Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

[FuryCharger]

Background:

1997 camaro: Intercooled Garrett T4 turbo with P&Pd heads, Stage II Intense Camshaft, fully upgraded valvetrain, fully upgraded fuel system, Z28 rear end with 3.42s and everything else that supports this setup.

Project:

After I finished my turbo project last year I blew my clutch out on the first couple runs cause it just couldnt hold the power. So I waited til this year to do the clutch. So I am in the beginning stages of my 2010 project for the camaro. That project originally started out with just changing my blown out clutch to a centerforce clutch but I have had an irritating oil leak for quite some time now and I want to try and replace as many gaskets as possible while the tranny is off. I may also swap out the starter as well as it is on its way out I know. That is only if I have the money! I plan to do the actual job at the end of March early April.

Prep time: This weekend I will spend ordering parts and doing a full inspection of the oil leak as much as possible. I bought the flourescent dye used to find leaks and after cleaning everything up real good I put in the dye and started her up. I initially found 3 spots without the dye that were leaking. The turbo oil return to both the pan and leaving the turbo. I tightened the connection to the turbo and fixed that. The oil pan return will have to wait. I will monitor the dye each day as it has time to leak through. Hopefully from this I will narrow down which gaskets I definitely need. Stay tuned.

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Checked the oil leakage last night about 8 hours after I added the die and ran the car. I inspected the oil pan and surrounding areas and was puzzled with what I found. To determine the color of the dye I took the blacklight to the oil adding tube and saw that it was an orange color. So I went under the car with the blacklight and saw the same orange color a little around the oil drain plug. I then noticed that the back two bolts of the oil pan had dripped oil but I found no sign of the dye. I then saw a stream of oil coming from the turbo oil pan return to the bottom of the oil pan and dripping, but the color wasnt the orange dye, it had almost a greenish tint to it.

So I am a little confused, at this point, I will order the oil pan gasket, rear seal and rear cover gasket to replace. Any incite would be great!

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Update:

After struggling to free up my oil pan, I finally got it off. I have a friend from work who helped engineer a professional oil drain bung welded to the pan. We did the weld job a couple days ago and it looks great! He mentioned to me that he would do the same job with the same fittings/parts for a cost to anyone who wants it done. I will post pics later.

I plan on leak testing the fitting tonite and painting it with rust protectant.

All the parts are in except for the oil pan gasket, clutch and flywheel. Once I get the gasket I will reinstall the pan and new starter.

The centerforce clutch is on backorder and will take another couple weeks to get it in but as soon as I do I will install it.

Once the pan is in, I am hoping all my oil leak issues will be solved.

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

http://forum.camarov6.cohttp://forum...1&d=1267833568

[ssms5411]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Looks great. How much boost are you running? What type setup FFH or under k?

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Currrently running 10 pounds.

I have a FFH setup. Attached are pics of my headers and setup.

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Update:

I got the oil pan back on and put a decent amount of sealant on the gasket. I am a little concerned with the sealant material getting in the oil but there are plenty of screens and filters to prevent a catastrophe from happening. Anyways, I had a hell of a time getting the motor mount bolts to line back up correctly but I finally got 4 of 6 bolts torqued down.

When I went to start the car, everything was fine, fired right up but then I looked under the hood and saw something evaporating like crazy! turns out, when I jacked the motor up, the fuel pressure sending unit hit the cowl and caused a pinhole leak by the valve and fuel was spraying everywhere.

I quickly turned the car off to prevent an explosion. I ordered a new rail this morning from TA creations for $30. Once I have that installed I just have to wait for my backordered clutch to show up.

[cam98aro]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Update:

I got the oil pan back on and put a decent amount of sealant on the gasket. I am a little concerned with the sealant material getting in the oil but there are plenty of screens and filters to prevent a catastrophe from happening. Anyways, I had a hell of a time getting the motor mount bolts to line back up correctly but I finally got 4 of 6 bolts torqued down.

When I went to start the car, everything was fine, fired right up but then I looked under the hood and saw something evaporating like crazy! turns out, when I jacked the motor up, the fuel pressure sending unit hit the cowl and caused a pinhole leak by the valve and fuel was spraying everywhere.

I quickly turned the car off to prevent an explosion. I ordered a new rail this morning from TA creations for $30. Once I have that installed I just have to wait for my backordered clutch to show up.

how hard was it to get the oil pan off?

