Wednesday is the first time I've had the car to the track in probably 2 years of sitting.

I have a Spec 5 clutch
over the winter I Viperized my T56 - the works

Got in 3 passes at Test and Tune - missed 4th gear on the first pass, too nervous, opps

2nd and 3rd pass went great.


Drove the car home, it's idling in the driveway, I go and open the garage door, put the clutch in, put it in 1st, start to let out the clutch and it starts making a noise like your grinding gears!

pulled it into neutral, clutch out, played with it and it did it in reverse also

I thought, burnt clutch fluid, so I made sure I had the clutch pedal down all the way, put it in first hard, and she pulled in the garage without a peep

Today, I checked the clutch fluid, it's not black in the resevor, I did add some to be safe. Because I backed it out of the garage fine. let out, backed it into the street and it maded that damned grinding noise again!

Same later when I put it in 1st to pull it back in.



So I'm lost, it doesn't "feel" like the transmission or syncros...it sounds like you try to put it in gear without the clutch in, but, not nearly as loud nor can i feel it in the shifter...and it goes into gear just fine


So, here are my 3 guesses -
burnt clutch fluid - but i've never had this problem - I routed everything away from my long tubes

slave is giving up, but the car only has 21k miles on it... and seems to work fine except these few times

for whatever reason that sintered metal on the spec 5 is what i'm hearing


I don't have a clue

I want to hit the track wednesday for the last test and tune, so what's your advice?

 

Try going through the gears while the engine is off and not touching the clutch pedal. If it engages fine, my guess is your problem lies in the hydraulic system. That is where I would start.

 

yulp, i can run through the gears fine, when i had it running earlier, i did a free rev and it didn't catch or drag

I'm going to bleed the clutch tmr, and see what happens

 

anybody else? I'm pretty stumped since it's not a consistant problem

i'm going to bleed the clutch a bit after work, hopefully it all goes away.

 

Remember, a stage 5 will have some squeal during engagement and it's possible that this is what you are hearing. It occur during pedal release and is generally confined to first and reverse. Do you have an audio clip of the noise by chance? If so post it, or send it to me and I will be happy to listen to it.

 

I know of the squeal, I really only had that when I first got the clutch a year or two ago..granted it's only had less than 1,000 miles on it, and 6 passes since, but the noise is gone.

This is definetly a grinding noise

 

Have you heard the noise in any other gears than 1st and Reverse? Do you hear the sound as you are trying to select the gear or as you are releasing the clutch pedal and attempting to move the car? I just want to insure that I understand what your experiencing. Thanks,

 

Here's a round up of what I did today.

I can shift into gears just fine with the car off (still getting used to my Pro 5.0) - notchy - Yes I've checked the stops, no they aren't the problem lol

I bled the clutch, and the fluid wasn't overly black or anything, but I filled the resevor twice just to make sure....so I can't say I think it is burnt fluid

SPEC-01 I can put the clutch in, put it into gear, and as i start to let out, i hear the grinding noise.

Now, after I did my clutch bleed today, I kept going forward and reverse, and no noise..but remember, I've only had this noise happen a few times. The car sit's most of the time, but will head to the track again wednesday

 

Interesting! It would be nice to see the parts and to check inside the Bell for any other issues to determine whats going on. If you do this let me know what you find. Thanks,

 

if it does it in other gears then i would say that it could be the pilot shaft bushing. i had the same problem and thats what mine was. as you let the clutch out the gears make a quick grinding noise or like a whine almost for a split second. i know it a pain in the *** to check but if nothing else works check that out

 

Well, I can assure you the noise you are hearing is not burnt fluid, not sure where you would hear a noise with fluid???

The noise you are describing, sounds like your clutch disc. Not sure what the Spec level 5 is made of, but probaly a sintered iron, and that is the noise you are hearing is all. And from time to time, you will probaly hear it (normal)

 

Pilot bushing is a bronze one, solid with just the hole in it. Never had an issue with it since I put it in last winter.

I thought it might be fluid related, because maybe the fluid was cooked and not letting the slave work properly.

It's not the sintered iron from the clutch either, that makes a high pitch squeal where this is a grinding noise.

still lost

 

Gen, my above post referenced the sound of engagement as well...the OP indicated that this was a different sound than the squeal associated with engagement. A bad pilot bearing or bushing could cause some noise too, but again the only way you will be able to check this is to pull the parts.

 

It sounds like when you try to put the trans in gear, without the clutch in, just that first grind noise you get before you let off because you forgot the clutch lol

but like I said, it's hit and miss. Didn't do it at all yesterday, and didn't do it everytime the other day

 

Since it is inconsistent then it could be hudraulic and the sound would occur when the pressure wasn't great enough to fully release the clutch. Anything is possible so it may be worth a shot to replace the slave and master. Thanks,

 

I'm going to run it tomorrow at the track (last of the season) and see what she does, that'll leave me the winter to tinker

 

Oh, OK...I misunderstood you then. I thought the sound you were getting was, once IN gear, and releasing pedal...my bad.
What you just described (hard to get into gear) is more than likely a hydro issue (as Spec said), but, could possibly be a 1st gear synchro as well. Slim, but IS a possiblity

Gotcha. Yeah, I misread/understood...my mistake.

Yeah, I believe you have a hydro issue (or air in system) as mentioned previously by Spec, and then my follow up above. Still could be a synchro issue, but would lean towards hydro's....

 

Yeah I'm hoping its a hydro issue...since the trans has a fresh rebuild on it, I can't imagine it's syncros....yet LOL

We'll see what the clutch bleed did for me.

But to correct your statement, I can get into gear just fine, it's when I start to release the clutch, that I hear the noise, so my though is the slave isn't pushing the clutch enough when I first put it in gear?

 

well, drove it to the track tonight (just 2 stop lights) and made 4 passes down the track, launching at 5500rpm, pulling the front tires off the ground, and drove it home...didnt hear any noise

I guess the bleed worked, or it felt like behaving tonight lol

SPEC-01 - does SPEC have a recommendation on how to warm up the clutch before a pass? I have the Stage 5, and it was in the 40's tonight, and she would "squeal" when I was in the staging lanes, going to do my burn out.....so I odn't know if it was warm enough to stick going down the track? Or is the squeal just because it's cold and i'm just trying to inch forward?

 

The Squeal results from the contact of a fully metallic disc scuffing the steel friction surface of the plate and flywheel during clutch engagement. This is normal and should be expected throughout the life of the clutch. Colder weather can make this more audible though...but agin this is expected. As a side note, the more you slip the clutch the more noise you will here because the sound occurs at the engagement point of the clutch, when the disc is beginning to bite. Get out of the pedal quicker and the noise will be reduced. I am glad that everything worked out for you at the track. Now, go get some pics and video so the rest of us can see the car in action!