JLarson's build thread

[JLarson]

Quick update: So I never did get the clutch "properly" bled. I did get it so that I could move the car into gear, albeit poorly. My attempts to bleed it ended last Thursday around this time.

Basically, I realized the z1 flywheel is not for me. It's obnoxiously loud, and that chatter really isn't a joke. I guess I should clarify - for me, I could deal with it. My wife absolutely would not.

I reached out to RT Tuning first, and they didn't get back to me; talked to my local enthusiast group, VQ Philly, and got a recommendation through them. Sent a few emails, good bit of research. Final decision is I'm swapping the Z1 clutch setup for the South Bend Quiet Disk from Zspeed, and the CMAK setup. The CMAK and flywheel arrived yesterday, friction disk and pressure plate should be in today. Z is already at the garage, and I'll be dropping the materials off today - fingers crossed, it should be done tomorrow. The proprietor has bled quite a few of these clutches without issue, and will walk me through it so that I know what I did incorrectly.

Thanks again everyone for your support!

[madwi]

Sounds like a good game plan. I too ended up buying the Zspeed flywheel with quiet disc + CMAK

[JARblue]

I just asked Joe for the lightest and loudest flywheel he's got. He said 17 lbs but I know there's a 14 lb one floating around out there

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by JARblue

I just asked Joe for the lightest and loudest flywheel he's got. He said 17 lbs but I know there's a 14 lb one floating around out there

Haha a bold move!

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by JARblue

I just asked Joe for the lightest and loudest flywheel he's got. He said 17 lbs but I know there's a 14 lb one floating around out there

Yeah, there is a 14 pounder.

[JLarson]

Update with the happy ending: car is back and running great! I'll follow this with 2 other posts, the first entitled "how not to install your flywheel" and the 2nd as a review of the South Bend Stage 3 setup + quiet disk + CMAK.

[old guy]

that's great news
On the road again

[JLarson]

I hate posting this because it wounds my pride, but I'll take that if it means some other guy does this right the first time! This entire process was a very valuable learning experience, but not one I'd willingly go through again. As mentioned in episode 14, our intrepid hero attempted his own clutch replacement for the first time with limited success (and hidden failure, which we shall now reveal! But do not be discouraged good viewer - in the end, our hero is triumphant!)

As previously noted, I got a decent recommendation on a local VQ guy. Turns out his day job is working for Infiniti, and he's also spent time with Ferrari, which is pretty cool. He also has a pretty neat 06 g35 with a 2jz swap putting down around 1200 whp. So it's not his first rodeo.

All of the pieces for my new clutch kit arrived by Thursday of last week, and I dropped them off at his shop Thursday evening. 10 pm, I get a message from him, complete with video - my flywheel had been loose. The awful noise I had assumed was chatter was the flywheel vibrating against the crank.

On the plus side, other than being started and reversed into my driveway, the car had not been driven in this condition. I'm pretty sure eventually the flywheel would have vibrated the bolts out with catastrophic results.

Joey (shop owner) was a pretty good teacher, and walked me through his process. His opinion was when I seated the flywheel, it actually had not slid all the way into place over the center spindle. His recommendation for seating is to 1) Loosely install the flywheel; 2) insert a couple of the bolts opposite each other and finger tighten only; 3) use a rubber mallet to tap the flywheel into place. It should cause a visible gap between the flywheel bolts and the flywheel. At that point, install all the bolts finger tight, and follow the FSM torque pattern.

Complications this caused: Thanks to my error, I stripped the ends of the flywheel bolts. This ended up being a mixed blessing. Because the bolts stripped, they only damaged the first thread in the crank (cleaned up with a tap, and new flywheel bolts held torque @ spec).
It is very possible that I could've damaged my crank to the point where I'd have had to either rig some way of entirely re-tapping oversize holes into it, using a screw thread insert, or actually rendering it unusable. So let that be a warning to you, dear reader! This is the real down side of only knowing what I'm doing through DIY's - you miss really important things like this.

Eventually my ego should stop bleeding and I'll be able to move on.

[JLarson]

Now that I've revealed my foolishness in the previous episode, it's time to reveal my thoughts on the new clutch setup. As you know, I'm using the RJM pedal, and right now it's set at 0% where I left it after trying to bleed my clutch.

My new setup is the SouthBend Stage 3, with CMAK, the quiet disk option, stainless steel clutch line, and the 19 lb flywheel. Stage 3 was chosen in expectation of eventually going FI.

-Pedal pressure has increased, as I expected it would. Not a big deal for me, but if the Z is your DD and you have a weak leg or constant traffic and no RJM pedal, you may not enjoy this experience.
-Clutch chatter is present but extremely minimal. The quiet disk option is a good choice.
-Car does rev faster, and an interesting side effect that I just noticed this morning is the lesser weight means when I come off the accelerator, there is less sensation of "bogging down". I lack the appropriate vocabulary to describe it. Suffice it to say, that was a pleasant and unexpected change.
-Engagement is much more abrupt, and that's not a bad thing. The stock clutch always left me guessing, and it was a rare day when I felt I really nailed my shifts smoothly. I have no such issue with the new setup.

I'll play with the settings on the RJM pedal a bit tonight after work, but I'm guessing I'll be happy with around 30%. Obviously I've changed a lot of variables, so I couldn't tell you exactly what portion was the CMAK, etc, but I can tell you the overall experience is very positive.

[Rusty]

Glad you found the problem.

Flywheels coming off the end of the crank is never a good thing. It could have come up through the floor board and removed your feet from your legs. Had a buddy years ago that a '65 Mustang with a 289 lose a flywheel. It come up through the floor board and hood. Him and another guy both got hurt. It did a number on the Mustang.

[madwi]

I have the exact same setup that will be going in late August, wanna join the party? I can feed you guys really well.

[sx moneypit]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Glad you found the problem.

Flywheels coming off the end of the crank is never a good thing. It could have come up through the floor board and removed your feet from your legs. Had a buddy years ago that a '65 Mustang with a 289 lose a flywheel. It come up through the floor board and hood. Him and another guy both got hurt. It did a number on the Mustang.

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by madwi

I have the exact same setup that will be going in late August, wanna join the party? I can feed you guys really well.

I'd love to, but I'll actually be in Iceland from the 18th-25th. Let me know when you decide to tackle it!

[JLarson]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Glad you found the problem.

Flywheels coming off the end of the crank is never a good thing. It could have come up through the floor board and removed your feet from your legs. Had a buddy years ago that a '65 Mustang with a 289 lose a flywheel. It come up through the floor board and hood. Him and another guy both got hurt. It did a number on the Mustang.

It's one of those things where I'm ridiculously glad I couldn't get the clutch properly bled. May have saved my feet. Like I said above, it's a hit to my ego - until now I've been really successful with my modding - but I'm incredibly glad that, if it had to go bad, it went the way it did.

[JARblue]

Could have been much worse, that's for sure. Glad the Z is up and running again

I'm still wrestling with the decision whether or not to do my clutch replacement in my garage or not. Dropping the transmission on jack stands is not fun. Plus I'm sure I'll do something like you did