What Goes Round and Round and has a few TEETH

[Master]

The Answer: My flywheel. It has seen better days 15% of the wheel has nubs left for teeth. Rick and Brent noticed at homecoming that when I started it seemed like a monster was in my bell housing. It always started that way since new sooo I did'nt think much of it until.......................

[will butterworth]

chewed a bit--ford starters start spinning before the gears engage i think, gm starters gears engage then spin, difference in solenoid. Could be wrong, but think that is way they work. Will-alabama

[chris knueven]

scott,

i wondered at homecoming what that was when it started....
dont know if ya know,you can buy and replace just the ring gear,
just use a hammer and a drift to drive the old one off.....throw the
new one in the oven on 400 for 45 minutes or so and it will
drop right on the flywheel. you might have to order from napa.

i wish my problems were that small....is it bad when the flat inner
valve spring damper falls out of the cylinder head when you remove
the valve cover ????? :) .......

but i am happy :)...first run outta the box last fri nite at orlando
speedworld i blasted a 11.47 at 124,by the sixth run my clutch
was starting to give up on the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts..........

chris

[eliminator]

Chris,

One to many times!

[Master]

Will: You might be right or I had a bad bendex that caused a lazy gear engagement.

Chris: I had the flywheel resurfaced and a new ring gear installed, I am thinking about a new clutch and pressure plate before I go back together with everything. I currently have a hayes pressure plate with a zoom clutch which worked well last time. The pressure plate was a 12 spring 11.5". Does anyone have experience with Ram products?

[chris knueven]

scott,

i ran a ram clutch at first....somehow one of the release fingers
busted in the first 1000 miles. needless to say i am not real impressed
with ram products.....but jegs did give me a partial store credit because
it was like a month old when it broke......just a f.y.i.

chris

p.s.-did you talk with my friend jeff with the unique,from pittsburgh ????
if you did dont believe anything he said about me :)....

[JeepSnake]

Scott - no direct experience with RAM here, but Cy called Summit when searching for a clutch to go with the 383 Windsor we're building for Dad's car. He specifically asked about the RAM design (with the cutouts in the disk that make it look like a propellor or flower petals or something), and the reply was that they use "a much more aggressive friction material to make up for the smaller surface area." Our personal opinion was that we'd rather toast the friction material than chew up the flywheel!

[Master]

After much sweat and cursing the New ring gear is on the fly wheel, new pressure and clutch are installed. Took her out for a G force ride and everything is good. Note to self: I am getting to old to bench press toploaders 15 to 20 times until they align.:eek:

[pgermond]

Master,

I'm considering a clutch/pressure plate replacement this winter and have been contemplating the same thing (bench pressing that top loader - ugh!) ;)

[Justin Upchurch]

Phil,

Just let Scott do it sounds like he has it down cold :)

[pgermond]

Phil,

Just let Scott do it sounds like he has it down cold :)

Sounds good to me... Scott, I'll look forward to your visit this winter ;)

[eliminator]

Go buy you a transmission jack, low priced, 45-60 buck range. You can remove and install a top loader in about 5 minutes.

[weaver]

Wouldn't that take all the fun out of it?

Alan

[Master]

Phil, It really isn't a big deal. After several attempts I bought some longer 7/16" bolts and cut the heads off and used them as alignment pins, after that it was a snap.

Rick: I have a scissors type lift with a large center support that keeps me from using a trans jack.:mad:

Alan: Smart A$$:)

After installing the new Pressure Plate and clutch I did notice a big difference in the clutch disengagement. I needed far more travel with the Ram set-up compared to the Hayes / Zoom set-up. I guess the Ram stack up is thicker causing the need for more pedal travel.