Well, I took my car to a tranny shop to get everything installed. Here are the results:

The clutch actually feels lighter.
The engagment point is higher.
There is a terrible shimmy when launching out of 1st. I have to rev at about 3k to have anything close to a smooth launch (wouldn't call it smooth)
There seems to be something rattling inside the clutch assembly. (When I go over bumps on the interstate you can hear a rattle on occasion)
Through the engagment point in 1st and second there is a terrible chatter and there is no possible way to release the clutch slowly and get a smooth launch, just jerk jerk jerk engage!

Have taken it back to the shop and the owner is telling me that he just thinks it is the parts I had him install and is not going to take blame for anything. (because he says everything was installed correctly!)

This has been happening over the past week. I even got to the point to where I was about to hand over the cash for a 2k2 6spd and just trade my POS in yesterday.

Talked to a friend of mine that is a mechanic and installs his own clutches and does tranny work on his mustang, he said that he would take a look at it and that he should be able to fix it. (He thinks that the flywheel is not seated right or might be warped from the above mentioned problems)

Said that if this is the case he can't turn or fix the findanza flywheel and might just have to get the OEM flywheel resurfaced. (I at least I have all the old parts) He also said that it is possible that the clutch might be damaged too and I might have to buy a new one, but won't know untill he drops the tranny.

Anyone have ideas?? thanks

And sorry about the spelling errors and typos, too ****ed to prof read!

 

Well, you can send the Flywheel back and get it re-plated. I know on my Mueller Fabrications flywheel it costs $100. As far as the chatter, did you get an unsprung clutch disk? If so, its going to have lots of chatter and will never engage smoothly. It is probably installation error since you hear noises from going over bumps. I would definetly get it checked out. Its really not that hard to drop the tranny. I can do it in about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I got pretty good at it since I got sponsored by clutchmasters a few years ago. They were "testing" on my car, and the first clutch went out in about 2 months. I got a new "improved" clutch everytime mine went out. I went through about five clutch kits. The crappy part was that everytime I had to pay to get my flywheel replated everytime.

 

An unsprung clutch disk? Not sure, just got the normal ACT street disk.....

Thanks for the tip on the flywheel, I will have to call findanza if it turns out the flywheel is screwed.

 

If you got the Street disk, it should be fine. My friends ACT kit was rediculously hard to press down. It almost sounds like he didn't install the thow-out bearing right. I bet that when your friend takes off your tranny, the throw-out bearing fork will be unattached.

 

Yep, it is easier to press down now that it was with the stock unit. Something is totally off.

If it was the throw-out bearing would this damage the flywheel or clutch?

 

Act clutch is normally harder to make smooth so i guess u just need time to break it in. The flywheel is also a lot lighter than stock which i guess makes it harder to be smoother as well. If you wanted smooth u should have went for stock clutch, if u wanted nice engagements where you can punch it every gear without losing any type of slip, u got the right choice....

 

I know it is not going to be smooth as stock, but when you launch your car your radar detector shouldn't fall of your windshield, especially if you are not slaming the gas down?? This is like wheel hop, thats how the dash shakes, but it isn't wheel hop.

I am still waiting for the nice engagements....

 

LMAO!!!

I can seriously picture that man, how many miles u got on that clutch anyway? i dont know if u answered that already.

I had act on my first max and it was real rough too, but when i shifted, i felt such a strong grab versus my stock clutch now, i want to get an ACT when this clutch is down but the dozens of failing trannies with ACt are making me think otherwise....still got time to decide....

 

when i spoke to CKNY, he told me during the breakin period it felt like stock, but after 500 miles it starts getting heavy

 

Put 200 miles on it in about 3 days. Mostly highway though....

 

Its a possibility that it could damage any of your clutch components.

 

victim u know what i remember...i remember someone telling me way back that weak engine mounts can make the car shake a lot. Either that or the heavy shaking from shifting messes up the engine mounts...

 

I don't know why everyone keeps on buying these ACT clutches. Every post I read about the engagement of the ACT includes one or all of these words "vibration", "harsh", "chatter", "stiff", and "rough". Why do you guys keep buying these things? We know they destroy trannys if you shift them hard and we know they chatter voilently below 2000rpms for a few thousand miles at least.


