Major Clutch Problems

brianp-cali

Registered User
Well, I've just completed almost a week of work installing a new SPEC Stage 1 clutch in my 95 SC. The installation took a bad turn right at the beginning, because SPEC failed to include a pilot bearing in their kit. (Included instead was a huge brass bushing.) Next, the pressure plate did not line up with the flywheel dowels/alignment pins. The boltholes lined up, but not the pins. When the pins were lined up, the boltholes did not. (The moral here is not to buy a clutch from SPEC.) So I went to ford and bought a new $19 pilot bearing, and spent almost 4 hours aligning and drilling new holes in the pressure plate so the thing would bolt to the flywheel. Now, the car is all back together and the clutch shudders unbelievably violently when it is slipped in 1st gear and reverse. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I've ruled out grease on the pressure plate because it's been driven almost 50 miles now, and the shaking is just too violent to be a little grease. Also, the motor mounts don't seem to be the problem, because they are not leaking, and a few times, the shuddering was accompanied by some chattering/squeaking noises from the clutch area. Any ideas?
Thanks, Brian
 
if i were u, which im not, i would just go and throw that new clutch and pressure plate at SPEC and tell them not to sell piece of ****, tell them if they are gonna do something to do it right. Ask for a full complete refund, because it falls under false advertising.
 
i know-i know

did you have your flywheel resurfaced? theres a good chance the slipping of your old clutch when it was going bad blued the flywheel and/or warped it-hardening parts of the surface causing it to grab and chatter. take the tranny back out and get the flywheel resurfaced. good luck
 
I don't remember any alignment dowels when I pulled my car apart. They may have disappeared when Ford put the replacement stock clutch in for the original owner.

I had my flywheel turned and the alignment tool is all I needed to properly line up the clutch when I installed a Spec stage III.

Did you contact Spec before you started drilling holes in the pressure plate? I doubt they will be of much help after you altered the parts.

I had nothing but good luck with them and would recommend Spec products to anyone.


I messed up my pilot bearing on install but got a replacement Timken from a local parts store for $11 bucks. I never buy dealer parts if equal or better quality is available aftermarket.
 
I also have a Spec Stage 3 and had no problems installing my clutch and have had no problems outta it. When I installed mine there were no alignment pins I just held it in place and bolted it on. The shuddering and shaking could be from you drilling the holes in the pressure plate and not getting them right.



NICK
 
95 5spd cars had dowl alignment pins, other years did not. If your new clutch PP does not have the corresponding holes, then the pins should be removed. From my understanding they were there to assist alignment during assembly line assembly and are not used on any other SC's. Evidently the increase in clutch disk diameter necessitated some change in the assembly line which necessitated the pins.

I know, alignment dowls are a good thing (in most cases) but when faced with the option of drilling the PP or pulling the pins, pull the pins. Nonetheless, did you drill the holes large enough that the bolts then centered the PP or did you attempt to drill the holes precise enough for the pins to center the PP? Did your bolts have a shoulder on them? Old style stock bolts have a shoulder which centers the PP. If you drilled the holes large enough to provide some clearance around the pins, then the bolts used to attach it should have a shoulder to center the PP. Not sure what the 95 bolts had. If the bolts you used did not have a shoulder which fits snug in the PP bolt holes, then it is possible your PP is off-centered.

Also, I don't know about SPEC, but many PP's are coated with an anti-corrosion film that cannot be removed with solvent or brake cleaner. It is water based and must be removed with strong detergent. I always hit the surface with an orbital sander after cleaning just to be sure.

Using an unsurfaced flywheel is not the problem, I never surface a flywheel unless it is scored, has surface cracks, or has been heated enough to have melted the surface (yes that does happen sometimes).

A stage I clutch is not aggressive enough to cause any engagement problems by itself. As well Spec makes an excellent quality product. While there could be something wrong with it, that doesn't reflect on the entire company and their product lines. There are plenty of complaints about any clutch company you care to name. Unfortunately, most problems with a new clutch are installation related.
 
shuddering clutch

I had a smilar prblem after a new clutch install.
My pressure plate bolts had come loose, and were getting worse. I did not discover this until I had pulled the tranny again.
Perhaps my torque wrench was not set properly (I've learned a torque wrench needs to be backed down to zero then set to the proper torque for accuracy).
I bolted it back together with loc-tite on the bolts and have had no problems since.

Also, mine was a 94 with the locator pins on the flywheel. I ditched the pins as I installed an aluminum flywheel too.

Good luck, the tranny comes out much easier the second time.

Bob
 
Well, thanks for everyone's replies, I'll definitly need them when I'm tearing down the car again.

In answer to your questions, I did have the flywheel resurfaced, and is it possible that the machine shop screwed up? A similiar problem (though not nearly as bad) is occuring to my sister's 94 Mustang V6 clutch, and the flywheel was resurfaced at the same shop. (But no, I didn't install the clutch)

When I drilled the holes in the pressure plate (which I strongly regret now) I drilled them precisely, but if they were really that far off, wouldn't it be almost impossible to get the PP on the flywheel?

Dave, I'm not sure what you mean by shouldered bolts. Are those like the ones that hold the transmission to the engine? I'm pretty sure the PP bolts
were threaded all the way up.

Finally, I admit some animosity toward SPEC, however it is mostly based on the way I was treated by their costomer service. Also, if the 94-95 Flywheel is an 11.5" diameter, that would mean an 11.5" pressure plate, which would require making a seperate casting/forging (or however they make it). As I've learned from this posting, 94-95 SCs all have dowel pins in their flywheels. So why the lapse in engineering? A pressure plate is a bolt-on part, and the thing did not bolt-on. Add that to the packing mistake, and I'm on to another brand name. (but that's just my opinion.)


Thanks for all your help,
Brian
 
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