garbs

Hey guys,

First off, let me say that I am a noob with a manual transmission and that this is my first ever manual car. I'm having no problems driving it but a few friends believe that the clutch isn't working properly.

The car is a 98 Trans Am ws6 with a Centerforce II clutch installed by the previous owner. The clutch itself is holding fine but it doesn't seem to be disengaged until the pedal is ALL the way to the floor. If I don't press it to the floor when shifting (under regular driving circumstances, ie shifting at around 2000-2500 rpm), I will get some grinding.

Now here is what leads me to believe that it might not be all the way disengaged...When I am launching the car and bringing first gear into high RPMs, the shift into second will commonly cause a quick grinding noise. Obviously this isn't good for the transmission so it isn't something that I keep doing.

So here's the question...Do you guys think the clutch needs to be adjusted, if so - how do I go about doing that? Most of my friends said that I shouldn't need the pedal all the way down to have it disengage.

I appreciate any help - Thanks a bunch

Scoggin Dickey

iTrader: (34)

You do need to put the pedal to the floor every shift every time, period. That said, flush out your fluid with the bleeder while constantly filling the master and it should help a little as well.

garbs

Thanks for the reply. I know that I should be pushing it to the floor (which I do) - I just thought that it was supposed to start disengaging sooner...

Again, thanks a lot for the help guys - this forum is great

KILLER-LS1

iTrader: (18)

you should push it to the floor BUT my spec stage 1 clutch came with a slave cylinder spacer. i would assume that the person never installed the spacer from their kit. (it causes the clutch to disengage faster)

chvycmaroz28

iTrader: (1)

sounds like a nice car..good luck with it

PewterScreaminMach

iTrader: (7)

Bleed, then RAM Adjustable Master Cylinder, then install the shim behind the slave. If none of that helps, do you have a stock resurfaced flywheel in the car? It's possible to much material was taken off when it was resurfaced. Otherwise it may be an issue with the clutch itself, or possibly your slave or master are having issues. If you install a new adjustable master, that eliminates the master being the problem, and if you're gonna pull the tranny to install a shim, I'd replace the slave if you don't know how new it is to eliminate that as a problem, unless you don't mind pulling the tranny every time you want to troubleshoot the next thing. Good luck with it, but do what you can one at a time and see how it goes.

I'd also run the clutch test: bring it to a dead stop on a flat surface (nothing in front of you), clutch pedal in to the floor, put it in first gear and then rev it up to about 5000+ RPM like you're going to launch the ***** off it. Keep the clutch pedal to the floor though and see if it start creeping forward at all and if the clutch is grabbing. If it starts to creep, you have a disengagement issue.

NOTE - try this when you first start the car up and if it doesn't do it, drive it around hard a for a little bit and then immediately test it again before it cools down. Sometimes it won't move right away when everything is cold but then it will start to creep after everything is warmed up.

garbs

Thanks again guys for all of your suggestions.

PewterScreaminMach - I will try the "clutch test" and go from there.

I really don't want to drop the transmission just yet so I will try bleeding the hydraulics and maybe try the drill mod.