ok my car setup information, 406 sbc TBI injected, t5 world class trany, clutch is made by Speed.... (if i remember correctly). i chose that clutch after a lot of research on this web sight as well as others so i know its a good high performance clutch. the engine, trany and clutch have less then 20,000 on them. and this problem didnt always happen when i put the car together, just recently.

problem i am having. it slips at random times, but from what i have learned.... it is more likely to slip when i am slamming through the gears, slamming the peddle to the floor fast and releasing it fast. but then if i let the clutch grab again and take it easy so it wont slip when i am driving and i pull up to the next stop light and take off normally it works perfectly fine again. i know the clutch isnt warn out because there are times i can pop the clutch and it will grab hard and smoke the tires off the car and i can keep slamming through the gears.

i have replaced the whole hydraulic system, master and slave cylinders and bleed the crap out of them, also i put dot 4 break fluid in it because it has a higher boiling temperature. I need help bad! i am so frustrated with this problem. i cant figure it out

my engine and trany both leak fluid. so my only other guess is i am getting oil or trany fluid in between my flywheel and friction disk. but if that were the case.... wouldnt it do it all the time, not just when i am hammering down on the clutch? i am tired of getting beat by all the stupid rice rockets because my clutch decides to slip when i am trying to put the ponies to the pavement

 

Get that outta there. Put in regular DOT 3. No call for the other. Doesn't even work good in most brake systems. (let alone "break" ones...)

Never heard of "Speed" clutches. Now granted, I'm kinda a n00b, only been doing this 40 yrs or so, so, yeah... OTOH I've used every other brand of clutch you've ever heard of (except Spec oddly enough) over the years, and NEVER had even ONE problem out of any of em if properly installed. CF, Ram, B-W, Hays, McLeod, LUK, Valeo, misc parts store stuff, local shop rebuilds, ... no problems. Based on my admittedly limited and inadequate experience, I'd say there's something wrong with your installation.

Leaks, esp out the front of the trans, are a definite possibility. Rear main seal, probably not: that goes onto the back side of the flywheel unless it's gushing in which case you'd probably know it. Bad pilot bearing/bushing is another. Engine shifting in the chassis (bad mounts for example) is another although hydraulics usually inherently eliminate that. Don't blame "the clutch"; it's just the victim. Find the criminal.

 

like i said in my first post i cant remeber exactly which clutch i purchased. i just remeber i did a lot of research on it and made sure it was a good clutch. i know the clutch is good. it cant be a problem with my install. the car shifted and didnt slip for the first 10,000 miles. so how could my install be the problem? a pilot bearing? how could that cause the issue? i am not trying to sound condecending i am just asking a question. thanks

 

I didn't watch you install it, so beyond the blanket statement, I can't provide details on how your installation is causing your problem, other than to tell you, it is.

Just gotta go back over it and check your work.

Could be almost anything. Something as simple and stupid as the bell housing bolts not being tight enough and backing out, to leaving a clutch gear bearing retainer in there that has a ridge that the throwout catches on, to not putting a schmear of grease on the clutch or disc splines, to .... endless possibilities. But regardless, it's a labor problem, not a parts problem. (except to the extent that the laborer left a bad part in)

 

well i appreciated your input but i still cant logically agree with you considering it drove 10,000 miles with out this problem. logically if you think about it..... if i installed something wrong then the clutch would have been slipping from the very beginning not after 10,000 miles. i am not trying to argue with you i just dont understand your logic. for example, if i were to install a new light bulb, and it works perfectly for 2 days then all the sudden it stops working. you would assume the bulb burnt out or power is not getting to the bulb. you wouldnt assume you installed it wrong considering it worked for the first 2 days. do you see what i am saying?

 

Most likely thing that would account for your situation is, the pilot bushing has failed. And that CAN start out OK enough not to be noticeable, and deteriorate rapidly over a period of time. Installation (labor) related reasons for failure might include not having changed it at all, damaging it during installation, didn't grease it, etc.

 

ok thank you now i understand what you are saying. but as for the pilot bushing failing, how would that cause the clutch to slip? its only job is to make sure the trany is centered with the crankshaft and to stabilize the output shaft on the trany.....

 

Turns out the friction disk was toasted. It still puzzles me as to why it would hook up sometimes but other times it wouldn't. new friction disk, resurfaced the flywheel and pressure plate and it works like new now.

 

Any hint as to why it did that?

 

not a clue. the disk just wore out. I am a little hard on my car so part of it was abuse but it should have lasted a little longer then it did. the only thing i can think of is maybe the hydraulic system was not releasing the pressure all the way and it wasn't letting the pressure plate clap down all the way. it could have just been slipping enough at wide open throttle that i couldn't notice but enough to wear out the friction disk.