My friend has a 01 Camaro SS with "a few mods," doing around 500 HP at the crank. When he nails it, the clutch pedal drops down to the floor. The clutch holds, but the pedal drops to the floor. He had a new clutch MC put in, still does it. Motor mounts look OK. Any ideas?
i know that "F body Camaros" is redundant. 
Weren't there also F body Firebirds? These are not Toyota, Lotus or Harley-Davidson, so outside my field of automotive expertise.
Transmission mounts? Also, I think this car has a slave cylinder under the trans. I remember changing one at some point. Maybe the trans is torqueing, separating the rubber hose and letting the fluid pressure drop just enough...
All Camaros are F-Bodies, so it'd be kind of like saying, "Anybody know stuff about FXD Dynas?" Sure, there are multiple FXDsomethings, but all Dynas are FXDs.
I have nothing useful to add to the troubleshooting. I'll go with the mounts also, I'm not following how increased torque would affect the hydraulics otherwise. When it comes to the torque generated in 500 hp F-Bodies, "looks ok" doesn't mean much, I'd be a bit more thorough than that.
Bryce
Oooh oooh! I know i know! Pick me! It's the factory fluid restrictor in the clutch reservoir and/or line. Early F-bodies had a clutch hose (from the master to the slave) that had a built in restriction for pedal feel, just replace the line. Sometime between then and the GTO GM moved the restriction to the actual fluid reservoir, where the fluid comes out, that "nipple" (for lack of a better term) has a ridiculously small hole, and needs to be drilled out. We did the drill out on John's GTO and it solved the exact problem you are describing.
P71 wrote: Oooh oooh! I know i know! Pick me! It's the factory fluid restrictor in the clutch reservoir and/or line. Early F-bodies had a clutch hose (from the master to the slave) that had a built in restriction for pedal feel, just replace the line. Sometime between then and the GTO GM moved the restriction to the actual fluid reservoir, where the fluid comes out, that "nipple" (for lack of a better term) has a ridiculously small hole, and needs to be drilled out. We did the drill out on John's GTO and it solved the *exact* problem you are describing.
But...if the clutch is already released and he just stomps on the throttle, why would fluid be moving around between the master and slave? The orifice in the line is a common OEM trick to help protect driveline components, but usually results in spongy/slipping clutch during clutch dumps...not dropping pedals on throttle applications.
Bryce
i'd say try ls1tech but that site has gone downhill, maybe a search on there will help for one of the older threads. But yea, drilling out the line seems to be a fix for most people. Or a new slave cylinder...i dunno, the only tranny problems i seem to have are things putting holes in it.
I dunno the physics behind it Bryce, I just know that when John's 05 GTO did the same thing at the drag races we searched, found that, did it, and it's never happened since. Bizarre air pockets? Evil GM VooDoo?
All I know is it's free, probably good to do regardless, and it worked for us once.
I vaguely remember something about the fluid not moving fast enough (causing the clutch to actually slip a little) and that heat (from hot lapping for instance) had something to do with it.
did he bother to beef anything up in the tranny as well for that kind of HP? I know the tranny and rearend roughly hold up to 400whp before things start to break.....
Thanks for the ideas, guys, and keep them coming.
This restriction, that's in the line or the fluid resivoir for the MC? I had my head down in there today, and the MC is on the firewall, with a hose going up to the resivoir. Easy enough to drill out. I could probably do that without having to bleed the system if I was careful.
He didn't do anything to the tranny or rearend. He has heads, a cam, exhaust and I'm not sure about the intake. He's put down something like 445 HP on a dyno, and that was before he had a better tune. It sets you back pretty good when he stomps on it.
It's in the reservoir or the line (hell, maybe even both). Drill out the outlet nipple and buy a new SS clutch line. Flush the fluid anyways, it gets dirty FAST in T56's!!!
I was thinking today that a new SS braided over Teflon (R) hose might solve it. If the existing hose is stretching with the drivetrain torquing over, that might equate to more volume, which would drop the pedal.
Interesting. Here I thought it was bad fluid in Mrs. RMD's '01 SS. The pedal doesn't "drop to the floor" but it does act as if there's no pressure in the line when going for the 1-2 shift on a hard launch.
AngryCorvair wrote: i know that "F body Camaros" is redundant.
Nashco wrote: All Camaros are F-Bodies...
While it is true that all Camaros are F bodies, not all F bodies are Camaros. 
Weren't there a bunch of camaros? Is a 1968 Camaro an F body?
Could it come from some centrifugal action on the part of the clutch. Some clutches have weights to increase the pressure at high rpm.
Dr. Hess wrote: Weren't there a bunch of camaros? Is a 1968 Camaro an F body?
Doc, all Camaros and Firebirds from 67-02 are F-bodies. Regardless of styling and chassis changes, the platform designation remained the same.
You'll need to log in to post.
