Throwout bearing.

[rhipsher]

You know whats coming. It broke again. Pulling into the Olive garden to eat. Pushed the clutch down and pop all the way to the floor. This scene is getting old.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn63/keeno1970/vette1.jpg

I like this scene much better.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn63/keeno1970/DSC01538-1.jpg

It needs a complete suspension rebuild anyway and a fresh set of tires all the way around. But this time I'm going with a spec stage 2 or 3 clutch. And I'm not the only Z owner that I've talked to that has had similar problems with the wire popping off that holds the throwout bearing onto the flex plate or the lip from splitting in two. But I really won't know what happened until I remove the slave. If the fork is pushed all the way back then its broke again and another trany pull. I'm not going to get to it for another 6 monthes. Just have to many other more important things going on in my life right now to mess with it.

[Paul Workman]

Ouch! I hate to hear that, buddy! Was it you or someone else that made the effort to run a bearing down that was NOT made in China? (I seem to recall reading about someone finding such a part in Canada somewhere.

I don't know what it is about those bearings tho. I broke a new one while installing the trans on my LT1 car. I don't recall what it was that caused it, where it was made, nor even sure what caused it to break. It may have had something to do with that keeper spring coming off (it did).

If I lived close, I'd help ya pull it apart and we'd see what we could see!

Anywayz...That sucks. Sorry to hear it - and in the spring time too:thumbsdo:.

P.

[LGAFF]

Do you have a new slave/Master cyl in it?

[Hammer]

Ouch! I hate to hear that, buddy! Was it you or someone else that made the effort to run a bearing down that was NOT made in China? (I seem to recall reading about someone finding such a part in Canada somewhere.

That was Dave Hetrick in Texas. He lost a TO Bearing on my old car #458. His username is mgbrv8 (http://www.zr1.net/forum/member.php?u=2038) .

[rhipsher]

The first one that broke was the original. The second one was the one that comes with the Valeo kit. This one was a chinese one but was thicker than the others. A spec kit is whats going in there this time with the ceramic disk. Everybody that has it loves it. And those are the same people that told me I would love the Fidanza and they were right. I do love it. And now the car will have a much higher quality clutch in it. I just wish I could modify the car on my time table instead of on it's time table. Hahaha! But since it will be down a while I'll be able to fix eveything that I've wanted to at my leasure. New poly bushing kit front and back. New ball joints top and bottom. Get the Bilsteins revalved. And go ahead with the coil over install. I'll let Corey do the coil over install. The car will handle fantastic after all of that.

[tomtom72]

Rick, this is just a fwiw on the poly bushings. They will make the ride quite a bit harsher if the road is not like real smooth.

I re-did my front suspension the winter of 09. I used VB&P sway bar mount bushings and end link kits along side replacement A-arms from corvette recycling. There was nothing broken on my OE stuff save the boots on my ball joints. I was very concerned about dirt getting into the ball joints due to the broken boots and was going to do them as a safety thing. Soooo my set up (:rolleyes: ) is stock arm bushings added to poly sway bar stuff.....over the roads here in metro/NY city area the front skips or bounces around and the ride is harsher than stock....due to the road conditions. I'm actually a bit sorry I didn't just leave the stock sway bar stuff, or replace it with OE stuff. Oh, yea it's sweet on glass smooth roads.....but we don't have many of them.:(

:cheers:
Tom

[rhipsher]

I hear you man. But check this out, My suspension has gotten so bad that my steering wheel shakes once I reach 59mph and up and once I hit 80mph it smooths out a bit. And sometimes it shakes worse than others. It follows the cracks and uneven surfaces in the road. I mean I did fix the rear end vibration because I had the drive shaft 180 out of rotation and that totally fixed that problem. Every video of you guys cars at the drag strip I see I notice none of them squat like mine does upon launch. It looks like your cars maybe sink down 1/4 to 1/2 but that's it. Mine squats like there's an 800lb gorilla in the back. And I hate that. I guess thats why I'm leaning toward coil overs. I've driven a Z that had them and it was a great feeling ride at any speed plus it cornered awesome. So I guess stiff ride VS a dangerously unstable ride. I mean sure the car looks great and the engine looks fantastic. I just need a great handling suspension to match. All it takes is money. Ususally once a car gets 85K miles on it it's a pretty sure bet that the suspension components are wasted especially after 20 years.

[GOLDCYLON]

Dayum again. :censored: I just remember you doing this. Dont complain too much at the 20 year point. Thats when the heater core gods get envyious. Just been there and had that done.

Good luck to you bro.

