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I want to give props to Monster Clutch and share my success story. I ordered the clutch back in November when they had a sale. I got the LT1-S because I wanted to lighten up from my stock clutch (yeah still stock clutch on my 2001 Trans Am, only 53k miles, but starting to slip). I wanted lighter for Autocross and performance. The LT1-S weighs in at exactly the same weight as the stock unit (49.5lbs) but is smaller so they told me the MOI is less. I read other people had good success with Monster.
I took the clutch off, no problem. The pilot bearing was a problem. Thankfully I read a lot online and my first idea, using soft bread to push it out hydraulic fashion, was going to fail. LS engine has a hollow crankshaft end and the plug would likely be pushed in first. So I had to use a bearing puller. First one from Advance Auto was all bitched up so I took it back for a new one. Which didn’t work and only managed to chew up the inner race and rollers. I went to Pep Boys and got a better jaw puller. That one I had to tap out the jaw pin to fit the jaws in. That one broke apart when I used it. I was starting to get very worried this would be my “problem part”. I picked up a 4-jaw puller from Auto Zone 45+ minutes away. I had to grind the front edge of the bearing down to fit the larger puller in. It worked like a champ, pulled out in 3 minutes. The crankshaft surface was clean. New bearing went in easy and straight.
I put the new flywheel on and test started the car to makes sure it still ran before I went on. Success. (I also had a lot of other projects to do on the car.)
I put the clutch on and used loctite on it all and the install was by the book. I tested and double checked that my gap for the slave was correct (it was). Required taking the spring off the slave and letting the air out so the slave would compress all the way. Though they said it was tested and size properly, I still wanted to verify for myself. My trans was rebuilt from a T56 to a T6060 so they said the fit should be exactly the same, but again I needed to know *before* I started to bolt things together. There is a good thread here that goes over measuring. Transmission went on "relatively" easy for a first-timer.
While bleeding the clutch, the pedal was entirely soft and felt like there was an “up” state and a “down” state that the springs would pop the pedal to, in each direction. I got the remote bleeder. Bled until no bubbles came out and even some slightly dirty fluid came out. This is still the stock master cylinder, and Monster says that a stock unit is fine. I did not want to have to buy a Tick if I didn't have to. After bleeding with wife for a while, I sat and pressed the pedal without bleeding, and the pedal feel returned to “normal”. The clutch pedal feels almost exactly the same as before - literally it engages in the same fashion and position as before. The effort seems to be the same. The release while driving seems the same. It is modulatable and smooth.
I've only put 75 miles on over 4 trips of varying length. But I think I am pretty happy so far. My primary goal for the job was "no problems fitting or operationally when done" and it worked great.
[QUOTE=Chris Paveglio;19187603]I want to give props to Monster Clutch and share my success story. I ordered the clutch back in November when they had a sale. I got the LT1-S because I wanted to lighten up from my stock clutch (yeah still stock clutch on my 2001 Trans Am, only 53k miles, but starting to slip). I wanted lighter for Autocross and performance. The LT1-S weighs in at exactly the same weight as the stock unit (49.5lbs) but is smaller so they told me the MOI is less. I read other people had good success with Monster.
I took the clutch off, no problem. The pilot bearing was a problem. Thankfully I read a lot online and my first idea, using soft bread to push it out hydraulic fashion, was going to fail. LS engine has a hollow crankshaft end and the plug would likely be pushed in first. So I had to use a bearing puller. First one from Advance Auto was all bitched up so I took it back for a new one. Which didn’t work and only managed to chew up the inner race and rollers. I went to Pep Boys and got a better jaw puller. That one I had to tap out the jaw pin to fit the jaws in. That one broke apart when I used it. I was starting to get very worried this would be my “problem part”. I picked up a 4-jaw puller from Auto Zone 45+ minutes away. I had to grind the front edge of the bearing down to fit the larger puller in. It worked like a champ, pulled out in 3 minutes. The crankshaft surface was clean. New bearing went in easy and straight.
I put the new flywheel on and test started the car to makes sure it still ran before I went on. Success. (I also had a lot of other projects to do on the car.)
I put the clutch on and used loctite on it all and the install was by the book. I tested and double checked that my gap for the slave was correct (it was). Required taking the spring off the slave and letting the air out so the slave would compress all the way. Though they said it was tested and size properly, I still wanted to verify for myself. My trans was rebuilt from a T56 to a T6060 so they said the fit should be exactly the same, but again I needed to know *before* I started to bolt things together. There is a good thread here that goes over measuring. Transmission went on "relatively" easy for a first-timer.
While bleeding the clutch, the pedal was entirely soft and felt like there was an “up” state and a “down” state that the springs would pop the pedal to, in each direction. I got the remote bleeder. Bled until no bubbles came out and even some slightly dirty fluid came out. This is still the stock master cylinder, and Monster says that a stock unit is fine. I did not want to have to buy a Tick if I didn't have to. After bleeding with wife for a while, I sat and pressed the pedal without bleeding, and the pedal feel returned to “normal”. The clutch pedal feels almost exactly the same as before - literally it engages in the same fashion and position as before. The effort seems to be the same. The release while driving seems the same. It is modulatable and smooth.
I've only put 75 miles on over 4 trips of varying length. But I think I am pretty happy so far. My primary goal for the job was "no problems fitting or operationally when done" and it worked great.
03-15-2016, 07:28 PM
Happy with Monster LT1-S 
