Last September I put in a Spec 3 (new 6 puck carbon/ceramic design--did the install myself). From the start, the clutch chattered when taking off in first, and it was noisy--figured this was normal because the clutch engagement was good. After breaking it in (per Specs instructions) the clutch settled down somewhat, but now, after 1100 miles I started noticing that it's VERY noisy, sounds like marbles are in my bellhousing. At first I just noticed this when the clutch pedal was out and the car was in neutral. Once I would push in the clutch, the noise went away. Now, I hear the noise when the clutch is pushed in or even when the car is in gear, at low rpms. After reading many posts, I'm thinking throwout bearing or the Spec pilot BEARING is to blame.

Soooo, not wanting to screw with taking the tranny off, I broke down and had a shop do it and this is what we found:
1) The clutch disc on the flywheel side was not worn correctly. The
bottom third of each puck showed absolutely no wear--looked brand
new, still beige. This was probably causing my chatter.
2) The flywheel had very little heat marks, infact, I could still see the swirl
marks from where I had it resurfaced just above the center because the
disc pucks had never made contact.
3) The pressure plate showed even wear, no real hot marks. The disc
pucks on this side were blackish (showing even wear) from top to
bottom.
4) The LT4 TOB appeared a little sloppy and takes far more effort to spin
when pulling out on it than my 88,000 mile LT1 stocker. My stocker
feels alot more smoother.
5) Pilot bearing and input shaft appeared ok.

Called Spec and Paul said that the rattle was probably a bad TOB, however, even though I only have 1,100 easy miles on it, they will not send me another because I'm too far away from my 120 day warranty . I was told that the uneven disc wear probably resulted from an improperly resurfaced flywheel. I'm sure this could be the case but I took it to a reputable machine shop that does flywheels all day long. I then called several dealers and they want $184 for a new TOB .

Unless anyone has another suggestion, I think I'm going to use my old TOB and replace the Spec pilot bearing with a new BUSHING to cure the rattling. As far as the wear, I already took my flywheel to another drivetrain place and had it resurfaced again (I was told by Spec and the shop this would be ok). Two quick questions: 1) should I try to clean the disc pucks with emery cloth and/or brake cleaner. 2) When putting a ruler across the pressure plate I see a gap open up close to either side of the center, is this normal or is it warped? Any other advice would be appreciated--sorry for the length!

 

I say reuse the old tob, advance auto wants over 100 bucks for the ones they have, I can't see why, it's not a big complicated part. Just clean the old one and repack it so it has a chance.
I would recommend using a pilot bearing again and not a bushing, the bushing makes more wear and tear on the input shaft. It's not too big a deal either way though I suppose, the bushing is after all bronze, doesn't stand much of a chance against steel.
And to answer your questions at the end,
1- Go for it, just don't go crazy with the emery cloth, there's not much material on that clutch disk.
2- You'd have to talk to spec on that one, it doesn't sound normal, but as soon as you say it can't be that way somebody proves you wrong.