Hey guys,

I've completed my D15B swap a few weeks ago and through it all I've dealt with the idling issues and other oddities, but this one has got me so pissed off that I pulled the transmission today!

So ever since I've done the swap I've had a bad chatter from the clutch/flywheel when engaging the clutch. Now I have had this problem before when putting a new clutch in another car without turning the flywheel. After searching around I found out that when changing just a clutch and leaving a flywheel you should turn the flywheel. Anyway, I didn't think you'd have to do this with a new flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate.

Like I said it chattered so much that I pulled the trans today and decided to go through and look at everything. When I pulled it apart I reinspected the throwout bearing and it seems to have a lot of slop in it. When I originally put all this together the throwout bearing that came with the kit was not right, it didn't have the notches for the spring to pull on. Anyhow, I pulled apart both assemblies and swapped the bearings. I really don't remember checking for play, but my buddy and I both agree that looking at it now, there is probably too much play there.

After looking over that I got a dial indicator and put it on the flywheel. I ordered a ATC (not ACT, but similar to what I've heard a couple of guys on the form order from eBay) kit and wondered if the flywheel was a piece of crap. I put the indicator in two different positions on the flywheel and turned the engine over a few times and read of the readings. The flywheel never differed by more than 2 thousandths of an inch. This would seem to me to say that the fly wheel is OK. The throwout bearing that I ordered (for a 1.6L CRX through Autozone; should be correct?) won't be here till tomorrow in the morning some time. This gives me time to take the flywheel and pressure plate to a machine shop to check for roundness, maybe a resurface.

Now that you know the situation that I am in with this thing, what are your opinions? Should I go ahead and resurface the flywheel? Do you think the play, which is described as "a lot" and "more than I think it should" or "that has to be a 1/16 inch", is too much and the throwout bearing will solve it? Should I say "screw it" and just get a new flywheel (not preferred as the plastic credit card that I've been using for this swap is starting to melt )?

This issue has me not even wanting to drive the car anymore. It is horrible, the whole care vibrates like none other. Any, I mean any insight will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Mike.

 

make sure the flywheel is clean, i wouldn't resurface it since it's brand new.

i bet the bearing was your problem

 

Ok, so today I went back to it and since I didn't get any opinions here or through any friend channels I made some decisions. I also did a little more checking to see what the problem could have been caused by.

First thing I did was to pull the flywheel off and check the roundness of my crank. It only differed over the whole rotation about one thousandth of an inch. I checked the previous measurement of the flywheel and this new measurement to a honda manual and found them to be in spec.

At this point I figured it probably wasn't the flywheel since it was in spec. I went back to the throwout bearing. It was really bad. I looked on the fingers where it hits the pressure plate. There seemed to be even wear. I thought that since the throwout bearing wobbled so much it may not be engaging the fingers correctly and causing the clutch not to engage evenly. I couldn't tell if this was the case just by looking at the fingers. There was no abnormal wear on it.

Next I looked more at the pressure plate where it mates up with the clutch. There was an area of about 2.5 inches that looked like the clutch never touched it. I got a straight edge, verified its levelness, got a feeler gauge and measured the difference in lows around the pressure plate. Some spots were more than 2 thousandths! With this new information coupled with the fact that the throwout bearing sucked I decided that these two things were the problem.

I went to the local Autozone, where they only had a clutch kit (anyone need a clutch and pilot bearing?). Using the throwout bearing and pressure plate from this kit I reassembled everything.

Now it seems to engage great! The best thing (or crappy depending on how you look at it) is that the pressure plate that came with the Autozone kit was the same as the one that came with my other kit. It seems like the kit I got off the 'net was just for a nice clutch and flywheel. I suppose a pressure plate is a pressure plate. I'm still going to raise hell with the company I got it from.

I guess the moral of the story is check not only the spec of the flywheel, but the engagement side of the pressure plate as well. Also make sure that the throwout bearing (clutch engagement bearing as most stores call it) is not sloppy on the input shaft.

Hopefully this will help someone else. Post your questions if anything sounds odd and I'll try to explain better.