The Vette Barn - Monster Level 3 Clutch Install
05-25-2009, 02:25 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
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The Vette Barn - Monster Level 3 Clutch Install
Before I start, I want to give thanks where thanks are due. A big thank you to Gary Ballard, Kyle Garlough, and Rich Wheeler for helping me get this job done. This was definitely not a one man job! We also had a handful of other people stop by and help out along the way so I would also like to thank Tim Martin, Dickie Glessner, James Taylor, Brian Bowers, Draper Padgett, Lee Senn, and Justin Morrow. Every one of you contributed in one way or another. Thank you all very much! 
Reader's Digest: Stock clutch was toast, don't like aftermarket clutches, LS7 clutch is not good for launching/slipping, bought and LS6 clutch, car makes too much power, sold LS6 clutch, forced to go aftermarket, Monster's were getting great reviews, talked in depth with Mike Yeager at Eastcoast Performance (really late at night
), figured I would give one a shot.
This is a shot of the car from Waterside a few weeks ago.
First things first, get it up in the air and get the wheels off.
Now remove your calipers, shocks, and upper control arm bolts.
Once the UCA's are loose, you can pop out the drive shafts and unbolt the parking brake cables (left side shown).
Drop the entire exhaust and remove the tunnel plate.
This is what it should look like. Now you are ready to unbolt the torque tube from the bellhousing and drop the cradle.
Have someone inside the car to guide the shifter down or just remove it. It is also easier to unhook the wiring harness from inside the car while dropping the whole assembly.
*** If you are using a two post lift you NEED to support the bottom of the engine. Once you remove the drivetrain components from the rear the car becomes very nose heavy and my "tip" forward.***
Not bad for 4.5 hours of work.
Once all of the drivetrain is removed you can remove your old clutch and flywheel. Here's my old flywheel:
Now is the time to replace the pilot bearing shown here (flat side out). Notice we also dropped the left header for easier access.
New Monster billet steel flywheel installed without removing the bellhousing.
Here's me at the beginning of day two (still clean).
Use plenty of brake cleaner now and try your best not to "finger up" the clutch components. Keep them all as clean as possible.
Monster Clutch installed and torqued with new ARP bolts. Don't forget to use red Loc-Tite.
Now is a great time to drag everything outside and pressure wash all the old oil and road grime off of the cradle. Be careful around your sensors and seals. Also, if you haven't already fixed your "leaky butt," now is the time to do it. Sorry no pics of "leaky butt" fix. Notice the slave cylinder location at the front of the torque tube. Unbolt the two bolts and replace that as well (already removed here).
Now stuff everything back up there. This is where all the names at the top of this post came into play. Five extra people made this much easier!
Now you should be reconnecting all of the clips and sensors that you removed earlier.
Notice the quick disconnect and the new remote bleeder already installed on the new slave cylinder.
The top line is the bleeder and the bottom line goes to the reservior.
I recommend routing the bleeder somewhere easily accessible and near the reservior.
Time to reinstall everything that you removed.
It's starting to look like a car again...
Reader's Digest: Stock clutch was toast, don't like aftermarket clutches, LS7 clutch is not good for launching/slipping, bought and LS6 clutch, car makes too much power, sold LS6 clutch, forced to go aftermarket, Monster's were getting great reviews, talked in depth with Mike Yeager at Eastcoast Performance (really late at night
), figured I would give one a shot. This is a shot of the car from Waterside a few weeks ago.
First things first, get it up in the air and get the wheels off.
Now remove your calipers, shocks, and upper control arm bolts.
Once the UCA's are loose, you can pop out the drive shafts and unbolt the parking brake cables (left side shown).
Drop the entire exhaust and remove the tunnel plate.
This is what it should look like. Now you are ready to unbolt the torque tube from the bellhousing and drop the cradle.
Have someone inside the car to guide the shifter down or just remove it. It is also easier to unhook the wiring harness from inside the car while dropping the whole assembly.
