Difficult shifts at high RPM, all gears (turned out to be broken clutch disc)

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#1
Hey all,

Just looking for a 2nd/3rd/4th/etc. opinion.

Halfway through my second session at the track this past Monday I started having issues getting any gears when shifting at higher RPMs (>3500).

No grinding or any adverse noise coming from the transmission just refuses to grab another gear (up shift and down shift).

Transmission is a pumaspeed rebuild unit with a quaife LSD, RTS twin friction clutch/flywheel and new slave cylinder about 11K miles ago (for all transmission and clutch parts).

At the track I tried adjusting linkages, re-bleeding the clutch, changing the trans fluid (fluid that cam out looked pretty good, only about 1200 miles on it).

My assumption is slave cylinder or clutch/pressure plate issue, I swapped the clutch master and bled it again yesterday, no dice.

Anyone have any other things to check before I yank the transmission out?

Thanks.
 


Dialcaliper

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#2
Hey all,

Just looking for a 2nd/3rd/4th/etc. opinion.

Halfway through my second session at the track this past Monday I started having issues getting any gears when shifting at higher RPMs (>3500).

No grinding or any adverse noise coming from the transmission just refuses to grab another gear (up shift and down shift).

Transmission is a pumaspeed rebuild unit with a quaife LSD, RTS twin friction clutch/flywheel and new slave cylinder about 11K miles ago (for all transmission and clutch parts).

At the track I tried adjusting linkages, re-bleeding the clutch, changing the trans fluid (fluid that cam out looked pretty good, only about 1200 miles on it).

My assumption is slave cylinder or clutch/pressure plate issue, I swapped the clutch master and bled it again yesterday, no dice.

Anyone have any other things to check before I yank the transmission out?

Thanks.
Check your motor mounts, especially if you have an aftermarket poly RMM that’s been in there a little while. The front bushing tends not to last very long before it rounds out and lets the engine start rocking. Best way is to either push on the motor, or start it up, turn the A/C on and look under the car - the engine should look pretty solid at the RMM and not vibrating around.
 


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#3
Check your motor mounts, especially if you have an aftermarket poly RMM that’s been in there a little while. The front bushing tends not to last very long before it rounds out and lets the engine start rocking. Best way is to either push on the motor, or start it up, turn the A/C on and look under the car - the engine should look pretty solid at the RMM and not vibrating around.
+1. They give out after around 50k miles
 


OP
arlisscm
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Thread Starter #4
Thanks. I'll give them a look. I have vibra-technics fast road driver and passenger side mounts with ~20k miles and a cpe rmm with ~12k miles, but both have 14 track days on them over the last 3 years.
 


OP
arlisscm
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Thread Starter #5
Update:
Checked all the engine mounts, even swapped out the cpe rmm for a Cobb one I had laying around.
Even swapped the selector shaft (not sure of it's actual name, it's the shaft that goes down into the transmission and connects to the shift cables) from the spare transmission I have.
Triple checked the linkages and the problem persists.
Already have a new slave and odds and ends on the way, but if anybody has any last things to try I'll give them a go.
Either way likely yanking the transmission next weekend.
 


OP
arlisscm
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Thread Starter #6
Update:
Found what appears to be the issue.
Slave cylinder looks to be a little tired, but the main issue was my clutch started to come apart. It's an RTS twin friction and not sure if I did something to hurt it or just got unlucky as it only has about 11K miles on it.

IMG_20240509_202121201.jpg
Flywheel and pressure plate look great, no scoring, grooves, etc.

Have a new OEM flywheel and Whoosh stage 3 clutch on the way.



Edit:
Spoke with RTS and they said the likely cause was exceeding the rated torque on a hard downshift. This makes sense as downshifts on track can be a bit spicy (still working on it). Hopefully the Whoosh clutch will take the abuse as my ST is predominantly for track duty these days.
 


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