jbrockwell

iTrader: (2)

Hey Guys.

This isn't the first time I've installed a clutch on an F-body but it is damn well the most painful.

Swapping a 2001 SS M6 from a stock clutch to a Spec stage 3 clutch (Part# SC093), billet aluminum flywheel(SC75a), new throw out and pilot bearings along with an OEM replacement slave cylinder. All of these came in the same package from spec, with the pressure plate, friction disk, and flywheel all bolted together nice nice.

So here's my problem. Flywheel bolted up, all bolts torqued to spec ~70ft/lbs. Friction disk aligned with tool and pressure plate bolted up and torqued to spec ~54 ft/lbs. Slave cylinder bolted in with NO shim in place (will explain later). Bell housing bolted in and torqued. The trans is perfectly in line with everything on the engine/clutch/bell housing side, however, the trans will not meet flush with the bellhousing. It is off by about 1/2"-3/4".

Looking through this crack I can see that the throw out bearing is resting against the pressure plate fingers, and the spring on the TOB is fully compressed. So clearly I have bottomed out the TOB on the presure plate, not allowing any further movement.

My question is how and why. The measurement from the PP fingers to the bell housing surface is ~2.2", while the measurement from the end of the TOB to the trans mounting surface is also ~2.2". There are NO shims behind the slave cylinder, so to gain the ideal difference here, either the measurement from the PP fingers to the bell housing surface should be about 2.4", or the measurement from TOB to trans surface should 2.0".

With no shims in place and a seemingly correct clutch/fw/pp install, what the hell could be causing these numbers to be off and my trans not meet the bell housing?

Any help would be amazing, I'm just now getting to bed after working on this from 12:00am-9:00am.

Thanks

maroonls1z

Make sure you used the right pilot bearing, there are 2 styles and one is for the tr6060 and won't let the trans go all the way in

SteveWs6

iTrader: (1)

I installed a spec flywheel and clutch and had the same exact issue (not sure if it has to do with their parts or not)

I don't really remember how we did it.... I think we actually connected the quick disconnect and pushed the clutch in to try to help give us some room as weird as it sounds.... I remember it took a lot of wiggling and pushing to get it in. Pain in the ***.

Good luck..

jbrockwell

iTrader: (2)

I have a hunch that the flywheel isn't pressed in against the crank all the way. If it were a matter of wiggling I feel that if I pushed on the fingers any more it would slightly disengage the clutch.

maroonls1z

I feel like the flywheel not being on correctly is something you would notice? The bolts are not very long and it just kind of bolts up

jbrockwell

iTrader: (2)

Well...I ended up threading in bolts as I was able to and little by little worked in into place. Seems like I would be putting a strange amount of preload on the PP fingers but apparently all is well after a drive. Thanks for the comments

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

It could be that the disk wasn't well aligned between the pressure plate and the flywheel.

Andrew

BALLSS

yes that is the most common reason tranny won't go in that last 1/2+"...

and when pulling in tranny with bolts what can happen is input shaft can damage pilot bearing as result. On first clutch disengagement the disc & input shaft settle if they were slightly misaligned when tranny was stabbed

I have also seen where pilot bearing gets pushed all the way back into crank by input shaft when tranny is drawn in with bolts if disc is misaligned. This leaves the input shaft not supported by bearing or just the tip edge resting on the bearing.

hopefully in Ops case it was just stubborn dowel pin/hole alignment between tranny & BH

Kennedy83

Sound like to me you're the wrong parts somewhere that not making the tranmission sandwich with the engine. Did you use proper clutch alignment tool.?