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SVT Clutch replacement completed (pics)

69K views 51 replies 28 participants last post by  Mile30 
#1 ·
I have been posting here for a couple of weeks following the failure of my clutch system. I had drive (ie clutch) but couldn't disengage the clutch and thought it was the hydraulics.
I changed the CMC and bled with a vacuum pump - no result.
I then went in search of the slave cylinder and after taking the trans-axle off found the clutch to be toast, with the fiction material tightly packed in the pressure plate holding the clutch onto the flywheel. My slave was also leaking a bit, probably due to the high pressures I was exerting on it to dis-engage the clutch.
There are many posts on changing the clutch here but I though some of my pictures and issues I found may be of help to you all.

Ready to get going - Car up really high!


The space I had to drop the trans-axle:


Battery Box, air box all out.


Disassemble the suspension and removed the axles complete with knuckle




Don't forget to remove the bolts completely or the knuckle will not release from the front strut or bottom ball joint.


Shafts pop out very easily with a pry-bar. Support the end before you pop out of it may fall out or over bend at the CV joint.




This is the fill plug not the drain plug - as I found out - you need to drain the oil or you will pour oil on your self when you drop the trans-axle.


I made a DIY brace to support the engine from the top. I was easily strong enough. I also used the main cross bar to tie the trans-axle to so I could lower it under control.


The manual tells you to detach the reverse switch - but not how! I just could not see it to know where or what to pull - so I cut the two wire near to the top of the bell housing and spliced them once the tranny was out.



It turned out that the reverse light switch just pulls of the connector, it has a little tab to release it. The other switch however on the back of the tranny near to the fire-wall near to the driver side is the VSS and needs to be removed completely by undoing the Torx bolt and pulling it clear.

Removing the starter motor was a pain - as it was so hard to get to the bolts. I undid one from the under-side and the other from the top side. Not also the bracket for the manual shift cables. This is held on by two bolts fixing it to the tranny and both need to come off so the whole bracket is free. Both of these were red-Loctite fixed (why I don't know) and were very very hard to get off.



Transmission out!! - I had a friend help me pull it off and we were both under the car and pulled it onto a cinder block and then out from the car.
Note all the friction material in the bell-housing.


Here is the flywheel and pressure plate. Note all the friction material jammed into the pressure plate.
 
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#4 ·
That'd be "For The Win". [:)] Always cheaper and more rewarding doing it yourself. Lots of good, useful pics in your post.

So I'm curious as to whether a simple replacement of the faulty clutch disc (and a thorough cleaning) solved your problem (if you've gotten that far) and if no other clutch components needed attention - aside from the slight slave cylinder leak you mentioned? Any idea what caused the friction material to separate and shred like that? Was the disc nearing the end of its useful life?
 
#8 · (Edited)
That'd be "For The Win". [:)]
Thanks BC_ZX3 - learn something every day!

So I'm curious as to whether a simple replacement of the faulty clutch disc (and a thorough cleaning) solved your problem
- No I replaced the clutch and therefore had to change the flywheel as mine was the original pre-TSB version. The new style OEM LUK clutch for the SVT is a bit larger in dia. so it needs a new flywheel too.
It was not cheap! C F M in Florida sold me the kit which included the through-out bearing, pressure plate and the alignment tool.

arlenn - regarding your question - I'll go now and post some pics of the flywheel and pressure plate - perhaps you both can shed some light on what happened. I think heat with a worn friction material did it.

It was the non-flywheel side of the clutch that was distroyed.

And BTW at the time I was passing an old slow 60's Camero at a normal speed and when I was level with him, he floored his throttle and tore off - I pursued and we got .......fast. - - - then "pop" as I tried to sift down a gear and then was unable to change gear..... :(
 
#6 ·
True.
Reason I asked about disc age was I had something similar happen a long time ago (on another car) where the disc was worn down to the rivets and a large chunk of friction material between two rivets cracked and broke free. Caused similar problems but the fix was simply a new disc (and a lot of labour).
 
