1. The car has a bit more vibration in the lower rpm in 6th gear. Flooring it at about 1500 rpm will cause the keys to jingle, which didn't happen before. The car still has the original motor mounts with over 100k on it, so I would assume that the removal and replacement of them was enough of a change in the original position to allow for some extra vibration in possibly bad mounts when the motor is torquing over?

2. The gearbox isn't as smooth as it was before. It's a bit notchy and sometimes there's a little reluctance to go into gear. Can the linkage be adjusted at all? The clutch doesn't release until almost at the floor, so I'm going to adjust it higher to allow for more complete disengagement as well as replace the fluid with the GM fm syncromesh. Does the linkage allow for any adjustment?

You guys have any other suggestions?

 

Was the new clutch/pressure plate OEM or Aftermarket? I've read that the engagement point can change with the aftermarket clutches.

I know there is a special tool used to correctly install the pressure plate and clutch disk, discussed on the thread below. Did your mechanic know of this for the repair?

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=799072

If so, then that can be ruled out.

Worn motor/transmission mounts with over 100K could be looked at as a cause of vibration. However, if they were bad, I would think the mechanic would have mentioned it? Also, the vibration upon acceleration may be caused by a worn axle as well.

 

Yeah, the axles are fine. The clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, etc are all new stock replacements.

I am also not sure they would have noticed, or commented, on the mounts. The car was there for over a week due to waiting on a few parts and I'm pretty sure they were ready to get it off the lift and buttoned up.

 

Take it back to the shop that worked on it last to see what they would do.

 

I am. Just thinking out loud here.

 

Did you break the clutch in first?

 

No...there's really not a "break in" on a clutch as far as daily driving performance is concerned.

Fixed the tranny issues. Bled the slave cylinder even though it was never disconnected. Solved the notchy shifting. I am still going to replace the tranny fluid with the GM syncromesh fm however.

The vibration is also improved. We loosened some of the motor mounts, revved the engine, and then retightened.

I'm adding a magnaflow cat into the exhaust to tone down the rasp and get rid of the smell and then this bad boy is ready for another 100k. New clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, throw out bearing, bilot bearing, all belts, hoses, coolant, timing belt, water pump, etc..all new!

 

You talked about flooring it at 1500rpms which isn't generally recommended by most for a bit right after install. Most seem to say give a new clutch about 500 miles before beating on it.

 

Flooring it at 1500 rpm is going to generate somewhere around 180 ft/lbs against the disk, which is already static against the PP and flywheel....clutches are rated based on dynamic loading, or the ability to decelerate a spinning friction disc against the PP/flywheel as the coeff of friction is lower on a moving surface than once it's static. It will not slip, nor is there a break in needed for that. The vibration was clearly associated with an engine mount, not clutch slip or anything else.

Beating on it is going out and shifting at redline, back WOT as the clutch is trying to hook back up. It holds fine during that as well. Break in period is really more for sintered ceramics or kevlar as it burnishes the surface and burns off any oils during handling/install, etc which can lead to a bit less torque capacity early on. The organic compound of the stock unit is pretty much ready to go out of the box.

 

Good to hear, in for videos.

 

You should replace the mounts. These mounts are not designed to last.

 

Yea, I'll get around to it. I just spent $2k on all this crap after labor so I'm going to drive it a little while and come back to the mounts.

I also will let you guys know that even though it appeared my clutch was shot (slipping on WOT, redline shifts) it turned out that my dual mass flywheel had failed, and the support springs on one side were shot. This was allowing the flywheel to fall away from the clutch over about half of the clutch face and was the cause of the slipping. My original clutch and pressure plate were fine but I already had the parts, so I replaced them anyway.

 

I wouldnt beat on the new clutch anyway. Let it sit there for atleast 500miles. Then go ahead beat the shit out of it. Once You in the gear there is no worries about slipage. You dont need that tool for pp install just make sure you align the marks on it.