John SCB

Final update: The source of the vibration was caused by two loose exhaust hangar isolators. They are attached to the transmission crossmember. I put zip-ties on as a temporary fix. Then I couldn't find the parts online and the dealer couldn't locate them either. After a lot of time and online searching I discovered TSB 08-3-4 for Mustangs built before 12/3/2007:

http://www.stangpit.com/wp-content/i...b/08-03-04.pdf

I was amazed at how much vibration was coming up through the gear shifter and even under the seat. Glad this problem is finally fixed.

ford4v429

glad you got her fixed up, funny how something so seemingly irrelevant can affect a lot... i couldnt get the link to open, the links probably ok, but this computers actin goofy the last couple weeks... those little rubber hangers are something ive never thought about, probably should be swapped out every 5-? years...I'm sure time takes its toll on them, think I'll pick up some spares.

on mine, the 50 dollar newtakeoff clutch (disc only) is doing great, been in 5 or 6 months, and couple weeks ago took it on a 5800 mile jaunt out west (wife drove her 07 also)- these cars are surprisingly great highway cruisers. hoping as long as I dont do anything else stupid at the dragstrip, might get to 100k before replacing it completely- time will tell

John SCB

Those rubber hangers are the problem. The TSB calls for them to be removed from the transmission crossmember. In fact, the parts are no longer available from Ford. Mine started loosening up when all that clutch work was being done. You can't tighten the hangers...just take 'em off. Ford claims they are needed only for the initial production of the vehicle. However, I'd hate to do an H-pipe install without some kind of support hangers. Oh well, all good now.

ford4v429

wow, the tsb says just pitch them? (still cant open the link here) seems like a awfully long unsupported length...

Cavero

Yep it says they were only ever there to aid in assembly at the plant. Like John was saying, they're not even there on later cars. The thing that surprised me about the TSB is they said not to cut the hangars off the pipes, you just bend them back

John SCB

Well, it's been almost 2 yeats since I started with the clutch replacement ordeal. About 6 months ago, the clutch pedal started grabbing VERY close to the floor. It also became difficult to get the car into first and reverse gear. There was a lot of stiff shifting and occasional grinding between shifts in 1st and 2nd. The car would also surge forward if I started it in gear with the clutch in. Great. I sure didn't want to pull it apart all over again! We tried bleeding the system several times. It got a little better but not by much. I stopped driving the car until we had time to get a closer look at the problem.

My buddy owns a BMW independent shop. He suspected the problem was related to an air leak in the clutch master cylinder or clutch tube (runs from the MC to the slave cylinder in the bell housing). We replaced both parts and bled the system three times. Hope the problem is solved.

John SCB

Final update: About two weeks after we replaced the clutch master and tube, the pedal gradually started grabbing closer to the floor again. The problem with shifting and grinding came back with a vengeance. It got so bad that I stopped driving the car. I was referred to a shop that specialized in general repair of American cars. After hearing my story, the tech thought that maybe the flywheel had been machined down too far when installing the first clutch. It made sense, as that's when all the problems started. I did some research on the internet. I found a thread related to installing a centerforce clutch in a Jeep. The symptoms of pedal travel and difficult shifting etc, were identical to mine. The advice was to replace the flywheel. So, that's what I did. I'm happy to report the car is back to shifting exactly as it should be; smoothly. The clutch grabs where it's supposed to. The car has regained some lost torque and my gas mileage has improved. Amazing. What an exercise. In retrospect, I should have waited until the clutch started to slip before replacing it. The moral of this story: If it ain't broke, don't let someone else break it for you and then tell you it's fixed.

Dmagil01US

I talked with a guy at American Muscle about clutches and he told me unless you've made significant hp increases to the engine for normal daily driving he recommended the Exedy Mach 500 Stage 3 grooved, anything more you'd sacrifice a nice easy working clutch with a hard pedal and very grabby clutch.

John SCB

I decided to upgrade the clutch after installing the 466HP/437TQ Edelbrock E-Force supercharger. The amazing thing is that the factory clutch handled the extra power quite well. After the nightmare experience with the first c-force clutch, I went back to the Ford OEM kit. I just wish the shop had measured the cut on the flywheel before installing it.

Dmagil01US

The stock clutch should be able to handle that hp, it's only 35hp or less than OEM if this is for a coyote 5.0. The guys at American Muscle are great at advising what clutch to use for your specific car with any mods taken into consideration, it's free advice and the don't push a sale on you. Whenever it comes time to upgrade my clutch unless I fall into a money tree and can get a twin turbo or Rousch Stage 3 supercharger out on my car I'll be getting The exedy mach 500 stage 3 grooved clutch kit and a new flywheel which is thousand in parts alone.

ford4v429

i never woulda thought taking a .015 or whatever clean up cut woulda affected anything- they cut it 'flat' right? (clutch surface and pressure plate mounting area all in one plane)... could see if just the center were cut but not the PP mounting area, but always assumed these were blanchard ground... only one i ever did was for father-in-laws work truck 35 yrs ago, used the small blanchard at work... now i hear they recommend NOT using a blanchard for some reason, guess maybe the crosshatch might wear the clutch initially or something?