since I did the 4 speed conversion. Ive had a vibration in the shifter handle. I get it in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Not as bad in 4th, but still there. I was talking to another guy with similar issues and he said he ended up swapping the clutch setup and the vibration went away. I picked up a stock 454 flywheel and thinking of buying a new clutch kit to see if it goes away. Anyone else have issues like this when swapping to a manual? The daiken flywheel was bought from jegs and was ordered for a ext. balance 454. The 454 is pretty much a stock type flattop 454. I didnt have any vibration issues with the th 400 before the swap. Jim

You can have the clutch setup balanced...if you bought a stock one then good luck but the hi-perf ones are balanced. I would be suspect of aftermarket parts. Does the engine shake? It could be the pilot bushing as well.

Was the dowel pin used ?
If no pin ,was the flywheel dowel pin hole lined up with the cranks dowel pin hole?

Hate to say it, but the clutch/PP all came out of my parts car. I didnt know the condition of the tranny and didnt want to spend the money on a new clutch kit in case the tranny had issues. Im 99% sure I lined up the hole for the dowel pin, but there was no dowel pin. The bushing in the crank is a new bronze bushing. jim

Jim sometimes if you rotate the pressure plate around one hole the vibration will go away, but the best thing would be to get a new clutch assembly now that you know the tranny works.
Welcome to world of shifting, it is way more fun then just hangin on and letting the transmission do all the work :D

Any recommendation on a clutch kit? I looked on Jegs and a hays kit is about $265 bucks. This car is not a race car just a tooling around town car.
The old clutch kit isnt slipping, so it may go back into the elcamino with a int. balanced flywheel and a 350. jim

Jim I bought a Weber plate and disc from Don's Hot Rod shop. From the info Jay gave me it will work well without crushing the budget. I'll go see if I can find the reciept and give you the cost.

11" diaphram type plate with the fine spline disc to fit the Tremec trans.

$101 for the disc, $160 for the plate + tax.

I wished I would have bought your 10 spline setup you had awhile back. Any thoughts on the centerforce I setup? jim

I really have not done any research on the different clutches, but I do not care for the borg & beck style pressure plate, to hard on the left leg in town.

I sold that 10 spline set up for $100 it was a 12", it went into a 70 Blazer, got paid to install it too :)

Im going to call the machine shop monday and see if they can check the balance of the flywheel and pressure plate. Its not slipping at all, just got the shakes. May be able to save a few bucks. jim

well, I cheaped out. I went and installed a factory 454 flywheel, started the car. No vibrations. then installed the PP and no vibration. Put the clutch back in and put the PP back the same way installed the tranny and it seems to be fine. I ran out of time tonight, but as soon as I put it back on the ground. Im going to test drive it tuesday. jim

Dont know if it was the cheapie flywheel, or just clocking the pressure plate, but with the gm flywheel the thing runs Smooooth! I guess its never been right, now its actually enjoyable! jim

Cool, glad it was something relatively easy.

"relative" depends on if your under the car bench pressing a tranny in the car at 9pm. But Im real happy with the way the car shifts now. I also put the clutch fork push rod in the correct hole while I was under the car. So the pedal actually works like it should. This makes me want to convert the elcamino into a 4 speed now. jim

this is now the third time I've heard bad things about daiken flywheels....they are affordable but for about 100 dollars you can get an sfi approved flywheel from cnc motorsports made by CAT flywheels. only like 30 dollars more than the daiken, its nice quality piece, and piece of mind knowing its sfi approved.

I wished I would have known about those when I bought the flywheel. I called the machinist and he said he couldnt balance a external flywheel. Im going to call around and see if anyone in town can check it. jim