I'm a newbie to cars, so this may be obvious.

havew an 80 z28

I think my clutch may be going. I have only had teh car for a few months. But tonight while driving it, when I was at a stop, had the clutch on the floor, and was in first gear waiting to take off. And the car sounded like it was vibrating, to me almost like the gears were almost engaging, it goes away once I get the car moving. But it happened the last two times I was at a stop before I got home.

When I was sitting in the driveway, I just tried shifting through the gears, and couldn't get the noise/vibration to replicate. Until on occassion when I put it in reverse it'll feel like it's catching a little bit as I put it into reverse and I'lll get that slight grinding.

To me, again I'm new, sounds like the clutch is wearing, but just wanted to get an opinion out of you guys b/c you all seem to know a lot about these cars.

thanks for the help guys

 

Might just need a simple adjustment. How much free pedal do you have at the top. If you push the pedal lightly by hand it will move. This movement shouldn't be more than about 3/4"-1" and if it's more then it needs adjustment. Might not be completely disengaging, and that will cause premature failure if not attended to.

 

thanks for the info, like i said i'm pretty new at this stuff.

I will take a look at it when I get home.

 

bb427

I believe it does just need an adjustment now. It does have some play to it, and I got one of those haynes repair manuals. One of the signs it lists for needing an adjustment is if you switch between first and reverse and it catches.

Doesn't seem like too hard of a task, although I am a rookie at this stuff.

 

You've got to trust yourself.

...And if that dont work, you can always ask on here or consult Google and YouTube.

 

Just follow the book carefully and make sure you don't adjust it too far. You need a little freeplay or the throwout bearing will go bad. Just not so much that the clutch wont fully disengage.

 

I have an owners manual from my 78Z donor, it said 2 to 2 1/2 inches of free travel total. At one inch the clutch would begin to slip under hard load.

 

Can't imagine that the pressure plate would have that much change that the pedal would need 2.5" of freeplay! I'm also wondering if you could completely disengage the pressure plate with that much freeplay on the top?

 

Without looking at your owners manual, I can't say what it's referring to. But free travel and free play are two different things. Travel means movement, play means gap or slop. Even a small fraction of free play at the pedal will keep the clutch engaged, the inch at the pedal is to allow for clutch disc wear.

 

I was able to shift smoothly in less than 3 inches of stroke and the pedal was stiff. once I set it to 2.5" at the bottom of the pedal, it operated a lot better. It's possible it may have something to do with the amount of stock I had to remove to get a good surface on the flywheel, which should have been replaced.