Any recommendations on a good clutch kit for a Saginaw 4 spd? It's behind a mostly stock Chevy 350 in a 70 El Camino. It's my son's car and I'm helping him out (he's 17) but neither of us has done a clutch before. Rock Auto has a Luk 04049 for $85, it says 11" clutch but the one we took out is 10.5". We're just trying to get a decent clutch to get his project closer to being driven. Thanks,
Measure the pressure plate and see if it will take an 11"disk. 10.5" is plenty, they usually only put 11"in big blocks. Are you replacing the disk and pressure plate? When you put the trans back in the bell housing be sure you use guide pins so you don't damage the new disk. Get bolts with the same thread as the bolts that attach the trans to the bell housing but longer (about 5") and cut the heads off so that when you insert the trans into the clutch spline the weight is on the bolts and not on the front trans shaft and clutch disk. You only need 2. See if Rockauto has a 10.5, you may have been looking at big block clutches.
On a Chevy, if you currently have a 10.5" clutch, swapping to an 11" will require a different flywheel, bellhousing, and starter (because you'll be swapping a 153 tooth flywheel to a 168 tooth), or at the very least you'd have to swap to nose on your current starter. You don't need it, I have a 10.5" on my `71 big block El Camino.
