I have a fully built turbo b18c and i recently found a great deal on a slightly used competition twin disc clutch that had only seen little dyno time and still had alot of life left in it so i decided not to pass this deal up and i baught it. But when i got the clutch it didnt come with a throwout bearing, which at the time i thought nothing of it so i just used the stock bearing i already had. After i put the tranny back on the motor thats when my issues began. At first start up everything seemed fine but once i went to put it in gear it wouldnt go into any gear at all. so needless to say the tranny came back off. Once the clutch assembly was exposed i saw that the inner diameter of the throwout bearing (the red rubber/nylon looking part) looked like it had been shredded by the pressure plate teeth so i figured maybe it was an install error on my part so i put a new bearing in and was extra cautious. After the tranny was on again i went to start it up and again it started with no problem, so i crossed my fingers, pressed the pedal and went to put it in gear and it supprisingly went in. At this point i was relieved thinking my problem was solved, so i put the wheels back on and lowered it off the jack and was looking forward to taking it around the block. So i started the car, pressed the pedal and once again it wouldn't go into any gear! WTF?! So i double checked for air in the system, and adjusted my pedal and still nothing. Im just looking to find out if maybe since the diameter of the clutch assembly is smaller maybe it needs a different throwout bearing and if so where can i find one of the right size. But any info on this would be appriciated.

 

bump

 

bump for any info

 

Well I have the D-series unit and the throw-out bearing compared to stock was a little taller and the surface was much wider(stock just the "ring" free-spins but the CC unit the whole face spins). I don't think this would be an issue if it's not hitting the center of the TOB/makes proper contact.

One thing though in the instructions is you need to install a pedal stop; which I'm guess means if you press the pedal to the floor you may or will run into problems.

 

did you try contacting competition clutch?

 

i havent contacted them yet because i wanted to make sure that there wasnt an installation problem on my part and because it was the weekend. But i plan on calling them soon to see what they have say. But thanks for the input so far

 

im thinking that since the inner diameter of the pressure plate is smaller, the stock throwout bearing is putting more pressure towards the center of the pressure plate teeth instead of closer to the edges of the teeth which would reduce the maximum flex/leverage of the teeth to not have enough clamp load to disenguage the clutch...But then again thats the only explanation i could come up with and just may be alot of bs lol but thanks for the input

 

That would effect pedal effort and pressing it further from the center of the diaphragm would mean less flex. In other words, you would feel it.

As far as it being able to go into gear while jacked up; this makes sense as there's no load to hold the transmission shaft still.

Do this(this is described in CC's instructions btw). While in neutral and the car started, put light pressure on the shifter as if to put it in 1st gear. Now depress the clutch slowly until it pops into gear; and then press it an extra <.25" and set the pedal stop there. I've heard of people running into issues with excess pedal stroke.

 

ur supposed to grind ur factory throw out bearing the center section thats plastic prior to install if using a oem bearing comp will tell u the same been there

 

bump for you Heath...im tired of seeing your car sit. i was not aware you had to use a pedal stop, we have been pushing the clutch pedal to the floor all this time!

 

here is a couple of pics and some info i found on the stop

There are a couple of reasons to use a pedal stop. The main reason is that it only takes about 1/4" to disengage the clutch on most 7.25" multi discs. If you push it farther than that, you are pushing it to far and over extending the diaphram. When you do this, you are increasing the pedal effort. This puts more stress on all of the hydraulics, the bearing, the thrust washers(especially if you are starting the car with the clutch pushed in(it has no oil pressure when you are starting it)). It will release better if it is not over extended as well. You can accomplish this by lowering the pedal until it does not over extend, but then your foot has to travel farther, which can screw up your shift timing(timing between the shifter and the clutch pedal). The best thing to do is install a stop where it will disengage towards the top(but not so high that it won't fully engage when released). This way, your foot will release the clutch as soon as possible and won't have to move the extra distance to the floor that does not need to be used anyway.

 

thanks man. Thats next on the never-ending to-do list lol...ive gotta figure this throw out bearing issue first. I e-mailed competition clutch about the problem so now im just waitin to see what they have to say

 

Well I just talked to Kyle at competition clutch and this kit DOES require a specific throwout bearing. Part number is:TM5-N3842SA for future reference to anyone having the same problem as I did and it cost $85.00. Thanks for everyones input on my problem, im just glad I found the solution

 

sweet! lets pull that tranny back out again and go ahead and pull that case off and clean the magnet in there since it will be out. and ill get my welder and we can go ahead and make a pedal stop before the new bearing arrives

 

fine with me

 

Any updates on this? I'm having the same problem.

 

Yes. In fact after I ordered the throw out bearing from competition clutch it still didnt solve my issue. So i started looking for anything and everything within the clutch assembly to see if there was any error on the instillation but still couldnt find anything obvious like a backwards disc or something stupid like that. After alot of head scratching I decided to look past the clutch assembly for anything else that I couldve done wrong. And low n' behold i found the problem! It just so happens that comptetion clutch uses a shorter flywheel bolt on their twin disc assembly and since i baught this kit used i didnt know this. So MY problem was that I used washer to help fill in the gap so that the stock flywheel bolts would fit. In doing that, the heads of the flywheel bolts stuck too far out causing the first disc to not meet the flywheel surface properly, in turn not being able to disenguage.

 

Was it Hard to make the pedal stop? I need to do it on mine.