RebekahsZ

Keep me up to date on your clutch performance, please. This is my hot issue because it makes my car crap out on me at the strip. Points to focus on are: 1) how soon the fluid turns black, and 2) how the clutch performs (disengages) during wide-open-throttle, high rpm shifting. Thanks. I want a fix, but it seems that there is a design flaw with the throwout and how it slides across its sleeve and picks up clutch dust in the process. I'm considering a different transmission if I can't get a reasonable fix. Changing master cyl for now and gonna bleed it regularly (weekly) to keep fluid clean.

I've posted questions in several other forums and found tons of posts like mine on the LS forums, but I have yet to find somebody who can recommend a good, permanent or even semi-permanent fix. I'm getting clutch dust into my clutch hydraulics. My problem is perfectly described in these two videos at these websites: Somehow, the throwout bearing is collecting dust. I am not leaking any fluid. I completely flushed my clutch hydraulics and the car shifted great until 2 hours into a road trip. It only seems to mess up clutch disengagement during high rpm shifting under full load (drag race style driving). Car shifts fine when babied around in regular traffic. I'm trying to find a fix for this. Folks have tried replacing every component of the hydraulic system without solving the problem, including the throwout bearing. Guys seem to initially think they have solved the problem, then a few posts later the problem returns. Looks to me like this flushing technique works, but who the heck wants to have to bleed the hydraulics every couple of hours of driving or after every 3 runs at the strip??? I'll listen to any suggestions. I'm thinking about some sort of big hole in the bell housing (there is just a tiny hole in the bottom) to let dust vent out easier?? Maybe even a big fan to blow it though?? Possibly an external slave cylinder with a clutch fork modification??

Dude, it shoots 6" above the reservoir on mine. Just ordered a new one from Summitt as a last attempt to keep from pulling tranny and getting mired down inside the bell housing. Reduced size from 1" to 7/8". Having a really hard time coming to terms with the chances that I'm sucking clutch dust into the system.

Posting a few pictures that may help diagnose/fix the problem. Brake fluid was about 2 weeks old. One photo shows how it looked in the master cyl. Then I bled some off into a tuperware. Paper toweled out the reservoir and the dark gray residue had a fine metal flake appearance. Final photo shows the color and clarity of new Motul high-temp brake fluid. There appears to be NO fluid leaking anywhere.. Level is staying constant and no drips from bell housing. Search of internet suggest that the fluid shooting up in the reservoir is sign of a bad seal somewhere inside the master. Gonna order a new master cylinder, and while waiting for it, gonna get a brace made to stop the firewall from flexing. Will change the master and bleed everything again. If that doesn't fix it, then I guess the tranny comes out..... After flushing the system last night, drove car 4 hours today on roadtrip. Fluid is dark again.

I really don't know what I'm talking about. I'll try to stop speculating until M2 checks into it. I'm glad a few folks are willing to stick their necks out to get specialty parts like this (and the LS longtube headers) made. The low volume of sales hardly makes it a big profit opportunity. All the guys building parts for the Z-car must do it for the love of it.

Ditto here, mine were practically black before I cleaned them and painted them. My money says the machinist failed to heat treat SUNNY's axles, or used an incorrect alloy. Lets give M2 a chance to look into it. I think if you got the blackened ones, you are probably going to be ok.

Clutch and slave are stock LS2/2006 GTO. Master is 1" tilton. It is stiff, but not THAT stiff. My foot likes it. But, when bleeding the clutch, my wife says that when I first break the bleeder fitting loose, the clutch actually pushes up against her foot before going down. Send photos of your support brace if you got 'em. I gotta fix this variable-pedal clutch behavior. Can't go to track with this going on. If it turns out that I need a new master, I"ll be reducing to diameter to 7/8". Somehow, my car knows when I'm racing. Around town, even if I shift fast, I have no problem. Go racing, car fairly consistently won't go into 3rd or 4th. Boogied through the gears hard on my street and came to a roaring stop at the stop sign, then I couldn't get car into gear until I came off the clutch pedal and rested the car for about a minute. Then it drove fine. The variable in this equation that I can identify is my vigor. I would consider drivetrain movement, but car has poly motor mounts and it doesn't move much. Possessed Z-car!

