Loose bolts found on pressure plate...

[njdaewoo]

Hello
I have been having issues with the shifting of my trans for a while. I have a shudder when pulling off from a dead stop, When I start driving first thing in the morning the car shifts fine but after about 20 minutes I began to get a slight grind in 3rd. Another problem is when the car warms up if I'm sitting still and press the clutch in. The trans would not go into 3,5 or reverse. If i put a slight pressure on shifter in reverse, i would hear the gears in the trans gradually slowing down with a grinding sound. I finally decided to remove the trans to investigate what was going on. After removing the trans I started removing the pressure plate bolts. 1 bolt was hand tight and the one next to it was a little tighter. What would cause the bolts to loosen up? They were torqued down to factory specs. After removing the pressure plate, I examined the flywheel (which is a competition clutch lightened steel flywheel) it has some heat spots on it in the area where the bolts were tight but the opposite end (loose bolt side) is barely touched by friction. The same goes for the Pressure Plate Competition clutch stage 2 (worn on 1 side new looking on the other) The clutch, pressure plate, flywheel were put in new and have about 3000 miles on them. I will be using locktite this time around. Since everything was new initially and there are no scratches to the press plate & fly wheel.
Do you think by installing a new clutch friction disk and re-using the pressure plate and flywheel without getting them machined will cause any problems? I think this was my problem with the clutch not releasing when everything got hot. I called the Manufacture and they said to simply use a emery cloth pad on a grinder to resurface the p p & f whl. What do you guys think?

 

[mindset]

Ok, torquing down the Pressure Plate is the most crucial part of proper clutch disengagement. I recommend using blue loctite. Then what i do is slowly, with a ratchet, is turn each bolt a quarter turn until they are down to proper torque spec. Check with PPC for their torque specs, I know ACT has different ones, I believe I torqued mine to 30ft/lbs using FRESH bolts. Go in a star pattern. I'm pretty sure it's 6 bolts. Don't even bother with full turns or half turns. If the pressure plate is not seated right it will not allow for proper clutch disengagement. Also in your trans, make sure the dowel pins are there and you have all the bolts. Not 2 or 3, trust me I've seen idiots try this and the clutch is trashing the trans. Another thing to check is shift linkage. Also crucial. Make sure there is no ripped bushings and no kinks. Have someone look at your linkage while you shift and have them make sure it's going into gear smoothly.

About the friction pad, I reused mine... but I'm sure it wouldn't be bad to replace it if it looks shitty.

Check for proper disengagement. Quoted from Jacks, push clutch in, rev to 7.5kRPM, if it moves forward, the clutch is dragging. Making sure you're on a smooth pavement.
Check slave cylinder and master cylinder. If you still have that rubber slave cylinder line, trash it and get a stainless steel one. Helps much.

Hope I helped.

 

[njdaewoo]

@ mindset,
You gave some helpful info but what about the heat spots and the way Competition Clutch said to handle it? Do you guys think anything is warped? I hope after I install everything my car's trans works the way it suppose to. This whole drive train experience is very suck butt! . Trans was rebuilt, all parts were replaced new: clutch, pressure plate, Flywheel, clutch master cyl, slave cyl, roller skate linkage bushings(@trans), Symbroski shifter bushings and hours of bleeding the clutch because I thought air was in the line. Nothing solved my problems! So I have my fingers crossed on this one, and this could be one of the main problem most of us are having with our trans.

 

[BLINKY619]

honestly imo it may be warped... happened to me with a brand new fidanza flywheel... it got warped yet the pressure plate seemed untouched.... i was thinking go through everything again and install it and see what it does....!

 

[mindset]

The heat spots on the flywheel? Change out the friction pad. It could be warped, but loose bolts might have caused it to be in one spot and resulted the same as if it were to be bent.

 

[bmoha2]

Hmm fresh bolts huh? I reused my pressure plate bolts that came off my 2100 which were the stock bolts. Unfortunately I hadn't even given them a thought as far as replaing them. To me the stock pressure plate bolts seem really wimpy. And better options out there?

 

[Limegrntaln]

I would take it to a local place that turns flywheels and have it checked for straightness. That will determine what you need to do right off the bat. Once they put it on a lathe, you will be able to tell right off the bat whats up with it. Ive also seen the flywheel done with an emory wheel. easiest way is with a little 2 inch wheel on a high speed air gun, its only a little thing. but works well, gets the garbage off and you get nice swirls in the wheel. Or just replace the friction surface.

AS for loctite, Ive heard of both being used, more commonly red, but if you are going to be using hand tools in the future versus an air ratchet, you might want to go with blue. Red will still be able to be removed with an airgun pretty easily.

 

[njdaewoo]

Sounds good so far! Does anyone know what it would cost (around about) to check the items at a machinist shop?

 

[mindset]

Wasn't sure if I was clear but blue loctite on PP bolts and of course red loctite on flywheel bolts. Just to clear up any confusion.