Dave

 

No problems at all out of mine. Been on the car for 6,000 miles so far. Went to the track and everything. Nothing happened yet. (knock on wood)

 

that's nowhere close to break in. there has to be actual work done on it constantly for it to be properly broken in. I've had my exedy and fidanza installed for about 3weeks now and I have 300 miles or so of work on them. Needless to say i had some really bad take offs..either spinning the wheels trying to get a smooth take off or stalling. It also emphasised all the hidden rattles. Now it's pretty worn in and even though i havent let it rip yet, the take offs are a whole lot smoother. I do think though that your mechanic is acting a little weird. If he immediately places blame on the parts you brought, then that should get you suspicious. If it IS the parts, he should tell you exactly what it is since he has xray vision and can see what exactly is wrong. good luck and dont give up on the ride. Let someone else check it out.

 

Too short of a breakin period, highway miles don't slip a break-in!

 

When I have the Fidenza and ACT installed I noticed that the clutch was a lot heavier and I did get chatter. Matter of fact I still do. But I think that's because a large part has to do with the urethane mounts. After breakin period the clutch does get lighter though. It's either that or I'm used to it by now.. Engagement point felt like it stayed the same though. I have over 6K on this setup now..

 

VICTIM RELAX BUDDY!!! sounds like you are about to poop your pants.

aight when I got my first got my clutch getting out of first gear was a b!tch. i couldnt do it smootly at all. truthfully in certain instances i still about once a week find myself struggling to drive my car outta first.

my dash shook like crazy and i thought my car was going to fall apart the first week i had my car. turned out that i think it was my driving habits. you have to change the way you drive alittle to drive smoothly with this unit.

i like my clutch. as soon as I get better at launching it. i think i will love it. the only things i think you should check out is the rattling sound on the highway and how stiff your clutch pedal feels...i dont know if the flywheel has anything to do with it but mine is tough as hell to push in.
i dont mind driving my car its just after hopping out of my dads '01 530i that it becomes an effort and therefore sometimes a hassle.

 

Sell the car!! You'll be much happier!!

 

i think paul and i have you beat now, lol.

 

ya, 200 highway miles doesn't sound like much of a break in. I drove for 350 city miles (I actually never even got on the highway the entire time), I would go out to empty stretch of road and would just shift from 1st 2nd 3rd stop, 1st 2nd 3rd stop. Never rev'd over 4,000 RPMs and didn't even bother trying to downshift. Now I drive the car fairly aggresively when I want to, the car feels so much more sporty to drive with this clutch as long as you do a proper break in and don't just beat on it constantly.

 

Well, I can actually get a smooth launch out of it now, IF I rev it up to around 3k and launch it. Anything lower it still shakes hard.

My main issue is the rattling. If I go over a bump there is still a rattle and if I fluter the gas in higher gears you can hear it as well. The manager of the shop rode around with me and I pointed out the noise it was making and he said he thought it was an engine miss. I said can you not hear the rattling sound when I go over bumps?? He said no, and that he check all the bolts and nothing was loose. (Which my battery was not reset, so I know all he looked at was the outside) This @sshole must be hearing impaired!!!

Also, it is still strange to me at how high the engagment point is and how light the pedal is??

I do know that I sure as hell hope I can get this fixed right because this flywheel is BAD *** when everything is finally engaged. Haven't done anything but granny shift the gears, but I have gotten on it. I can tell the flywheel is there more so than I could my y-pipe when it was installed??

Pushing toward 450 miles, and about to put it down again and have everthing taken apart and checked for where this rattle is coming from. I am just worried that something could be damaged from this tranny shop telling me to drive more to break it in!

 

Sorry to hear you having all this issues. Myself and Ramius have a ACT and Fidenza we are loving it. I cant inform you whats going on with it since I did not installed it. I can tell you this much that it is a tight fit and the flywheel has to be seated all the way in.

I dont have any issues with my ACT nor I had I got any complaints from any ACT that I have installed. The only issue is guys are chirping tires and they love that but I warn them not to do that.

 

I am sure I would love it if I didn't have this rattling, like gears are being banged around.

Hope to find the answer to this soon.........

 

did you fix this issue I am having similar problem in 1st gear and alittle in second gear how did you fix it if you did?

 

ha. if everyone shifted as slow as you, noone would chirp tires!































you know Im messing with ya!

 

I'm loving my ACT clutch. Yes, it chatters just a little bit if I'm not careful, but that's the tradeoff I'm willing to make. And what we know is not that they destroy trannies, but that the driver can dish out much more abuse to the transmission with the ACT than with the OEM clutch. Drivers destroy trannies, not clutches.