I took my engine out of the winter when my car was being painted. I made a few small changes to the engine when it was out. Most had nothing to do with the clutch. I did remove the clutch/flywheel to install a new rear main seal. My engine is back in and running great.

When I try to take off in first gear, I get a fairly large amount of clutch chatter. It seems to be worsening.

Details
-never had any issues until I reinstalled my engine
-clutch disk has about 500 miles on it.
-flywheel/pressure plate appeared normal when reinstalled
-engine/transmission mounts are good
-transmission was rebuilt by dr evil about a year ago
-throw out bearing was fine then

Ideas?

Is it possible that my clutch is simply not adjusted right?

Check your bar mounts and trans mounts are tight.

Does the clutch seem to grab when the pedal is down?

Has your flywheel been resurfaced? Did you put the pilot bearing in the flywheel?

I have actually seen that done twice in my life. The results were both times disatrously catastrophic to the gearbox input shaft.

If it's not the clutch disk or pressure plate, a bad or missing pilot bearing would cause chatter.

loose flywheel bolts... no lock tight?

better take it apart before destroys engine and gear box.

I cannot see how my flywheel could be warped cause it was good when I removed it. I actually put in a new pilot bearing this winter.

My theories-
- I screwed something up when reinstalling everything this winter (loose bolt or something)
-This winter when I had the pressure plate out, some snow got on the contact surface. It formed a few very spots of surface rust. I didn't think it was a big deal at the time however...

I think it is just best that I remove the tranny. Damn- I just got the car back on the road.

As stated before, definitely check all mounts.

I forgot to mention that I had replaced my motor and tranny mounts this winter. I just got under the car and they are good.

Is it possible that I simply do not have the clutch adjusted right? When I put my engine back in my car a few weeks ago, the clutch would slip a bit under high power. The clutch didn't seem to chatter then (as far as I can remember). I went back and loosened the clutch cable nuts (that goes against the clutch fork wedge thing). Everything seems to work well however I now have this issue with the clutch chatter when I let out the clutch.

Not likely caused by adjustment. I would say check the assembly. Rust could cause a
Short term chatter. But water in the form of snow could damage the disc. The other possible issue could be uneven pressure on the disc. From loose bolts.

....I'm with the loose bolts or alignment? (pressure plate)

Alright- looks like I'll be doing an autopsy tonight. I'll post the results.

I just took my tranny in my personal best time- 45 minutes start to finish- including inspection time.

Transmission side of things looks normal. No oil streaks. Everything moving like it should and quite clean.

Pressure plate appeared normal when installed however I did notice that the three impressed dots on the pressure plate and flywheel did not match up.

When I removed the pressure plate, I could easily see black streaks all the way around the pressure plate surface and the clutch disk was black (this one was brown when installed a few weeks ago.

The flywheel side of things looked normal. Pilot bearing in place. A bolts on properly.




My clutch was slipping under high load when first installed. I drove it this way for about 20 miles. I then adjusted the clutch which seemed to resolve the issue- however the chattering started then.

Am I correct in assuming the black streaks are probably from a burnt clutch disk/pressure plate? AM I correct in assuming that this would cause the chattering? Am I also correct that I will need to replace these?

Pictures to follow!!!

No oil leaks from the tranny?
How about any oil inside the bell housing?

You may have contaminated the clutch disk, then burned it.

I would replace the disk at a minimum.

No oil leaks from the tranny. No oil in the bell housing. I must have gotten oil on it when I installed the clutch disk.

Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

So I am obviously buying a new clutch disk.

How can I tell if the pressure plate is salvageable?

Personal choice....can you clean it with brake Kleen?
Is it flat?

I would just do both and drive the car with a smile knowing you won't need to go back in there for a while.

Rich

I decided to just buy them both. I would feel much better knowing that everything was the way it was supposed to be.

its hard to see from the picture quality but does it look like the pp was only working on the outer edge of the disk?

it doesn't look like there is any wear on the inner 2/3 of the disk.

and you did check the torque on the flywheel bolts????

I was having a hard time getting the scorching to show properly in the pictures. I think it is just the pictures. The whole disk looks pretty bad.

Also, I did check the flywheel torque values- all ok.

PP is warped.

So is mine. What's that got to do with his clutch?