You can tell if the clutch disc isn't moving away from the FW... Try putting it in gear and starting it just for a second to see if the car hops or moves...

I had this problem and I ended up filing down the disc myself..

Laterz

 

Will do. Thanks man! I spoke with someone on the "other" forum that has had this problem with more than one aftermarket clutch. He suggested I try to get the car running down the street, push the clutch a few times, and that should get it moving. ...that is of course, if the problem is not related to the clutch not properly fitting the spline.

 

Well those specs look right (for the pressure plate)... but what did you originally torque them to?

 

Don't ask. Seriously. It was tight.

lol, ok, fine...somewhere in the 70's range.

 

what makes you think its the pressure plate and not the throw out bearing for example?

 

I'm starting to think it's not the pressure plate now. That was suggested by someone else, but as I said before, I'm 99% sure that the throwout bearing is installed and operating properly. I have had absolutely no time this week to go mess with it, so I'm just going to have to try to take her for a spin and see if the clutch tries to engage after working with it for a bit.

 

Try tapping the shift lever with a mallet. Sometimes they need an extra hit to make it snap in completely. I don't think making it too tight would cause a problem.

 

Agreed

 

Will do. Thanks guys. ...actually, i'll go try that now.

 

Ok, so the turbo is still in the way and I can't get a mallet down there, but I was able to get a pry bar in there to put some pressure on it. When I did this, I didn't hear any kind of click or anything, but when I let off the pry bar and played with the lever, it did feel like it was catching a bit on something because I had to pull a little to get it "unstuck" and back into the position it was in before. But I didn't want to put an unsafe amount of pressure on there because I don't know what would happen. Any input guys?

 

As fast as I know I can't pull that lever by hand as it is too tight, i have to put the slave cylinder on and push the clutch in for it to move

 

I defintely can't pull the lever by hand...I can only use the clutch pedal to get it to actually move like it is supposed to.

It's just that when I put more pressure on it, it seemed to get stuck a little, and I had to pull a bit to get it unstuck. When I did this originally right after installing the clutch, I put pressure on it and heard a click. I just figured that the click I heard meant it engaged all the way. Either way, it didn't feel safe putting more pressure on it that I was earlier today. If it was going to snap in more, it seems like it would have by now.

 

Did you bleed the clutch lines? My clutch was not fully depressing until I did that

 

No, I recently bled them, and did not mess with the slave cylinder when I installed the clutch (pulled the engine, not the tranny). The clutch feels ok, and I compared the amount of lever movement on mine to the amount on a friend's tib, and I actually have a little more movement than him. Basically, it looks like it's performing the job it's supposed to and I never did anything that would cause it to need to be bled, so I purposely didn't bother.

 

Well I just can't imagine that a little extra torque on the pressure plate bolts would make much of a difference as they're all along the outside of the case. Two pieces of metal can only be drawn so closely together, after all. But with the flywheel being aluminum... you never know. THat's a lot of pressure on relatively soft metal.

Anyway - assuming nothing happened due to the extra torque, the only things that are left is the TOB not pulling on the pressure plate enough to release the clutch (either due to the TOB itself not being locked in properly or the shift fork not being in the TOB) or the splines keeping it from sliding on the shaft for some reason. You did use an alignment tool, I assume?

Either way, unless you can "set" the clutch with the pedal, it looks like the engine is coming back out. Thus another reason why it might be easier overall to pull the tranny with it, as it's easier to put them back together properly outside the car (with more room to work).

 

Yeah, I used an alignment tool...I don't see how anyone could possibly do it without that. I'm pretty much off the "torqued" issue at this point...I looked at the stock PP since it's the same basic outer design as the CM PP, and there is just no way that it made that much of a difference. Just like you said, it's metal on metal...nothing can really flex much...not that much, at least. I mean, we're talking the difference of probably a milimeter or 2.

Honestly, with as many scenarios as I've run through in my head, I'm 99% convinced that everything was done properly, and that it might be some sort of defect. ...this is, of course, if it doesn't just start working when I get it on the road.

 

I've got a weird but possibly obvious question...could I just run the car on the jack stands to get the clutch moving? I don't have any time to have people over to help (i have a steep driveway), so I was just going to try that real quick if you guys think it would help.

EDIT: NM...04TIBURONGT came and helped me out. This is what I posted on my turbo build thread...

