Just did a t56 swap on my car. 89 camaro, carbed 383 engine. Got trans in, 4th pedals and used 4th gen hydraulics, all came together. Hydraulics werent taken apart, some fluid was in it. researched bleeding it, saw that they dont have a bleeder screw, some ppl pump the slave by hand under the car, I tried that and didnt change anything. It was very easy to install the slave, didnt have to push very hard to push it all the way forward and bolt it on. Kinda not sure if the clutch fork is in the right place. It was like all the way forward, is that right? Is it supposed to be pushed back and slave cyclinder pushes it forward?

I sit in car and can barely push the clutch pedal. Feels like the brake pedal on a car with power brakes when you pump it several times and the car is off and it gets all stiff and barely moves. Well I started the car up and didnt even get to try and put it in gear because once i barely tried pushing the clutch pedal what little it will move I hear a metal screeching sound from down below.

Any ideas? what did i do wrong? Thanks.

 

Disc is in backwards

See my sig

 

oh man. are you kidding me?! what a dumb mistake to make. i even thought i paid extra careful attention to not make that mistake. doody.

so whats the screeching sound? do you think i damaged anything?

thanks

 

Alright, I dont really remember which way I installed the clutch disc. I thought I followed the instructions from the shop I bought it from correctly, and even followed the sticker on the one side that says FW side. unless sticker was on wrong side. or if i did install it right is there anything else it could be?

but when I do get it back apart and look at it, which side goes towards the engine? The gray more uniform one? or the copper colored one with the triangle-ish shapes on it?

thanks

 

The side that goes toward the engine is the one where it doesn't hit the flywheel bolt heads

 

What brand clutch is that? Just curious as it looks identical to mine.

Also, if you view the disc from the side it will look like a flattened top hat. The protuding side (the top of the top hat) goes into the flywheel where there's space for it. The other side is mostly flat and will sit up against the pressure plate. If you notice there is no room on the pressure plate for it to sit up against it evenly if you put the protruding hat on the transmission/pressure plate side.

The "hat" goes into the flywheel.

You did get the correct LT1 T56 flywheel, correct? Not a T5 one?

When the clutch fork is in place properly it should sit very neatly and squarely with the flange that the slave cylinder spacer goes against. It shouldnt be way inside the bell housing or sticking way into the area where that spacer is.

 

Oh...ok gotcha. Thanks for the reply. Man do I need a stupid smack. Can't believe I did that, I've even installed clutches before, not sure how I messed this one up.

Yeah sounds like my clutch fork is in wrong spot, its about as far forward as it can go. And yeah I have a T56 flywheel, I had to buy one of those centerforce conversion ones for a externally balanced 2piece rear main seal with a T56. My clutch...I'm not sure. I just bought it from a local shop that everybody uses, they make everything and great prices. I'll look and see if there's a brand name on it when I take it back apart. Its a dual friction clutch, I know that much.

Thanks again. I'll update this for other people for future refence once I get it apart. I hope I didn't damage the clutch disc or pressure plate or anything.

 

it worked! i'm an idiot

Sure enough I installed the clutch disc backwards, I even messed up the sticker that said "fw side". Really cant believe or understand how I did that, installed other clutches succesfully before, just not this time. The springs of the clutch disc were hitting the pressure plate. Faint wear marks around the pressure plate just outside the throw-out bearing and some small knicks on the clutch disc where the center piece flares up around each of the springs. And once installed properly, my clutch fork sat where it should and pedal actually worked like it should, imagine that. I didnt get a chance to drive it, but while it was still on jack stands I ran it, went through all the gears for the first time and it was a success, all seems good now.

thanks for the help