TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

Finally ordered a new clutch after all these years of crappy shifting and getting locked out of gear at high rpms. Changed the slave, didn't fix it. Changed the Master Cylinder, didn't fix it. Did the drill mod, didn't fix it. Put in high temp. fluid in the hydraulic system, didn't fix it. Put heat resistant tubing over the hydraulic line and re-routed the line farther away from the headers, didn't fix it. Bled it everyway imagineable (mity-vac, gravity method, standard method), didn't fix it. Just recently I and many others have discovered the reason many people have this problem. In most cases like mine, it is the stock GM pressure plate.

I ordered a Monster Level 1 clutch kit a few days ago with a light weight flywheel. It will be here sometime next week. Until then I have completed part 1. Removal of the transmission and clutch/flywheel. This is my second time dropping my tranny (first time was in an apartment complex parking lot to change the slave), but only first time replacing my clutch. I've done my best to let you follow along as I go through this install.

Edit 10-11-13* Six months later and I finally finished the 500 mile break in period, haha. Went for my first WOT run yesterday on an on ramp. Pinned it in 1st rolling onto the on ramp and could feel the rear tires breaking loose a bit as it was a little cold outside. Shifted into 2nd and continued full throttle. Here it comes...3rd gear. Rpm approaches redline and I hit third gear like cake! Car starts to approach 90mph so I let off the throttle and switch to 6th. No spongey pedal, no getting locked out of gears, everything acts normal. I can't believe I waited this long to do this set up.

This video was done to accompany the InstallUniversity.com clutch write up, link below...

http://www.installuniversity.com/ls1...tallation.html

As always, switch the setting on youtube to 720p for better quality.

BrntWS6

iTrader: (7)

Holy **** I'm glad I paid my shop to do this.

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

It can definitely be intimidating for some people. My wife watched the video and asked me, "why did you show yourself struggling so much in the video like pulling the tranny off and the fly wheel?"

I told her I wanted people to actually see what they are up against. In other install videos I've seen they say, "Next just take off the bolts and remove the transmission". Then the transmission just magically is removed in the next frame and on the ground, LOL. I tried my best to make the video more like you are actually sitting there watching me do it, more intimate I guess besides just, "do this, then do this, then the clutch magically appears on the ground" I'm a fairly strong guy and the tranny can be a bit of a bear. If anyone is like a 110lb guy who doesn't really work out, I wouldn't recommend trying to man handle the tranny off of their back. Probably will want a friend there or a trans jack.

Empatho

iTrader: (16)

Nice, thanks for the video. I cant wait to see the rest of them.

White6SpdZ28

iTrader: (6)

Eh its not that bad. Bitch was getting my exhaust off and muscling the thing out. And I never pulled a trans before

BrntWS6

iTrader: (7)

What made me take it to a shop was having to work off my back. If I had a lift and proper jacks I would have done it. I did my own H/C/I/E but really didn't want to mess with that trans.

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

Monster Clutch came in today. I weighed the stock assembly, and then weighed the monster clutch assembly. The stock pressure plate, flywheel, and disc weighed about 50lbs even. The Monster pressure plate, lightweight flywheel, and disc weighed in at 47lbs. So it's pretty much the same weight as stock with the light weight flywheel.

I've heard over and over as a general rule that using a lightweight flywheel will gain you about a 1/10th of a second in the quarter mile. But my logic is, that's comparing using the same clutch with a lightweight fly vs. the same clutch with the regular fly. The Stock unit is about the same weight as the Monster unit with the lightweight flywheel so I'd guess I won't get any performance improvement in that sense.

Anyway, I'm gonna pull the pilot bearing tonight and maybe bolt up the clutch at least. Should have my next video up by this weekend.

BrntWS6

iTrader: (7)

Yeah there isn't a big difference in weight but every bit helps. One thing I learned after my Diamond stage 2 went in was to change the fluid in the reservoir often. I was still having clutch pedal issues with it sticking even after the swap. I was going to put in a tick adjustable and got a tip to keep the fluid clean from my shop. After I started that I have no problems.

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

This is perfect timing! I am in the market for a new clutch and will have to replace mine fairly soon and I was considering the same exact clutch that you're about to install. Thanks for that great video, looking forward to seeing part 2 and hearing some impressions of how you like the new setup.

How come you didn't exchange the master cylinder while you already have the tranny out? Also, how is your transmission mount looking?

Lastly, did you upgrade the clutch because you felt it was time or because it impacted the cars driveability? I noticed a big change in how the clutch felt before versus how it feels now. The engagement point has a very small range now and is very close to the floor. How did your stock clutch feel?

Thanks again for all the great info!

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

You had to yank your exhaust out? What headers/Y pipe do you have? He had headers on his car and didn't have to touch the exhaust.

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

If you don't mind me asking, how much did the shop charge you to change your clutch?

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

I didn't change out the slave cylinder this time because I just changed it a few thousand miles ago when I was chasing down the reason I was getting locked out of gear at high RPM. Little did I know it wasn't the slave or master cylinder, both of which I replaced in an attempt to fix the issue, it was the stock GM pressure plate locking me out of gear at high rpm. Unfotunetly at the time no one really knew that. Everyone was still singing the old "replace your master then replace your slave, then do the drill mod" if you were getting locked out of gear. All of which I and my brother did on each of our Trans Ams, and non of which helped anything. He then got a new Monster Clutch and it was cured.

