How much will a new clutch kit installed cost, labor only?

[rdksek844]

you are crazy!!

I'm going to apologize ahead of time.

You obviously know the steps behind a clutch replacement, but none of the logic behind it. A RESURFACED OEM FLYWHEEL WILL NOT CAUSE PROBLEMS

the problems you refer to are with some of the aftermarket steel and aluminum ones. ALWAYS RESURFACE YOUR FLYWHEEL

Now that I got the bitching done.

the flywheel must be perfectly resurfaced when mated with a new clutch. The surface of the flywheel unresurfaced will be inconsistent, will have hot spots, glaze, and will NOT grab the clutch nearly as good. In order for your clutch to break in properly, it needs a resurfaced fresh flywheel. your clutch disc is not perfectly flat, and relies on the flywheel to mate in and wear even (the 500 mile break-in) this is why you do NOT floor the vehicle, even after in gear, because your clutch disc has surface irregularities, and does not contact the flywheel 100% until it wears in. too much throttle can/will cause the disc to slip after fully engaged, possibly glazing over the disc/flywheel and ruining it.

skipping a $30 re-surface is pretty much wasting your clutch job. Yes it will usually work, but you are not getting anywhere near the full potential that the clutch may have gotten.

I'll tell you what is crazy: Spending money and time on something that is not needed. Like I said if the surface fails to pass a runout check, or you have discoloration or smearing of the metal surface, then I said I recommend replacing the flywheel. I have the flywheel that I pulled out of my 93 that was resurfaced by a mchine shop by the previous owner and it looked worse than the one that i put in from the 87 gt that had 130,000 miles on it. If I didnt have one then I would have replaced it, but I would not have remachined it. Once meteal is heated up past its yield point the grain size changes and so does the strength properties of the metal. It is possible to machine a surface of metal and over stress the metal and once it is reheated, it may warp. Look it up if you dont believe me. All I was saying is if the flywheel checks out bad after inspection, then I would much rather replace it for an extra 70.00 than run the risk of having to pull the tranny out and swap the flywheel and now maybe even the clutch due to flywheel being improperly machine. Also, I am no expert, nor am I drivetrain engineer, but neither are you. I am just trying to save someone the trouble I had to go through because of a remachined flywheel.

 

[v8only]

Really sorry you had a bad experience with what was likely a jackass at a lathe.

my best suggestion is to always take it into an expert, and I'll still stick by the common believe that it is always best to resurface a flywheel.

to be fair, in my younger years, I slapped a clutch back together without re surfacing, and yes it worked. I never really knew the difference until the next time I did a clutch and surfaced and could actually feel the difference. the second time around it would actually chirp second.

on a mostly stock mustang, you'll probably never see a big difference, however once the mods start coming on heavy, that's no place to slack.

a glazed over flywheel can cause slipping against a fresh clutch disk. I've done at least 9 clutch jobs on 5.0 mustangs, and i've never seen a used flywheel coming out looking anywhere close to a good resurfaced one, nor have i seen one come out that didn't come out looking glazed. the two break in and mate together as a unit.

 

[saniutza]

i live in MD and i got it done for $250

 

[rdksek844]

All I've done in the past is lightly scuff the surface of the flywheel with a scotchbrite pad or really light sandpaper like 800 grit or so. Never enough to remove even .0005" material. My current stang is the one with the 130,000 mile flywheel, and it catches third on a cold day and gets sideways in second. I really dont think I'm slipping at all, but if i am I really doubt im slipping enough to make any noticeable difference. Like I said, and not to beat a dead horse, in my past experience I've only had 1 time where there was a clutch to flywheel issue and that was a resurfaced flywheel. I still have it if anyone would like to see pics. Oh, and even if you take it to a "good" machine shop, who's to say that the machinist will use coolant and slow his speed and feed rate enough to prevent overheating and resizing of the surface grain structure. Furthermore, I very seriously doubt that the resurfaced flywheels are put through a furnace to stress relieve the flywheel after machining in your local shop like the oem flywheel is put through. If you are lucky enough to find a good shop and a good machinist, then great. But my point was the gamble was not worth it to me to save 70.00. I use my car as a daily driver and can't afford down time nor is the work worth it.

 

[bmo37]

either get a new flywheel or have the stocker resurfaced, its a waste of time and money if you buy a new clutch, only to have it wear faster because of heat spots, scuffs or uneven surfaces on the flywheel.

I bought a pretty cheap aluminum flywheel from TMD on ebay for $279 beans, simply because I wasn't going to throw a 300 dollar clutch out the window cause of inperfections on the old flywheel.