We've been having problems with my fiancee's 98 T/A...it started out with 2nd & 5th gears occasionally grinding. It wasn't the transmission, because we just had it replaced. The clutch started slipping, so we figured the clutch needed replacement (it did). We replace the clutch with the exact same clutch that was in there before (SPEC Stage III), but now when we drive it, the car's clutch engage/disengage point is much lower. Instead of the pedal travelling halfway before the clutch grabs, it literally catches now an inch or two from the floor. In addition to this, if you wrap the engine past 4500rpm, when you go to shift to the next gear, it won't let you no matter hard you try.Only after the engine speed has dropped 500-1000rpm, then it will allow you to pull it into the next gear. We thought maybe the clutch installer screwed something up or something. We talked with her brother, who drove it around and let us describe the problems. He said it seems like the firewall has come loose, suggesting that maybe the previous owners were extremely rough on the car. I've never heard of anything like this happening to a car before, but he said it's actually a pretty common problem in some Ford trucks (he's had to fix the firewall before on his truck). Has anyone every had this happen or even heard of something like this?? What's to be done with this???

 

Usually when you put in a new clutch, you need to go through a break in period where the clutch engagement point should travel upwards once it is fully broken in. It needs to be done by city style stop and go driving for at least 500 miles, not driven hard. If it still does not change, I would suggest shimming the clutch.

Just noticed you said spec clutch, that usually needs to be shimmed in the first place. Also, if its not letting you go through the gears at high rpm, I would speculate a hydraulic issue, try bleeding it again and ensure that the lines are properly shielded from the exhaust.

 

If it's a hydraulic issue, do you think it's going out or just needs to be bled? The clutch installer told me that he supposedly already bled the hydraulic system. Could it be that he bled it wrong? Is there an exclusive, special way to bleed LS1 clutches?

 

There's always that one little air bubble that manages to evade most of us when bleeding the clutch. If he used a mityvac or bench bled it and it still has problems, I'd look to upgrading your hydraulics to a 01/02 master and slave cylinder and do the drill mod to remove the restriction in the line from the master to the slave.

 

Defininitly sounds like a hydraulics problem. Bleed it some more and some more. That might fix it. But you probably should change the master cylinder and do the drill mod to the hose.

 

Guess what, guys. It WAS the firewall. Apparently, the previous owner either didn't tell me, or he was as clueless as I was, but long story short, this LS1 T/A I bought last June was originally an A4, which was swapped to an M6! I'm not upset that it was previously an automatic...I just wished I knew that before buying it. Anyways, whoever did it was a moron, because I've only done such a swap once (on my other toy, a 93 Z28), and even I didn't screw it up like this. I'm not sure how the guy did it, but apparently, where the clutch hydraulic assembly (to the pedal) mounts, the firewall was split in several different places. Fortunately, my bro-in-law fixed it somewhat easily with a welder. He doesn't think it's gonna last forever though, so future plans will be to add a supporting metal plate that will be welded on in the future. I took some digital photos of the crack, which I'll post up sometime later for you guys to see. I honestly didn't believe my brother-in-law until I saw it for myself...crazy stuff.

 

Lol that's funny...

seriously though, a carfax would have indicated if the car started life as a m6 or auto... research before you buy.. never know wtf you may end up with...

 

I did everything but a carfax. I even had a friend who worked @ GM do a detailed check on it to make sure it didn't come back to the dealership with any "red flags". I'm not 100% positive that the car was originally an auto, but it suspiciously appears that way. I looked to see if I could find the RPO codes, but they're not in the glovebox like in my Camaro. Not sure if it was removed or 98 & up f-bodies had them placed elsewhere...

Also, I didn't bother to ask the owner when I bought it, because he had his original sales receipts, and it was listed as an M6. It's not a carfax by any means, but I never would have suspected it...

 

The RPO codes are on the drivers door. If it was removed... hmmm it is very suspicious...