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LUK clutch blew, stranded......

blu_fuz said:
-$110 for 2 ball joints
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Your call, but Advance Auto has whole Dorman lower A-arms w/ball joints at $59 each + tax. I've used these and they're perfectly fine.

I think you'll be fine with the Clutchnet disc and LUK/OEM cover and pressure plate. You might want to mic up the new lining thickness on both discs, they should be close, I'd be worried about more than 0.030" difference, especially of the Clutchnet disc is thicker, as it may not release.

I used to build my own Taurus SHO clutches, and built them for several years for the SHO community as they went through much the same thing we're seeing now with CSVT clutches: Poor quality and short lifetimes, spline hubs ripping out, poorly built stuff from China, etc.

I'd love to know what Clutchnet does to make their yellow, red, and green pressure plate assemblies different from each other. Moving pressure plate pivots around to increase clamp load looks easy, but the trade-off is less tolerance for lining wear - the clutch starts life at high clamp load with a full thickness lining, but the load decreases rapidly as the lining wears and thins.
 
rexxdoggy said:
I have a stage 2 clutchnet disc with a LUK pressure plate. Have about 25xxx miles or so. Not even LUK TOB either. Something from Carquest. You can't slip it too much otherwise it'll heat up too quickly and won't grab hard if you're getting on it. Unless it's just in my head? lol
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what material is on the stage 2?
 
gmorrell said:
Your call, but Advance Auto has whole Dorman lower A-arms w/ball joints at $59 each + tax. I've used these and they're perfectly fine.
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I realize that Advance Auto (we don't have one around here) has the complete control arm/bj for cheap. Those are the EXACT same arms I have in my car now that only have 26,000 miles on them. The ball joints are junk already. Matter of fact, only after about 10,000 miles the BJ boots were destroyed/dry rotted/cracked apart - that's why I have to replace the BJs now and I don't want to do it again or pay for it again. The MOOG BJs are lifetime replacement warranty and the store is local.

The control arm bushings are still ok though. Nice and tight, no fore/aft or l/r movement or cracking in the rubber inserts.



Some more progress today. Got the transmission into work to chip away all the loose yellow paint on the case. Wiped the grease/oil off it and got everything masked off to start blasting it back to bare metal. The yellow was fun, but didn't last at all. The self-etching primer just let go and the rest was history.
 
gmorrell said:
Your call, but Advance Auto has whole Dorman lower A-arms w/ball joints at $59 each + tax. I've used these and they're perfectly fine.

I think you'll be fine with the Clutchnet disc and LUK/OEM cover and pressure plate. You might want to mic up the new lining thickness on both discs, they should be close, I'd be worried about more than 0.030" difference, especially of the Clutchnet disc is thicker, as it may not release.

I used to build my own Taurus SHO clutches, and built them for several years for the SHO community as they went through much the same thing we're seeing now with CSVT clutches: Poor quality and short lifetimes, spline hubs ripping out, poorly built stuff from China, etc.

I'd love to know what Clutchnet does to make their yellow, red, and green pressure plate assemblies different from each other. Moving pressure plate pivots around to increase clamp load looks easy, but the trade-off is less tolerance for lining wear - the clutch starts life at high clamp load with a full thickness lining, but the load decreases rapidly as the lining wears and thins.
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Thats awesome, I'd like to hear more of what you have to say about clutch design!

blu_fuz said:
I realize that Advance Auto (we don't have one around here) has the complete control arm/bj for cheap. Those are the EXACT same arms I have in my car now that only have 26,000 miles on them. The ball joints are junk already. Matter of fact, only after about 10,000 miles the BJ boots were destroyed/dry rotted/cracked apart - that's why I have to replace the BJs now and I don't want to do it again or pay for it again. The MOOG BJs are lifetime replacement warranty and the store is local.

The control arm bushings are still ok though. Nice and tight, no fore/aft or l/r movement or cracking in the rubber inserts.



