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83' Clutch with '89 engine

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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 12:12 PM
  #1  
molopaa's Avatar
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From: Finland
Car: 83' Pontiac Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: T5
83' Clutch with '89 engine

Will my 83' clutch work on an '89 engine? I will be using the 83' bellhousing, fork, pressureplate, disc and TO-bearing and off course the clutch will be mechanical. I can't think of any reason it won't work, since the only change here is the 89' neutrally balanced flywheel, which is no issue, since the clutch components themselves are neutrally balanced.

As long as the thickness or position of the flywheel hasn't changed in relation to the bellhousing and I doubt it has. Anyone have info on this subject?
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 05:50 PM
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From: Casselberry, FLA
Car: 88 V6 'bird/89TBI bird/85 T/A
Engine: 2.8/TBI/TPI
Transmission: V8 T-5/700R4 x2
Axle/Gears: 3.42 open/2.73 open/ 3.27 9 bolt
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

I'm not sure why but with the same spline count and shaft diameter (and clutch diameter) my set is different than yours.

Maybe the pressure plate has a different bolt pattern? You might wanna mock up your clutch setup in the garage before you install it to see. Maybe just the throw out bearing is different because of hydraulic/mechanical differences...
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 08:09 PM
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Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

Pre-86 flywheel needs to be with a pre-86 crank, period.
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Old Jul 26, 2007 | 10:12 PM
  #4  
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From: Wyoming
Car: 92 Chevrolet Camaro RS
Engine: 3.1L V6
Transmission: T-5
Axle/Gears: 3.42
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

Originally Posted by molopaa
Will my 83' clutch work on an '89 engine? I will be using the 83' bellhousing, fork, pressureplate, disc and TO-bearing and off course the clutch will be mechanical. I can't think of any reason it won't work, since the only change here is the 89' neutrally balanced flywheel, which is no issue, since the clutch components themselves are neutrally balanced.

As long as the thickness or position of the flywheel hasn't changed in relation to the bellhousing and I doubt it has. Anyone have info on this subject?
your replacing a clutch w/ a used clutch???? If so bad idea, that stuff should be replace in the first place. i don't advise putting used clutchs back into a vehicle. just my
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Old Jul 27, 2007 | 01:49 PM
  #5  
molopaa's Avatar
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From: Finland
Car: 83' Pontiac Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: T5
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

Originally Posted by firstfirebird
Pre-86 flywheel needs to be with a pre-86 crank, period.

Yes I know. I'm using the flywheel from the new engine off course, other wise the car would rattle to pieces upon start up .

And the reason I wan't to reuse my clutch components is that they have less than 10 000 miles on them.
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Old Jul 27, 2007 | 03:30 PM
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From: Casselberry, FLA
Car: 88 V6 'bird/89TBI bird/85 T/A
Engine: 2.8/TBI/TPI
Transmission: V8 T-5/700R4 x2
Axle/Gears: 3.42 open/2.73 open/ 3.27 9 bolt
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

educated guess:

Use the flywheel and pressure plate from the engine with the clutch disk and throw out bearing from the car. That's your best bet for matched mis-match!
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Old Jul 28, 2007 | 02:06 AM
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From: Finland
Car: 83' Pontiac Firebird
Engine: 2.8 V6
Transmission: T5
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

Originally Posted by KrisW
educated guess:

Use the flywheel and pressure plate from the engine with the clutch disk and throw out bearing from the car. That's your best bet for matched mis-match!
I would not use the pressure plate, because it might be made to work with a different amount of clutch movement, therefore the fork might move to much/little because it's mechanical.


But why not just use the plate, disc and TO-bearing from the '83 car and the flywheel from the '89 engine? Because I will be using the old bellhousing and, fork and z-bar mechanical clutch, so the geometries would stay the same, providing that the new flywheel has the same dimensions as the old one. And the block hasn't changed, so the bellousing/block dimensions/geometries should also be the same.

And as long as were on the subject, I saw some Koni clutch master/slave cylinders for a nice price for our cars. How hard would it be to change over to hydraulic clutch? I understand you have to make a new mount for the slave cylinder at least? Anyone have any pics/info of a setup like this?
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Old Jul 28, 2007 | 11:50 AM
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From: Casselberry, FLA
Car: 88 V6 'bird/89TBI bird/85 T/A
Engine: 2.8/TBI/TPI
Transmission: V8 T-5/700R4 x2
Axle/Gears: 3.42 open/2.73 open/ 3.27 9 bolt
Re: 83' Clutch with '89 engine

My only concern was that the old plate may not bolt on to the newer flywheel. I have not done this so I don't know. I have done the McLeod hydraulic throw out bearing. I like it.

On a third gen, you should be able to retrofit a factory clutch M/C and then use the factory setup. If you have a full aftermarket setup then go for it. You can re-use your pedal and just drill a few holes to mount your M/C. That's what I did on an older truck (67) and it worked fine.
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