Time to start posting up about some of what I've been working on. Motor and intake have been solid so I've been going back to revisit clutch, suspension, brakes, and seating. Plus a few other odds and ends...
Clutch #4, Monster Stage 4: I finally decided I?m through running organic clutch discs. A slave cylinder located inside the bellhousing just doesn?t seem happy with lots of clutch dust. I know some folks have had good success with the LS7 stuff, maybe the added clamping makes all the difference but I?m done trying.
After a lot of debate eyeballing the aluminum pressure plate options from Spec (to go with my existing aluminum fly) I finally broke down, went the other way and bought a Monster clutch. The overwhelmingly positive reviews on LS1Tech were just too much to ignore. After some long discussions with Monster's tech support I went for the stage 4, sintered iron version. It's supposed to shed heat really well and actually have better engagement than the stage 3 (at least once you're through with the break in period). I went for the 11" PP instead of the 12", the lightened chromoly fly, a new slave, and a speed bleeder.
This is the first clutch setup I've bought that comes with EVERYTHING. All hardware, alignment tool, even a new pilot bearing.
However, it was probably the most annoying clutch install I've ever done. Started off normally enough...
Lay out all the pieces and admire the hog-out work on the backside of the fly.
Lube pilot bearing, install fly, torque ARPs (I kept the TTY hardware and pilot bearing that came with the clutch as spares, since my stuff was still perfect).
Friction disk aligned with tool:
Tighten pressure plate, re-verify alignment tool slips in and out easily, then torque bellhousing.
I'm doing all this from below as I just let the engine roll backwards slightly on its mounts to make some extra space. (If you do this be sure to pull your intake manifold least you crush the map sensor against the firewall).
Problem was, I just couldn't get the trans to go through both the splines of disk and pilot bearing. After fighting with this for about a half hour I start to question whether the disk was well aligned to the crankshaft. There was definitely some slop in the alignment tool so I go find my other one. Sure enough, not all plastic tools are created equal. There's about a 0.020" tip diameter difference and the other tools isn't slipping in. I had tried to center the disk via ensuring I was at the midpoint of the play up and down but it just wasn't enough.
Had to pull the bellhousing back off, loosen pressure plate, realign using my better tool (a spare input shaft from a t56 would really be the best tool if you could find one) and try again.
SON-OF-A-B%$@&!!!! It's aligned as good as I can get it and I still can't get the thing in. By this point I've got a buddy helping me (thanks Ryan!) and after about 15 minutes of no progress we pull the trans out of the way so I can take another look. My eyeball says the disk might be just a HAIR low so we try inserting the trans at an ever so slightly upward angle. It finally goes through both splines and pilot bearing.
BUT WAIT, there's more. The trans is almost in, but because it's now pointed at a slightly different angle than the bellhousing the trans bolts won't align and the pressure plate is grabbing so damn hard we just can get it to shift into place. It'd be sweet if we could just release the clutch for a moment but there's nothing good under the car to keep the trans from just pushing itself off the bellhousing. After another half hour of wiggling, we finally manage to get a single trans bolt threaded but doing so requires the trans be rotated from where it really wants to sit. We bleed the clutch and pray those few threads hold when Ryan steps on the clutch for the first time. Low and behold it works. We're able to shift the trans where it's supposed to be and all is well. Re-torque the remainder and we're good to go.
That might have been the hardest clutch job I've ever done... The upside is that I have high hopes for the clutch itself. Car's been up and driving for a couple weeks now. It's definitely got a bit of chatter if you slip it too long, but that's supposed to go away once it's broken in.
The pedal effort is barely harder than stock and the engagement feels decent. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this can do when it's ready to be flogged. Worst case I have the speed bleeder available so hopefully that'll make maintenance easier.
