories can't make good products. They can, if the company that specs the part pays enough attention and oversees the process. It's just that parts are often sourced from China to hit a price point, and in most of those cases the specs and oversight aren't there.

VikingTrad3r

Sorry Matt i dont wantbto mislead: mine was for an L98! 4+3

MatthewMiller

Dammit! You had my hopes up for minute. Turns out that there is no Sachs clutch kit or p/p for a ZF6-equipped C4. So yeah, back to my original statement: no replacement p/p or bearing currently being produced comes from any source other than China, and none of those are high quality...regardless of the brand on the box.

ETA: I think the supply situation for "old-school" push-type clutches like the 4+3 is quite different. That's such a ubiquitous design that there are probably still multiple manufacturers out there. Also, the situation for their throwout bearings is probably different, too.

cv67

We dont have much of a choice nowadays, even parts on brand new cars is imported junk.
Summit still sells the GM pilot bushing thats oil impregnated, learned about cheaping out there the hard way.
Test fit them first before driving them in and dont try and pull the trans in to the bellhousing with the tranny bolts. Good luck

drifter5674

I checked out the SPEC website. Do you think a stage one SPEC clutch kit will be comparable to original clutch?