Someone tell me what pressure plate I need to use...
'89 350, bell housing from an old 350, T5, and a lightweight flywheel from an '88 ZR1 Vette. The pressure plate from an '88 ZR1 wont work because the fork pulls on it instead of pushing like most. So do I need a pressure plate from a regular C4 Vette? or what?

 

i'd guess any for a thirdgen since it sounds like that's what you have except for a few parts inside the bell.

 

I don't think the "from a Vette" business is much help.... rarely is.... The clutch will not walk up to the flywheel and ask "Are you from a Vette, sir?" and then decide whether or not it wants to fit.

Is your flywheel 12.8", or 14", or 14" with the 12.8" bolt pattern? Just measure it and get the right clutch.

 

Will a pressure plate from a regular C4 Vette bolt to a flywheel from a ZR1. Would a pressure plate from a regular C4 be a normal "push" plate, or would it be like the Zr1's plate where the fork "pulls" on it? The flywheel is 12.8inch. I dont need a clutch, just a pressure plate.

 

Pressure plate = clutch
Disc = disc

I have no clue about the Vette stuff. But the flywheel (hopefully) isn't some unique speification, different from any other.

If it has the 12.8" bolt pattern, and its thickness is the same as any other normal one, then just get a good quality 12.8" clutch, such as one perhaps for a 88 V8 Camaro with a T-5, and forget about all the "Vette" business.

 

Rb doesn't the V word make everything just a little more special?

 

Maybe if it's a "Police Interceptor Vette"....?

 

[list=1][*]A "bellhousing from an olde 350" won't be tilted for the T5, so if you're planning on using this setup w/ a T5 in your 88 Camaro, you need an 83 or 84-92 bell for mechanical or hydraulic.[*]There is no such thing as an '88 ZR1 Vette. If you have an 88 Vette flywheel, ANDI think that was the last year of the 4+3, so that wheel will work w/ your 89 350.[*]Along with the last item, the ZF and pull-clutch didn't start until '89.[*]You need an 86-88 flywheel (F or Y,) 84-92 F bellhousing and an 84-88 Vette pressure plate & disc will work. They are 10.75" but fit on a 153 tooth wheel. This requires IIRC, special pressure plate bolts. To use the 10.75" disc from a Vette, you need the pressure plate from one too.[*]Your problem isn't that parts are from a ZR-1. An LT5 flywheel isn't a Gen I compatible flywheel anyway.[/list=1]

-Matthew

 

Where does the 12.8" bolt pattern come from? I seem to remember the 153 tooth flywheel PP bolt pattern to be some "even" # like 11 & 5/8".

 

12.8" is the flywheel size. I don't know the clutch bolt circle size offhand.

I'm being generous and assuming that this guy has some other torque arm scheme besides stock, and has modified the car in various other ways besides (heavy floor pan adjustments with a BFH). As you point out, the old BH won't hold the trans to where the fork will clear the floor pan; and being a "straight-up" BH, there's no way the stock suspension will fit the trans. I'm guessing he's still buing parts to put this together and hasn't actually discovered that it won't go into his car yet ..... all the "Vette" and "ZR1" monkey-spank notwithstanding.

 

The only reason the Vette stuff is mentioned is because the GM techs told me that was flywheel I needed to have it be balanced. So, naturaly, I assumed I need a pressure plate from a Vette too, to match the Vette flywheel I have to use. The bell housing I have fits my T5, its bolted to it right now! My friend has done this before, putting a T5 with 350, but since his engine was an older one, he was able to use any flywheel and pressure plate. Mine on the other hand, is a newer,'89 engine, so I have to have a flywheel made for a 350(Corvette) So I need a Vette presure plate to be able to bolt to the flywheel, right? Or is there another pressure plate that will work? And whats all this "floor pan" and "suspention" crap?

 

No, you don't need a "Vette" flywheel to fit a 89 motor. Any 87-up SBC V8 one would fit on it. Lots of 305 RSs and TPI cars came with T-5s, and that flywheel would work fine. The right one to get would therefore have been a 87-up 305 one. If you used that flywheel, you'd also be able to use your original bell housing too, and you'd have no confusion.