My 240z firewall flexes a good bit when im boogieing thru the gears at the drag strip. Anybody got a picture of some sort of bracing from the clutch master to the inner fender or something similar?

Wow, that was fast! If you haven't done the GTO tranny swap before, you gotta get an F-body offset lever down inside the shifter well. Change that and you can use any F-body shifter. It costs about $30 and installs easily with a drift pin. Way to go!

Ditched rear swaybar - was too close to outer CVs for comfort and was gonna be a PITA for exhaust routing. Inspected CV axles for spline damage and added grease. Painted rock-catcher welded on front crossmember to protect oilpan. Bled and adjusted clutch AGAIN and made cut-off 7mm clutch adjustment wrench. Replaced o-ring on fuel sender (been leakin for a few months: don't clean o-rings with carb cleaner) and installed brand new fuel level sender while I was at it; cleaned off all the grime. Unpacked new ebay 3.54 open R200 that I plan to put a CLSD carrier in this winter and put it on the shelf. My back hurts and I think I've got a piece of metal in my cornea. Time for bed.

So I "bled" my Tilton 1" clutch master cylinder on my LS2 swap tonight. Removed the little "basket" from inside the reservoir and sucked out most of the fluid (which had become discolored and mirky with a metal-flake appearance in just a few weeks). Added some new fluid and used a Mighty Vac in the center hole of the master cylinder reservoir to vacuum out any air trapped in the master. Then, I brought the remote bleeder line up into the engine compartment (hoping air will rise) and bled it with the help of my wife on the pedal (I tried to Mighty Vac it, but the fitting on the remote bleeder was too small to keep the the vacuum hose on). For a change, we communicated pretty well and I don't think I sucked any air. Never got a satisfying burp of bubbles, but I bled and bled until the dirty fluid (funny, it has only been in the car for a few weeks) was gone and I got clean fluid, the color and clarity of the fluid in the reservoir. Cleaned everything up and put the cap on the reservoir, but forgot to install the little basket. Then I had my wife pump the clutch pedal and I noticed a lot of commotion inside the reservoir. Took the cap off and had her push clutch pedal again, expecting to see some bubbles followed by me swearing. Well, when she stepped on the pedal, hydraulic fluid shot straight out the top from the center hole in the bottom of the reservoir and lands right back inside the reservoir, making no mess. I put the little basket back in, and everything seems ok. Master is working properly. Is that squirting of fluid indicative of a problem, or is that normal for the Tilton master cylinder if you forget to reinstall the basket????

I didn't use these particular seats, but on my racing seats, I used the stock Z-car sliders and just used some square aluminum tubing to adapt the seats to them. They work great just like stock. I love how light they are, not because I'm trying to lighten my car specifically, but because they are so much easier to wrestle in and out of the car. You are all over the forum tonight, got to get you some axles to keep you from going stir crazy. I'm headed back into shop to do that clutch bleeding.

Bias ply front runners have pretty much stopped the tail wagging. However, driving a car with bias ply tires is weird. Kind of feels like you have a trailer behind you making car wander like it is in a strong, variable cross wind. Gonna take some practice. Got pedals modified to put switches at clutch full down and full up. Plan is to turn off line lock after leaving full down and turn off 2-step rev limiter when clutch is full up. We'll see how it goes. going to visit a friend tomorrow to plan out circuitry and switches so I can get a bunch of weather pack connectors and relays ordered. Couldn't get good pictures of switches, so I've attached a video. IMG_0614.MOV

