Edelbrock heads

Well, I finally found the source of the noise. It turns out to be the throw out bearing. I backed off the bearing from the pressure plate and it got quiet, hopefully it did not wear it prematurelly. The bearing is the one from PI and only has about 600 miles on it. Remember this is what stopped team Pantera in Bull Run.

The noise that you heard was the tob on the clutch fingers.
The new self adjusting clutches in a current production car are designed for constant contact but the Pantera isn't.

I have seen the fingers on a diaphram clutch worn through from the tob in just 8,000 miles.

The long clutches are more forgiving in this respect. Do you know what is in there?

Thanks Doug,

Yeh the clutch is the one from PI. The PP Disk and Heavy duty TO Bearing. The PP has the 3 fingers. Every thing is working good now. I did not have enough gap between the TO Bearing and the PP. At idle there was no noise but as the RPM got higher I could hear like a needle bearing noise (which I thought was the needle bearing in my rockers - wrong) then the noise would go away when the RPM went back to idle. I increased the gap between the TO bearing and the PP and the noise went away. I'm just hoping that I did not wear it out prematurely. The entire clutch only has about 600 or so miles on it.

What happens is as the rpm rises the centifigal force pushes the clutch fingers up. The diaphram clutch fingers really move compared to the long clutches.

Every time I have a clutch problem my racer friends always ask, what did you set the clearance at?

Now in a Mustang you would set the position of the throwout bearing by holding the clutch in the fully engaged position with the pedal and set the clearance between the disc and the flywheel/pressure plate with a feeler gauge.

I think the long clutch is a minimum of .035" and the diaphragm is more. I want to say .045" but my memory isn't as good as it used to be.

This is going to set the TOB in it's proper position and this is also where the special Pantera disc with zero Marcel built in is going give you the extra travel needed.

If these clearances don't work right then you don't have a Pantera clutch set in there.
Dennis at Pantera Performance understands all of this which is why we recommend him. If he screwed up on this then you had better check to see if aliens have taken him and substituted a lookalike in his place.

Besides what Doug said, do the final clearance adjustment when the engine and transaxle are uncomfortably hot. When things warm up back there, clearances change- usually tightening up. So its always better to set up too much clearance to begin, then trim it a little when warmed up. This goes for valve or clutch adjustments, I've found.

Well everything that you do hot in a Pantera is going to be very, very uncomfortable. Wear your long asbestos underwear when you climb in.

I had the long clutch in my car but I just couldn't get enough clearance what ever I did. I put in a long throw slave kit and it still wasn't enough. It would work fine except you couldn't even look at second gear without it grinding. That is a sign of not enough clearance.

I finally gave up and went and put in the Centerforce Pantera Dual Friction unit and I am very sure that on this one all I could get was .037" clearance cold. Expensive little devil.

It seems to be ok.

However, I seem to remember (again that memory thing) that this unit may have come with a ceramic tob. The significance of that is simply that it is designed for constant contact to the diaphragm fingers. That could be why there isn't any problem noticeable with it?

Oh, and yes it pushes the pedal up at rpm. Anything over 5,000.

Thanks for the input guys. Yes, it is a fine line to get it adjusted. I had it too tight and drove it. When I jumped on it the engine reved but I didn't go anywhere and I could smell the disk sliping. I gradually loosened it up till it grabbed good then loosened it a bit more. It grabs pretty close to the floor now which made me change my shift timing, but 2nd does not grind. Well see how this goes.

I totally forgot to update this post. First I R&r'd the ZF to change the TO bearing and guess what? The bearing was as good as new. The good news is that I R&R'D ZF in about 4.5 hrs, getting it down to a science now, I did replace the bearing with a new one from PIM. It just presses on the billet sleeve, piece of cake. I started it up and again there is was this random noise at high RPM. I called up Jerry at PIM and said that I give up and what did he think. He said did you check your harmonic balancer? I took off the bulkhead and low and behold the outer ring had slipped back toward the timing cover and was chewing it up in a small spot. I ordered a new one from PIM and no more noise. YEHA .... she runs great. Finally what a blast to drive, I drive it constantly and am truly finally enjoying the big HP and the looks. I took a bunch of pics and plan on creating a "how to" for the ZF and balancer R&R.
Oh, the machine shop balanced the balancer (sounds odd) and said it was fine. I should have just replaced it on the rebuild.

Thanks again all that took the time to reply...