New Clutch

[bosco]

I have the engine and trans out and ready to put back together to reinstall as a unit. In the manual I have it mentions alignment marks on the pressure plate and flywheel. I don't see any on either of mine .......should I be seeing some? Is there another way to align them or does it even matter?

Also....I have had the flywheel resurfaced so I plan to adjust the ball stud locknut to somewhat less than 3/4 inch where it comes out of the bellhousing. Is there any other way to adjust or check the adjustment of the clutch before I actually have it in the car and can use the pedal?

Any info appreciated, as always.

[GTJIM]

Most GM engine units were started and run before being fitted to the car (on LPG Gas!) and final balancing done then and there.

There would usually be a small "o" stamped on the edge of the clutch cover and another on the flywheel adjacent to it so that the cover could be reinstalled in the same relative position. Working on the theory that if it was balanced right in that position then it should be OK when put back together again when a clutch disc was renewed.

Aftermarket clutches are usually very well balanced and can go in anywhich place as they have never been near your flywheel before anyway! So don't worry about alignment marks with a new clutch kit - just put the disc the right way around with the bit holding the damping springs away from the flywheel. Clutch discs are sometimes marked "flywheel side" to help the installer.

There should not have been a large amount removed when the flywheel was refaced so the standard clutch pivot setting should be close enough with quite a bit a adjustment available externally to make up the small difference.

[greensmurf20]

there are no alignment marks that i am aware of, and if there is it really does not matter. after all the clutch disk would never line up again with the exact same spot on the flywheel after you use the clutch. just make sure you put the disk in the right way, it does matter which side mates witht he flywheel or pressure plate, it should say right on the disc somewhere. and for adjusting the fork before you put it in.....if you put the motor and trans together before you put them in the car, i guess you could guess by opperating the fork with your hand. or if your like me and do tranny from the bottom and motor from the top, you basically just have to wait and see. ONE MAJOR TIP if you do the trans from bottom then motor from top.......adjust the clutch before you put the exhaust on, having the exhaust out of your way is so much easier, same with putting the bottom passenger side bellhousing bolt on too. i just put a new clutch in my GT, i have just a couple threads showing after i adjusted it, about 2-3 threads, i guess you could adjust it to that and work from there.

[bosco]

The wording on my disk is in german so I'm going to have to look up the words on the web to see which side goes where. At this point I can't tell.

[greensmurf20]

ask keith wilford "kwilford".....it seems a couple of months ago i read a post that he had to look up the german word on the clutch disk to know what side went where.

[kwilford]

I moved this to the "Clutch" group. You had it close, in the heading "Transmission", but there are separate sub-groups within.

And the thread in question is

http://opelgt.com/forums/showthread....&threadid=2163

where the question was answered:

"Clutch Disk: Does "Schwungrad" Mean Flywheel Side?" And the answer is yes. If you want a cheap and dirty text and a REALLY neat web page translator, try

http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

As for balancing the flywheel and pressure plate, the factory stamps a "2" on both, at one of the bolt holes. If you get the pressure plate rebuilt, or if has been replaced, the balance marks are meaningless, and at the 6000 rpm that these engines red line at, not a cause for concern, unless your shop has done a REALLY poor job of machining the flywheel or re-building the pressure plate.

Finally, unless a substantial amount of material has been removed from the flywheel (such as when the flywheel has been "flat-faced" for an S-10 clutch conversion), there is no need to change the pivot bolt settings. Just make sure that the machine shop removed the same thickness from the driven face as from the pressure plate mounting face of the flywheel, otherwise the driven disc will either slip or grab.

HTH

[nobody]

Ok maybe this is stupid or I am just missing it. The clutch disk for a 1.9 has a long and short side to the spline. If you put the long side toward the tranny wouldn't it hit the throw out bearing? I always figured that was the reason for the different lengths.

[baz]

hi nobody hope this helps

[nobody]

Actually no it doesn't help. Knowing that there are drawings that show the long spline side NOT on the tranny side doesn't explain how someboby could get it in backwards. My question was " wouldn't it hit the throw out bearing". How could you bolt the bellhousing up without putting it in a bind or binding up the tranny? Let alone get it in the car that way, without a clue something was wrong? I still don't get it.

[GTJIM]

Combination of alcohol and diminished brain capacity

[baz]

nobody (and i wish we had a name ) if you look you will see that a new friction plate will work for a short while as the springs on the pressure plate will only come so far down the tube the thrust bearing travels on and this lets it work ok
after it works for a while then it will catch and bind as the gap has worn away
done it once worked for 4000 miles then no release on the clutch to get home had to shift up by dropping revs and kick in to neutral and pull away on starter

and jim hope that was PO with alc &dim

[nobody]

Ok that answers the question of what if you put one in wrong. I guess I just figured the clutch was pretty straight forward and have never had an urge to put one in the wrong way. Only opel clutch that ever stumped me was copper clad, put in by PO. When I took it apart copper bits fell out. It was a custom volvo clutch in a GT designed to drag race only.

[bosco]

the clutch I just put in had "flywheel side" written in german.....right there on one side was "shwundgradseite". To look at the disk it was very different than the one that came out of the car. The new one had an offset "platform" on one side of the disk to hold the inner springs, and this was the side that went toward the shwungrad.........er I mean flywheel.

[bosco]

I just started up my new engine with new clutch yesterday. After it had warmed up for awhile I checked to see if the clutch was working and apparently I dont have it adjusted correctly.

With the clutch pedal all the way depressed I can, if I push hard enough, get it into gear.....except reverse. As I nudge it towards reverse I can feel that the gears have not stopped spinning.

I have about 3/4 inch play at the pedal and approximately 1/8 inch at the clutch arm where it comes out of the bellhousing. If I adjust the stud and locknut too much more the arm goes back and rests against the rubber boot.

Do I need to just take out the freeplay at the clutch arm and readjust the pedal at the firewall clip ......or do i need to move the arm back further .....beyond "no freeplay"?

[namba209]

Bosco, here's what my manual says to adjust the clutch pedal: Adjust the ball socket stud on the right side of the bellhousing to get 4.25 inches clearance between the front of the bellhousing and the front of the clutch throw-out arm where the "Belden" cable attaches to the arm. I would then think you adjust the clip at the fire wall to get the clutch pedal free-play. HTH.

Ron

[bosco]

My new clutch seems to be engaging and disengaging more towards the the top of the pedal movement. I thought it was best if it engaged and disengaged closer towards the floor. I've messed with the ball and stud down on the bellhousing..moving it further in then further out and it doesnt seem to have much effect.

Is there a preferred spot in the pedal movement for the cutch engage and disengage?

[greensmurf20]

from what i understand, the clutch is supposed to engage and disengage near the top of the pedal. my GT is the same way, with the old clutch and the new one, so i'm assuming your is correct too, or maybe we're both wrong?