95_4door

Ok, to start off with, I have searched and am not coming up with the same situation as the one I'm having.

I've got a 2001 Camaro Z28. It has the LS1 and T56. It has ls2 heads, ls6 intake, and a tsp trqr v3 cam. I just put a new crank, cam, and bearings in it. I also put a new clutch in it while it was apart.
Now I am having a problem. I've tired many different ways of bleeding the clutch. The traditional 2 man method, which works, but you can't tell if you are getting any air out. I went thru more than a half quart of fluid this way. I've tried the vacuum method and got a little bit of air out.
The clutch works good for a few shifts, then seems to loose pressure, and I have to pump the clutch to get it into gear. I honestly think it is a slave cylinder issue. I disconnected the clutch hose at the quick disconnect at the slave and tried to press the clutch pedal, but it didn't budge, so the master is good right?
Also, When traditional bleeding, when I open the bleeder and the clutch pedal drops that little bit, it wont return by itself at all. I have to pull the pedal back up. I have to do this for the first 3-8 pumps of the pedal before it will return itself. This is the real problem. Is this in any way related to the slave or is there another problem also?

MR_M

iTrader: (5)

Are you on the stock master cylinder? Sounds like it still has or is pulling air. If you haven't got one already, it would be a worthwhile investment to get a Tick master cylinder especially with your mods. Changing out the master will be your best bet to fix the issue right now since there isn't much work involved in changing it out (won't have to drop the trans like the slave cyl).

andrewss

iTrader: (1)

I had this problem before, make sure the bleeder valve is tightened all the way, it,s a bitch to get at! Another thing I tried was after bleeding, I would get a piece of wood about 3ft long, push the clutch pedal to the floor and prop the wood against the sit to hold it to the floor over night.

95_4door

The master holds pressure no problem. With the line disconnected from the slave, I can press the pedal and it doesn't budge. And there are no air bubbles rising into the reservior.
As far as the bleeder screw, I double checked it and it was tight.
Also, when I was under it with the bleeder, after the pedal was held, I could hear the slave releasing a bit. I can't tell if it is leaking or not because of all the fluid from bleeding it.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

What clutch is in the car?

95_4door

It is an aftermarket clutch from Advance Auto. It is an ls7 clutch set. It came with a matched flywheel.

I changed out the fluid today to some 600* boiling point fluid. I was thinking it could possibly be that since lately when cold, it goes into gear just fine and once it warms up, it fights ya a bit. I figured since the line isn't too far away from the header, it wouldn't hurt. I gravity bled it, but now have to actually bleed it because it is a bit hard to get into gear. I will check it in the morning and see.

My next step I think will be replacing the master?

95_4door

So I put a new master in it last night. I bench bled it before I put it on. I gravity bled it and then used the mighty vac and created a vacuum thru the reservior. I have a hell of a time getting the pedal to return itself. I fought with it for about 30 minutes before I got teh pedal to return on its own. I don't know what to do next. I'm frustrated and had to take a break, so any input would be great.

jmd

iTrader: (4)

JMD Method gets the air out.

The problem with running fluid from bleeder into the system and out the reservoir is the line attaches to the bottom of the slave. You can't bleed a system anywhere but from it's top.

95_4door

So I pulled the master cylinder back off to do the drill mod to the line. It is already done. A 1/8" drillbit fits right in.
So now I will put it all back together and try bleeding it with the jmd method.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

I honestly think the clutch is slipping slightly and the diaphragm springs are getting weak and not allowing full disengagement at your power level.

95_4door

Its a brand new ls7 clutch package.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Did you break it in?

95_4door

I haven't had a chance to break it in, I can't get it bled good enough to drive.

Now I got everything back together, but I can't get the pedal to return by itself at all. It will sit about 2 inches off the floor and I have to physically pull it up the rest of the way every time. I pumped it for probably 50 times and it still hasn't returned all the way by iteslf.
So, its got a new master, the drill mod is already done, I even checked to make sure the pedal return spring was still there, which it was. Once the pedal gets past "that certain point", it springs all the way back up.
Any help would be appreciated. It's really frustrating me.

95_4door

Ok, so after more toying around, I got the pedal to return by itself. I took the return spring off. So now I got to figure out why it is binding with the spring in place.

I still have air in the line somewhere. I've spent hours trying to bleed it with no luck. There were a few times that I thought I had it, until I took it for a drive. I think I am just going to take it to the trans shop tomorrow and have them bleed it. Just to get it done.

got-a-ls1

iTrader: (12)

interesting... this could be done with a speed bleeder line with no mods gonna try it.

95_4door

So i took it to the trans shop today. After a couple of hours of bleeding and inspecting, we came to the conclusion that the clutch needs shimmed. I didn't even think about measuring before I put everything back together.
So I got the trans back out and took some measurements. There is a difference of 9/32 inch between the throwout bearing fully depressed and the pressure plate fingers.
I've looked around and am getting a couple of different answers...What is the measurement supposed to be? I've read 1/16" to 1/8" and 1/8" to 1/4". Which one??
I think I'm gonna get a 1/8" spacer and see how that is.
Any input?

SIC LSX

iTrader: (10)

its a auto zone ls7 clutch?? if so big mistake!!!!!

95_4door

Nope. Not an a/z clutch. I wouldnt send even my worst enemy there to buy parts.
it is a zoom setup. I called them and they said that none of their components require shimming.

95_4door

Well I got it fixed. Thank you to everyody that helped me out. This is a great site and I will definitely be back.
I replaced the master cylinder with an aftermarket one and it fixed the problem. The new slave it slightly different than the stock one. I took some measurements and with the throw out bearing fully depressed onto the slave, the tob sticks out an additional ~1/8".
So I took more measurements and now only have a gap of .2 cm between the tob fully depressed the clutch fingers, which is between the 1/16" and 1/8".
I couldn't believe it. After fighting with the trans for about 5 hours to go in, I decided to not be so nice about it and make the m-fer go in. After about 10 minutes of that, I got it to slide all the way in. I finished bolting everything up and bleeding the clutch. I put the shifter back on and started it up. It went right into gear, even reverse with no problems at all. woohoo.
So now I have a .050 flywheel shim and a .125 slave cylinder shim if anybody needs them.