Alright, so I need a new clutch installed. Where did you guys go and what were the prices and how was the work? Thanks for any help/advice. Oh yeah-Winter Springs area.

 

There's an excellent shop in Sanford called Harrell & Beverly. These guys do great work, my car has been there twice and the owners are extremely knowledgeable about transmissions and other general car repairs.

407-322-8415

 

I had my clutch replaced at Bowtie Automotive in Longwood this past week. So far, so good. Total labor was $275, plus clutch fluid. I dropped it off Monday morning, ordered the parts from Birmingham around 4PM same day, parts arrived around noon on Wednesday and they had it ready Thursday afternoon.

I've heard good things about Harrell & Beverly. Corvette Masters does good work, too (Fern Park), but they charge book labor.

 

There is a guy that works for Holler Chevrolet named Tod, and he is one of the best LS1/LT1 guys in Central Florida. He has his own shop that he works in on the weekends. He installed my SPEC Stage III clutch and a new flywheel for $200. He told me to refer other people and he would cut them an excellent price as well. You won't beat that price ANYWHERE. He does awesome work, and actually had my installation done in JUST UNDER AN HOUR. I was so shocked by that. Anyways, the clutch is plain nasty and holds like a bastard...I'm chirping 4th gear now. His cell phone # is (386) 801-5381. You won't be sorry if you go w/him.
-Dan

 

Old thread, but since I used a listed reference, I thought I'd post my new experience. Tried to contact Bowtie, but they were booked for a few days and I didn't want to wait. Had I waited, it would have probably saved me 2-3 days of car rental.

I took it to Todd & Chuck's shop about a week ago to have my Spec II (damaged disc)replaced with a RAM Powergrip. Chuck quoted me $40/hr, and thought it'd run between $250-$300. I dropped off the new clutch assembly at 10:30am with the car still parked where I left it 6 days ago outside the bay. Chuck called me at 5PM saying it was done and asked how soon I'd be able to swing by. Even if they had my car on the lift the entire 6.5 hours, the math isn't right.

I stopped by about 30 minutes later. The car was still on the lift, but finished. So they charged me for more than they quoted, but Chuck ordered my replacement slave/TO with his employee discount. So that saved me $30.

So now I just want to know why the car won't randomly start only since replacing the clutch and flywheel. It had absolutely zero problems before it arrived at the shop. Either it was damaged as a result of the disc and/or me getting it home by rev-matching, or something doesn't fit correctly. I took it to Whistler's shop yesterday, and he indicated he thought he saw the problem with it not engaging quite corectly. He R&R'ed the starter and cleaned it up. I thought everything was OK, but the symptom recurred in the Autozone parking lot tonight... start-click/no crank....start-click/no crank (repeat ~ten times)...start-crank easily.

So comparing this experience to my previous two trips to Bowtie, I'd go back to Bowtie. Bowtie works normal hours (8-5'ish) and Todd/Chuck work at their shop only 6-10PM, so it was a bit more inconvenient for me. Not an apples-to-apples comparison, but I had a better experience dealing with Dal @ Bowtie. Chuck was great - Tod didn't seem all that personable.

$0.02

 

So how much did they charge? 6.5 hours falls right into their estimate. Unfortunately for us, If a mechanic gets done faster than the book says it should take we don't get a discount.

As for the starting issue, did Chris inspect the inside of the starter solenoid? I don't remember what the LS1 starter looks like to know if you can take it apart. But a worn out solenoid will cause the 10-click-start problem.

 

JIMMUELLER is the tod you are referring to the same one that DANBUCF had recomended?

 

I'm only saying it was out of range as a result of their quoting $40/hr labor rate. I'm not sure if Chris inspected the inside of the solenoid. I was inside working on his boss's computers.

Yes, the same Tod which Dan recommended.