Has anyone done a clutch install without buying a new flywheel, or resurfacing the stock one?

If so, how many miles were on the flywheel, and what were your results?

Dan

 

you need a fresh surface for the new clutch....it probly is glazed over and you will just smoke the friction disc and have to do it anyway.

Just get it turned 5 thou or so.....no big deal

 

Who generally does such work? Is it just any tranny shop?

 

Anyone who turns brake rotors "should" be able to turn your fly also......NO you need to turn it maybe 20 bucks at the most b/c it's just like a brake disc pad if you put new ones on and they are flatt and the rotor and/or flywheel is not due to wear--you need to start with both clutch disc and flywheel being flatt and then mate them up from the start!

 

On my first clutch change I had my flywheel machined. That was for the Centerfarce POS. After that went I put in SLP unit for about 8K miles then I went to a SPEC unit that I currently have. I have only resurfaced my flywheel once. No issues. My mileage was about 60K when I resurfaced it the first time now its 108K. On my next one I will probably resurface it though.

Jeff

 

DO NOT turn a flywheel on a brake lathe.

Call your local machine shop

 

Yeah i have done that before!! Not a good idea, It ate up my spec-3

 

IMO I think a lot of pointless and faulty accusations have happened when people buy a new clutch/pp and do not resurface or buy a new flywheel and the clutch ends up slipping in no time. You aren't supposed to use new brake pads on an old rotors w/out getting them turned or replaced. Same goes for a clutch!

 

I did that this summer and the car seamed fine UNTIL I took it to the track!!!! It slipped so bad in 2nd that it feat like the car was on ICE!!! And ruined the clutch disk!!! HAVE IT TURNED AT A MACHINE SHOP

 

you can turn it on a brake lathe if the lathe is setup for it. we do it all the time and work w/o any problems. its the Accuturn 8996 or something like that starting with an 8. that was actually made for drums, rotors, and flywheels making a 1 cut pass.

 

NO, b/c when it cuts it spirals outward......when they cut it at a machine shop its like they deck it.

On a stock car it might work and be fine...I have done it plenty of times myself on old junk....

But on a performance car I wouldn't. I've tried it before...like the other guy said it did fine I thought I broke it in good etc. Went to the track and I had me a smoke bomb.

 

If you are too cheap to spend $20 to resurface a flywheel you shouldn't be modding your car.

 

First, it was just a question. I'm sure there is a time period where it is o.k. not to resurface it. I have 91k on this one, and I have the flywheel out and ready to be resurfaced, which I planned on doing.

After looking at the flywheel, it is in very good shape, but it looks pretty well glazed over the entire surface, but it wore very well. I think I glazed it a little last year when I was tuning my car with Datamaster and LT1 edit. I was doing quite a few hard runs in a row and looking and analyzing the results.

How deep do I need them to go? I want to go as little as possible. I hate to take off too much because I don't have shims and don't want to spend $200+ on a new one that isn't even externally balanced for my internal rotating assembly.

Dan

 

The guys at the trans shop who I initally brought my flywheel to in order to have it resurfaced said they couldnt do it on their machine something about how it was different. I dunno wtf they were talking about. But I had so many clutch problems trying to re-install my rebuilt trans and clutch setup that I ended up just buying a new flywheel from GM. But...

IF YOU STILL HAVE YOU ORIGINAL FLYWHEEL - you can take it to autzone and use it as a core for a trade in on a re manufactured flywheel which is basically a resurface one all cleaned up. I believe they are like $40 or so w/ the core. I did this once too, and the one from autozone was identical to the brand new one from GM. But I didnt know if the AZ one being re-surfaced was the cause of my disengagment problem which is why I put in the GM flywheel but in the end it turned out to be the clutch disc which was defective. I had them side by side for a while to compare the GM to the AZ and it was damn close. I'd go for the AZ one if you cant find a shop, plus the AZ one is all cleaned up and looks brand new.

 

If you have any doubts about the flywheel, just get it resurfaced and have peace of mind. A local machine shop should be able to do it, or even the dealer if reputable shops are nowhere to be found. It's fairly inexpensive. The shop that resurfaces it should have a book or something on minimum flywheel thickness (just like brake rotors). Or you could do what was already said above, take it to Autozone and use it as a core exchange on a replacement.