Question in regards to clutch install

This is in regards to my '93 SHO…I had an issue with my previous transmission where I was having trouble upshifting, it was worst in the 1-2 and got better with each upshift thereafter. I ended up putting in a known-to-be-good trans and the problem is still there.

When installing the Autozone remanufactured (i.e. POS) clutch and pressure plate I noticed that when torquing the pressure plate down the fingers were moving, in the same manner as the throwout bearing pressing them in when shifting (however the TO bearing obviously wasn’t around at this point).

So, is this normal for the fingers to move like that??? In my Mustang I don’t ever remember this happening. Any other thoughts as to why I may be having shift issues??? I’ve adjusted the cable on a few occasions with no remedy.

yes…You should torque in an opposite manner meaning if you have 6 bolts your sequence would look like a star of david and it must be evenly torqued…(ie not running one down at a time) otherwise you warp the plate

yeah, it’s moving because you are compressing the pressure plate. This action does two things:

  1. gives the clutch the force to grip the friction disc

  2. in turn, it moves the fingers.

You have to think that as you tighten the bolts up, you are essentially loading the clutch. The more it moves, the more holding force it has. Make sense?

Shift issues could be the bushings at the end of the cables, bad cables, or simply worn out/damaged syncros.

[quote=“Carnut,post:2,topic:25264"”]

yes…You should torque in an opposite manner meaning if you have 6 bolts your sequence would look like a star of david and it must be evenly torqued…(ie not running one down at a time) otherwise you warp the plate

[/quote]

Yep, that’s how I torqued it down. I’m trying to understand how the fingers moving is a good thing…if they move, then the pressure plate disc is in contact with the clutch disc and there is a greater distance between the TO bearing and the fingers…and when the TO bearing contacts the fingers and I push the clutch pedal down, is it possiblte that I can’t fully disengage the clutch, thus making it somewhat difficult to shift???

EDIT: okay…your explanation makes sense. I jsut keep trying to find a reason as to why this car is such a pain to get running properly.

[quote=“LXTASY,post:4,topic:25264"”]

Yep, that’s how I torqued it down. I’m trying to understand how the fingers moving is a good thing…if they move, then the pressure plate disc is in contact with the clutch disc and there is a greater distance between the TO bearing and the fingers…and when the TO bearing contacts the fingers and I push the clutch pedal down, is it possiblte that I can’t fully disengage the clutch, thus making it somewhat difficult to shift???

[/quote]

No, let’s say the fingers didn’t move. Chances are that the whole assembly would crash when you tried to install it. The assembly is designed so that when it is installed, everything is where it should be. Read my post as to why ANY push type clutch will move the fingers during installation.