I recently just put in an ACT xtreme pressure plate with a street clutch disk from ACT as well. The problem I have now that I have it all together is that when I push the pedal to the floor to disengage, the slave cylinder wont push the pin far enough to move the throw out bearing. If I take a pry bar to the fork of the throwout, it works just fine. I know this is an extremely stiff clutch, but I didn't think there would be a problem regarding the hydraulics of it not being able to create enough force to disengage the clutch. I took it back apart thinking the bearing was jammed or something, but no, everything was aligned correctly. Any ideas of what to do to make this work???? It almost seems as if i need a longer pin that comes out of the slave cylinder, and bleeding the hell out of it doesnt help either. Need help fast! THanks

 

gravity bleed the clutch and see what happens.
make sure the reservoir is full, then open the bleeder screw at the slave cylinder and wait for the clutch fluid to start coming out, this could take quite a while but i found that it works best when bleeding it. Also if you said you could move the clutch fork with a pry par then it sounds like you didn't bleed the clutch right.

**on another note, and anyone feel free to comment**
i too have an ACT clutch but with 7.5lb flywheel, and have often thought that the slave cylinder rod wasn't long enough. i have looked all over for a extended slave cylinder rod or possibly an adjustable length one and came up with nothing. If you read on Toyota celica or DSM message boards (i have friends with ACT in each), they can buy an extended rod which is 1/4" longer than factory to give it more throw (which coincidentally was for ACT XT clutches, notice the trend???), but NOTHING for civic. I've even tried to get a machine shop to make one and nobody wants to touch it because of the shape of the rod. The only decent advice i've gotten was by an engineer that said that i should take the slave cylinder off and make the 2 holes in it that hold it to the tranny, a 1/4" wider to account for the throw, but that metal is next to near impossible to drill into so i haven't done it yet.

 

That second paragraph explains the situation perfectly. I just put a rounded top bolt/stud in place of the slave rod and it is probably 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch longer and it was slipping just a little bit, so I shaved it down just a little, and now its absolutely perfect. I'm still going to bleed the clutch to make sure there is no air, so we will see how it is in just a little bit. I'm going to find out about the DSM slave rod too, that is really interesting. Hopefully it works, because I don't want to be driving around a rigged system like this, even though it works the same. Thanks again for the info.

 

the problem with the DSM/Celica Gts extended slave cylinder rods is that they are nothing like the shape of the Civic.

you can read a detailed description of the DSM extended slave cylinder rod here..
http://www.taboospeedshop.com/SCR.htm
and
if you go to http://www.newcelica.org , forums, and search for extended slave cylinder rod there are a bunch of posts about it. and you can buy them at http://www.speed-source.net

mine has never slipped but i feel that i could get a lot more out of my clutch, just because when i originally readjusted the clutch pedal i made it real tight (no free play) and took it for a rip. the clutch grabbed so goddam hard i could easily bang 3rd HARD. after that i adjusted it properly with the right freeplay and it doesn't grab even a 1/3 as hard as it did. i have learned to live with it for the last few months because i just haven't been able to find anyone to make me an extended rod. i even have an xtra one to show the machine shops to use as a model, but no one will do it. I may just buy another slave cylinder and buy a side cutting bit and make the holes 1/4 wider.. Let me know what you end up doing..

 

so far i rigged a rounded top bolt that is 3/8in longer to fit in the throw out fork, and the other end in the slave. as of now it works fine, just doesnt seem right to me. i watch the travel distance of the fork and it could still move another 1/4 of an inch to disengage fully but as of now the clutch is pretty much right off the floor which is nice, but I'm thinking this thing could grab alot harder. how do you adjust the free play in the clutch under the dash?? i have a Haynes manual, but just curious on how you did it.

I just think that the hydraulic system should have enough pressure to extend that rod far enough to disengage fully without getting anything longer. Just my opinion though. I used that bolt before I ground off a 1/4 of an inch but as I drove it, you could tell it wasnt allowing the clutch to completly grab so thats when i ground off that little bit. But as for clutch feel and disengagement, thats how I was expecting it to feel, but for now I'll live with it until something gets resolved. Keep me posted with your situation too.


By the way, I have a fidanza 7.5lb flywheel with my act as well