0hOneGT

So about 3 months/2k miles ago, I replaced my stock clutch with an 03-04 cobra clutch from frpp. The stocker was ok, just the throwout bearing was making noise. When I replaced the stocker, I replaced the T/O bearing, pilot bearing, and had the flywheel resurfaced. Anyway, for maybe the first 1000 miles (after a 500 or so mile break in) all was good.
After about 1200-1500 miles, i've been getting a lot of chatter at highway speeds, think 65+ mph in 5th gear. In addition to the chatter, any time I hit about 3k rpms and up, I hear a metal on metal grinding sound coming from the clutch. It definately is coming from the clutch, or clutch area (middle of the car basically) and it only usually audible if i'm driving near a wall or something for the sound to reflect off of. If i'm on an open highway, I can barely hear it at all from the cabin, but it's definately still there. Again this happens only under moderate to hard acceleration, starting at around 3k rpms.
Anyone have any idea what could be causing the chatter and/or grinding sound? Is it possible the two could be related? I really have no educated idea (hence the post) but some things I have been throwing around in my head include possible need for a clutch quadrant/firewall adjuster, possible poor installation of the clutch, and/or possible exhaust leak (metal sound)combined with simply a chattery clutch. Any help in diagnosing this would be much appreciated! Thanks!

demighost

I have the same exact problem, I was told when I bought the car it had a frpp clutch but I thought the frpp was for a t45 not the tr3650, Anyway I get this soud also but I would say its like a scraping in a very rapid intermittent pattern. Kinda like scraping sandpaper against eachother. I only get it during acceleration past 3k. Sorry for the hijack but Since it seems we have same sound I wanted to add more on it lol.

Makes you feel uneasy about it correct? Sometimes on hard driving I let off from fear of breaking something. I think I need a new clutch tho I get TOB whine every once in a blue while also

cliffyk

Is the cable adjusted properly? There should be 1-1/4" to 1-5/8" freeplay in the pedal...

0hOneGT

Exactly the same. But this clutch only has 3k or less miles on it, not sure about the mileage on yours. But yeah, I hate accelerating rapidly because it just doesn't sound right.

As in I should be able to push the clutch down 1 1/4" to 1-5/8" before I get engagement? How is that adjusted?

cliffyk

Press on the pedal with your hand, there should be that free play before you feel the TOB contacting the clutch spring. Here's a god write-up on adjusting the clutch cable via the factory semi-automatic adjuster, and manually.

The best fix is to get an aftermarket quadrant and a firewall adjuster--one of the better mods I've done...

0hOneGT

In your opinion do you think that's what I need (quadrant and firewall adjuster )to get the chatter and noises i'm hearing to stop?

cliffyk

How much free-play doe the pedal have?

Best case scenario is it may be that all you have to do is adjust the cable.

Worst case scenario is that the cable has been too tight for 1200 miles and the throw bearing is toasted.

For some reason there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding clutch cable adjustment, with being too tight a common theme. The free-play in the pedal is needed so that the throwout bearing is unloaded when the pedal is released. They (ToBs) are not made to spin constantly and will not hold up long with even a light constant load on them.

0hOneGT

it doesn't have much or any free play. I'll try adjusting it to see and see if that helps, then possibly move on to an adjuster and see what happens from there. Thanks!