TexasLT1

so I finally finished my T-56 and SPEC Stage 3 swap. I already had about 20-30 miles on the setup, but tonight I took it out for a spin and something isn't right. After a few minutes of highway driving, at the very bottom of the pedal movement I could feel a slight bumping almost like when you push the shifter against the synchros when it's in gear or if you try and do a clutchless shift but you're at the wrong rpm. It started at the very bottom of the pedal throw, but I drove for a few more minutes and it had moved up the pedal throw a little.

At this point I decided to turn around and head back to the shop. When I pulled up at the light, with the clutch pedal pressed down a little, I could hear a slight "scratching" noise that was obviously coming from the clutch, so I knew it was getting worse. It was only a few miles back to the shop so I decided to continue on. By the time I got to the last light before the shop, the "bumping" in the pedal had moved up just inside the clutch disengagement range and there was very little movement before it became hard to press, the scratching sound grew louder, and the clutch sounded like it wanted to come apart. Just now, as I pulled up to the shop, with the trans in neutral and the e-brake set, I slowly pushed the clutch pedal in and after very little movement it became much harder to press. I pressed just a very little bit farther and the engine started to stall, I immediately let off the clutch, stable idle returned.

We installed a brand new roller pilot bearing (I know, I had my doubts when we did) that we greased very well after we installed it. Could this be the culprit? Any ideas whats going on?

Tony89GTA

iTrader: (7)

Sounds like your clutch fork is grinding against the pressure plate! Either your clutch fork bolt is backing out which I hope is the problem or there is something up with the pressure plate. I would first take out the slave and have a look at that pressure plate for grinding on the edge of it and see if it's the fork bolt backing out giving you the problem if not you might have to pull the thing out and judging buy SPEC's past quallity I wouldn't dought it's the pressure plate.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

You didnt loctite the bolt when you installed the clutch fork T stud, take it back out, clean the threads, reinstall with loctite.

TexasLT1

yup, sure enough, just pulled the slave cylinder, looked into the hole, and about an 1/8"+ gap between the bottom of the t-bar and its seat. going to be a pain in the as, but glad its an easy fix.

TKOPerformance

Yeah, that bolt has threadlocking compound on the threads from the factory. That blue stuff GM uses. I would just use red or blue locktite. That's what I did.

I don't think the piliot is the problem. I've got one in my car with several thousand miles on it and no troubles. Fords use them stock, and the ones I've removed with 100,000+ miles on them still look new. Personally, I like the roller pilots because they hold the grease, where a bushing won't. Most of the T5 input shafts that come into my shop are trashed ont eh pilot end, and I think it's because there's no grease int here and the bushing is galling them all to hell.

I saw another post a while back about someone who had a problem with their SPEC clutch. Sounds like SPEC took care of it, so I wouldn't worry if that is what it turns out to be.

Z28ricer

iTrader: (2)

Yup keep on driving it for a little longer it will get to the point it wont stay running, and then you wont be able to start it.

TexasLT1

yeah it did that last night, wouldn't even turn over. I knew something was screwed then, had to push it into the shop today. Oh well, all better now.


TKO - yeah I was pretty sure it wasn't the pilot bearing, as a buddy of mine had a 98 Cobra that we replaced the bearing anyway when we pulled the trans, and it still looked new. That was just my first thought when I started having problems, didn't even think about the t-bar bolt backing out. it scored the pressure plate housing a little bit, but nothing bad.