Ok, so I sneaked away from work this evening to finish reassembling. I got to the point where I figure it wouldn't hurt to take her out to see if I could get the clutch to start moving. Got her running earlier in the evening no problem, but she still idles erratically. ...but what can you expect, it's an untuned turbo system. Anyway, so 04TIBURONGT (Jeremy) came out and helped me push while in neutral while I forced it into first gear (wouldn't go into higher gears like I was hoping it would). Ok, so I'm in first gear now. I'm pumping the clutch, trying to feel a response, and then I try to put her in 2nd...after a bit of fidgeting it goes in. Jeremy hops in the car with me as I'm rolling and we take a trip around the block, meanwhile I am pumping the clutch and trying to get it to respond. Suddently, I notice a high rev when I had my foot in. ...strange, so i keep the rev up a little and let go of the clutch and we get jerked back a little. BINGO! The clutch was starting to engage/disengage with the pedal. Now, i'm not going to say that it's anywhere close to acceptable for driving, because it's not. It still can't be put in gear unless the car is rolling, but the clutch is starting to respond after only about 1 mile of driving around the block. So basically, I didn't have to pull the motor. Hopefully the clutch will continue to get better as I get some miles on the car (as suggested by quite a few "pros" I spoke to). So that's the clutch...

 

Hey man i had a similar problem to yours. I have an 04 6 speed, and i put a clutchmasters stage 2 in. When we were done you could not get it into any gear while standing still, but once you were moving it would go into gear. After i played with it for about a week i got fed up and took it to the dealer to have them look at it. It took them about two weeks and they came back with that i had a defective fly wheel that was moving and would not allow it to fully disengage. The other thing is that clutchmaster clutches had the flywheel sticker on the wrong side which would not allow the clutch to fully disengage.

Hope this helps.

 

Did your clutch start to engage at all? Mine is engaging to some degree, but again, I've only driven it about 1 mile.

 

Yeah my clutch would engage just fine, you just could not disengage it. To come to a stop i would have to turn the car off because if i was in neutral while sitting still i would not be able to get it back into first with out jamming it. Also if i would come to a stop with it in first and my foot on the clutch the car would shake as if i was riding the clutch.

 

I suspect your throw out bearing. You can match the rpms and shift without using your clutch I know cuz my throwout bearing blew apart somehow from some hard shifting. It's probably not clipped in the pressure plate or you dont have the arm hooked onto the bearing itself. Remember the bearing pulls on the flywheel not pushed. To install the bearing you need to flip the arm on top upside down and push in towards the firewall and it should snap in. Then you flip it back over and you should be able to engage and disengage. Just to be sure push the arm to see if it is loose, if it is your bearing is not snapped in the pressure plate.

 

I think I screw up my clutch and/or fw....hopefully not any part of my tranny, but it's possible. I've basically been grinding gears for about 40 miles now straight trying to work in my clutch at the suggestion of quite a few people that have run stage 4 clutches. Let me reiterate -- I never would have put my car through that kind of abuse if it wasn't suggested by several people all experienced with the parts I'm working with.

Well, it didn't get better...it has gotten progressively worse. I'm hearing bad things going on in the tranny...not too happy about this at the moment.

I took it to a (trusted) mechanic to check it out. He adjusted the clutch as much as possible (didn't help much at all), and said that there is a good chance that I tore up the flywheel. He has some theories on what the problem is, but he's gonna have to drop the tranny to find out. Regardless, he has no doubt that I've done some kind of damage.

Sorry, just a venting post...I am ****ed for at least another week, out a minimum of the install (reinstall) fee, possibly the clutch and/or flywheel, and I probably drastically shortened the life of my tranny. Awesome day, huh?

 

:3_nooo: sorry to hear man...

 

Yeah, me too. Sucks the most because summer is nearly gone and I have yet to boost! Ok, so that's not entirely true...I did one quick tap on the gas (and I mean 1 second) just to check out. I learned my lesson there though, it spooled to 5psi in 1 second flat. Save the lectures people, I'm not running around boosting on a bad clutch install and no tune.

Anyway, I'm not so much worried about the re-install cost as I am in fear of them opening up the bell housing and what it will reveal. Thanks for your concern.


I reread what I wrote and that just sounded bad. Not trying to bash anyone that offered advice...I'm just upset about the situation. Engine problems I can deal with because I have a decent understanding all the way to the internals. I don't know enough about drivetrains though, so this really frustrates me.

 

I never told you to drive it like that, but did you check that linkage on top of the transmission. That may be your problem. That's what I suspect at least.

 

No, you didn't. I wasn't targeting you (or anyone) at all. Like I said, I'm not putting this on anyone...I made the choice to be rough on the clutch. I'm just saying that I would have not put the clutch through so much stress if I wasn't advised by enough people that had similar issues with the Clutchmasters Stg4 and are now operating properly.

I wouldn't say it's peer pressure -- more like following a general consensus. I just so happened to not have the same issue that everyone else had I guess.

 

Sorry to hear that man, I was looking forward to seeing the car this weekend! How was the 1 sec of boost?