Jhm lwfw install help please!!

[vitaminb6avant]

Ok guys,

I have been a LONG time lurker on here and bought my first b6 s4 avant this past May. I had looked for this car for a long time, was low miles, and needed just a few things (or so I thought) as preventative maintenance/usual repairs. I could go on about the headache this this has been, but I really have one specific question for now.

One of the things that I knew was on its way out was the clutch assembly. It caught late, would slip once in a while if I was romping on it, etc.. but I knew I wanted to slowly start upgrading things as I found I needed to replace them. JHM was my obvious go-to for anything 4.2L related and so their JHM lightweight flywheel with stage III clutch combo really caught my eye. Decent performance upgrade and could easily handle the performance mods I saw doing in the near future (full exhaust and tune).

I am not very mechanically inclined, so unfortunately I am reliant on a shop to do the work for me. I did A LOT of research as to where I was going to take my new pride and joy because I wanted it done right. I talked to the owner and the service tech for weeks about everything that I needed done and while they said they don't usually do aftermarket items because they couldn't provide a warranty on it, they could definitely put it in for me if I bought it myself. So I did. I'm sure you all know it, but this is what I got: https://jhmotorsports.com/shop/catal...h=21_56_61_105

I dropped the car off late last week expecting it to be done on Friday afternoon, but I got a call saying that they were having issues "bleeding the clutch." Like I said, I don't know the intricacies of car maintenance, so if the new clutch could cause that and he said he didn't think so, but they'll address it on Monday, great. Monday I call to check in and apparently the tech rolled his ankle and had to go get x-rays, so another day lost.

SO now it's Tuesday and I finally get a call about 3 in the afternoon and it's owner. He's telling me that the clutch is sitting out "too far" and that the slave cylinder isn't working properly which is why the clutch isn't able to be bled properly. (He was a tad more descriptive, but not much). He seems to think that the bolts are too long that came with the clutch assembly and that is causing the issue. I called JHM to see if that's a possibility and he sounded skeptical, that it was supposed to be a direct bolt on for b6/b7 chassis with no modifications required (which I obviously confirmed before I bought it). Now the owner of the shop is hopefully going to take photos and send them to JHM to see if I got sent the wrong bolt sizes.

My question for you wonderful people, is have any of you heard of/had this issue yourselves? I admittedly only spent about an hour searching the forums (I know shame on me), but I couldn't find anything about this issue. I really hope you guys have some insight into this, I just really want to enjoy my car!!
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[BCsniper]

.....sounds like bullshit to me. Seems like the shop can't install a slave cylinder properly

[Sauci]

.....sounds like bullshit to me. Seems like the shop can't install a slave cylinder properly

This

[SprintBlueWorld]

It's very important to follow JHMs installation notes. In the notes they detail the difference in fitment between their product and stock as well as how to deal with it. Not sure if this actually is relevent as ive never done one of these either, but The notes do mention the longer pressure plate bolts.

https://jhmotorsports.com/instructio..._flywheels.pdf

There's an excellent writeup of this job on a revolution type audi site that cannot be linked here. I suggest searching for the diy by jimmybones.

[Bonz099]

I had massive issues fitting the new slave in place, if it goes in easy, its not in the right location. I broke 2 of them by not having the pin in the right location and going off to the side. I'm willing to bet thats whats going on here.

[vitaminb6avant]

I had massive issues fitting the new slave in place, if it goes in easy, its not in the right location. I broke 2 of them by not having the pin in the right location and going off to the side. I'm willing to bet thats whats going on here.

This sounds EXACTLY like they issue they are having! They broke the first one they put in and are now on the second one. What did you do to fix that issue, any tips?

Also, I called them this morning to see if they made any progress (they hadn't even looked yet, of course..), and to see if the used the install instructions that SprintBlueWorld mentioned. I remembered seeing them right inside the box with everything else before I handed it over. The response I got was that, "our technicians know what they are doing and know how to install a clutch." I had to suppress a scoff because right in the very first paragraph there is a notes section saying the pressure plate bolts are longer than stock to protect non OEM or non JHM flywheels. If too long simply use the OEM ones or tap out the bottom. Right there in the notes is the solution to one of the problem they seem to be having...

Anyways, thanks for the input so far!

[SprintBlueWorld]

In the words of JimmyBones:


6. Getting the clutch slave cylinder back in can be a major pain in the ass. I spray the clutch slave cylinder with silicone spray to lubricate it enough to get past the opening of the transmission. You have to get the pin and boot end of the clutch slave cylinder in the hole and then push the back of the clutch slave cylinder into the bell housing portion to compress the clutch slave cylinder. You should be able to push the clutch slave cylinder past where the bolt goes in and then it will come back once you release pressure on it. It can be fun to get the 6 mm allen bolt for the clutch slave cylinder in and you need to get it started by hand because the last thing that you want to do is damage those threads. If you have JHM headers then this portion of the repair becomes even more of a PITA.

Once you are confident that the clutch slave cylinder is in there and the bolt is tight then try pushing on the clutch pedal. It should go down and come back up nice and easy. If the pedal gets really hard then stop immediately! If you keep pushing down on the clutch pedal then you will shoot the pin out of the slave cylinder which is a major problem. Go back and remove the clutch slave cylinder, check that the pin is still attached to the clutch slave cylinder, and that the clutch slave cylinder is not leaking. Reinstall the clutch slave cylinder and try again pushing the clutch pedal. Repeat this process until when you can push on the clutch pedal where it goes down and comes back up smoothly and easily

[Jake@JHM]

Additionally, the flywheel is an interference fit, so it needs to be fully seated to the crank

[SprintBlueWorld]

Here also is an oldy but goody:

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ing-101-by-JHM

[vitaminb6avant]

I finally have the car back! Thankfully it was just an issue with the install of the slave cylinder and not the clutch, as you guys thought. I did send him more information before he told me it was done and they called in an extra person to help diagnose the issue, so I'm not sure what actually helped them figure it out.. oh well!

I did notice that while the clutch now catches in the first two inches or so, which is right where it should be, the last two-three inches has almost no pedal feel to it. I can have the car started and press on the clutch pedal with minimal resistance. On my ten minute drive home it did feel like it started to firm up a little, but is that to be expected?