SPEC stage 3 install problems

[asthmaticZeater]

ok guys. car in question here is a 97 cobra, 60k miles. mods include weld in flows, bbk o/r H w/ mils, tri ax, 4.30s and some suspension. its my buddys car.

so yesterday we put a new clutch in it, spec stage 3 (he has big plans so he figured hed go overboard here) install went smooth enough, and he drove it home last night at 1am.

i get a call today and all hell seems to have broken loose on it. i feel really (emphasis on the really) bad as i was the one who did the work. never had any problems when ive done the 3 ive done already before. and i didnt have any real problems in the install. all went smooth. anyways, i need yalls help on figuring this stuff out.

first off, speedometer stopped working this morning. he said he kinda got on it, and went to bang second but grinded it. he said it was a pretty bad grind. anyways, speedo doesnt work now. ive checked the tranny connections and theyre good. what could this be? (he has a speedcal installed, could it be related to it in someway)

secondly. when coming to a stop in nuetral, it will die. i drove it myself earlier, and sure enough, it does. it wont do it if you coast and lightly use your brakes. but if you get on them even decently hard the car will die. what could this be?

now finally, the clutch itself. when driving, the pedal vibrates BAD. and it makes a noise at idle in nuetral with the pedal released. kinda a swooshy sound. pedal vibrates any time its not pushed in.

we called and spec told us that the swooshy sound was kinda the nature of the beast. after all its not really a daily driver clutch. and said that the vibrating is because the t.o.b. isnt adjusted properly and is riding against the pressure plate all the time.
does this sound right? and how would we adjust it? it still has the factory quadrant & cable. and weve already done the pull up on the pedal deal but no worky.

i know its long but i really need soem ideas here guys. any help is greatly appreciated

 

[103]

Well, first off, you should replace the T/O bearing anytime you do a clutch just cause it's a cheap part that's otherwise hard to get to. Also, with a T-45 going to a Spec Stage 3 will more than likely cause it to break sooner than it normally would--a stock clutch is more than sufficient for that tranny.

The swoosh is normal, but I don't know what to tell you about the vibe. I've had three stage 3s (two on 3650--shouldn't have, too much clutch--and one on my TKO) and have never had a bad vibe. I've had a little more vibration than when it was all stock, but that's expected. Are you sure the vibe is that bad? And is the T/O bearing making and repeating squeeking sounds?

Also, the stall thing... Well, mine does sometimes. I've heard of a lot of Mustangs doing this, actually. Maybe the IAC needs to be adjusted... And, the speedo... Check the fuse and pull the sensor out of the T45 and check the speedo gear (unless it's an electric sensor, I don't know about 97 T-45s). Make sure the el-cheapo power connection is good--the wire can become loose but might not fall out, so give it a little tug. Oh--I almost forgot. The easiest way to tell if the sensor is transmitting is to take the top off the speedcal and see if the LED lights up as you begin to move (around 5 mph is when it should begin to recieve a signal). If it doesn't light up, then it is the sensor. If it does light up, it's the guage or the fuse.

Good luck.