Clutch Help?

[edyuly]

wHATS UP GUYS i need some help i am installing a ramclutch in my 05 gt and having some problems the clutch came with a spacer which was installed stock flywheel was resurfaced new slave cylinder and pilot bearing installed the trans has been bleed but it will not engage any secrets on how to make it work
thanks in advance

 

[DirtyDogOfTheDesert]

The shim is probably not thick enough. RAM supplies a .150 shim, in my case I had get a local machine shop make me .250 thick shim. I was using RAM's billet steel flywheel as well. If you're using the stock flywheel and also had it turned, you may need even more than the .250. Of course bleeding properly is critical.

 

[C-Liz-Go]

Whew!! Run on sentence there buddy, I couldn't catch my breath, lol!!

 

[ArtQ]

The shim is probably not thick enough. RAM supplies a .150 shim, in my case I had get a local machine shop make me .250 thick shim. I was using RAM's billet steel flywheel as well. If you're using the stock flywheel and also had it turned, you may need even more than the .250. Of course bleeding properly is critical.

Was that suggested by Ram, or did you end up figuring that out for yourself ?

I'm doing the install for edyuly. Ram supplied the .150 shim. The flywheel wasn't bad at all and was resurfaced, it had very minimal removed because it was in pretty good shape.

Slave was bled VERY well, I have the sore legs to prove it. This is the 6th clutch install on a S197 for me and now 3 have gone bad. 2 from Spec and one from Ram. Took it all apart again and zero signs of installation error....as usual.
When the hell are these clutch companies going to stop using us for free R&D and come up with a bolt on clutch we don't have to dick around with!!!!!!!!
The clutch dragged just enough to cause it not to go in to gear. Once in gear and started, the car still wanted to move. You could tell the engagement point was right at the floor.
Seems to me they don't want to spend the money to come up with a clutch that works EVERYTIME for S197's. I think they are using the 2004 and down set-ups and hoping for the best. Not Cool....

I geuss we'll see what Ram has to say...............

 

[DirtyDogOfTheDesert]

When the RAM people first did the measurements up for their clutch kit .200 is what was required. The very early kits they actually sent 2 .150 shims. Then most guys that had those early kits figured .300 was too much. I geuss rather than supply the correct shim, they must have got a deal on .150 raw material somewhere, and just went ahead with that.
The .250 I've been using worked good. It may have been 700rwhp race gas tune that smoked this clutch now, so I won't blame RAM completely, but the BS I went through removing the tranny twice, and finding out this shim information the hard way has pissed me off to the point, that i'm done with RAM.

I'm like you, why doesn't someone come out with a true bolt in replacement clutch? It's a real disappointment to say the least.

 

[ArtQ]

Talked to Ram, after discussing bleeding procedures at some length, discussed measurements. Ram was adament about not requiring the .150 spacer for this clutch. Ram admitted that this was not the problem as it should improve the current situation which I agreed with completely. This is the part where I will take some of the credit for an install gone bad. After checking all measurements. The clutch was well within specs. I checked flywheel run out which was outstanding at .002. One procedure before assembling a clutch, which I learned the hard way a long time ago is to slide the clutch disc on to the input shaft and check for binding and proper fit, which I did...However I didn't slide it on far enough. Once rechecked I found the spline tolerance extremely tight. This is quite critical because if the disc doesn't float on the shaft it will drag. I took some measurements of the new disc splines and compared it to the old one as well as some "low mileage" pieces I had laying around and found the Ram splines to be on the tight side. The other discs were also tested on the shaft and had a very good fit to allow proper float. After working the disc splines with a file I was able to achieve a good fit. It seems they just needed a bit of deburring before being packaged. After reassembly and initial testing the Ram set up works good. Future track testing will reveal more. Ram's customer service was helpful and at this time it appears that this product works.....

 

[fordracing]

that's some handy info there Rench... Thanks for sharing.

I'm still torn between the Fidenza and RPS, although I'm leaning more and more to the RPS.

 

[DirtyDogOfTheDesert]

That is interesting. It was RAM's tech guy that gave me the actual .200 measurement, and it was RAM that supplied the original too thin .150 shim. My was a Powergrip HD with their 900 disc material. After approx. 2500miles (all though, hard miles) I am not impressed with how quickly it wore down to almost nothing, before the disc fused itself to the flywheel.

The RAM guys are full of shit in my opinion. When I quized them about their twin disc setup that they now offer specific to S197 cars, they said they have sold 100's of them with out a single complaint. Yet I only ever found 1 guy that bought one, and he actually sent it back as it didn't work right.

 

[ArtQ]

that's some handy info there Rench... Thanks for sharing.

I'm still torn between the Fidenza and RPS, although I'm leaning more and more to the RPS.

The 98952 is what was installed and isn't intended for a alot of track use for this application but will see some. It does engage pretty close to the floor. We'll see how it goes after it gets some miles and how it works at the track.

We will let edyuly chime in as he is the one using it.

As for the RPS I am using the KC-0750-mod 10.5" Dual friction clutch and BF-07466-10.5 Flywheel.
You can really feel the difference in rotating weight from the 11" Spec stage 2 and the 11' Ram set up. My throttle response is wicked.

It will take a beating, but like any set-up that's used alot at the track it will wear.

I have had great luck with it and believe it's largely responsible for my quick times running stock rims and full interior. I would love to see what someone else can do with it.