Sorry it took so long, guys. It has been raining cats and dogs for the past 2 weeks and I had to bale, I mean mow, my yard or the snakes were gonna get me. I only inspected the outer CV of each side. Everything looks great WITHOUT any twisting of the axle splines. Added more moly grease and buttoned it back up. As a side note, my axles are doing fine using hose clamps to secure the boots-makes it a lot easier to do things like adjust boots and inspect. Another point of interest has to do with alignment and axle length: I have adjustable rear LCAs to keep from having tons of camber with a lowered car. In order to get the track and camber even on both sides, the driver side LCA is adjusted longer than the passenger side after 4-wheel alignment. You can see this difference in the placement of the CV cage with the CV "case" when I pull back the CV boot. Both sides of mine appear to be fully engaged within the CV case and I don't anticipate having trouble with them being too long or too short. Eager to get back to the track with confidence. For folks new to the discussion, I am drag racing as much as I can with M2's shortened CV axle shafts. My car has a stock LS2/T56/stock clutch with 3.90 R200 CLSD with extra clutches, shimmed to 60# breakaway on bias ply wrinkle-wall slicks (MT ET Drag 26X8.5X15). Doing moderate burn-outs with line-lock, warming tires until I hear the rpms drop off a bit, then rolling out of burn-out and up to stage. I'm leaving the line at modest rpms (maybe 2,000) and lifting off throttle during shifts. Fastest 1/8th-mile time has been 7.29 at 96mph, but averaging about 7.5 at 94mph due to inexperienced driver. Best 60' was 1.7 but it was purely by accident. 20-something runs on this kit and drivetrain is doing fine.

Picked up car from fabricator and made list of things to try to accomplish this weekend.

Just got car back from shop that was working on my pedals. Will pull it off trailer tomorrow and get a good day of wrenching done. First priority is to pull back boots and inspect. I'll let the forum know what I find.

What do you need more hubs for??? Just nosey...

Sorry, I don't know what got into my morning coffee.

I just went out and checked two diffs on my shelf. 3.54 open diff with a rough bearing somewhere (it is rough when I spin the input flange, but I haven't torn it down yet) and a 3.70 CLSD. Both R200 of unknown mileage. The 3.54 open had a bit of up and down play in the output shafts. The 3.70 CLSD had NONE. Dude, you are killing yourself and it is painful to watch. Go buy another R200 - I just bought one from ebay for $200 shipped to replace the one with bad bearings. It really isn't worth the trouble of buying and pressing out all those bearings and beating yourself up over whether it is setup properly. I'm just gonna give my bad one away to anybody who wants to come and get it (the bearings are like $20 each, plus seals, plus dropping it on my foot a hundred times trying to do the work. I know you are pilot and all, and super analytical, but I think you might be a masochist too. When you put your LSD carrier in the new diff housing, I advise against shimming to 60# breakaway; I still have some chatter. I'm gonna shim (if shims are even needed) to about 30# breakaway to avoid the chatter - it is super annoying. I have a viscous LSD, with axles, that I'll sell (PM me for price), but it needs a full inspection as the gearing was changed by the previos owner. ColtGT45 went 6.1 in the 1/8th with a viscous Q45 diff, so viscous can't be the devil, at least for drag racing; road racing may be a different story. I think it is time to swap your diff, if only for trouble-shooting.

I would discourage you from fooling with the spindle pins and outer bushings. No bang for the pain and agony. If you do pull the spindle pins, ask around and find out how to replace the spindle pin with a long grade 8 bolt. Spindle pins suck.

Did front and rear glass 10 years ago all by myself when I was much younger and more spry. String method, lots of dishwashing soap and a healthy helping of profanity. Noticed that you didn't install the stainless trim - saved yourself a good bit of hassle there, good choice. Needs to be installed before inserting glass into before putting glass in car, so then you have not only a slippery noodle, but if you bend the trim in the process, you have to start all over! If you try to install the trim with the glass installed, you get little cuts in the trim channel. What a nightmare. Will pay for that next time (if I can find anybody I trust??). I had lots of leaks at corners even with new rubber and new glass with zero rust and fresh paint. Used some sort of black non-curing window calk that was very sticky and messy I got from an automotive glass shop. Used lighter fluid to clean excess (very messy). Put it between rubber and body and between rubber and glass using a calk gun with the nozzle on the tube. Haven't had a leak in 10 years. Beautiful car - way to go!

