Clutch question

Well I finally got my motor/trans back into the car and got her started up for the first time since October. The only concern that I have is the clutch. I put a brand new ACT 2100 clutch set with new t/o bearing in and got my ACT flywheel re-surfaced to .610 at the machine shop. I torqued the clutch assembly down to 18ft pounds and the flywheel bolts to 100. Bled the clutch system before start-up. My problem is the engage point is right on the floor. It's to the point where it's some-what difficult to change in and out of gears. I tried adjusting the master cylinder rod and freeplay. Where the adjustment used to be, the pedal is about an inch from the floor fully pushed in. So i re-adjusted it to where the pedal damn near contacts the floor with a little freeplay at the top and the clutch is still right at the very, very bottom of the pedal. I'm all out of adjustments I don't know what else to do except try bleeding again? I don't know...If anyone could help me out on this one, it'd be great.

Thanks,

Steve

Most of the problems I have seen with low engagement points are caused by air still in the hydrolic system or the clutch system has been adjusted wrong. It seems like you have tried adjusting everything so I would try and bleed everything again.

You may want to even messure how far your slave cylinder rod is coming out when you push the clutch. That may help you narrow down the problem.

Also how old is your clutch line? I had a problem with my clutch not releasing at all occationally and it turned out to be the rubber hydrolic line flexing when the pedal was pushed.

My buddy's MR2 was fully bled, but the pedal wouldnt come off the floor. We just kept bleeding and kept bleeding and slowly pressure built up and eventually it was normal. Maybe thats going on here?

Mine done the same until we bled it good.

Well I did one more *quick* bleed because I ran out of brake fluid...Didn't really help much...But anyway new problem. I actually took it out on the streets for a test drive. Number 1 - no brakes! lol I have to pump the living hell out of the brake pedal to get something. I did take the passenger side caliper line off briefly the other day but I did bleed that caliper pretty well so WTF? What's going on here? Do I need to bleed all 4 calipers? I didn't think I had to....Also, Number 2 - my clutch. When it engages, it chatters REAL bad. Like it seems like the motor is going to hop out. I don't understand. Like I said in my first post, NEW ACT 2100 clutch disc/pressure plate. Resurfaced ACT flywheel. I used brake cleaner on the flywheel surface and pressure plate surface to make sure no grease or anything was on either one. Properly torqued the clutch assembly to the flywheel, greased the new t/o bearing and lightly coated the input shaft on the transmission...Why is it chattering? Everything is NEW! Maybe it needs to break in first? I don't know. I even checked all the mounts - all are secure 100% along with the crossmember. Anyone have any ideas on these 2 problems? As far as my engagement problem I'm going to have to get more brake fluid and bleed the living hell out of that thing. Thanks for the help.

Steve

Yea you have to bleed all four calipers. Starting with the one farthest away from the master cylinder.

Im not really familiar with ACT disc. What type of disc did you put in your car? I though ACT used mostly a stock type carbon/organic disc, but you should get no chatter from that.

Yea you have to bleed all four calipers. Starting with the one farthest away from the master cylinder.

Im not really familiar with ACT disc. What type of disc did you put in your car? I though ACT used mostly a stock type carbon/organic disc, but you should get no chatter from that.

I have just the ACT 2100 street disc in and this morning i even triple checked all the mounts and transmission bolts, crossmember bolts, etc they're all nice and tight. I know the input shaft of the transmission isn't bent, either. There was NO grease or anything on any friction surface...Ahh this is giving me a headache...

My car acts the exact same as yours. I tried everything that you tried. Ultimately, I just gave up and got used to it. Its really not that bad in the end. I bled it dozens of times it didn't do shit.
I think just some of our cars have low engagement points when fitted with beefier clutches.

Measure how much the slave cylinder rod comes out when you push the clutch in.

I would also check that rubber hydrolic line to see if its expanding.

I forgot to mention, also, that on downshifts it vibrates the cabin a tad unless i heel-toe or keep the rpm's up...But as for the engagement problem I think I figured it out. My master cylinder decided to blow up on me last night coming home from my friends house and I had to drive clutchless (oh, what fun). I thought it was the slave at first until I seen the brake fluid leaking in from the master cylinder rod into the cabin. So I had to order a master cylinder rebuild kit and it won't be here until Saturday morning. So maybe the new piston, spring and seals will give me a better clutch adjustment after the quick rebuild on the cylinder. Damnit, just as I get my motor dropped back in and get everything running perfect, stupid shit like this has to happen :-( As far as the vibration, however, it has gotten better since the other night. From a stop it still does vibrate on engagement but not as visiously. Forgot to mention I have the polyurethane main engine mount and main transmission mount in, but not the front or rear (those ones cause way, way too much vibration). But I know before I never had the little bit of vibration on downshifts...Hmmmm

Wonder if this would help?

http://www.dsmsource.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=27202&cat=2

That master will fix the problem. With a leaking master, you typically end up pumping air into the system as you bleed it, so you'll never get it bled. The chattering is normal until the disc is broken in. Takes most people a couple hundred miles with a street disc. A metalic disc can take thousands. DSMs with aftermarket clutches do tend to end up with a low engagement point. EVOs are typically high no matter what you do, in comparison.