Some more progress today. Got the transmission into work to chip away all the loose yellow paint on the case. Wiped the grease/oil off it and got everything masked off to start blasting it back to bare metal. The yellow was fun, but didn't last at all. The self-etching primer just let go and the rest was history.
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I can't believe how bad your paint is flaking. I've been painting mine silver since the first day I touched one of these cars with a wrench and have never had a problem. could it maybe have been prep work?
 
Yeah, it isn't pretty and I don't know why the etching primer didn't bite into the aluminum.

1128121215b.jpg
 
Man that sucks, it looked good too.

I know when I do mine, I scrub it down really well with gasoline, then scrub that down with a strong detergent of some kind (whatever the stongest stuff in the house is. that dawn power spray stuff works really well, it's like lye) and then hose that off extremely well with either a pressure washer or a hose, again whatever I have. then I spray the water out of all the pores with starting fluid and let it dry completely in a warm non-dusty area.

after that I use cheap Walmart silver as a primer, spray it on till it runs and puddles, and scrub that into the pores of the casting with a scrub brush. let that dry well, then one light coat of cheap spray and let it dry over night. the next day I'll take whatever paint I chose to use and put that over top. lately I've really liked that stainless steel spray from Autozone. it comes out like brushed nickle light fixtures in your house. you lay it on in several very light coats, till it looks dusty. let that dry fairly well, almost completely dry, then take a dry paint brush and bush off all the dust. looks epic and wears amazingly.

that's just what I do. you can do whatever you want with yours, just thought I'd share my technique. I do my engine blocks the same way, but with a lot less care to the final finish because hey, you can barely see it in there.
 
^ good to know.

I'm going to leave it raw now that I will have plenty of hours into blasting it..... :nonono:


Clutchnet said they are shipping it tomorrow and I should have it in 3-4 days. Damn, won't get here for the weekend.
 
Wow, I can't believe the paint chipping like that!!! :nonono:

I wonder if the heat had something to do with it? I assume that you used high temp paint? Sometimes the oil will do that also, but it is all over the trans case, so I doubt that was it...

As far as the clutch, very interesting info from all you guys. I put in a new SVT clutch (which is apparently LUK) when I had my 3L thrown in over the summer... Now after seeing this, I am almost afraid to drive the car aggresively... :(

But aside from all of that, I'm glad you jumped into the fire so soon after Eggplant went down ... And the 500? Just look at it as your yearly deductable! Hahahahah, could be paying $500/month car payment for a new car. So $500 per year is not so bad buddy! ;)

Good luck with everything bud.
 
Hydrargyrum said:
Hahahahah, could be paying $500/month car payment for a new car. So $500 per year is not so bad buddy! ;)

Good luck with everything bud.
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Exactly!

blu_fuz said:
^ good to know.

I'm going to leave it raw now that I will have plenty of hours into blasting it..... :nonono:


Clutchnet said they are shipping it tomorrow and I should have it in 3-4 days. Damn, won't get here for the weekend.
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I'd put something on it, the aluminum corrodes ferociously on these things. even just clear. just my .02 though.

I could get you some pics of ones I've done if you're interested though
 
done:
-trans is blasted
-rear suspension swap done (koni/gc to H&R)
-rear long wheel studs installed
-new main coolant hose installed
-new thermostat installed
-broken wiper cowl removed :blackeye:
-flywheel resurfaced
-new DS front wheel bearing
-new DS/PS ball joints


to do:
-paint trans silver
-new axle/shift rod seals
-repair leaky fuel line
-WAIT FOR THE CLUTCH
-front long wheel studs
-install front suspension/knuckles
-fuel filter


1202121306.jpg

1128121215b1.jpg
 
Trans was cleaned off, etch primed, and is now painted silver :drool:.

Hurry up clutch!
 
dorman sucks ive always said that...... no one listens.. but here comes a few people that back them up...

I just want to state that is the dorman control arm costs $36 and the ford control arm costs $120 its for a reason.
 
Confirmed. Dorman 100% garbage. I've had multiple bad joints brand new from RA, and i have a pop on my PS LCA.
 
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