Chattering going into 1st/Reverse

[Shizap]

Hey Guys,
I just got my car back on the road after working on it for the past few months. I replaced the clutch, clutch fork, clutch fork stud, pilot bushing, throwout bearing, and had the aftermarket spec flywheel resurfaced. However, the car is still chattering/vibrating pretty hard going into first and reverse. It works flawlessly once underway. I don't think its the brakes sticking because it easily rolls down the hill with the clutch in or when in neutral. Would love to hear some input on what you guys think the issue might be. Right now my guess is the flywheel is warped and the resurfacing didn't help the problem.
Thanks,
Scott

Update: Called Spec and they said that it is normal for the first 500 miles until everything gets seated right. I'll keep driving it and see how it goes.

[Shizap]

Update:
The chattering/shuddering only got worse to the point it was almost undrivable so I took the clutch back out of the car. It appears the clutch is engaging first on one side of the pressure plate and flywheel. Spec is still telling me that this is normal during break in. What do you guys think? Could my resurfaced flywheel be the problem? It was also causing a loud rattling noise like something was flying around in the bellhousing when the clutch was not disengaged.







Also, is this gap between the pressure plate and flywheel normal?
Does it need to be shimmed?

Thanks,
Scott

[ImpalaDave]

While I'm still new to the LT5 I'll throw my two cents in as a mechanic. Judging by your pics it looks like there is quite a bit of hot spotting on both the flywheel and pressure plate friction surfaces. The clutch disc doesn't look especially happy either. I'd see about having them resurfaced or replaced, unfortunately. Was the clutch slipping at all after it went together? Is there a bedding-in procedure (light use) that's recommended? How are your clutch hydraulics? Getting full clutch disengagement?

As for the gap you mention between the flywheel and pressure plate - I'm not sure if this is what you mean but if they're not bolted together yet the pressure plate springs will be fully extended, raising the pressure plate body off the flywheel, which is normal.


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[sleazy rider]

as mentioned above, the chatter marks and the hot spots 'ARE NOT NORMAL'. and you can see the abnormalities on the disk. we had this same problem a few years ago on my sons gto after installing a monster single disk clutch in it. like you, we pulled it out, and sent it back to monster for evaluation and rectification. their response was that the disk was warped/bent, and cleaned up the flywheel and pressure plate and sent a new disk. we installed it and....same issue so we pulled it out again and installed the original clutch to give us time to sort out what was going on. looking at the disk, the metal backing was what i thought thinner than a normal disk and i rationalized that this thinner backing was letting the disk bend around the splined area during install creating the chatter. so i bought a centerforce disk and put the clutch back in with most of the problem gone. that clutch still chattered in 1st and reverse a bit until my son replaced it with a twin disk a couple years ago.

[Shizap]

Thanks for all the information guys. I definitely will not be putting it back together how it was, despite what Spec says about this being normal. I am going to send it back to them and see what they say. I didn?t put a ton of miles on it, but it was only getting worse to the point it was undriveable.
- Scott

[Great White]

Originally Posted by Shizap

Thanks for all the information guys. I definitely will not be putting it back together how it was, despite what Spec says about this being normal. I am going to send it back to them and see what they say. I didn?t put a ton of miles on it, but it was only getting worse to the point it was undriveable.
- Scott

The heat checking on the flywheel and pressure plate in your photos looks like it's only on one side. I bet if you put a dial test indicator on it you'd see a fair bit of runout. Either the flywheel or pressure plate is possibly warped, was improperly ground, or wasn't assembled correctly when it was installed.

Some minor chatter while taking off from a stop is common on any new clutch until they "break in." It is more pronounced on high-performance clutches and flywheels/pressure plates that have a coarse grind.

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[Shizap]

Update:

Finally got the time to tackle this clutch job for the third time. (I have gotten much faster, haha) I was able to acquire a good used original pressure plate thanks to LGAFF. Just got it all put back together and the clutch feels perfect now. No chatter at all. It was all caused by that SPEC pressure plate. I would highly recommend to avoid any Chinese reproduction clutch kits. Original (hard to find) or the Ram Conversion kit seems like the only good way to go. Thanks for all the feedback along the way.

- Scott

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by Shizap

Update:

Finally got the time to tackle this clutch job for the third time. (I have gotten much faster, haha) I was able to acquire a good used original pressure plate thanks to LGAFF. Just got it all put back together and the clutch feels perfect now. No chatter at all. It was all caused by that SPEC pressure plate. I would highly recommend to avoid any Chinese reproduction clutch kits. Original (hard to find) or the Ram Conversion kit seems like the only good way to go. Thanks for all the feedback along the way.

- Scott

Glad to hear you got it sorted out. --Bob