[rhipsher]

I know. Thats ok Daryle. When I get done it will be better than it ever was before. I look forward to the 180 degree difference in the ride and handling it will have. And then maybe then I will finally get headers with high flow bullet cats to compliment the top end porting I did. What a shame to have one arm tied behind its back like that on the exhaust side.

[jonszr1]

wow\ rick bummer about the clutch, your car does seem to squat alot, was that pic before or after you got the other rear spring>?

[Chris_32212]

I feel your transmission woes brother! I had a clutch fork bend backwards bad enough to crack. I used the opportunity to upgrade my ehaust from the headers back, upgraded to a stage two clutch and a fidanza flywheel. When I got the car back from the shop, the cags had defeater wasn't installed and I was forced to do a bunch of 1st to 4th shifts and now it grinds when I try to shift into 4th. I was laid off and lost my house last year and am a full time college student so my Z just sits now, broken and bruised with no end in sight. :cry:

Chris

[rhipsher]

I feel your transmission woes brother! I had a clutch fork bend backwards bad enough to crack. I used the opportunity to upgrade my ehaust from the headers back, upgraded to a stage two clutch and a fidanza flywheel. When I got the car back from the shop, the cags had defeater wasn't installed and I was forced to do a bunch of 1st to 4th shifts and now it grinds when I try to shift into 4th. I was laid off and lost my house last year and am a full time college student so my Z just sits now, broken and bruised with no end in sight. :cry:

ChrisNow that really sucks. Loosing the house. This econemy blows. Another one of my Z friends just got laid off thursday. It sucks bad. There may be more of us collecting aluminum cans pretty soon.

[jonszr1]

rick when you do get her apart ck the pivot ball for the fork and the fork for wear

[rhipsher]

I will. But three times in 3 years. That's one transmission pull a year. And I knew two weeks before it happened that something was getting ready to go down with it. When I would pull up to the light and leave it in 1st gear even with the clutch pressed all the way down it felt like it was trying to pull as if the clutch was slightly engaged. That aint normal. And I started smelling my clutch a little more than usual. Once I get up in there I'll double check all the flywheel bolts and crank bolts to make sure everything is still torqued properly. Either way I know the drill. I'll have to change my user name from rhipsher to ZFRick.:mrgreen:
Actually I'm leaning toward the Spec stage 3 plus. Its way overkill for what I have now. But considering that within the next 5 years it's going to Lingenfelter for the 415 build I'll already be set with a clutch thats good for 800hp and still streetable. http://www.lmperformance.com/spec.asp

[Ccmano]

I will. But three times in 3 years. That's one transmission pull a year. And I knew two weeks before it happened that something was getting ready to go down with it. When I would pull up to the light and leave it in 1st gear even with the clutch pressed all the way down it felt like it was trying to pull as if the clutch was slightly engaged. That aint normal. And I started smelling my clutch a little more than usual. Once I get up in there I'll double check all the flywheel bolts and crank bolts to make sure everything is still torqued properly. Either way I know the drill. I'll have to change my user name from rhipsher to ZFRick.:mrgreen:

You may have hit on something here. Three times in 3 years makes it highly suspect that there is something else going on that causes this failure. The odds of getting new 3 bearings to fail in the same way 3 times in a row must be astronomical! Start buying lottery tickets...
My guess is that there is an issue with the clutch master and/or slave cylinders. Probably allowing only partial disengagement of the clutch disc and thereby damaging the bushing or at least something to that effect. Be careful you don't end up with a worn out 2nd gear syncro as well. If it were me I'd be looking a little deeper into what was causing this.
Just my 2 cents...
H
:cheers:

[jonszr1]

i am thinking that the pivot ar the fork might be worn . i know when bill redid the clutch on my black car 7 mo after i did it he found that both had become worn and was causing the clutch to want to stick at certain points of the travel

[FULLPWR]

I just changed the clutch out saturday, and i wanted to share this info.
before I pulled the tranny probably year or so ago i started buying different parts i thought i was going to need.
I bought a clutch fork from a forum member just in case.
when i was putting the housing together with the ball stud and was trying to decide which fork to use old or new old.
the one i pulled out of the car wobbles when its laid down flat, the fork tangs are not the same ht, so when i pushed down on one fork tang the yoke part of it where the slave pin hits would lift up.
The new old one did not move at all period. Though they looked perfectly the same, im glad i laid it flat.
I guess when the t/o bearing broke apart it may have twisted my fork ends.

:thumbsup:

[scottfab]

my steering wheel shakes once I reach 59mph and up and once I hit 80mph it smooths out a bit.

That sure sounds like a lost balancing weight.
Well at least that what it was on mine.