Car is 98 z28, heads cam car, 470rwhp 400 rwtq, 55,000 miles.

 

Looks like a beat up stock clutch to me... My flywheel and pressure plate looked pretty much the same when I pulled it out. I only had 1k miles on my 420rwhp set up also.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-tr...ll-review.html

I have pictures of my stock unit in the above thread.

 

My friend says that those marks are from the flywheel not being balanced. I know nothing of clutches and transmissions. I just dove in. I just wanted to see if anyone saw anything mechanically wrong here. I don't have a clue. Sorry about links to pics. Stupid IPad wouldn't let me copy and paste direct links. I will fix pics in a couple hours. I'm going with stage 3, billet steel flywheel, pilot bushing, speed bleeder, MGW shifter, new rear main, new rear seal on transmission, Arp pressure plate and flywheel bolts, new u-joints, adjustable torque arm, new crossmember with safety loop. I'm doing all of it by myself. Right now clutch is out. I'm down to the pilot bearing but the tool I bought from harbor freight doesn't fit. Might have to do a modification to it.

 

pics fixed. I have only had the car a year and besides giving it some gas here and there, its pretty much been babied. i dont beat this car. So does this mean its been on the track?

 

You haven't presented any drivability concerns, so it looks like normal wear and tear to me.

When the flywheel or pressure plate surface have cracks, you need to worry. Hot spots like that are pretty commonplace. Clutches use friction to convert kinetic to heat energy.

Any deviation from flat of a flywheel or pressure plate (think a barely noticeable convex or concave cone) can push wear inwards or outwards on the wear area. Yours only slightly shows that. But it's not unheard of for that that disc to have lasted 55,000. Or it could be a 2001-up replacement.

Guessing the wear of the first 14 years of a car based on that isn't happenging.

 

I didn't want to until I seen what you guys thought. Now, yes I have had driving problems. If you get on it just a little, your only good for 2 gears. 1st to second, second to lock out. The sift light comes on at 6500 and I have only did that once right after I bought it. There would be times where I couldn't even get it into any gear from a stand still. I replaced the clutch master with a Tick and I still get locked out. Even going from second to third to 4 would lock out. That's why I ask because I have it all apart so I would like to fix as much as possible. Also, when it locked you out if I waited 5-7 seconds it would let me back in gear. I need to pull the pilot and see what it looks like but my harbor freight pilot puller doesn't fit. I have to grind some metal off the backside of the three arms.


Also, when idle I heard chirping. Sounds that were like exhaust leaks coming from underneath. Hard to describe.

 

My pilot bearing is stuck. Every single step has been a fight. I couldn't even get the shift **** off. Had to break it off. Couldn't get the torque arm bolts out, had to cut them. Had to drop the exhaust to drop the transmission. Couldn't get the exhaust apart because someone thought it would be cute to use an impact to tighten the u-bolt, crimped the exhaust to where it wouldn't budge. Friend bailed on the tranny jack so I had to go buy one. Now I can't get the pilot bearing out. I took off vacation days to get this done last weekend, emailed Steve at Monster to make sure my clutch package arrived by last Friday, which it did (thanks Steve). So 2 vacation days burnt and so far I got the clutch out. Dad drove 45 miles to help out with exhaust which he did, but when he got up off the ground he grabbed my bumper to lift himself up and now I'm gonna have to buff it because of the dust and dirt on it. Did I mention my car is black? I'm not having fun right now. I love working on it but nothing is going my way right now. I'm doing this by myself, and I know jack about clutches. So after all that, if there are any suggestions of things I need to do please don't hesitate to throw it out there. You won't hurt my feelings. I have about $100 left. Spent about $1900.

And on top of all that, I get to listen to the wife bitch because I'm out in the garage so much. I'm not doing anything. I'll I want to is play with my toy.

List of parts bought:
Monster stage 3 package (billet steel flywheel, arp bolts)
Rear main seal
Both tail shaft seals
New u-joints
Speed bleeder
Pilot bushing (not bearing)
Adjustable torque are with new bolts
New transmission crossmember with safety loop and torque arm mount
Mgw shifter
New shift ****


I'm hoping after all is said and done, my issue will be fixed. The Tick clutch master did fix the not getting in gear at a stand still, but not the lockout after 5500rpm.

 

You seem to reference replacing, or planning to replace, everything but the slave-cylinder, which is a possible culprit for the issues you are seeing with getting the car into and out of gear. If you have replaced it and I missed it in the list above, or are planning to, then my apologies...but if not, do it now so you don't have to pull everything down again. As you probably know, the slave is responsible for delivering hydraulic pressure to the bearing and thus actuating the clutch.

 

Got a new slave with the monster package.

Got the pilot bearing out. Wasn't fun. I'm cleaning the back of the block up and there is this hose that goes to to a black box and the to the power booster? The black box is sitting inbetween both heads, the rear of the intake. It's seeping fluid through a cut in the hose that probably happened when they put the motor back in. What is it?

Trying to get the dust boot off the tailhousing and I can't get it to budge. Ripped the dust boot. So I'm looking at the splines and see a sleeve or bearing just behind the seal and its cracked in 2 places. Like the whole length of the thing. Don't have a clue. I guess I need a special tool to remove it. Nice....

My transmission mount was twisted. I looked up a pic on rockauto and there are 2 pressed in rivets by each bolt hole. They're gone. Looks like sheered off. Ordered a hydraulic mount for it. All I need now is the sleeve and a tool to remove it.

I need to know how to proceed. Tool, hose, dust boot and seal removal.

 

Well, I'm still chugging away at it. I should have probably posted this in the newb section. Pilot bushing is in, new rear main is in. Ready to mount flywheel, pressure plate, and disk. The black box was the intake. I have never seen an intake like that and dont know what is what as far as vaccuum lines on this car. The brake booster hose was cut. Plug wire was fried. I decided to change wires while I was at it and one was toast and the other was on its way. Bought some MSD's. got a poly trans mount from energy because stocker was twisted. I might get a little excited but I'm not scared to dive right in. This is my first transmission ever and I'm quite proud of how far I am with no one helping me. Oh, and bought a seal puller and had the seal out in 5 seconds. I turn wrenches for a living but rail cars are not this tedious. I'm used to doing everything with a minimum set of tools. I'll keep updating thread as I go. Just got ups tracking for my mgw shifter so I'm getting closer!!!

 

Lookin' good.. keep at it and it'll all pay off soon enough

 

Should I replace the motor mounts while the transmission is off the block?

 

Absolutely! It'll make your life much easier then having to do it later on with everything in the way.

 

Well, I'm going to skip the motor mounts for now. I want to drive it sometime and from what I read its a chore.

I cleaned up the transmission today and found 3 pieces of white plastic broke where the shifter sat in the transmission. I take it this is where the shifter ball joint on the bottom of the pro 5.0 tower goes? Will my new mgw shifter come with one or do I need to find one from a auto parts store? This looks like it could cause shifting problems???