*** If you are using a two post lift you NEED to support the bottom of the engine. Once you remove the drivetrain components from the rear the car becomes very nose heavy and my "tip" forward.***
Not bad for 4.5 hours of work.
Once all of the drivetrain is removed you can remove your old clutch and flywheel. Here's my old flywheel:
Now is the time to replace the pilot bearing shown here (flat side out). Notice we also dropped the left header for easier access.
New Monster billet steel flywheel installed without removing the bellhousing.
Here's me at the beginning of day two (still clean).
Use plenty of brake cleaner now and try your best not to "finger up" the clutch components. Keep them all as clean as possible.
Monster Clutch installed and torqued with new ARP bolts. Don't forget to use red Loc-Tite.
Now is a great time to drag everything outside and pressure wash all the old oil and road grime off of the cradle. Be careful around your sensors and seals. Also, if you haven't already fixed your "leaky butt," now is the time to do it. Sorry no pics of "leaky butt" fix. Notice the slave cylinder location at the front of the torque tube. Unbolt the two bolts and replace that as well (already removed here).
Now stuff everything back up there. This is where all the names at the top of this post came into play. Five extra people made this much easier!
Now you should be reconnecting all of the clips and sensors that you removed earlier.
Notice the quick disconnect and the new remote bleeder already installed on the new slave cylinder.
The top line is the bleeder and the bottom line goes to the reservior.
I recommend routing the bleeder somewhere easily accessible and near the reservior.
Time to reinstall everything that you removed.
It's starting to look like a car again...
Last edited by CS Vette; 05-25-2009 at 02:29 PM. Reason: spelling
05-25-2009, 02:26 PM
#2
Burning Brakes
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Continued...
I used this opprotunity to polish up the mufflers and over axle pipes before reinstallation.
Before:
After:
YEA!!! My tips are finally strait! That won't last long.
Don't foget to give everything a good "once-over" to make sure you connected all of your plugs and that everything is bolted down and routed correctly. Might also want to change all your fluids now too.
Only two days of work and we're back on the ground ready for a test drive.
Here's a big thumbs up for the team at Eastcoast Performance. Joey and Mike have shown me the best customer service I have seen in a very long time. Very quick to return emails, PM's, and phone calls. They also answered ALLLLL of my questions with accurate and descriptive information. I could not be happier with the service I that I received from Eastcoast Performance. I really look forward to doing more business with them in the future.
Stay tuned for first impressions and break-in of the new Monster!
I used this opprotunity to polish up the mufflers and over axle pipes before reinstallation.
Before:
After:
YEA!!! My tips are finally strait! That won't last long.
Don't foget to give everything a good "once-over" to make sure you connected all of your plugs and that everything is bolted down and routed correctly. Might also want to change all your fluids now too.
Only two days of work and we're back on the ground ready for a test drive.
Here's a big thumbs up for the team at Eastcoast Performance. Joey and Mike have shown me the best customer service I have seen in a very long time. Very quick to return emails, PM's, and phone calls. They also answered ALLLLL of my questions with accurate and descriptive information. I could not be happier with the service I that I received from Eastcoast Performance. I really look forward to doing more business with them in the future.Stay tuned for first impressions and break-in of the new Monster!
05-25-2009, 05:30 PM
#12
Melting Slicks
Nice write up Casey, wish I could have been there to help you out. I have to admit, I am going to miss the smell and sound of your old clutch slipping. 
05-25-2009, 05:53 PM
#13
Burning Brakes
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05-25-2009, 06:30 PM
#14
Burning Brakes
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Start-Up and First Drive:
Once we finally finished bleeding the new slave and remote bleeder I got to feel what my new clutch was really going to feel like. I loved it. Pedal feel is definitely stiffer than stock but still very comfortable (I prefer a pretty stiff petal anyway). Time to fire up the car and listen for rattles or vibrations. Everything sounded pretty good. I let it get pretty hot to seal all the exhaust gaskets and clamps. With the pedal pushed down I ran the shifter through each gear without issue. Time to try it out!
