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M6...yet another clutch. Let's play around a bit!

24K views 193 replies 42 participants last post by  STAGEUP 
#1 · (Edited)
First, the car: 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP 6M. I/H/E, GM Hot Cam, blah blah blah...MGW Short Shifter...443whp, 12.5 1/4mile on street tires (20") with a 1.9 60'

Driver: Plus sized, lead foot, likes to burnout, drift, rev to 6700 in every gear, even when nobody is around...and also sits in bumper to bumper traffic for 1-1.5 hours a day. The GM Hotcam with a lightened flywheel is the wrong setup for a car that sees a lot of traffic.

Point being: I drive a lot, and I am rough as hell. I also never cleaned the clutch fluid (I know better now)

Problems: Clutch wont engage in first/reverse with car running. commonly associated with Hydraulic issues. Also, clutch pedal engagement is very high, meaning worn clutch.

Previous set-ups:
McLeod Twin disk, and McLeod Adjustable slave
Mantic 9000 Twin disk, stock hydraulics (39.4lbs total assembly)

Each clutch lasted 10-13k miles.

Realization: 4,000lb car, 443whp, and aggressive driving means worn clutches. If you don't like this fact, buy an GT (or SS). If you treat the car nice, you will not have an issue.

New Setup:
Monster Flywheel with OEM C7 LT1 clutch/PP (about $1100)
GXP Clutch Slave... (I had originally ordered a ZR1 Slave, but Steve at Monster said that it was designed to only be used with the GXP slave)
Ideal Garage Master Cylinder: ($245)
Monster SpeedBleed remote bleed line ($50)
Tick Performance Camaro Stainless braided and wrapped Hydraulic line: ($130)

Parts have been ordered, and I'm also swapping Cams to a more friendly (at least in the low RPM) cam. Chris Henry will be doing the install, and expect to have her up and running in the next few weeks. I also plan on flushing the Clutch fluid at every oil change at a minimum (3k miles).

I know BracketRacer just installed the same clutch, but with all the expensive adjustable parts, and the fact that his car is hibernating for the winter, this will provide us some results a little bit sooner. Of course, I'll tell you that the clutch will feel great, works like a charm, etc...but let's see if the clutch lasts all of 2014...that will be the true test.

I'll add some pictures as we go.

Charles
 
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#3 ·
Good luck. I love my monster stage 2 set up. I don't do an insane amount of city but I drive 50 miles a day and rarely shift below 4k and like to romp on her add much as possible. At stock hp its holding up well. Time will tell though. If I have to pull this tans again i will Rebuild the transmission as well.
 
#7 ·
If I have to pull this trans again i will Rebuild the transmission as well.
I was debating that. I have 70k miles on mine. I have the occasional grind into 2nd on a fast shift, and when sitting at a light, in neutral, the tranny is really noisy, but when I push the clutch in, it gets quiet. I read some say it's normal, others say Input Shaft bearing. Either way , it is more pronounced with the MGW shifter, because there is no rubber bushings to eliminate the noise. Been debating sending it off to TICK for a rebuild...another $1400. Just would hate to do it, if the noise is normal.
 
#9 ·
Honestly 1400 is really reasonable in my opinion. People pay 3k pl I s for a rebuilds on dsms lol. If I had the extra money and more importantly time I would do it. My car has 105k and it is notchy in 1-2. I am going to change fluid soon if I ever get the motivation and hopefully that helps.

From my understanding the notchy feeling is common but grinding is not and if you have grinding you may have syncro issues. Some fresh fluid may do wonders though. Good kuck
 
#12 ·
Noise at idle , foot off clutch is normal after clutch upgrade.
After I did mine (clutch) at 50000 km's, the gearbox was very noisy at idle.
Tremec call it "roll over noise" and standard clutch has pressure plate that
absorbs the noise.
Pain in the bum, but at least not a worry when you know it's normal.
 
#14 ·
Subscribed Charles...... this might be my next setup....
 
#15 ·
Subscribed...

I had clutch issues EARLY on when i first purchased the car, but I was also slipping the clutch then. Now I swap out my fluid during and once in between oil changes and didn't have any problems until I/H/E, tune. It will slip occasionally now above 5000, looking hard at Monster Stage 2, definitely before I cam it.
 
#18 ·
Ok, Clutch was installed by Chris Henry!
If you are on Facebook, you can check out the first test drive with the new clutch on Video, just look up CHenry Motorsports.

I do want to clear something up, though, about the Mantic Clutch. It appears what was thought to be Bad Hydraulics and a worn clutch ended up being a clutch that was binding (after 10k miles), and not fully disengaging. This is more than likely why is wore quicker than normal, but since I already had the new stuff, we went ahead and installed it anyways.
 

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#19 ·
A few more pictures. Unfortuneatly , the car only has a few miles on the clutch, as we finish up a few other 'things' on my list....so it will be a few weeks till I get a chance to really test it out.

I will tell you that Chris Henry is VERY satisfied with the parts utilized, and he states that the clutch feels like a stock clutch.
 

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#27 ·
No updates yet...other then the drive from the shop to the house, which was like OEM feel. My new cam comes in tomorrow, and the Heads/Intake/TB won't be back from Rick Crawford for about another week...then.... All hell is gonna break loose!
 
#28 ·
Hi guys! I recently got a new screen name so dont mind the post count. Im hoping to have Charles car all put back together from the heads cam upgrade this weekend so I can put some more break in miles on the clutch. Ill be happy to answer any questions you may have about the swap or components.

Thanks!
 
#98 ·
Hey Chris/guys,

Reviving an old thread here, but it seems like I'm having similar clutch problems as well :-(

The previous owner had the Katech LS9R (?) clutch installed, and I installed the ported clutch master cylinder to help some of the notchiness when trying to get in gear at a standstill. I believe they previously tried to use shims or something to accomplish this during install, but it didn't seem to help much. Nonetheless, the car has shifted beautifully over the past year of ownership. Until about 2 weeks ago when I first started hearing an intermittent scraping/grinding noise from the trans (similar to the "rollover noise" you stated above) at idle, in neutral, with foot off the clutch. If I depressed the clutch pedal slightly the noise would go away. However this morning on the way to work the pedal went to the floor and I had to flick it up with my toes. It would seem to pump back up, but then I could feel something click or catch and the pedal would drop again. Of course now I'm limping it around until I can get it to the shop. I think the hydraulics are OK, but I'm wondering if its something in the linkage/throwout bearing/shims(?) or clutch disk/pressure plate that has failed...

Any thoughts or suggestions??

Thanks!
 
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