My mechanic friend (very experienced) and I put in a new McLeod clutch. Single disk (organic/ceramic), pressure plate, and billet flywheel, everything went in fine.....but the clutch won't disengage fully.

The clutch I was replacing was a factory with 80k on it. I never had a bit of trouble with it until it was slipping at the end. The pedal has always had great feel and engaged/disengaged near the top.

We tried bleeding the slave, just in case there was some air...no dice
After alot of re-dials I got through to McLeod tech and the guy cuts me off after about ten seconds and says that the clutch master on these cars are junk and that I should replace it with a new one.

I went on to ask him about the pressure plate and asked if there were stiffer springs in there or some other reason why it wouldn't disengage now. He said that they just paint the factory pressure plates red and that wouldn't be the problem (Am I crazy! What the F , I would have just bought a GM and saved the money, I have red spray paint....)

Anyway, his advice was to replace the stock clutch master with a new GM one, or order an adjustable one.....I ordered an adjustable one.

I think this is a bunch of crap, not only has my daily driver been laid up for 2 weeks, but if the GM clutch masters are such crap why don't they just recommend the adjustable one in the first place?

PS - I ordered the clutch package ORIGINALLY though the local speed shop who called the tech line for Mcleod to see what they recommended!

PS#2 - I ordered a SPEC clutch first from another company but they sent me one for a LS-1 instead and didn't have a LT-1 in stock to send me

Hope this helps somebody!

 

OK,

Car is back on the street. New Mcleod clutch master. Slightly heavier petal but still very drivable. And it hooks great.

I took out the factory clutch master and there was this little bit of fluid running down the firewall.....so we pulled the boot off the old one and it was failing/leaking.

Anyway all is good and I'm eating a little crow from the tech guys at Mcleod. But I still don't like the whole paint the factory pressure plate red thing......

 

All LT1/LT4 pressure plates from any clutch manufacturer are made by valeo, because they hold a patent on it. Even my street twin uses a stock LT4 pressure plate. Yes, you could have just bought a stock pressure plate, but they all sell for around $300.

 

Jim, who just tuned my ati blower at Turbo Connection, gave me the same advise. He said the factory slave cyl is junk, and the complete McLeod kit was the way to go. I hate to spend the $1G plus install, but hate to do it twice evn more.

 

Kevin at Fairway Chevy in Las Vegas sells the LT4 Pressure Plate (PN 10222083) for $227, plus shipping. His number is 800.395.1440. Just tell him you're calling from the ImpalaSSforum.

I need to replace my clutch on my '95 Impala SS. After much researching, I think I will go with an LT4 Pressure Plate from Fairway Chevy, and a McLeod Single Disk from Summit for $146. Or I just might go with a Spec disk instead.

 

What is the difference between an LT1 and LT4 pressure plate?

I've been running the stock LT1 pressure plate/flywheel with the mcleod single disk. Have had zero problems. Of course, I haven't run slicks yet.