#12 ·
Interesting pattern on the swept area of the flywheel. You're well past the rivets on the clutch disc on the one side; not so bad (relatively speaking) on the other.

I didn't know there was a TSB on the SVT clutch/flywheel.

Anyway, glad to hear you got all the parts to put her back together. Are you back on the road yet?
 
#15 ·
^^ Oh boy! far too long! Took me a weekend to get the tranny out then the next Friday night (with my neighbors standing around drinking beer while I worked) till late and then the next morning till 1:00pm

Biggest time waster was getting the top bell-housing bolts off. I might have been faster to take the whole engine out.
 
#17 ·
the axle is so easy to take out - and the access sooooooo limited - for me it was a no brainer. Have you seen the access to the belhouse bolts near the starter?

Also dropping the transmission is very tight without the axles attached so I wouldn't like to do it another way - except that is, pulling the engine and all from the top - that seemed like sense when I was fighting to get it back in.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Damn, yeah those were some serious hot spots. I've seen this happen on industrial brakes before, but never a clutch (then again, i've never messed with a clutch). On my machines, it is usually a sign of poor friction material contact, usually caused by foreign material (EDIT: or high spots on the metal surface...remember to resurface those flywheels kiddies!). hmm...

Anyway, glad to hear you're back on the road.
 
#20 ·
just adding to the story

Not trying to hi-jack, but I thouhgt I would add to this... A buddy of mine and I did this back in like late April/beginning May. The first time we did it took about a solid day. Then while I was off tracking down fluid for the tranny my buddy put the clutch/pressure plate/flywheel back on the crank... He didn't read the clutch disk, where it said "fw side". This led to an unbearable squealing sound. Turns out the little hub on the clutch disk, that from the factory faces the trans actually faces the FW for the LUK Rep Set kit. Guess I should have sent him for fluid instead (since he apparently can’t read.) I was furious!!!!!!!!!! Tore it all apart again flipped the clutch disk so it faced the correct side, installed a new slave (because the hub on the disk chewed into the new one that came in the kit), and had it back together in about 6.5 hours total. The second time is always easier :)...
I didn’t bother unbolting the strut from the knuckle either time. It actually made it easier to get the axles out.
I also took a grinder and ground off a casting nub from the back side of the trans. It kept getting hung up on the cross member, and I just said “Hell with it!” So if anyone takes this on and doesn’t have have a lift, make sure you are up to a long day or weekend full of frustration! It pays off, but is a heck of ride to get there!!!

Here are some pics.. I had to stop taking them because I wanted to get my car done.

















Congrats on pulling it off in the driveway!
 
#23 ·
Interesting that I find this now...

My car is currently still on stands at my buddies house from a clutch replacement..

Took us a couple days real time to get the trans out (we pulled the axels out of the trans but not completely off the car, and dropped the front sub frame for extra clearance / easy of getting to bolts.

Put it all back together and took it for a test drive and when I parked it I was pissing fluid out the trans... Got scared that it was trans fluid which would mean the input shaft seal was torn and would probably have been annoyingly hard to replace..

we dropped the trans a second time in a couple hours and realized it was a leaking slave cylinder... we chopped it up as defective and I talked to spec about it... since I don't have time to wait around for them to see if it was defective or not I just bought a new slave and clutch disc (since fluid got on the disc and wasn't reusable) and put all the new stuff back in...

waiting till tomorrow for new sub frame bolts to arrive (old ones were fubar) and should just need to bolt in those 6 and then drop the car and go..

spec thinks that we installed the clutch wrong by doing the same thing blkSVT's friend did (putting the clutch disc in backwards (same situation I was at work and my friends were the ones who put all that in)). My friends say they tried to put in backwards and it just wasn't physically possible to get the pressure plate bolts in so I'm doubting that was what happened. Planning on boxing up the 'defective' slave cyl and the soiled clutch disc tonight and shipping them back out to spec for assessment.
 
#24 ·
I see the wooden engine support. How did you attach it to the engine? Just the factory hook or in two spots. Did it roatate and hit anything?
 
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