jsniper

I have a 1999 SS with an STS turbo that was making 535rwhp before I had my new cam and new cometic head gaskets installed this week.

I always noticed that the clutch engages when the pedal is about an inch or two off the floor. I always had to make sure the clutch pedal was touching the floor before shifting into a gear. I've had a couple of fellow ls1 owners test my car's clutch to see if it was normal and they said they've never seen one that engages that close to the floor.

I bought the car recently as it sits and called the previous owner a little while ago and asked him the history of the clutch system. He said the clutch disc was ceramic and was bought at a local transmission shop that builds aftermarket clutches as well as the pressure plate. He said the pressure plate appeared stock to him but it must have more spring force than the original especially since it has never slipped with 535rwhp to this day. He also mentioned that the master cylinder and the clutch cylinder were replaced not too long ago and that the slave cylinder they used was from a 2002 LS1 (keep in mind my car is a 1999). Now that I got my car back from the head gaskets and cam install, it now grinds trying to put it into 3rd or 4th. We bled the slave cylinder 2 times and it did not help at all.

Does this sound like the 2002 slave cylinder is the wrong part and I need a 1999 part or does it sound like the master and/or the slave are just failing and might have been bad since the day they installed them since the clutch pedal has always been really low to the floor to engage? (It would grind before if I did not have the pedal touching the floor)

Thanks all

co.6z28

iTrader: (1)

01+ slave are better than the earlier years. it has nothing to do with wrong part numbers

jsniper

Thanks co.6z28

Perhaps it's the clutch/pressure plate combo? I'm yanking the tranny out this week but I don't think just looking at the clutch and pressure plate is going to tell me if anything is wrong so I don't know if I should just get a known good aftermarket setup. Any suggestions anyone? $500 is all I want to spend.

co.6z28

iTrader: (1)

you will know if its bad, just look for wear, heat spots, ect.

jsniper

Well after some careful research I'm 90% sure that I need an adjustable master cylinder simply because the very 1st day the clutch was put in the car the pedal was always extremely close to the floor when engaging/disengaging. I can't spend $309 on a clutch master cylinder so I went with the RAM adjustable master cylinder which is $185. They use a stock master cylinder with the addition of an adjustable rod. I still have to at least slide the tranny back from the bell housing a little bit because I dropped a real small socket by the slave cylinder bleeder and it fell into the bell housing area. I also need to replace the rear tail shaft seal in the tranny.
Thanks