AdsoYo

iTrader: (1)

About a year ago, I started hearing what sounded like firecrackers in my transmission whenever I would brake hard or sometimes whenever I would let the clutch out from a stop during normal driving. The car ran and drove just fine as if nothing was wrong. I finally got the car to a transmission shop, was able to re-create the noise for the mechanic and decided to just replace the clutch anyway.

I couldn't believe what was causing that noise! A huge chunk of aluminum was bouncing around in my bell housing and two metal plug things had popped out of my pressure plate and were lodged somewhere (don't remember where exactly). The shop said they had no idea where it came from because everything looked fine. I've put about 10 miles on it and it drives great, too.



It chewed up the pressure plate:



And here's the disk with 35K miles worth of wear:

blackodium

Whoa dude

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Looks like your clutch fork was rubbing on the pressure plate as well.

jc98ss

iTrader: (13)

i've been reading several Spec horror stories lately......i'm very nervous about mine.

duh

iTrader: (16)

Spec's have always been good to me, but the little pins look like the alignment dowels off the flywheel (if your had them, since I've seen some without). As for the giant chunk of aluminum, that would worry me if you don't know where it came from.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

You shouldn't be. Specs are good clutches as long as you make provisions for the pressure plate if you get one that rubs the clutch fork.
On a LT1 flywheel?

duh

iTrader: (16)

Not factory, since they are steel, but yes lt1 flywheels. And numerous others. Dowels are very common on all flywheels, and they are there to keep the pp from moving around while the clutch pedal is depressed.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

Hrm... I've just never seen them on a LT1 flywheel. Even my billet one, however it too is steel.

duh

iTrader: (16)

I've even seen aftermarkets where the dowels aren't installed but sitting in a baggie in the box so they can be installed. I'm pretty sure it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer.

SS RRR

iTrader: (2)

I didn't even know LT1 pressure plates had provisions for dowels...

SoxXpupPeT

iTrader: (34)

me either. and my spec stage 2 didnt come with any all i know is now is that im nervous about mine. its always been very chattery. even tho i feel its getting louder and louder

Fazz73jr

iTrader: (3)

Holy ****!!

That aluminum isn't a peace of the bell housing? Or Maybe the nose of the starter?? That would be my biggest concern, where that aluminum chunk came from. Do you run with or without that cover plate?

AdsoYo

iTrader: (1)

@Fazz73jr: The guys at the shop were thinking it could have been a piece of the starter too but they say they didn't see anything. And I do use the cover plate (which has been discontinued )

@duh: Those pins are actually out of the pressure plate. If you look in the upper left and lower left of the pressure plate pic, you can see little half-circles where they should be. The fingers on the pressure plate actually rotated a little so they kinda cover them up.

As far as the clutch, it was a spec stage 2. It was grabby and felt great once I was moving but it had horrible chatter from day 1. The two times I had it out, counting this most recent, I noticed bad hot spots on the flywheel and pressure plate. I know others have had good experiences with spec but I won't be buying one again.