I have to do this really soon, and im not looking forward to it

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

U will be fine man. Its not that bad. A couple key points

Key point for me was you need to have the car on jackstands. You then unbolt the motor mounts and trans mount. use 1 jack to jack up one of the mounts and use the second to jack up the tail end of the trans. the bottom of the bellhousing was preventing me from getting my pan all the way down. once I jacked up the tail of the trans is came out pretty good.

[cam98aro]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

U will be fine man. Its not that bad. A couple key points

Key point for me was you need to have the car on jackstands. You then unbolt the motor mounts and trans mount. use 1 jack to jack up one of the mounts and use the second to jack up the tail end of the trans. the bottom of the bellhousing was preventing me from getting my pan all the way down. once I jacked up the tail of the trans is came out pretty good.

cool, thanks, how long did it take you to do it?

i was thinking of just trying to fish the gasket around the oil pickup, if possible, i have done it on other cars before, but they were all v8's with the oil pump at the back of the block

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

It took me about 4-5 hours with no major hickups. The pickup tube wasnt an issue for me taking the pan off. I was able to fish around it pretty easily.

It was tougher getting the pan gasket back on around the tube then taking it off. I had a ton of gasket sealant as well putting it back on so it got kinda messy but worked out fine.

Basic sequence:

Unbolt Ypipe
Unbolt starter
Undo the oil level sensor
Unbolt the drive side support bracket
Unbolt the inspection cover
Unbolt oil pan
Unbolt motor mounts
Unbolt trans mount
Jack 1 motor mount up (Lift about 1")
Jack tail of trans up (Lift about 2" or more)
Take pan out

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Update:

Got my new fuel rail and installed it. turned the car on and everything checked out ok. I have a small exhaust leak but nothing major. took it for a drive and I think it is ready for the new clutch. I got it in the mail a week ago and plan on installing it this weekend. I will keep you all posted.

NO MORE OIL LEAKS! knock on wood

[cam98aro]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

hey, thanks for the info.

i got the gasket replaced a while ago, and my oil pan and exhaust are both bone dry, and im loving it

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Project update:

I spent roughly 20 hours with a buddy installing my centerforce clutch and chaging the rear main this past weekend. It was a project from hell. Took 7 hours to get the trans off. The bolts have been there for 6 years or so. We tried a 3 foot extension for the top bolts with no luck. Turns out, we just used an 18mm wrench and were able to reach them pretty well with just that. (I have Forward facing headers tho). Replacing the rear main had no issues. I had to chisel off the old gasket but got the new one on. Also got covered in coolant when I took the rear cover off. Be careful when taking the rear cover off, you will have to drain your oil because the coolant will fall right into the oil pan. We left the pilot bushing in there, as I had no clue how to remove it and it seemed like it was in good condition so I left it.

It took about 2 hours to get the trans back on. We had to jack the tail end up high and basically slide it in with a lot of jiggling. Complete pain......

While the trans was off I sanded down the top of the tunnel and around the rusty parts of the underbody, got all the dirt off best I could and spray painted the underbody with gloss rustoleum. Looks real good. Also sanded down the torque arm and coated that with rustoleum as well, all red to match the body of the car.

Bleeding the clutch went well.

We had to drain all the coolant, oil and trans fluid to do this job.

I have one more issue to address with the car. My fuel pressure will not hold pressure while the car is off or is primed. I am thinking there is a kink in my line in the tank so I will check that out this week. Scott, my tuner, tuned my 50lb. injectors at 30psi so I am using that for a benchmark.

[FuryCharger]

Re: Clutch and Oil Leak Fix Thread

Update:

So I have been spending time breaking in the new clutch when I notice that my fuel pressure gauge is reading low. I thought no problem. Its not the FPR as that is fairly new so it has to be the fuel pump. Sure enough I popped open the trap door and found the feed line was disconnected. The only problem was that I couldnt get the quick disconnect off the feed line so I spent hours trying to get my hands in the hole to repair the hose clamps. 5 cuts later and pissed off my buddy comes over and we finally got the disconnect off the fuel line to pull the walbro out. I repaired the hose but I noticed that my wire for the gas gauge was real loose and not on the connection very good. I couldnt fix it at this point because the wire seemed extremely taut and it almost barely reached its connection so my gauge still isnt working. but I now have full fuel pressure.