New here, owned a 2005 roadster for a year, installed a JWt kit, the car is still on four jack stands. Started up well, clutch seems to work fine (after spending hours bleeding it)

Goes into gear smooth, but when reving the engine the slip light comes on and it will not go past about 1000 rpms. If I turn the slip button off, it revs smooth, and will go to redline,. but when shifting to second (again up on jack stands) I get a terrible shuddering. Not sure if it's coming from the clutch, engine or tranny.

Could it be because I'm on jack stands with no traction to the tires I'm getting this?

I was very careful with the crank/cam sensor, removed and replaced it very carefully. Any ideas?
No check engine light, does that mean no codes?

 

Did you install the flywheel in the correct orientation?

 

The back of the flywheel had only one little indent (between two of the bolt holes) there was a small pin sticking out of the crank between two of the bolt holes. I made sure the two lined up and the flywheel bolted in flat. I measured the flywheel surface and bot the old eom flywheel and the JWT flywheel were exactly 2 inches from the engine block

Make sense

 

Does the engine light come on when you throw a code in the Z?

So far no engine light. I didn't want to drop in from the jack stands in case I had problems

 

There can be codes and no light.


If the motor runs smoothly, just cuts and you get slip light, its prob not the flywheel orientation. I have had something similar happen after doing a trans job and revving in the air...I don't remember any "shuddering" though.

Put her down and see...leave all the little stuff off.

 

My take is slip control will get alerted if car is not on the ground. See what happens after driving it around for a couple cycles. My slip light came on after a smog check on the rollers. May take a couple cycles (re starts) to turn off.

 

You are getting the slip light because the back wheels are spinning and the front are stationary.... does the same thing when you dyno.

 

OK, since it could idle and the engine redline, I figured the flywheel must be in right. It only rock and rolled while shifting on jack stands at low RPM. Clutch seemed to release, the gears seemed to work. So I brought it down and took it for a ride.

Runs and shifts better than ever. I took it easy but it was as smooth as butter. No slip light and no shudder when shifting. Very, very little chatter. As a matter of fact the wife and heard no chatter, unless we were going up hill in second at a crawl with less than 1500 RPMs. It was like we had to make it chatter. Very very pleased with the JWT setup w/ Alum flywheel. It was the $774 kit.

The only problem I had was bleeding the clutch after putting in the s/s braided clutch line on. It took the wife and I about an hour to finally get the air out. After all it is her ride.

Great website, thanks for all the help. I have saved blood, sweat, and money thanks to you all.

 

make sure you do the proper break in for it

 

Well thats good to hear, i bought the same setup and will be installing it when i get home from my current deployment. Do you have any tips on bleading the SS Clutch Lines?

 

I understand I need to drive like an old lady for 500-1000 miles to break it in.

I bleed it just like you bleed breaks. It seems the first 20 minutes of pushing the clutch up and down did nothing. I read about using a vacuum pump, reverse bleeding, and a ton of other ideas on the web. One idea worked for me.

Had the wife push down the clutch very slowly (and I mean slowly) as I opened the bleeder. It seemed once the clutch hit a certain spot fluid began to flow. It took about 30 minutes until I started to see the slave plunger move just a 1/16 of an inch. It took about 15 minutes of pushing the clutch in and pulling it up by hand until he slave plunger finally started moving the clutch fork. Then my wife had to sit in the Z and use her foot to push the clutch and it started to return on its own.

After about twenty pumps with her foot we had the clutch working. As with everyone else who did this install, the release is close to the floor; We both like the way it feels.

It is smooth shifting, grabs quicker than the OE clutch. Again this light (14 lbs) flywheel seems very quiet. I just took my time on the install and used the tutorial from this site. No surprises at all.

 

The clutches on these are an absolute pig to bleed, some people run into days and still don't have it quite right. With the slip button on you're going to encounter problems as the wheels are spinning at different speeds when on jacks. Its the same as if you go round a corner too quickly and in too high a gear and you'll notice that the brakes will apply themselves without any driver input to the wheel/s that will slow the car in the safest way. This is what happens in my GT when the ESP is applied.

 

I put about 600 miles around town and about 300 highway miles on the new clutch. Works great, smooth and nice takeoff. After about 400-500 miles the clutch releases high just like stock. (Just like everyone says)

The only thing I noticed: light weight flywheel revs faster but also drops rpm quicker between shifts. So if you are driving like an old man on a Sunday drive, you may have to tap the gas get the rpm up to make a smother shift.

Not a problem, I am an old man, but never drive like one.

I would do the same clutch and flywheel again, very happy.

 

It is very rewarding when you are actually work on your car and have fun driving at the end of the day.

From 1 to 10 rating. How hard is the DIY JWT clutch and flywheel installation job? I might consider tackle this job myself near future. I installed headers and cats and most every one says it is a pain in the butt, but I was manage to do with ease.

 

Well, I'm 58, good shape, go to the gym 3-5 days a week. Did the whole job myself. My son-in-law helped me slide it out (on a transmission jack). And slide it back in. I wrenched every bolt and us clipped every connector. In the 70s I would rebuild engines, standard transmissions and differentials.

Now about all I do: brakes, tune- ups, exhaust, oil change and light mechanical.

First clutch job in 30 years. Hand tools, jack stands, and reading a ton of online info. I took it slow over two weeks.

I would saw it was a 7, with 1 being a piece of cake and 10 being never again. Second time around would not even phase me.

Beside bleeding the clutch, I had a little difficulty getting the tranny to go in that last 1 1/2 inches. Just play, twisted, pushed and turned the crank from the front many times until it just slid in.

I must have crawled under the car a thousand times only to crawl out 1 minute later to get a different tool. It would have been much easier if I had a gopher.

 

I would thing replacing the cats would be more of a pain

 

Clutch job without a lift I would definitely consider some driveway hero ****...at my age I'll gladly pay for a lift or someone else to do it. When I was young and broke, I'd be all over it lol.

 

The reason replacing cats and headers would be more of a pain is because cramp space and those evil cats and headers bolts. You just need to be a little creative with tools and wrench, and some muscle to break loose those bolts. WD40 and PB blaster are your friend. Spray them bolts and let sit for day, then you will get them out.

 

Do you have any advise how you would align the clutch and flywheel when install if you were going to try second attempt Also, do you have any pointer how you would bleed the fluid efficiently and correctly?

I was going send to the shop to do my clutch and flywheel job, but you already have convinced me to DIY installation.

 

slip light will come on if you running the z on jack stands cause the front wheels are not moving. Put it back to the floor and drive it a bit and the light will turn off. If not... you messed something up.