The very first time I lifted my foot with the car in first gear I lifted very slowly and then ZOOM! The clutch grabbed hard and the car pulled forward. To my relief, not one bit of chatter. I knew right then that I made the right choice by using a Monster. I drove back and forth in first and reverse a few times to feel things out. Everything checked good. Time to take it out for a little cruise.
On my way home the clutch was just as "grabby" as before. I did get some very slight chatter in first from a dead stop. All other shifts are smooth and silent. The first gear chatter is so slight that it actually feels like I'm spinning a tire over about a quarter rotation and then catching traction. Sorry if that is confusing but that is the best way I can describe it. Not voilent at all. Hands down the smoothest aftermarket clutch I have ever felt (and I've driven them all).
If it drives this nice with only about 25 miles on it I can only imagine what it will feel like after a complete break-in. I have not been over 3k RPM yet so I can't speak about high RPM shifts or vibration yet. I can tell you that, with the exception of first gear starts, it drives just like OEM. So far, I am super impressed with the performance, feel, and driveability of the clutch.
Also, one thing to consider if you are concerned about the minimal chatter in first gear is that my car isn't stock. The car is already pretty rough at low RPM due to the big cam. With that said, I would still be very surprised if I have any chatter at all after a complete break-in. I drove it to work tonight so I'll keep you all posted as the break-in continues. So far so good!
Once we finally finished bleeding the new slave and remote bleeder I got to feel what my new clutch was really going to feel like. I loved it. Pedal feel is definitely stiffer than stock but still very comfortable (I prefer a pretty stiff petal anyway). Time to fire up the car and listen for rattles or vibrations. Everything sounded pretty good. I let it get pretty hot to seal all the exhaust gaskets and clamps. With the pedal pushed down I ran the shifter through each gear without issue. Time to try it out!
The very first time I lifted my foot with the car in first gear I lifted very slowly and then ZOOM! The clutch grabbed hard and the car pulled forward. To my relief, not one bit of chatter. I knew right then that I made the right choice by using a Monster. I drove back and forth in first and reverse a few times to feel things out. Everything checked good. Time to take it out for a little cruise.
On my way home the clutch was just as "grabby" as before. I did get some very slight chatter in first from a dead stop. All other shifts are smooth and silent. The first gear chatter is so slight that it actually feels like I'm spinning a tire over about a quarter rotation and then catching traction. Sorry if that is confusing but that is the best way I can describe it. Not voilent at all. Hands down the smoothest aftermarket clutch I have ever felt (and I've driven them all).
If it drives this nice with only about 25 miles on it I can only imagine what it will feel like after a complete break-in. I have not been over 3k RPM yet so I can't speak about high RPM shifts or vibration yet. I can tell you that, with the exception of first gear starts, it drives just like OEM. So far, I am super impressed with the performance, feel, and driveability of the clutch.
Also, one thing to consider if you are concerned about the minimal chatter in first gear is that my car isn't stock. The car is already pretty rough at low RPM due to the big cam. With that said, I would still be very surprised if I have any chatter at all after a complete break-in. I drove it to work tonight so I'll keep you all posted as the break-in continues. So far so good!
05-25-2009, 08:11 PM
#18
Drifting
Patiently awaiting review as well. I am really close to getting this clutch. I read some reviews about the chatter and how to maybe get rid of some of it. Let us know what you think.
05-25-2009, 09:01 PM
#20
Safety Car
You have a Awesome looking vette! Mike is a great guy, had lunch with him and the other guys from the shop and they are all top notch guys. Im getting a Monster Clutch when mine goes out, its good to still here good reviews
Mike is a great guy, had lunch with him and the other guys from the shop and they are all top notch guys. Im getting a Monster Clutch when mine goes out, its good to still here good reviews