Bad clutch!!!!!

75player

New Member
Dec 22, 2003
58
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North Carolina
Some of you know based on my posts that I changed my clutch last week. I put in a SPEC Stage 1. Once I was finished, I started the car up and noticed a pretty noticeable vibration in the car. When I drove it, the vibration got much worse, especially in 1st and 2nd. So, after the hellish time I had the first time I decided to take it to a local race shop to have it looked at, one because I didn't have the patience to do it all again, adn two I wanted to make sure I didn't screw anything up. Well, I just got a call from them and they say it looks like the brand new clutch is bad. They found a "hot spot" on the the clutch and the flywheel. They also said it doesn't look like it was caused by anything I did. They verified all the torque specs on every bolt before taking it apart to make sure nothing was loose or overtight and said everything was dead on. And the flywheel was resurfaced the day before re-installing it. So it looks like I received a bad clutch from the company. They're putting in a Ford Motorsport clutch right now and we'll soon know for sure if the clutch was bad out of the box. My question for all of you is, what should I do? Obviously I need to return the clutch for a refund, but do you think I should also try and get the money for the labor and the second resurfacing of the flywheel as well since I had to pay to have it done again? If so, any advice on how to go about this? Do I need documentation from the repair shop?

Any one else experience this pain before? I'm out an additional $475 because of this and am not sure the hassle of getting the labor money back will be worth it. Thanks.

George
 
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Sucks to hear that, well I would definately get Spec to look at it. I would talk to SPEC directly to see what they say. I have never had a problem like that but I would go to the source and see if they would get you your money back for time and extras and clutch. As long as it is what you say, that it occured from the first time you started it up, and you were breaking it in properly. If you just take it back to where you bought it from you may only get your money back for the clutch itself.
 
Okay, I just got back from the shop. After they put in the Ford Motorsport clutch, they drove it around the block and all seemed fine other than a slight vibration. So when I get there I start the car and afte about a minute the throwout bearing starts chattering like crazy. So, they put it back up on the lift to look at it and they discover that the fingers on the new pressure plate are all uneven now. WTF??? Now I'm worried that there is something more seriously wrong with my car. 2 clutches in 3 days?!?!?! Any ideas? The flywheel looks as if it is spinning true, the throwout bearing is spinning true. What could be causing the uneven pressure? Is there any chance the crank could be wobbling slightly? Or maybe the input shaft of the tranny? I'm grasping at straws here. I also looked at the original clutch and the fingers on that pressure plate are also out of whack. Please help!!!!!
 
I don't know why that would be happening, the TOB is placed on the fork arm and that piece you could try replacing, but I think your right you may have bigger problems but if the shop is looking at it then they should be able to find the cause. It may be something simple as well, don't start sweating yet.

You should talk to the guy SpectorV on this board, he had some major clutch issues as well, he replace everything 100 times over(exageration).