Fun in the Sun @WAZOO 4/8/17

[Roadster]

Originally Posted by 902066

Having just put my 90 back together yesterday 4/8/17, I would be curious to know the causes of Richs high idle, and Charlie's coolant leak? Thanks for the pics, always interesting to look at. Jim

Jim, we will have to wait for both Rich and Charlie to respond, as I had to leave before their jobs were completed. I think that Charlie's leak is (was) due to a hose or hose clamp adjustment.
Glad you enjoyed the pics.

Originally Posted by FU

Looks like nice productive day in Wazoo land. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Yes, a very productive day Frank, always a good time @WAZOO. Glad you liked the pics.

Originally Posted by Ahomans

A great WAZOO Maintenance Day for me getting the flywheel and clutch replaced and C-beam plates installed. Thanks for the nice album of pictures, Tom. And thanks for the help from WAZOO members, especially Jim, Tom, Rich, and Darrin and also my son Jimmy, who came to help knowing that his old man's body would be tired and worn out before the job was done. The new clutch engaged more smoothly than the old one on the drive home and obviously when we looked at the old clutch disc, it was worn. A day to remember.

Al

Al, wish I could have stayed for the start-up to see the smile on your face...lol
But as you know I had a long drive back home. Sounds like everything was a success. I enjoy taking pics just as things happen, glad you liked them.
Everyone was a big help and that's what's it all about!!!
If you get time Al, can you elaborate more on the feel your Z.

1- how does the trans feel shifting with the new fluid?
2- how do you feel about the clutch engagement and disengagement?
3- did you notice any ride or handling differences with the C Beam Plates installed?

I know you mentioned everything feels smoother, but if you can go into a little more detail, it would be appreciated. I think members would like to hear a full report. Thanks....

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by 902066

Having just put my 90 back together yesterday 4/8/17, I would be curious to know the causes of Richs high idle, and Charlie's coolant leak? Thanks for the pics, always interesting to look at. Jim

We did not completely diagnose the idle issue with Rich's LT5. The engine was modified at South Georgia Corvettes which is no longer in business and the owner who had the mods done has passed away. So we are starting from scratch to sort it all out. I think that the car has an aggressive cam profile and that the idle was set a little high to improve drivability. But when I put the Tech 1 on it, I see Idle Air Controller counts of 0 to 1. To me that suggests there is a vacuum leak, most likely under the plenum. The secondary system was removed, and there are some vacuum lines that have been rerouted/modified. We ran out of time yesterday but we will keep working on it.

NOTE: The ZR-1 we are discussing here belongs to Rich J. not Rich M (Scrrem on the Forum), his car is running fine.

Jim

[Ahomans]

Al, wish I could have stayed for the start-up to see the smile on your face...lol
But as you know I had a long drive back home. Sounds like everything was a success. I enjoy taking pics just as things happen, glad you liked them.
Everyone was a big help and that's what's it all about!!!
If you get time Al, can you elaborate more on the feel your Z.

1- how does the trans feel shifting with the new fluid?
2- how do you feel about the clutch engagement and disengagement?
3- did you notice any ride or handling differences with the C Beam Plates installed?

I know you mentioned everything feels smoother, but if you can go into a little more detail, it would be appreciated. I think members would like to hear a full report. Thanks....[/QUOTE]

Tom,
1. Transmission shifting is smoother with the new fluid. We used Amsoil MTF 5w30. The previous oil was Red Line but it had been in for a while and was due to be replaced.
2. Clutch engagement felt much better and more smoother than before. It is easier to engage the clutch with lower engine revs now. I did not notice a difference in disengagement.
3. I did not notice a difference in ride or handling with the C-beam plates but I did not drive it hard on the trip home. I did notice some rattles and clunking sounds and mentioned it to Jim Voter this morning. He pointed out as evident in your pictures that we did not remove the washers from the bolts when we installed the C-beam plates, as is stated by Bill B. in the installation instructions. I had just missed that and that may be the cause of the noises I heard. i will try to get that fixed this week, maybe with Jim's help and lift. The noises occur at low speeds when starting or stopping but at cruising speeds it all seemed to be normal.

We had noticed what may have been a coolant leak when we got it up on the lift yesterday so I was somewhat concerned about that during the drive home. I did not want an overheating problem or loss of coolant so I drove easily. This morning I did not see any coolant drops on the garage floor but did see a few on the chassis behind the right front wheel. More to be looked at.

Overall, very satisfied with the results of the WAZOO MD.
Al

[dredgeguy]

What a great day, missed getting together with the gang, been a long winter. I have had a fluid spray under the hood on the drivers side. A few weeks ago we traced it down to 3 coolant leaks from loose flanges. I replaced the radiator and hoses last year or the year before, can't remember but the clamps got loose. Now I still have a small leak when we put the system under 15psi pressure. Looks like it is in the water pump area but I replaced the water pump 2 years ago so hopefully it is just a gasket. Will need to get a good light and scope to see where it is leaking, just hope not a complete water pump. Gasket or pump, still going to be a pain getting it out.
Thanks to Jim for hosting us and getting all problems sorted out and to Rich for his helping hand and guidance in changing out my fuel pumps. Was an easy job when you have somebody coaching you. Tom, thanks for taking the photos and giving the play by play.

[Roadster]

Thanking Jim for Rich's update on his possible vacuum leak(s), Al and Charlie for the updated reports on the work performed. I think it is important to share the results as mentioned earlier, so members can see what works and what doesn't. That way they will have a better understanding if they decide to take on a certain repair or maintenance.



BTW Charlie, we still need your report on how the engine feels with the replacement fuel pumps.....

[Blownrunner]

I need to move...

