I,m using a Tremec 5 speed trans behind my blown 354 Hemi and it works a treat . Using a hydraulic release bearing with a 7/8 master cylinder. A friend has purchased a car with the same transmission behind a 350 Chevy and the clutch is very hard to operate. What size master and slave are people using?
For years I made a converted Chevy bell housing that moved the clutch arm to the right side for pedal clearance in early 28-34 chassis. On that set up I used a 7/8th Willwood slave and a 3/4 Willwood high volume master cylinder. Worked great, did over 50 of them.
An internal hydraulic release bearing requires a very accurate measurement and adjustment prior to installation as I am sure you know. If his is being an issue and is a new install, he may have erred on those calculations.
I suspect most people are using a 3/4" bore master cylinder and 7/8" bore external slave cylinder. Keep in mind that the pedal and throwout arm ratios will affect pedal force, and the clutch pressure plate itself will have a large impact on the pedal feel.
I too am using a Tremec T5 with a hydraulic throwout bearing. The pressure plate is a stock style diaphragm. The TO bearing is a Tilton, the master is, like yours, a 7/8". It is a Wilwood. Initially I tried a 13/16", but I couldn't get a clean release. Just not enough TO bearing stroke. I built a linkage that used the stock pedal, with a bellcrank to work the master that was mounted on the frame under the floor. Working with the bellcrank ratio, I got full stroke on the master. To keep pedal effort as easy as possible, I put the pedal shaft on roller bearings, and used spherical rod ends on the push/pull rods. It's as good as it gets. The pedal effort is fairly easy, but honestly, not as easy as I'd like. I have given some thought to switching to a long style spring PP, but I think they require a bit more travel, and I'm fairly certain that I'm using most of the available travel on the TO bearing.
This is what is in my car. I originally mounted the master and moved the pedal pivot too far down on the arm. It took 3 people to push the pedal. Almost... I left it where it was, tried all sorts of complicated links, etc. No goodski. I said, what the heck... I moved the pivot point to the OG position, moved the master up on the firewall, dumped all the Rube Goldberg junk, and it worked. Leverage is everything. I also got rid of the factory spring assist, there was no need for it. Also look for anything that creates dead-motion, I mean as in slop, poor fits.
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