Internal Slave AX-15 Bleeding

Is there a trick to this?

I put a new clutch and pressure plate in a friends 1993. This one has the internal slave, and I have bled it numerous times. I have done this with both a vacuum bleeder and the old fashion way. I have a clear, solid stream of fluid in either case. The problem is the clutch engagement point is only about 3/8" to 1/2" from the floor.

The old clutch engaged at the correct position, but was completely worn and slipping. I didn't have the flywheel turned, but it may have been turned by the previous clutch installer. I have no way of knowing what was done at that time, except that the clutch that was bad was not the O.E.M. model. I also pulled the pedal to make sure it wasn't bent, and it was perfect. So, right now I'm wondering if I need to pull this tranny again to check the internals or if I'm just bleeding it wrong.

I was told that it could be due to a previous flywheel turning, and the new slave simply doesn't have the same travel as the old one. This seems a like a bit of a stretch, but I was wondering if anyone has heard of this as a problem? Also, how can I tell if the flywheel has been turned? The face looked good, so I didn't replace it.

I had a similar issue when replacing the hose from master to slave after a master failure. It took a lot of vacuum bleeding. I rigged up my electric vacuum pump and pulled a quart of fluid through it before it felt right.

The hose traps air where it goes up around the brake booster, and that was my problem.

Thanks, I'm going to try that some more then. I've pulled about 1/2 a quart so far.

Did your pedal feel about the same as what I'm describing? I really want to think that its air, as the pedal gets worse after the car gets warmed up. Thanks for the quick feedback.

Yes, what you're describing sounded very similar to the issues I had. If you pump the clutch look for bubbles coming back into the master.

After I replaced master/hose I couldn't get the clutch to disengage fully, and it didn't "feel" like there was any resistance until it was 1/2 or 3/4 of the way to the floor.

I hooked up my vacuum pump through a 1 quart mason jar, turned on the pump and bled it until the mason jar was full. Then I did it again.
I tried for 3 days to get it bled properly using the pedal and couldn't. 10 minutes with a vacuum pump had it fixed, and I've not touched it since, probably about 3 years.

I do think that machining the Renix XJ flywheels will cause the problem you first described. Being that there is no "freeplay" adjustment on these clutch assembly if you reduce the "thickness" of the flywheel you in essence increase the "freeplay.

This happened to me the last time I had a new clutch system installed. I would think that if you would install a Stainless shim between the crank flange and flywheel to make up what is "surfaced" off the flywheel the pedal engagement point would be where its suppose to be.

Or buy a new flywheel.

Per FSM 90, do not machine the flywheel more than .001~.003 inch. If you need to do more to remove scoring then you are to replace the flywheel.

IF more than that has been removed (was it ever machined before?) you are going to have problems. Old Man was able to overcome the problems by installing a clutch MC with a larger-than-stock bore and piston. I believe it was a Howe Performance MC.