First of all, I promise I'll never work on another Corvette drivetrain without a lift. These cars are a major pain in the *** compared to f-bodies, when it comes to working on trannys, exhaust, rearends, etc...

I spent about 12 hrs yesterday, mostly on my back, trying to finish up the C6. For those of you that missed the previous post, I busted the rear differential housing at the track in my C6. So, while the car was apart, I decided to swap out the clutch with a new Textralia clutch.

That was the beginning of my nightmare! Clutch swaps in C6 Vettes officially suck. Let me give you the rundown of what is required to change one out.

-put Corvette on four jackstands, about 14" clearance under the car. For safety, I also added four other jackstands in different locations *just in case*
-remove entire rear axle assembly, including brakes and suspension
-disconnect a crap load of wiring harness plugs all over the place.
-drain the transmission completely (or it will dump out when you disconnect the cooler lines, Z51 only)
-place tranny jack under transmission.
-remove spark plugs, longtube headers, and entire exhaust system
-place jack under oil pan (with 2x4 for support) to control height of engine.
-remove belly pan with all 36 of its 8mm bolts. Not sure why GM used so many here.
-disconnect slave cylinder, which is now hidden under the damn brake booster
-disconnect tranny cooler lines (Z51 only) Hope you emptied the tranny first!
-remove console, shift ****, then shifter
-disconnect torque tube from bellhousing (bolts easy to reach)
-disconnect bellhousing from engine (holy pain in the ***!!!) No room for tools
-remove intake manifold (or even worse, Magnacharger in my case)

WTF? removing an intake manifold to do a clutch swap? Yes, because GM is stupid and put a 1-piece bellhousing on the C6 that won't slip over the clutch unless the engine is tilted all the way back against the firewall with the intake removed. STUPID.

-cuss at GM and their stupid service design, throw some tools.
-place jack under oil pan (on 2x4) and lower the engine down until it touches the firewall
-remove bellhousing (finally!!!)
-remove pressure plate and flywheel
-reassemble

I've got the new clutch in, the torque tube, tranny, and new DTE differential (with DTE brace) installed now. I still have to put the exhaust system and rear suspension/axles back on the car. Probably another 4-5 hrs of work left since I don't have a lift.

One good thing to note is that LG Motorsports longtubes can be easily installed/removed under the car with it only about 14" off the ground on jackstands. They fit with plenty of room, you could install those on your driveway.

So, how did you enjoy your weekend? lol

Tony

 

And I was just thinking about selling my Firehawk to get a new Vette. Maybe not

 

I have yet to do a rear-swap or clutch swap in a Vette and don't look forward to it.
For this I might have to pony-up more $ and have a shop do it for me.

 

I sure hope my clutch doesn't go out soon. I don't know of a dealer that warranties clutches. They always say its a wear item, which in my opinion is BS. Every ford I had warrantied them to 36,000 miles.

 

I'd have gladly paid some shop to do this work, just because of the amount of time I've wasted on it so far. The rearend/diff swap wasn't too bad, the clutch swap is the big pain in the ***.

 

I have done a few 10bolt to 12 bolt swaps and several header swaps on f-bodies. Would it be hard for me to put in a DTE differential myself. I have been waiting on your write up on corvette forum. DOn't know if you still plan on doing that write up or not.

 

Also wouldn't mind a write up on that clutch if you happened to take pics.

 

Sorry Tony. Sounds like it is definitely time to put that lift in! I was going to put the DTE brace on 2 cars, but after seeing that you either have to drop the subframe or remove the trannys to get to the upper mounting bolts...I'm willing to write checks.

Your experience seconded that vote! Oh, exactly how many hours should somebody spend on the throwing tools and cussing GM step?

 

Tony, you may have swayed me from my daydreams of a smartbuy on a left over '06 this fall...

No you haven't.

Would you mind PM'ing me some of the details of your smartbuy, i'm trying to crunch some numbers.

 

Wow...I know what ya mean. I have done them on the ground before, but once you get a lift its a whole diff story.

 

Pics please

 

MrZ51, I gave up trying to document this install, snapping photos was taking too much time and I'm eager to finish the car. I should just snap a photo of around eight $100 dollar bills and say that is how you get a clutch installed, lol.

I'd do a differential on jackstands again, it wasn't that bad. The clutch just requires too many other things to do first, its stupid.

Ron, it definitely helped to have the rear suspension and exhaust removed to put the DTE brace in. I could see it being pretty difficult to do if the exhaust pipes and suspension were in place. The front mounts on top that hold the heim joints would be very difficult to reach like that. It was simple to install like I had it. Don't spend too long cussing GM and throwing tools, it will just make you take longer to fix it!

 

Ha.

Man, that sounds like a real pita. Have you ever worked on a C5? Any different?

Ryan

 

C5 is a little better, it has a 2-piece bellhousing and you only have to remove the bottom half of it to get the clutch out. Still not a fun job though, you just do not have to remove the intake manifold to swap a clutch.

 

Good job Tony. I bitched and complained doing a T56 with a lift...can't imagine an even harder job on jackstands.

 

Its going to be more involved because of all the harnesses and components, but not anything that is more difficult like building a motor. This is just going to be a pain because you are basically taking down most of the drivetrain...need a lot of tools, jacks, etc.

Do a search on Z06vette.com as well. There have been a few guys that have documented the removal/install of the clutch & rearend fyi.

 

Thank you for reminding me why I promised myself (and the wife) that if I ever modded my C6, that I wouldn't do anything by myself, that I would have everything professionally installed and that I would keep all stock parts (this bit me in the *** on my Z28).

Thank you again. I am running out of 10mm wrenches/sockets to throw.

What gears did you go with, 3.90s? I'm interested in hearing your driving observations with the new gears. I am assuming that it will help immensly like gears in an M6 F-body do (going to 4.11s in my 2002 Z28 had nearly the SOTP gain theat the heads and cam did).

Shawn

 

That's a good one! Not laughing at you Tony, just with you. Trust us, even with a lift, it's still no fun...


Best Regards,
DTE

 

Done this 3 times in C6s. Load of fun.

 

G-force did my clutch install MUCH, MUCH cheaper than that...Id never attempt the C5 much less the C6 with jack stands.... Damn that HAD to SUCK!