New clutch and LWF!
11-28-2002, 12:01 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
New clutch and LWF!
Well, it took a day longer than expected but I drove home last night with the RS Clutch/LWF installed. Once again, Gert provided a great product and service at a VERY competitive price.
The car feels great. I can't discern ANY noise difference at all. The clutch feel is great...a bit more binary than stock. One surprise is pedal feel: my old clutch had a pitted pivot shaft and all of the deterioration of bushings that come with 86K of hard use. With the new bushings and clutch, I find myself pounding the clutch into the floorboard because I had become used to the old resistance.
The engine responsiveness is absolutely awesome...especially in the 3 to 6 thousand RPM range. No stalling issues but I DO have to be bit careful until I get used to it.
I highly recommend this upgrade...makes for a much tighter, lighter-feeling, more responsive car.
While we had everything apart, we did plugs, deck lid struts, clutch pivot shaft, fork, bearings, belts, and main seal.
We tried an experiment to alleviate the clogged air passages: we poured some carbon cleaner in the passages, let it sit overnight, then hooked up an air hose to blow the stuff out. I'll fill everyone in after a week or so of driving to see if the CE light stays out.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I'm going for a country drive.
Curtis
The car feels great. I can't discern ANY noise difference at all. The clutch feel is great...a bit more binary than stock. One surprise is pedal feel: my old clutch had a pitted pivot shaft and all of the deterioration of bushings that come with 86K of hard use. With the new bushings and clutch, I find myself pounding the clutch into the floorboard because I had become used to the old resistance.
The engine responsiveness is absolutely awesome...especially in the 3 to 6 thousand RPM range. No stalling issues but I DO have to be bit careful until I get used to it.
I highly recommend this upgrade...makes for a much tighter, lighter-feeling, more responsive car.
While we had everything apart, we did plugs, deck lid struts, clutch pivot shaft, fork, bearings, belts, and main seal.
We tried an experiment to alleviate the clogged air passages: we poured some carbon cleaner in the passages, let it sit overnight, then hooked up an air hose to blow the stuff out. I'll fill everyone in after a week or so of driving to see if the CE light stays out.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I'm going for a country drive.
Curtis
11-28-2002, 12:14 PM
#2
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Hi Curtis,
Thanks great news...I most likely what I will do when I have to do a clutch on my 96. I know the 96-on cars will adjust for the lower weight flywheel, but do you notice any lack of low-end grunt or fast rundown when you first take off?
With the lower inertia of the flywheel I read the 95's had a problem with fast transients. If you are at 6000 RPM and push in the clutch, will the engine drop back to idle or go below and then up to idle?
Anyways, good info!
Cheers,
Mike
Thanks great news...I most likely what I will do when I have to do a clutch on my 96. I know the 96-on cars will adjust for the lower weight flywheel, but do you notice any lack of low-end grunt or fast rundown when you first take off?
With the lower inertia of the flywheel I read the 95's had a problem with fast transients. If you are at 6000 RPM and push in the clutch, will the engine drop back to idle or go below and then up to idle?
Anyways, good info!
Cheers,
Mike
11-28-2002, 12:19 PM
#3
Rennlist Member
Congratulations on your worthy upgrade! 
I've had my RS LWF for over a year now (95 coupe) and absolutely love it. Agree with all your comments...
The noise you might here later is when the tranny is nicely warmed up and you're sitting in idle. The noise was actually unacceptable to me when I was running Swepco tranny fluid. Changed to Mobil One tranny fluid, and noise is totally acceptable.
Noise you hear is only your gears spinning at idle. Totally normal sound, and one of the reasons why the dual mass flywheel was invented - dampen those sounds out!
You shouldn't have any stalling issues on your '97. '95's have initial stalling problems, but it can be addressed (no stalling on my 95..)
Have fun!
I've had my RS LWF for over a year now (95 coupe) and absolutely love it. Agree with all your comments...
The noise you might here later is when the tranny is nicely warmed up and you're sitting in idle. The noise was actually unacceptable to me when I was running Swepco tranny fluid. Changed to Mobil One tranny fluid, and noise is totally acceptable.
Noise you hear is only your gears spinning at idle. Totally normal sound, and one of the reasons why the dual mass flywheel was invented - dampen those sounds out!
You shouldn't have any stalling issues on your '97. '95's have initial stalling problems, but it can be addressed (no stalling on my 95..)
Have fun!
11-28-2002, 12:42 PM
#4
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Curtis,
Did you do the installation yourself or have a shop do it?
If you had a shop do it do what was the total project cost? I may need to start saving $ for this now.
Did you do the installation yourself or have a shop do it?
If you had a shop do it do what was the total project cost? I may need to start saving $ for this now.
11-28-2002, 01:20 PM
#5
Racer
Thread Starter
I had my shop do it. Total parts and labor for all the items was about $3k. About 16 hours of labor, plus all the parts I mentioned.
Just got back from my drive an got the dang check engine light. Code indicates the P410 so I guess my attempt at fixing the clogged air passage didn't do the trick.
Just got back from my drive an got the dang check engine light. Code indicates the P410 so I guess my attempt at fixing the clogged air passage didn't do the trick.
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11-28-2002, 03:37 PM
#8
Racer
Thread Starter
[quote]Originally posted by cecil:
<strong>Hey Curtis that bulb comes out you know
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Hi cecil,
I'm about to come over to the Cecil school of engine diagnostics: runs good with CE light on = remove bulb!
Have a good one!
C
<strong>Hey Curtis that bulb comes out you know
</strong><hr></blockquote>Hi cecil,
I'm about to come over to the Cecil school of engine diagnostics: runs good with CE light on = remove bulb!
Have a good one!
C
12-10-2002, 03:31 PM
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I had my clutch and flywheel replaced last week with the RS package and LWF and have had some time to road test it. As Curtis noted above, the engine is much more responsive...much quicker revs. This makes it easier to match revs on H&T downshifts because blipping the throttle gives a lot more revs than I used to get. Of course, what goes up also goes down so you have to watch that revs go down quicker as well.
The clutch pedal is a lot more fluid...I find myself also pounding the pedal into the floorboard because the old clutch was a lot stiffer.
No stalling issues with my '96.
The sound is a non-issue. It sounds "grainier" at low revs in 2nd, but it doesn't matter to me at all.
All in all, I am very happy with this change and recommend it to anyone who has the bad circumstance, like me, of having to replace a clutch prematurely.
The clutch pedal is a lot more fluid...I find myself also pounding the pedal into the floorboard because the old clutch was a lot stiffer.
No stalling issues with my '96.
The sound is a non-issue. It sounds "grainier" at low revs in 2nd, but it doesn't matter to me at all.
All in all, I am very happy with this change and recommend it to anyone who has the bad circumstance, like me, of having to replace a clutch prematurely.