heavymetals

iTrader: (3)

As I said, the pressure plate was not mentioned, I did not know if it was new or used or what was in there already.

I checked on Gripforce and the # of complaints are very few.

I sympathize with you on pulling the trans.

I pulled mine twice.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Ah ok. I would never think to buy a disc without a pressure plate. I actually might contact Gripforce about a possible warranty. I figure it's worth a shot.

rand49er

Yeah, I know that, but what was it about the pressure plate that made it bad?

heavymetals

iTrader: (3)

I would like to know to.

Just for S&G's.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I just checked out Gripforce's website and there's no way in hell they would do warranty. Basically if you open the package, you're done, so never mind about that.

And now that I think about it, I actually do know a local guy who works in his dad's shop. They do a lot of LS work, so maybe I can drop the pressure plate off with him some time.

I drove to work today and it was glorious. Clutch works perfectly, no weird noises, and seems to hold power just fine. I didn't want to bang on it, but I revved it out to 4k in 3rd at near 100% throttle and there was so slippage. With the flywheel being recently resurfaced, and not being beat on, I really think I can get another 50k miles out of the disc. At the first sign of weakening, I'll be sure to order a whole new setup, though.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

May not be worth anything, but here's what the setup in question looks like:

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Update.

Unfortunately, this story does not have a happy ending. Over the course of the last couple weeks, the pedal has gotten progressively stiffer. As of now, it's not quite as stiff as the C6 clutch, but definitely not as soft as stock and it's starting to bother my leg again. I guess the flywheel could be a few hundredths of an inch out of alignment and cause something like this??? Now I am really out of ideas and really not sure what to do.

Sssnake

Rev to 3500 rpm, dump clutch, and report back.

heavymetals

iTrader: (3)

WOW, you must have some bad karma.

At this point you know that replacing the pressure plate "fixed" it.

Hydraulics have been eliminated.

The flywheel is a used(?) part right?

Depending on how much you want to spend, I would order a new flywheel and get the whole thing balanced before install.

If the assembly is cockeyed the thing that comes to mind is the throwout bearing having to push on the pressure plate fingers at an angle.

Now you know why beer was invented.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

I will report back that I blew up a CV, hah.

Yes, flywheel was bought from a member on here with unknown mileage and I had it resurfaced. An OEM Luk flywheel from Rock Auto is $60 + shipping, which is no biggie. I'm just hesitant on getting another clutch before figuring this out. Would be nice if I could buy someone's used clutch just to verify. The problem being that it's apparently not verified until at least 2 weeks of driving if not more.

isis

iTrader: (1)

If it were me, I might erase these threads, sell it, and buy one with similar mileage and more common problems.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Naw, if I were to sell it private party, I'd tell the buyer what was up. Plus, this thread doesn't have any damning evidence in it. It's nothing I broke...it's just parts being weird. Not like I said "Welp, I stripped out all the flywheel bolt holes...sucks for the next guy!"

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Still driving this pile with no change. The muscles below my calf are really irritated, though, so I'm getting more motivated to figure something out. I'm getting an alignment at a race shop this Tuesday, and I figured I'd leave the C6 pressure plate with them to see if anything sticks out. So far, I've only found one other person with a similar issue, but he's not interested in fixing his because he only races it. That leaves me with no solid recommendations/options...

I was considering getting the Mantic ER2 clutch, which does not have self-adjusting fingers...pair that with a brand new, high quality flywheel, and maybe I'll get lucky? $800 shipped, which is not pocket change, but worth every penny if it makes my car enjoyable.

L672LS6V

I feel your pain with grip force, I bought an LS7 Luk kit from them and the Pressure Plate fingers jammed into the clutch plate after 200 miles and I bought a kit I can't use due to a defective part...be careful who you buy a new set up from, and make sure they'll warranty their product

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

This doesn't appear to be Gripforce's fault since my stock clutch is doing the same thing. Depending on what the shop can figure out about the pressure plate, I might try to reuse it with a new flywheel.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Took my car in for an alignment today at BlackJack Speed Shop (owned by Tim Duncan, the basketballer), and brought the C6 clutch along with me. They took a quick look at it and said there isn't anything wrong with it. They also had never heard of a clutch getting stiff over time, so I basically just sound insane to everyone. Still haven't decided what to buy next.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Update!

Hopped in the car to go home from work and I immediately noticed that the pedal was about 20% softer (but still 15-20% stiffer than stock) and that it was going into gear a little more smoothly. It was like this the whole way home, so I while I am happy that it halfway fixed itself, I'm even more confused. Perhaps the pressure plate has been adjusting itself this whole time and the fingers finally are at a point where it's near stock. I wouldn't be surprised if it stiffened back up, though.

RockyBalboa

Bringing this back to life, reading all this without knowing the outcome is a cliff-hanger.

Has this issue been figured out or did you sell the car for an auto?

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

There is no outcome. It did stiffen back up a little as expected. My motor is currently being rebuilt after finding cam bearing damage and such. Turns out 3 or 4 pistons had decent scuffing on them for whatever reason. I decided to give the shop my C6 clutch for them to do the pressure plate reset on as well as balance the entire assembly with the motor. It might make a difference, so we'll see. Won't have the car back together for a little while, though.

bmylez

iTrader: (3)

Time to bump this again. I will recap for those who don't want to sift through the other pages:

- Stock clutch and everything was working fine in Nov 2014.

- Installed philistine Tilton master cylinder in Nov 2014 and noticed increase in pedal pressure, but it's hard to remember how much.

- Installed new C6/LS7 clutch with resurfaced flywheel in Dec. 2014. With the new clutch, it started becoming more apparent that the pedal was a lot stiffer than it should be.

- After a couple months of driving, my calf started to bother me.

- Exchanged master cylinders two times with philistine. All yielded the same pedal pressure.

- Installed new OEM master cylinder in Apr or May 2015. The first week of driving was great with stock pedal feel and *better* disengagement. I then did another clutch bleed the next weekend to account for any stray air.

- 3 weeks later, I noticed that the pedal was a little stiffer than the previous week. By the end of the week, it basically felt like the same stiffness as before.

- Both sides of the quick disconnect fitting are new.

- Clutch pedal spring is broken and removed.

2/29/2016
Now that my rebuilt motor is back in, I have a new OEM C6 flywheel and the same C6 clutch and slave. Pedal still feels the same, and I finally had a gearhead friend of mine give his opinion on it (has a bolt-on STi, a big turbo RX-7, and an auto-x Miata). He said the clutch does not feel normal in any way and that it definitely has a weird give to it at the last 20% of the stroke and also springs back too hard at that same point when letting off the clutch.

Am I insane to think that something with the auto-adjusting pressure plate is causing this seeing as the pedal softened up when I went back to an OEM master cyl (less stroke, therefore causing the pressure plate to adjust out to meet it) and it also did the same thing when I put the stock clutch back in (fingers were adjusted for old master cyl, not new one, so slightly different stroke).

Another theory, grasping at straws, is there is something out of alignment in the transmission just a bit...the input shaft or slave mounting surface?? Neither of those make a whole lot of sense, but what else could cause the pedal to bind up like that...