I'm not supposed to mention links like pirate4x4.com but the locals here are more into driving over stuff than drag racing so they remove the weights (probably with a hammer and screwdriver hitting them towards the hole on the fingers) because the stock 1.3 does not have enough horse power to need them, the faster the pressure plate spins the weights the weights use centrifugal force and apply more pressure to the disk, but the centerforce has way more pressure by itself than a stock one. hope this helps.

Not like it matters but I got the 1.6 bottom end! And yah I drive over stuff with the Samurai, drag racing a Samurai...  . Those weights do make some annoying noises.
Thanks, fuelish.

If you are having starter engagement with the flywheel without hitting the starter, you probably are setting on the side of the pilot bearing.
I would try loosening all the bellhousing bolts (without removing them) and remove the back transmission mount and see if you can wiggle the transmission into place.  If the bellhousing slides up tight on all sides (with loose bolts) the jackshaft is inside the pilot bearing.  It is worth a try and may save having to pull it all apart.
Right now with the bolts tight I suspect that you still have a gap on one side of the bellhousing.

Nice will do! 
My only complaint with my thorley header is that its impossible to access that bottom trans-engine bolt and nut while its on. I'll get to wigglin the trans today. Maybe I'll get crazy and go the whole 9 yards if the wigglin doesn't work for me.

The transmission is flush to the engine. The only way I could have a peek into the bell housing would be to take a grommet off. I'm worried that I pressed the pilot bearing in at an angle when pressing the tranny to the engine.

I have used Centerforce clutchs many, many times on everything from a Acura to a Pontiac Trans Am and I wouldnt remove the weights, they apply extra clamping force with ANY rpm and gets stronger as the rpm's rise through centrifical force, and with such a small friction surface on the zuki's, every bit of clamping force is needed especially with larger tires. You might as well just get a stock replacement clutch if you plan on modifying the Centerforce.

Thanks for your concern Talon.
Hey I race a talon too, lol.

Alright so I got to pulling the transmission out today. Actually didn't take long at all, being it the 2nd time in a short while.
Once I got the clutch and transmission out I took a glance at the pilot bearing and this is what I saw.




Its set correctly and was not pressed further into the flywheel and at angle like I figured.
It also feels completely smooth (less and 5000 miles). The ball bearings have not "turned to dust" like I have read from other horror stories.

Then I began looking at the at the ring gear on the flywheel (concerns with the starter) and something caught my eye.



One end of the ring gear has been shaved and the other side hasn't. And as it turns out the shaved side faces the bell housing, or the rear bumper.



The other end faces the engine block, or the front bumper. As I felt this sides edge facing forward I felt beat up surface. Getting a good picture of this edge in focus was very hard, so you kind of have to find the areas in focus.



I'm left wondering, is the ring gear on the flywheel backwards? I would bet an arm that if the ring gear was flipped around and still allowed the starter teeth to engage while the solionod saw power; that the starter wouldn't slap around while I'm driving.
But in its defense all was quiet, smooth, and non-slappy before I took everything apart. So I dunno 

I skipped the idea of wiggling the tranny free and then re-attaching it. When I got under it I noticed tranny fluid! WTF?!? So I just ran with it and found my sensors to be leaky. Its just my luck and this luck is the sole reason I only work on my cars. Sometimes I question why I contiune to tinker with fun stuff and just go buy a kia... I guess the best things in life are earned.

Also got a universal clutch alignment tool. Figured any work was futile without properly aligning the disk. The only place within 30 miles that carried it was NAPA and the thing was nearly $40 bucks after tax! Autozone only carries alignment tools with their clutch packages, they don't sell them individually . Center force is getting an e-mail. Anyway figured I'd take a picture of it in case someone realizes that it won't work.



Hopefully everything gets tied up tomorrow and the test run doesn't have me pulling out my hair.

Parker.

I might of missed it But did you have the flywheel and the pressure plate Balanced at all?

No I haven't. The flywheel was turned by a reputable source and the pressure plate was just thrown on. Doesn't the pressure plate come balanced? The flywheel does have drilling holes for balance, but that's from the factory.

But I would need some logical convincing to get me to think I need to balance my clutch assembly.
1. I don't know everything, but I've never herd of having to balance a clutch assembly for such a "stock" or low powered car. with multi disk clutch assemblies for 800+ hp engines I'd see you're point a little more relevant. But if I'm the irrelevant one please, let me know.
2. My drivetrain preformed flawlessly before I re-installed the tranny. THE ONLY THING I DID WAS RE-INSTALL THE TRANNY, no new bell housing parts.

I'm not trying to sound harsh I just don't want to spend the time buttering it up.
Thanks for your input.
Parker.

Well I have built race engines for a living in the past, balancing has more to do with RPM than horse power, I have had complete Assembly's balanced and put the engine together only to take it apart and take it to another shop to have it rebalanced and it makes all the difference, but yes they can have a Bad day from the factory.

By the way can you take a pic of your input shaft on the trans. does it have any wear from the pilot bearing?

Yah will do the next commercial break.  
Thinking about it, the only other type of engines I've worked on have a harmonic balancer which could account some Suzuki in-experience.
I forgot to mention, if it matters. Things seem to vibrate worse while I'm turning.
Thanks fuelish.
Parker.

edit*

well the shaft does look to have some wear and tear to it,if you have the old bearing laying around I would do a test fit on it or if you have the money pick up another new one and see if it fits tight, if so I would see about having at least the pressure plate balanced if you have a shop near by.

The old bearing was horrible and even if I did still have it I wouldn't use it. What if I filled the wear with a metal putty/jb weld? It doesn't seem to be a high stress area. Its a laughable and ghetto idea but being a few months from a payday I need to budget the money I have.

