Finally installed my Stage 2 south bend clutch! Took me 2 days of aggravation due to parts and having to bring the FW to get resurfaced at South Bend. While I was at it I found out one motor mount was trash and the other was about to go out so I had to do both of those at 40 bux a piece. Obviously the 2 down pipe gaskets needed replaced, the couplers after the cats were rusting off replaced them, going to need both flex pipes... tore the netting on them a little, On the way down I managed to forget to take out the RPM sensor and tore the wire clean off that was like 60 bux. Just wanted to share some pictures of how bad the motor mounts really were.

Well I was going to upload a pic but my iPhone doesn't have enough service in here to send lol. I'll get it later...

 

Ok picture of motor mounts



and picture of shiny new clutch bolted up

 

sounds like a bitch to change the clutch on the V6, and also dont you love it when you go to change one thing and find the several other things that have gone wrong.

 

Ya I was thinking sweet new stage 2 clutch for 395 w/ free FW resurfacing cant go wrong! WRONG! It's not the clutch or the jobs fault just a lot of crap that was already worn out. Sux though I really wanted to buy a laptop haha. Theres a nice one at Walmart for 350 (full size)

 

how do you like the clutch? give us some info im replacing mine the next time i have a full day or 2 off of work and school

 

The South Bend stage 2 clutch is an excellent daily driver clutch. It has plenty of torque capacity and feels like any other OEM clutch. I have read about certain Kevlar based clutches glazing over in stop and go driving but I don't think that will be a problem w/ the South Bend one due to design (and my driving haha). The job itself well depending on your miles I would expect to need a few extra parts while your at it. Like I mentioned I needed 2 new motor mounts and now my flex pipes are leaking so I need those too. Be a bit more careful then me and you shouldn't need much more and if you drop the exhaust completely instead of hanging it and letting the flex pipe's bend passed there limits then you shouldn't have a problem w/ them. Be careful removing all the alan head bolts make sure the socket is in them completely and for many of them a quick tap to break them lose will keep them alright but some of them probably will strip out so an air hammer to remove them would be good to have available and a trip to lowes will give you the appropriate bolts you need. When you replace bolts on driveshafts and FW's make sure you replace them all so you don't make anything out of balance. You will need a lot of long extenstions and swivel sockets to make the job easier specially for the top tranny bolts I used a 4' extension to reach from behind the tranny to the top.

And again thanks to Mike@DTH for getting me a great deal on the clutch.

Good luck
Nic

 

Hey, I was wondering about the clutch deal you talked about. I am now in the market and the southbend stage 2 sounds perfect. Your price is great. How do I get in?

Thanks,
Abasi

 

I picked up the clutch in person.

 

makes me wonder what my motor mounts look like

 

Ya lol. I am assuming though those were originals that had 136k miles on them. Oddly I can't tell the difference between the old and new motor mounts.