Conversions & Swaps LSX Engines in Non-LSX Vehicles
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The GMW - E36 with a 5.3 and a CD009

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Old Mar 18, 2022 | 12:48 PM
  #221  
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What size slave cylinder shim did you end up needing?
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Old Mar 18, 2022 | 01:04 PM
  #222  
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I ended up putting in a .125 (1/8”) shim. Seems to be good so far.
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Old Mar 18, 2022 | 01:24 PM
  #223  
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You might try those metal clamps that DEI sells for heat wrap instead of plastic zip ties, they'll last longer!
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Old Mar 18, 2022 | 03:03 PM
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Absolutely. I have a bunch of the stainless zip ties that I plan to put on there later. The problem is cutting the tails off the zip ties. I have tired side cutters and sheet metal cutters, but what I have found works best is dremel with a metal cutting disk. Unfortunately I was out of metal disks so I tossed the plastic ones on there for the time being. Thanks for the heads up.
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Old Mar 24, 2022 | 08:24 AM
  #225  
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Quick mini update. I put 60+ miles on the car over the weekend and it ran great. The car still grinds from 4th to 5th, but that will only be fixed with a transmission rebuild. Everything else though worked great.

As summer approaches I want to make sure the car stays cool so I have been working on some radiator ducting. Yesterday I was able to get everything installed and bolted up. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Please ignore the bug guts all over the front bumper hahaha.

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Old Mar 24, 2022 | 09:54 AM
  #226  
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Re: Bugs hitting car.
They won't have the guts to do it again.... (I HAD to do this... opportunity only strikes once... LOL)
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Old Mar 24, 2022 | 10:24 AM
  #227  
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Hahaha when its teed up you gotta hit it.
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Old Apr 6, 2022 | 01:55 PM
  #228  
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I cannot for the life of my figure out what is wrong, hopefully someone can help on here. I am in the middle of the same swap, 5.3 and cd009. I had the car together running and driving, slave cylinder started leaking so I took it apart, put it back together new slave cylinder, pressure plate, clutch disk, and shimmed the slave, and now the car won’t go into gear. When I have someone press the clutch I can see the slave cylinder move, and it seems to be moving enough. Any opinions/help? Could a bad master cylinder cause this even though the slave is moving?
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Old Apr 6, 2022 | 03:16 PM
  #229  
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I had a similar issue when I put my transmission in the first time, but my issue was caused due to my low IQ. I had not fully lined up the splines of the transmission input shaft with the teeth on the clutch disc. When I bolted the transmission down it pinched the disc to the fly wheel thus basically fusing the two together. Can you put the car in gear when the car is turned off? When you reinstalled the transmission this time did it slide in freely, or did you use the bell housing bolts to pull the transmission to the block? What clutch and pressure plate are you using?
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Old Apr 6, 2022 | 03:28 PM
  #230  
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I saw that, and I thought that’s what I had done when I installed it all, I had a very small crack on the clutch disk, so I replaced the clutch disk and the pressure plate, stock ls1 pressure plate and action clutch clutch disk is what I have. This time when I installed everything it went together very smoothly. It will go into gear with the car off, when I start the car it will not go into gear, the clutch feels a little spongy, I’ve bled it a ton still no change, but when I look into the bell housing I can see the slave cylinder pushing the pressure plate and it looks fine, I was thinking maybe master cylinder but if that was bad then the slave cylinder wouldn’t be moving right?
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Old Apr 6, 2022 | 05:27 PM
  #231  
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I suppose it's possible that you could have a master cylinder failure that's allowing some movement of fluid, but not enough to disengage the clutch disc. I'd try getting the car out of the garage where you have plenty of room in front and behind. With the engine off, put it in gear. Then depress the clutch pedal all the way and try to start the car. See if the starter turning moves the car. If it does, then for some reason, the combo of the master cylinder/slave cylinder movement isn't getting the job done.
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Old Apr 6, 2022 | 05:30 PM
  #232  
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Yep, when I start it in first gear with the pedal pressed it jumps forward, I’ve bled the system a ton, and the pedal still feels spongy, only gets somewhat firm after pressing it halfway to the floorboard, ordered a new master cylinder, fingers crossed it fixes the issue.
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Old Apr 7, 2022 | 09:20 PM
  #233  
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I too had issues w the clutch master cylinder. At high rpm shifts were difficult…

I found out that I was bleeding my clutch wrong!

1- I run an f body separate clutch fluid reservoir.
2- us a turkey Baster to draw the old fluid out occasionally.
3- follow the well documented procedure:: m
push clutch pedal down…. Crack bleeder…. Close bleeder … let pedal up…. Repeat many times……. Also tap the clutch pedal down a couple mm’s over and over to release any air …. Believe it or not.. that last step seemed to firm it up.

4- put heat wrap in the clutch line .
5- put heat wrap on closest header tubes..
6- bleed the clutch ever couple thousand miles… that’s what I have to do.

gl



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Old Apr 7, 2022 | 09:26 PM
  #234  
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Replaced the master cylinder tonight, bled it for about half an hour and the pedal does seem a lot firmer, and working a lot better but still no luck getting it into gear. Going to try and bleed it some more tomorrow but doubtful it will help at this point
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Old Apr 8, 2022 | 07:11 AM
  #235  
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Also I had to remove my stock clutch bottom stop… to give the pedal more stroke.. I use a fleabay btm stop now. Be sure you are getting enough piston stroke. Gl my ls makes the fun power up in the rev’s and it’s no fun short shifting.
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Old Apr 8, 2022 | 10:33 AM
  #236  
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@PDuff how thick of a shim did you put in? Im trying to think about the things that may have changed from when your car was running and driving until now. Are the clutch and pressure plate the same brand/type as the old items that were on the car when it ran?
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Old Apr 8, 2022 | 10:47 AM
  #237  
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The shim is just a little smaller than the one you have, same brand pressure plate and everything. I replaced the pressure plate and the clutch disk because I thought maybe I damaged those installing the transmission, and now I still can’t get it into gear. When I have it in 1st and start it with the clutch in it lunges forward, and when in reverse and I start it it lunges backward, so I know the clutch is not disengaging, but I cannot figure out why it is not disengaging now but did when I first had it together..
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Old Apr 8, 2022 | 11:27 AM
  #238  
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To me it sounds like there is something non mechanical causing the clutch to not disengage. I hate to ask dumb questions, but did the clutch disk go on in the proper orientation (one side marked towards transmission)? Did the pressure plate get torqued down evenly? I know how frustrating this issue is man. Hope you can get it figured out.
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Old Apr 8, 2022 | 11:29 AM
  #239  
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Yeah, I put everything in the right way. Torqued it down to spec, the only thing I can think of is I need to bleed the brakes again because it is the same reservoir as the clutch fluid maybe? Going to keep trying to bleed everything I guess
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Old Apr 11, 2022 | 05:12 PM
  #240  
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Finally got it in gear, after bleeding the clutch for what seems years, it finally moves. Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone
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