On a 2g, the master has a check valve that will pump the system up as you actuate the clutch if you adjust the rod too far "out" (toward the master, to get more master travel). If you find that the pedal is pumping up, back it off just until that stops. That's the longest adjustment you'll ever be able to get away with. Most 2Gs work quite well when adjusted this way (maxed out).

If you still have that POS accumulator in the stock line, get rid of it. Odds are it's full of some milky looking HIV infected bullshit that really screws with slave travel. Replace it all with the braided line. And make sure the braided line can't rub on anything, I've blown those POSes out before and it's not fun, having driven clutchless for months myself, back in the good old days...

Sounds like you did everything else right, so I'm sure this will all be an easy fix. :)

Got the master cylinder rebuild kit and rebuilt the damn thing...Took maybe an hour all together and bled the living shit out of the system. Clutch engage point/travel is perfect now. Not only that but the travel of the pedal feels so much better and smoother than ever before, it's incredible haha. Clutch still chatters a bit but not as harsh as it did. Engage point is close to the floor (which is what i like) and not ON the floor like before. Everything is running smoothly, except my brakes...Still have none lol. Haven't had time to bleed those yet. But anyway, as far as the motor goes - I had to temporairily downgrade the turbo from a 16g to a 14b cause after doing all the work that I did, I come to find out the 16g had WAY too much shaft play. And being that i got a mint condition 14b for FREE i stuck it on there...I'm still somewhat impressed with it. I'm not used to having a turbo spool up that quickly lol. The boost gauge doesn't hesitate one bit going to 17psi, and it holds it quite nice. No boost, oil, antifreeze, exhaust leaks of any kind. No squeely belts...I believe that's a first for me haha. Motor runs strong as hell, also. Hopefully i won't have any more problems with her.

No boost, oil, antifreeze, exhaust leaks of any kind. No squeely belts...I believe that's a first for me haha. Motor runs strong as hell, also. Hopefully i won't have any more problems with her.

Good to see it working good. However, with this last part you just screwed yourself. There's always something. Get them brakes done now!

Well....so much for the brakes...I broke off two bleed screws inside the calipers, both on the driver's side...I tried using an 'easy-out' with no luck. Now I need to find a way to get these damn pieces out of my calipers

Just out of curiosity, i CAN use a passenger side caliper on the driver's side, correct? From looking very closely at the two, the only noticeable difference i see is that the bleed valve would be on the bottom instead of the top if i were to swap the two calipers...Is there any other difference that I should be concerned about? Such as brake failure, etc? Because I messed the driver's side caliper up and I have a lifetime warranty on a passneger side caliper at auto zone...So I was gonna take advantage of that if there isn't any harm...

They are the same beside the bleed valve so your fine.

Air bubbles rise, which is why the bleed valve is always on the top. I'm not sure it will work so good on the bottom. ;)

dont bolt them up and turn them so that the bleed valve is up while you bleed them, then flip them over and bolt them up.

That's a creative solution. How do you keep the pistons in, clamps? Or do they not try to pop out when the bleeder is open?

Well I found a solution...Forgot that I had a good caliper from the Spyder. So I used that one and got my free one from Auto Zone. So that worked out well. Bled the shit out of the brake system and I have a very nice brake pedal now. Good damn thing I bled the brakes when I did because I almost hit a deer earlier tonight on the highway doing 70. That wouldn't have been pretty...Next thing to fix is the damn turn signal switch. I had to pull the turn signal fuse a while ago because out of nowhere, my left turn signal stayed on constantly and the right wouldn't work at all so I'm assuming it's the switch. Luckily I have a spare from the Spyder :) Oh, btw when I had the motor out I took out the A/C condensor and took the compressor off the motor...No need for A/C being that it's winter and I always have the windows down in the summer. I think it's helping with airflow to the radiator because my motor doesn't get over 170 or so, it's usually around 160 driving. Not to mention it's cold as hell here too...Thanks for the help guys.