For those of you who didnt follow my swap thread, i installed a 1995 LT1 T56 in my firebird earlier this year. Because of the 2pc rear main seal of the Gen 1 SBC 355 its backing, i also had to get the centerforce "conversion" flywheel 700107 i think.

Anyway, everything to make this swap happen was new! EXCEPT the transmission itself, belhousing, B&M shifter, pedals, and the clutch fork.

All other parts had no miles on them. Including flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, throwout bearing, clutch hydraulics, tranny fluid, etc... All metal surfaces were new enough, that they still had machining marks on them. Like the flywheel and pressure plate. Both were scraped free of any obstructions like stickers, and brake cleaned SEVERAL times before installed. All items were torqued, re-torqued, and torqued a couple more times for good measure.

I should also mention, THE CLUTCH IS STOCK for a 1995 LT1 trans am.

I waited a few hundred miles (dontknow how many because the speedo wasnt attached, but id say atleast 400 miles) before i was hard on the gas and shifts.

However, im not the kind of driver that revs up the engine to 2000rpm before releasing the clutch when driving. I let out the clutch as much as i can, and just catch it with the throttle before it stalls, then im off. So when i start from a stand still, my RPM starts at 950 or so, stays there until the clutch is completely out and then climbs till the next shift. As opposed to revving up before the clutch is out. Maybe i didnt break it in properly???

Anyway, the point is, the car has enough horsies to spin the tires in first gear while its rolling at roughly 20km/hr (my slippy 700r4 was able to do this), and it DEFINATELY has enough power to give me tire squealing shifts if i can do it fast enough.

But when i shift quickly, it just slips! For example, from a stand still, merging on the highway, i go up to 70km/hr in first, then shift at 5000 rpm or so into second, the rpms slip up to about 6000 rpm and hold, then drop back down to about 4500 once the clutch grips. Classic slippy clutch.

My freinds 07 4.0L V6 mustang does tire chirping shifts all the way into 4th gear, and my bird can leave it in the dust. So whats going on???

WHy is my brand new clutch slipping??? I know its a stock clutch, but didnt these cars chirp the tires from the factory while shifting???

Any ideas?

 

Could be your pressure plate is defective from the factory I had that before with my SPEC clutch.

Any chance your rear main seal is leaking cause that can do it also?

One thing you can try is drill out the restrictor in you hydraulic clutch line, it will let your clutch release little faster and maybe might help you some.

http://www.installuniversity.com/ins...sity/index.htm

Step 16

 

What do you mean by "defective?" Like warped, or cracked or??? It looked pretty good when i installed it, so i figured it was ok.





Actually now that you mention it, my RMS DOES leak. Its just a dribble though, doesnt lower my oil level or anything. It creates a palm sized stain every couple months or so....

But i looked at the flywheel, its solid all the way around. I searched for way the oil would get to the clutch disc, and it would have to go down under the flywheel, and then up again to the disc somehow. It didnt look like gravity would do it. I might be wrong though. How would the leaky seal make it slip?



However, a leaky seal is a leaky seal, i could be wrong about it. Ill have a look and see if its collecting in the bell housing. I also dont have a dust cover yet, so that may have contributed to it.

 

i dont see how the rear main leaking could get oil on the flywheel, the issue seem like the pressure plate, was it new or come with the trans?

 

I bought it seperate. The trans came from a junk yard.

The pedals, and old hydraulics, plus other misc parts including an LT1 clucth and flywheel came from a member on camaroz28.com

Then i had to buy the flywheel. luckily i found a used one from a summit employee, who had purchased it from summit. It was a display peice so he got it for $150 instead of $450. He showed me the receipt and tag.

The Clutch and pressure plate was bought from a member on camaro.z28.com as well, because the old stuff was pretty old. Actually now that i think about it, he said the clutch disc had zero miles on it, and the pressure plate had less than 500. He told me he had sold the car so, he didnt need it. $100! i wasnt gonna pass that up. From the way both items looked, i had no reason to doubt they were used very little or not at all.

My freind thinks i have too much torque for the clutch. The car has done 97mph in the quarter right now, and its not tuned at all. So theres still some life in it yet. I figure 350hp at the flywheel realistically. But it can also pull the car at 1100 rpm in 6th gear, with a 3.42 rear end, and wont complain all the way down to 900 rpm. However, thats pretty close to what the LT1's and LS1's were putting out right???

This clutch was put in with "temporary" in mind, and i plan to get a Mcleod, or Spec eventually. But i didnt think it would slip..... I dont notice it in regular driving, its only on powershifts, or quick shifts.

 

hmm yeah everything looks pretty good in those pic's, IDK looks like you might be shopping for a new clutch kind of early

 

Well ill give it a year or two. The clutch has been good to me on the street. But im out of the racing scene for a while Maybe ill get some suspension stuff and hit the autocross circuits.

 

Hmmi was trying to update this thread earlier, but i couldnt find it for some reason...Anyway, heres the update.

I was told i needed about 600mi (or 1000kms) to break in the clutch. SO i waited about 800 kms,a nd figured it was good enough. Not only was this not enough time or distance, but most of it was highway driving (ie: no shifting). On top of that, the way i drive, allows very very limited slip in the clutch, like i mentioned above.

SO i figured, before i start buying new parts, or whatever, maybe i should try to break it in properly, by driving improperly. So i set my odometer to ZERO and started. I gave it 3 full months of retarded starts off the line. ie: rev up to 1600-2500 rpm, and SLOWWWWWWLY let out the clutch. eeek.... Made me cringe everytime. I kept with it and did it for about 3 months. Then i shifted quickly on the highway, and didnt seem to notice any difference.....

Finally at the end of the season, my freinds decided to go to the dragstrip on their last open day, and convinced me to come alone, even though my brakes and suspension are shot....

I ran at the track, and in the spirit of racing, shifted a little quicker, and...... EUREKA!!!! Chirping shifts all the way into 4th.

The night before it had rained, and it was very cold, but the racing day was bright blue sky. I figured the cold, unprepped track was helping me chirp. So i didnt think anything of it.

On the drive home, my freind may have pulled up next to me in the next lane, and we may have seen who could reach the limit the quickest, and it may have chirped the shifts in all the shifts also.

In the next couple of weeks of driving, the chirps got longer and turned into long squeals. NO MORE SLIPPY CLUTCH!

However, my RMS is leaking like crazy, so i plan to tackle that after the winter. So if you have a slippy new clutch, it may just not be broken in yet....

Cheers.

 

I know this is a old AF post, but how did this turn out after this? Is it still holding?

 

It held fine for the amount of time i owned the car. It was sold shortly after i got it sorted. It did get more grippy, and stayed that way till i sold the car.

Later on, the T56 came out and i still have the flywheel in the basement. It had heat marks, which confirmed it was just slipping from improper break in.