slow96ss

Had the clutch and flywheel replaced about a month ago. when taking off in first gear the car shakes really bad until it gets going. Ive had to basically force in into reverse and now all gears are getting hard to shift into. at first i figured something was not balanced but i have no experience with this. the car has a slight shake while idleing and it does not change much when throw some rev's at it. it shakes the worst though in reverse. these symptoms were not there at all before the clutch/flywheel were replaced. anyone know what is causing these issues? suggestions welcome

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

What clutch setup was installed in the car?

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

What your describing to me sounds like clutch chatter (besides the car slightly shaking at idle). Did you break in your clutch properly? Most clutches have a 500+ break in period.

I remember I test drove a 2002 trans am back in the day and that thing would shake like crazy when I'd take off from a stop. The whole car would shake and it would go Bang bang bang bang!

slow96ss

Spec stage 2 with a stock replacement flywheel. Clutch was broke in properly and its been 500+ since installed. The previous clutch was a spec stage 2 also and it never did this so that's why I wasn't sure what to think. Didnt realize clutch chatter was that bad. The whole car does shake bad and once I'm off and going it stops shaking. Is the rough shifts caused by this also?

TheBlueKnight

iTrader: (4)

If all the gears are getting hard to shift into (especially reverse), it sounds like the PP fingers aren't being pressed in far enough to full disengage the clutch all the way. With the 98+ cars like mine I know if you get a clutch installed and don't measure for a shim, then you will have the same problem you're describing now with having trouble getting into gears, especially reverse.

But I don't know if the 97 and below cars work the same way in regards to needing a shim in some cases. If they are the same, you may need to either shim the slave or buy an adjustable master cylinder. Does your clutch engage really close to the floor when driving/ taking off?

BALLSS

OP

does the car shake/vibrate just idling and as RPM increase....or just on clutch engagement?

slow96ss

blueknight from what I remember there was a shim previously. The clutch engages at about half way from the floor. I have been under the impression that the guy who replaced it for me didnt measure or make sure things were balanced.

***** the car has a slight vibration at idle and as rpm increase that wasnt there before but it gets quite a bit worse during engagement and is the worst in reverse. The last few days i have had to use a good amount of force to get into 1st and reverse.

SNLPerformance

iTrader: (15)

Was everything torqued properly during the install?

slow96ss

I would hope so but i am not sure as I had a shop do the install for me.

BALLSS

^^^

Op can you confirm PP TQ was at 22 ft lbs? more will cause release issues. Also failing hydraulics can cause this.

the "vibration" you describe sounds more like clutch chatter than a balance problem. Balance issue would be felt throughout RPM range.

clutch discs with more aggressive friction material than organic disc material tend to chatter on engagement. uneven mating surfaces but you said FW was also new...

slow96ss

I will try to get ahold of the guy who changed it for me to confirm. im just going to assume its clutch chatter at this point cause thats what everyone has been saying. that just leaves the engagement issue. yes FW is new also.

CarbedZ-28

Does it vibrate harder when decelerating in 5/6? if so stop driving the car and take it to the shop that did the install it sounds to me like the pressure plate has backed off, just had one brought to me that another local shop did a stage 2 monster in. It didn't make since to me that it engaged great before an slowly got worse especially in reverse. So I pulled trans and started looking and that's when I saw the fingers on the pp were only down on one side and the pp had backe off on one side about an 1/8th of an inch.

SPEC-01

iTrader: (2)

Looks like I'm late to the party on this one. I was out at an event and have been playing catch up. A few things to consider:

Were the clutch and flywheel balanced together?
What torque was applied to the pressure-plate to flywheel and flywheel to crank bolts?
Have you tried bleeding the hydraulics?
Is the Fork/T-pivot in good condition?

There is no shim required or provided for the LT application so this is not an issue. Feel free to give me a call if you like and I will be happy to help further.