Look at the flywheel you've got. Look at the thickness, and compare it to your old one. Specifically, look at the distance from the surface where it goes against the crank, to the surface where the disc fits against it. It this one is the same as your OE one, within a quarter inch or so, then you can use the stock clutch for a 305. Should bolt right on. For all I know, it might be the same part # as a "Vette" clutch. And, for all I know, a "Vette" flywheel might be the same as a "305" flywheel, just probably coss twice as much because it has the magic $$$$ V word attached to it.

Is any of this stuff in the car yet? If not, you'll find out all about the floor pan and the suspension, soon enough. And likewise, I'd suggest you sell the "Vette" flywheel if it turns out to be different from a 305 one and get the right one (should be about revenue-neutral), use the stock clutch, and the stock starter, and the stock bell housing, and drive the car.

I think the GM techs you talked to sent you down a serious expensive left turn down a dirt road. We could have saved you a whole lot of grief if you'd come here and asked the right question up front. Your personal data says you have a 88 car; in which case your stock flywheel will just go right on that 350, with the stock BH and the stock clutch (or a new 83-92 one), no hassles or anything. Bolt up, drive off.

 

Well, a 1989 350 and a 1988 Gen I SBC flywheel do not need balanced together. The crank in your 89 350 is almost guaranteed to be identical casting # and everything compared to an 88 350 crank. So no, they do not need balanced together assuming we're talking about a 1988 350 Vette flywheel.


Both RB and myself are aware that it bolts on.

The fork does not clear the floorboards. And the shifter will point to the passenger. The only way to use a "straight up" bellhousing would be to use an 82 F bell / fork, or a 78-81 G-body (Monte Carlo) bellhousing with that weird *** bent design fork, which is a crap design, and would require mechanical linkage, and you'd still have the shifter and tranny mount mis-angled. It'll be a cobble-screw-job if you were to go that way.


Heh. Do you think there's any difference between an 88 Vette flywheel and an 88 Camaro flywheel? Think again. The 89-96 Vette flywheel isn't going to work because it's a pull clutch and intended for use with the ZF 6 speed.


No. You can use any GM 10.5" disc & p. plate with a 26(?) spline input.

 

86-up


I like that phrase


Were any of the 82 disks of a lesser spline-count than the 26 spline 83-92 stuff? I'm not up on Saginaw / T-10 stuff too well.

 

im having kinda the same problem.

I am in the process of putting 1974 block with an 87 T-5. i got a new fly wheel (158 tooth) and when i originally put the transmission in , we kinda forgot to put a pilot bushing in. when i pressed on the clutch after all this was doe it felt liek it was bidning on something. Now i am wonderign if this was as a result fo a lack of a pilot bushing, or if the fact that i changed the flywheel, requires that i change the pressure plate and clutch disc too.

 

For using the early block, the 83-85 305 flywheel is the right thing.

No you do not need a different clutch. The right clutch for a 83-92 (maybe 82-92) Camaro / Firebird 305 will work fine.

You DEFINITELY need a pilot bushing or bearing. DO NOT drive the car without it, you might end up toasting your tansmission in short order that way.

If the clutch felt like it was binding on something, it probably was.

I ran a 73 model 400 block in my 83 car, with a 84 hydraulic system and eventually a 91 transmission for years and years. Believe me, it all interchanges and works flawlessly, if assembled right.

 

yeah i put a pilot bearing in. so thats taken care of.
My auto teacher mentioned somethgin about a stepped flywheel? and if it used to have one and i got one that wasnt that i would have to change the pressure plate. but i have never heard anything about this so i didnt know how seriously to take what he was telling me. Any truth to this?

 

No "stepped" flywheel in these cars.

Just get the parts I listed, if that's not what you already have. That's all you need to know. Then figure out what's assembled wrong. Once you do all that, it will be fine.

 

thanx a ton dude. once agian you guys save my ***. if i could buy you all a beer i would. lol :hail:

 

I still had this question.

82 owners?