I have a whole thread dedicated to this subject in the brakes forum with pictures and everything. Go to that forum and search "drifting handbrake" and it should pop up for you. There are some issues with my setup. First and foremost is that I can't find a good place in town to practice with it without feeling like an outlaw. Folks just seem to really frown on anybody squeeling tires and leaving black marks on school and church parking lots. Also, locating the second caliper is really challenging (there isn't that much real estate inside the wheel well for all the stuff). I used the same Maxima calipers that are supplied in the Desert Z rear disc conversion kit. My second caliper is mounted at 12-o'clock. It looks great when you build the system with the suspension in full droop up on jack stands. However, when you put the car on the ground (mine is lowered to about 5" at the rocker), there is very little suspension travel between the e-brake portion of the caliper and the inner fender. The ebrake cable is also pretty crowded between the strut tube (all the time), the "frame rail" when the suspension is compressed. I also worry a lot about the extra brake line getting tangled up with the axle. I have painted it with a little primer so that I can inspect for rub marks and so-far-so-good, but it worries me. The racing pads that I have on that caliper work best when HOT and not very well when cold. Bleeding brake calipers when they are mounted at a different angle than they were designed for is very difficult. The bleeder has to be at the highest point on the caliper. So, I have to actually remove my calipers everytime I bleeed my brakes and bleed them in my hand (kind of a PITA). My plans for the setup are 1) switch to ceramic pads, 2) install rubber bump stops on the top of the gland nut on the struts to limit travel to keep the top caliper from hitting the bottom of the inner fender. If that doesn't help, then I got to get a saw out and build a little clearance cove inside the inner fender to clearance the caliper and c-notch the frame rail to clearance the cable. Everything is a trade-off. Also, it was a LOT of work for a system that I can't really use very often and stay out of jail. Now, if you want to build a set up with the same general concept that takes into account the short comings of my system, here are my recommendations: 1) trash the passenger seat and build the handbrake with a vacuum assisted booster so that it takes less effort to lock brakes (you really gotta crank on this thing). Maybe use either one of those electric vacuum pumps or a power-steering pump assisted hydraulic booster. 2) Say "screw it" to the cable-operated parking brake and just park with the car left in gear, using a chock block. That would allow me to use a great big caliper from the front wheel of a Z32-I hear they lock up super, whereas the Maxima caliper is pretty marginal. Honestly, the more I modify my z-car, the less I feel like daily driving it anyway (it is becoming somewhat of a spectacle), impossible to blend-in, and spiritually agonizing to have to drive slowly in traffic. 3) Build the system with the car sitting on jackstands on the spindle pin portion of the strut, so that true suspension clearances are represented. Think about where to place brake lines so that they are far away from the axles (someday you will do a CV axle conversion and they take up more room than the u-joint stock axles). Have fun! PS-like he said, the Desert Z parking brake works great. Super kit. Don't forget to take the check valve out of your master cylinder-the instructions omit this little tidbit, and your brakes will not release fully with that little check valve in place. Also, remove your stock proportion valve-these calipers don't really have the power to make them lock before the fronts. They are better than stock, but they are not "super stoppers." I have an aftermarket proportion valve, but it is adjusted wide open and I'm still not locking rears with the footbrake.

My car is at my fabricator's shop for the week, then I'm doing some rear suspension mods. While I have it in the air, I'll pull back my boots and see how everything looks on mine. Glad I'm using hose clamps for those boots, gonna make inspections easier.

How are your inner and outer tie rod ends and t-c rod bushings? I've never really heard of anybody having a t-c rod failure but bad tie rods (especially inners) are super common. Might cause your problem. Was it you who posted some funny tire wear problems a few weeks ago?

Told some dude to stay away from my z-driving daughter. Get it?