My transmission mount seems fine, a little worn looking but I'm not having any problems. My stock clutch was holding the power fine but I was getting locked out of gear when trying to shift above 5k rpms. It's because of the stock GM self adjusting pressure plate. No one knows for sure yet, but the main theory right now is at high rpms the pressure plate fingers may be getting sucked inward not allowing the throwout bearing to reach the fingers thus not disengaging the clutch.

Back when I changed my slave I had the stock exahust so I had to remove the y-pipe, this time I have headers and an aftermarket y-pipe and didn't have to remove any of the exhaust. At one point before I changed my slave I was qouted $680 to replace my slave from the dealership. I'm assuming if they did a clutch it would be about $800 in labor.

MannyZ28

iTrader: (1)

I keep confusing the two... the thingy inside the tranny is slave and the one by the pedal is the master, right?

I did do the drill mod (when I say "I", I really mean my friend who has his own shop) and replaced the stock 98 master with the one from an 02 model, so the same one you have in there I am assuming. The reason I replaced it was because my pedal was stuck to the floor and the car was not drivable. After the 02 master was installed, my clutch pedal sticks out about an inch further than the brake pedal does. When I saw your video on the drill mod, and saw how your pedals line up so well, I knew something has to be wrong for the pedal to stick out that far, it's a bit of a pain to drive like this but I have been driving it like that for the last 30k miles. I wonder what would cause that, any ideas?

wavebyby

iTrader: (1)

Great video man !

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, the one on the tranny is the slave. Not sure about your clutch pedal height.

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

Went to Orielly's tonight and rented the slide hammer and pilot bearing puller attachment. Started to tear up the pilot bearing a bit before it started coming out and then a few hits later it popped out! Cleaned the hole the bearing was in the best I could with a blue shop towel. LOTS of dirt in that hole, I could see how if you didn't clean it out in there really well you could have problems getting the new bearing to seat all the way.

Installed my new bearing shortly afterward. Used a small piece of wood as a barrier between the bearing and socket extension as not to have metal on metal and possibly deform the bearing causing installation issues when the tranny goes back in. Just kept hitting it for a while and it slowly worked it's way back in until it was flush. Very nerve racking pulling the old bearing and putting the new one in but it's all over now and couldn't have gone better!

Tomorrow I'll be installing the flywheel as well as the clutch disk and pressure plate and of course loc-titing everything and torquing to spec in the proper sequence. Depending on how long that all takes me I may try to install the trans after that but will most likely wait until Sunday. Really just trying to take my time on this install and do little by little. It's made the whole experience go much smoother and stress free.

Break in period is 500 miles so it's gonna be a few weeks until I can rip it up an onramp bangin gears at red line to give my final conclusion. For now it's almost 1am and I'm gonna hit the hay. Tomorrow is another day.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Looking good so far, brother! Seems you had better luck with the pilot bearing than I did. It took me about 20 minutes to get mine out. It was siezed pretty bad.

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

Thanks man. By the grace of God my tranny went in on the first try! So stoked. Was having some trouble getting it in but put in the drive shaft and turned it a bit and it slid in. All tranny bolts are torqued to spec. Just gotta throw on the torque arm mount, drive shaft, shifter, center console, and bleed the clutch and take her for a ride! Part 2 will be up this evening.

dr_whigham

iTrader: (49)

Hopefully you got the speed bleeder...

I took the fitting OFF the end and stuck it in a mason jar half full of DOT4 and pumped till I had a pedal. I couldn't get pedal pressure with it on. Worked like a charm. Put the fitting back on, tight. Then backed it off a quarter to a half a turn, and bled the **** out of it.

If you get a "spongy" part of the pedal at the very tip top... say 1/4" of the first part of pedal travel, just bleed that spongy part.

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

EEEhhh..pretty frustrated right now. No video up yet. Started up the car and went for my first drive after the install. I immediately noticed the clutch engaged right of the floor when I took off. I knw that was a bad sign right away. Went and drove it a couple miles around town. It was actually shifting ok, a bit notchy but it got slightly better as the tranny fluid warmed up. It was still bothering me that the clutch was engaging almost right off the floor, was shifting fine though, no problems.

Decided to go do the "rev test". Went to a flat spot, pushed in the clutch pedal, put it in first and reved it to red line slowly. The car started creeping forward...f*ck. Should I have installed a shim, the instructions say I don't need one? I bled the hydrualics really well. Clutch pedal was nice and firm and had maybe a quarter inch of play at the top if that. Previous to this I've never had a problem bleeding before, I'm actually quite a pro at it by now. I get home and try to put it in reverse to back into the garage and it's pretty hard to get it into reverse.

I go inside and read the "how to bleed the Tick master" sticky. I gave it a shot. Diconnected the master from the slave, did the whole nine yards. Put nearly an entire bottle through it this time. Pedal is nice and firm, feels great jut like before. I take it for a drive and the clutch is still engaging really close to the floor, what the hell? I drive it around a bit and the shifting actually seems pretty smooth this time. I take it back to the spot and try the rev test. Suprisingly it passes the test! Still engaging really close to the floor though. I go home and it's a little easier to get into reverse, but still a little troublesome.

I'm going to bed now. Read some threads about guys having their Monster clutches engaging pretty close off the floor as well so I'll see how it goes the next few days. I'll put some more miles on it for the break in and see how it does. If the clutch continues to engage almost right off the floor after the break in period I guess my only option is to buy the Tick Master to make the throw outbearing extend farther and disengage the clutch better. I'm guessing right now because it engages off the floor that the throw out bearing is barely able to push the pp fingers in far enough because the throw out bearing cant extend far enough which the Tick Master should be able to fix instead of having to shim the slave, right?