From what I'm reading balancing isn't necessary as parts are balanced from the factory. Not saying a machine shop could add weights to dial everything in more finite. I notice the "bad" vibrations while turning and at around 2200 rpm. On the highway turning the engine at 4k is actually smooth besides the vibrations correlating with the starter clanking around.

Half a year or so ago with the 1.3 and stock pressure plate I noticed the same noise immediately after tapping the starter metal-to-metal. This was while it had the bad pilot bearing in it. After changing to the 1.6 starter (kept the 1.3 flywheel w/ new pilot bearing) the clutch disk the clattering did not occur. During all this the input shaft was kept the same. I don't feel like the wear on the input shaft is from the 120 miles I put on it from the install.
I'm trying to think of how a misaligned or loose input shaft would have the same results I got when I hit my starter. I tested the starter, its fine.

lol, I'm writing a book here in hopes of solution. Sorry if I seem to be a bit of a repeat.

I'd say the two owners before me used the truck as a "weekend warrior" having fun romping around and put it away wet. Its amazing to think that the body is in extremely good condition.

The end of that input shaft looks to be rather screwed up/wobbled over. If the input shaft is not riding tightly within the pilot bearing it entirely defeats the purpose of the bearing.


I have seen where a new starter is installed and works fine for a bit and then starts hanging up as well, we traced it down to the condition of the ring gear teeth. We attacked the teeth of the ring gear with a file & arkansas stone and cleaned up the burrs and rolled/chipped edges of the teeth and this gave the ring gear some more life.

I have micro balanced many a rotating assembly, micro balancing of the fly and pressure plate with the rest of the rotating assembly always greatly improves vibrations compared to relying on the vageries of manufacturing tolerances. Just doing the fly and pressure plate will see benefits as well, I have seen many factory fly's and PP's that are each within spin balance tolerance seperately, but when bolted together they are then out of balance.

Also driveshafts that are not properly phased when reinstalled can appear as engine vibration with weak mounts.

Hopefully everything gets tied up tomorrow and the test run doesn't have me pulling out my hair.

Parker.

That looks close to my screwdriver & socket tool.  At least now you will have the right size sockets available.

Did this problem start with a reinstall, or when you swapped the bottom end with a 1.6?  Or was it present with the old bottom end?

1...I have seen the tips of input shafts worn much worse than that and it didn't cause any vibrations.  I would say that is not the source of the issue.
2...I have never heard of a balance issue with the clutch setups on trackicks or samurais.  The flywheels are balanced individually during manufacturing and the clutches should be balanced when made too.  I would look elsewhere for the issue.
3...You can flip the starter ring gear on a samurai flywheel.  But from your pics, it doesn't look that worn and I don't see that being the cause of your problem.
4...Did the shop grind both surfaces on the flywheel?  From your pic, it looks like they only ground the stepped surface and not the surface that the pressure plate bolts to.  If they didn't do both, they did it wrong and that could cause some issues.
5...You did remember to put that thin metal spacer plate inbetween the engine and tranny, when you put the tranny in, didn't you?
6...I am wondering if you have a broken motor mount, or transmission mount.  Have you checked them?
7...If you want to "fix" the worn input shaft issue, without spending much money....get a wider pilot bearing, so it runs on the non-worn part of the shaft.  I've done this fix to a trackick and it works great.  Look on zuwharrie in the IFS section for my thread on a wider pilot bearing to fix a worn input shaft.  It has pics and part numbers in it.

2. My drivetrain preformed flawlessly before I re-installed the tranny. THE ONLY THING I DID WAS RE-INSTALL THE TRANNY, no new bell housing parts.

So the only thing you did between the no vibration and the vibration is remove and reinstall the tranny, right?  You didn't put in a new clutch?  You didn't replace the starter?  You didn't do anything else to the vehicle?

Talon.
I thought of filing down the ring gear but then though, why not just flip it around?
About the balancing, I'm not disagreeing with you, I believe you. But because I know this clutch has worked without vibrations, living where I do, and since I'm not going to transport my clutch via shipping to a machine shop, its just un-realistic.
About the drive shaft. Unless the rear transmission mount (bad/will include pic) would change the angle enough to alter the drive shaft's angle of operation, I've done nothing that would mess with these angles. In the transmission shifter I feel vibrations, in the transfer case shifter I feel nothing. Wouldn't a crazy drive shaft send vibrations from both the transmission and transfer case?

BRD.
Thanks on the alignment tool comment.
The start clanking around problem occured with the 1.3 motor, the vibrations while turning did not. The starter clanked around after hitting it metal to metal, but passed testing. I rebuilt the 1.3 and the starter still clanked around once I installed everything. When I got the 1.6 the issues were solved.

skyhiranger.
1. Cool, kinda on my train of thought.
3. The flywheel is from the 1.3 "samurai" motor. I would only flip it so that the shaved side was orientated to the starter. If you look you can see (it feels fresh) were the starter has chewed the ring gear. But again, its worked without problems in its current orientation.
4. They did. I remember seeing clean shinny surfaces where the pressure plate mounts to when I picked it up.
5. That thin metal plate that the starter mounts to? No is not installed because I use an adapter plate to mate the bottom end to the tranny. 1.6 - samurai tranny.
6. The motor mounts are in good working order. The transmission mount however needs replaced. All the rubber is there but its has separated some of it being pressed into the cradle of the mount. I'll snap a pic for you. I did notice the transmission not sitting in the middle of the cradle the 2nd time I took the transmission out (yesterday). It needs replaced.

And yes, NO new parts. The ONLY reason I took the transmission out in the first place was to take the transmission casing apart to silicon it.

Thanks everyone.
Parker.