A few questions about the clutch job you guys did:

Does the weight need to be removed from the rear tires before loosening the C-beam bolts?

How did you get the driveshaft removed? Is it bolted in or did you have to press out the universal?

Is it that hard to remove the C-beam? Reason I ask is the use of the BFH and what looks like a block of wood.

Can the C-beam be removed with the driveshaft left in?

I am going to install the beam plates on my 91', F-Doc's instructions call for blending out any burrs the mounting bolts might cause so I was thinking of removing it to do the inspection. I know my clutch won't last forever is another reason I am asking. Clutch works great now bit the car is over 25 years old and has 30K miles on it.

I'm a good wrench but never did a clutch before. Going to do the beam plates and possibly headers as soon as I finish up the timing belt on my other 'toy'.

BTW thanks for the pictures.

[QB93Z]

Originally Posted by Blownrunner

I need to move...

A few questions about the clutch job you guys did:

Does the weight need to be removed from the rear tires before loosening the C-beam bolts?

How did you get the driveshaft removed? Is it bolted in or did you have to press out the universal?

Is it that hard to remove the C-beam? Reason I ask is the use of the BFH and what looks like a block of wood.

Can the C-beam be removed with the driveshaft left in?

I am going to install the beam plates on my 91', F-Doc's instructions call for blending out any burrs the mounting bolts might cause so I was thinking of removing it to do the inspection. I know my clutch won't last forever is another reason I am asking. Clutch works great now bit the car is over 25 years old and has 30K miles on it.

I'm a good wrench but never did a clutch before. Going to do the beam plates and possibly headers as soon as I finish up the timing belt on my other 'toy'.

BTW thanks for the pictures.

Yes you have to have the rear wheels off the ground (or lift) in order to allow the drive shaft to be rotated to get to all the u-joint strap bolts on the drive shaft at the differential. The C-Beam is not the issue for raising the rear end.

The drive shaft is a sliding spline connection at the transmission output shaft. Once the differential U-Joint is removed, the drive shaft can be pushed forward slightly and disengaged from the Differential then pulled aft to remove it from the transmission. Be ready for a small amount of oil when the driveshaft is removed from the transmission.

Note: On some cars the drive shaft can be removed with the C-beam in place. On some cars, you have to unbolt and move the C-Beam to get the drive shaft out.

The way to remove the C-Beam is as follows. Support the back of the engine with a jack and block of wood that is as wide as the rear of the oil pan. Make sure that the jack and wood block do not prevent access to the bell housing front shield bolts if you need to get to the clutch or flywheel. Remove the C-Beam bolts. If the bolts are under tension, raise or lower the back of the motor to relieve the strain. Using a hammer and wood block, tap the c-beam forward and away from the transmission. Then from the back tap the c-beam forward until it clears the front of the differential where the U-joint was. Next lower the rear of the engine until the c-beam is angled down and below the differential. Then slide the c-beam aft and off the transmission. Most cars require some hammering to accomplish this. I have done one ZR-1 where the c-beam could be removed with no hammering at all. The BFH is not necessary, it just completes the task with fewer strikes. Some times you just have to convince the part to go where you want it to go.

You could install the C-Beam plates without removing the C-Beam or the driveshaft, but you would not be able to inspect the surfaces. I don't think you could remove the C-beam without removing the drive shaft.

All of the above requires removing the Exhaust system.

To me, a 25 year old, 30K miles clutch on a ZR-1 is just getting broken in. The ZR-1 Clutch System is very robust in my opinion. I have removed many clutches from 80K or more miles cars that were in very good condition. If you don't have any drivability issues, I would leave it alone.

Installing headers is an all-day (8-hour) job for a team of workers. We have done a lot of header installs in WAZOO and it is not technically hard but there are a lot of bolts that require patience and ingenuity to remove and install.

[Roadster]

Originally Posted by Blownrunner

I need to move...

A few questions about the clutch job you guys did:

Does the weight need to be removed from the rear tires before loosening the C-beam bolts?

How did you get the driveshaft removed? Is it bolted in or did you have to press out the universal?

Is it that hard to remove the C-beam? Reason I ask is the use of the BFH and what looks like a block of wood.

Can the C-beam be removed with the driveshaft left in?

I am going to install the beam plates on my 91', F-Doc's instructions call for blending out any burrs the mounting bolts might cause so I was thinking of removing it to do the inspection. I know my clutch won't last forever is another reason I am asking. Clutch works great now bit the car is over 25 years old and has 30K miles on it.

I'm a good wrench but never did a clutch before. Going to do the beam plates and possibly headers as soon as I finish up the timing belt on my other 'toy'.

BTW thanks for the pictures.

I'm sure Jim will reply and he already has..

Replacing the clutch is of course your call, my 94 is approaching 70,000 miles and from the records I have it appears not to have been replaced. I imagine all depends on the type of driving any particular ZR-1 has been exposed to.

Glad you liked the pics.....

[QB93Z]

Another caution on removing the drive shaft. I recommend having a spare drive shaft u-joint on hand when removing the drive shaft. The issue is that when you are trying to get the back end of the drive shaft clear of the differential, it often results that the bearing caps that had been held on by the straps and bolts will come off the u-joint and the needle bearing will be disturbed. I had a u-joint failure after two hours of driving following a clutch replacement. I believe that the needle bearing failed in that case.

So you want to be very careful of the u-joint and be ready to replace it if needed. We had to do this on Al's car yesterday.

Jim

[dredgeguy]

Originally Posted by HAWAIIZR-1

Wow, so jealous. WAZOO is awesome. Love the FA decal. "Fire for effect!"


Sent from my iPhone using ZR-1 Net Registry

Me too, my son is a LT in the Army (Fire Support Officer) currently deployed to Germany,Poland and the Baltics