blackrat

Got about 200 miles on it right now. The flywheel is the fidanza aluminum one. I used a spec .150 shim as recommended on this board, got it directly from spec for fricking $40 though, if I knew how simple a piece it was I would have made my own.

Going over weights, the stock LS7 assembly (clutch,pp, and oem ls2 fw) comes in at 58 lbs, compared to the ls6/ls1 combo weighing at 50 lbs. I'm sure the increase in weight is mostly attributed to the pp, although no doubt the clutch and flywheel are a little heavier due to the increase in friction area (11.5) and the ls2 fw's design. I don't know how much a oem flywheel weighs exactly but assuming it weighs a lb or two more then the ls1 fw it should be around 25-26. So, the aluminum fw's weight savings are about 13 lbs (the flywheel weighs 13 lbs itself). Adding everything up the whole thing is going to save you roughly 5lbs rotating mass when the clutch is engaged, or about the same as people running a billet steel flywheel with their ls1/6 clutchs.

Anyway, impressions I had over the first 100 miles was that the clutch was grabby as hell, and it was difficult to leave from a stop smoothly. I thought at the time it could have been the flywheel tht I was having problems with but after the clutch began to break in it got a bit easier, although that could also just be me getting used to it.

With the shim in place the clutch pick up in the beginning was about a third of the way off the floor with regards to the pedals travel, and it was kind of hard to get the car into gear. With the miles I have on it now it's picked up a bit and is maybe about halfway, plus a lot easier to get into gear. One thing to take into consideration though is that I just had my tranny re-built so that could also be having a hand in that.

Pedal pressure was fairly heavy in the beginning, at least compared to the LS6 clutch I had in there. It feels like it's gotten a bit lighter now, but again that could just be me getting used to it.

Haven't done an all out fast shift yet, but the grabbiness I can feel now tells me I should have no problem chirping third again

If anyone has any questions just go ahead and ask. I know there aren't many people running this combo yet so I'll try to help.

Keysplayr

When I bought my LS1 off the showroom floor in 2000, I found the clutch to be grabby as well. But that went away soon enough. The OEM clutches are by far the most reliable from what I have read around various forums. If you increase HP like 25-35%, folks should consider LS7 parts before any aftermarket stuff. If your going to juice or some severe power increases (track car), then aftermarket is your only option, but don't expect reliability to be very high. Then again, if you track your car, shiznit will break. Fact of track life.
Anyway, It's just after 6:30 am here in NY and I am about to go out front and install my T-56 just back from T-56 rebuilds. I installed all stock LUK flywheel,clutch,PP and got the updated slave with a new master, all OEM stuff. Maybe next round, I'll go LS7. Now that I am out of warranty, I may do a few bolt-ons.

Aster

iTrader: (9)

I am thinking about this same setup actually since my slave seal went bad. Threw fluid all over the clutch, and when we got it pulled out it was just about gone.

Question is, do you need to use a shim on this clutch? Some posts seem to say they shim it, while others have stated they don't.

How well does the engine rev up with the aluminum flywheel? I have SPEC's billet steel flywheel right now so I don't have much to compare it to.

Thanks.

blackrat

People running the oem steel fw seem to have no problems without a shim. Another member on here ran the alum fw/ls7 combo though and couldn't get it to engage correctly so they ended up installing a shim. Not wanting to experiment, I just added the shim from the start. I don't know how it would work with a non alum fw but they frequently complain about a low pedal at first, although it does pick up a bit. From what I've read though it never comes up all the way to the stock posistion. From the start I had no problem with a significantly low pedal, and with 300 miles on it now it is almost at the stock position.

With regards to how it revs, I haven't got on it WOT yet since I am still in the process of breaking in the trans (thank you t56-rebuilds.com ) but I revved out first a bit a few nights ago with a decent amount of throttle and it seemed to pick up really good. Like I wrote up top, the way the weights work out the ls7/alum combo will be fairly close to ls1(6)/billet steel flywheel, if not a few pounds lighter. It will never be as light as a ls1(6)/alum fw combo though since the ls7 clutch/pressure plate is larger and heavier.

ssbodyman

I am about to buy the LS7, and factory flywheel. what else do I need to get to go with the combo. Pilot bearing, throwout bearing, etc? Do the flywheel bolts work for the new flywheel? What adusting tool to get or does that come with it also? Please give whatever info you have.

blackrat

I put in a new pilot bearing. Because of the treatment I got on the input shaft of my tranny it was recommended I use a regular non-roller type pilot bearing, which I did. My car had a needle-bearing pilot bearing in it. Unless anyone has come up with a better idea, you should run what your car came with, unless you are in a special situation like me.

The throw-out bearing was differant then I was used to, althought that would be because of the ls1's slave cylinder design. It fits on the slave cylinder itself. Definently replace all that while you are down there, you don't want to have your slave fail on you several thousand miles later and potnetially ruin you clutch. A slave cylinder isn't that expensive either, only $120 or so at the local auto parts store.

My stock flywheel bolts worked fine, although some people here have bought differant ones for some reason. I tried to pick up some ARP bolts for the hell of it but couldn't come up on any that would be in my hands by the weekend. The instructions for the flywheel say to heat up the flywheel via hot plate or something so that it would mount up at it's expanded size (metal expands at higher temperatures, and the aluminum/steel combo expand at differant rates) but I passed on that and just tightened it up a little more then OEM specs (85-90 lbs'ft instead of 80). I don't know if I'll have any problems down the road but it's fine so far, and no one else has mentioned it on any other alum fw installs. You're going OEM steel though so go with the OEM tightness specs.

From what I can see there are two types of LS2 flywheels, the one that comes on the GTO and the one that comes on the vette. The GTO looks similiar to the ls1 flywheel (no detail, just flat) while the vette has some raised parts. If anyone has any info as to otherwise please share, this is just what I have seen when looking up ls2 fws.

I tried to get a dummy plug (adjusting tool) for a ls2 vette but they weren't available yet. Turns out a regular ls1 tool works fine, and it's only $3 at a store.