First of all...I spent a few minutes searching the forums for the answer, but didn't seem to find anything that solidly answered my question...so if this has already been gone over a bunch...my apologies...

I have a 96 LT1 M6. On the way into work this morning...everything seemed normal...about a mile from work when downshifting...The clutch pedal felt like crap all of a sudden. When I pushed the pedal all the way down, the pedal starts a pulsing feel and I heard a grinding sound. I can still switch the gears, but it sounds like they grind a little bit. Do I take it that my clutch just went south on me? Could it be anything else?

 

It's your throwout bearing, dude. The clutch fork is probably contacting the pressure plate, that's what you hear. If you have the knowledge, you can take off the dust shield and have a look inside, look for metal shavings, etc.
Since you have to drop the tranny either way, I'd replace the clutch with the SLP unit, (that already comes w/ the throwout bearing) and don't forget the pilot bearing ($7.95 I think), you don't want to take it apart again.
Good luck!

 

Someone else mentioned that my clutch may just need an adjustment, but didn't know how to do that. Any chance that MIGHT be it? or am I seriously looking at having to dig in there?

 

Also...if it was the throwout bearing...would't it want to slip after it was in gear? This morning...once it was in gear....it was solid.

 

iamsparc,
No. The function of the throwout bearing is to engage/disengage the clutch. The clutch fork is resting on it. When the T/O bearing is heading south it is hard to put in gear.
Theoretically it can be a bent clutch fork, too, but IMHO it is out of question, as long as there was no McGuyver-ing around the tranny, it can't be bent so easily.
Adjusting. It is a hydraulic clutch, which is self adjusting, and cannot be mis-adjusted. There's a master cylinder, and a slave cylinder, so you see.

 

It doesn't have any problems going into gear...and when it's in gear, it's fine. It just makes a hell of a racket when you mash the clutch. Checked fluid levels....they're fine. So you think it's the fork scraping against the pressure plate because the t.o. bearing went south?

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure. But let's have some more input from the other guys here...

(I'm doing clutch work myself right now, but my problem is somewhere in the hydraulic system. )

 

I'm sure you're probably right though...I'm definitely hearing the scrappage in the bell housing. So no matter what, it looks like it's all going to have to come apart. I just wonder how I'm going to get that thing home!

 

Got it home...had to wait 4 weeks till I could save up the money for a new clutch kit. Finally got that and took off the tranny to replace clutch. CLUTCH WAS FINE!!! The problem was the release fork bolt not being tight!!! That's it. The release fork had worked it's way loose and wasn't able to engage and was hitting the pressure plate causing that nasty vibration.

It looks like whoever owned my car before me has replaced the clutch and just didn't take their time and torque down that bolt right. I also noticed the plastic cap on the end of the slave cylinder was still on it. A torque arm bolt was missing...Obviously just not a good job. With all that fixed...and just put back together right...the car works great. I just wanted to update my post so that if this happens to anyone else...you can check that release fork!!!

 

Thanks for the update! I'm glad it was just a minor thing... You see, it is always advisable to take the wrench and do it yourself.
later,

 

Definitely...up until this point...I'd never tackled anything like this before...brakes...and a tune-up...no problem...I've even done some body work...but it was pretty cool getting in there with the workings of that tranny and slave and such. Not bad. Anyone who can read directions should be able to tackle most projects on their cars thanks to the write-ups I've found on this site...

The search feature...it's a beautiful thing.