Clutch, Upper Heat Shield 88 5000Q

[mmoy@us.oracle.com (Michael Moy, Oracle Rdb SQL Engineering, 603-881-1943)]

I had my clutch replaced two weeks ago and when I received the car, it felt
like it was running on three cylinders. They did a tuneup on it the next day
(it needed one) and replaced the ignition wires, fuel filter, plugs and a
multifunction switch (coolant leaked into). Performance was back but they
couldn't tell me why the performance was bad.

I've noticed that the clutch sometimes does a grab-slide-grab-slide-grab before
engaging in first gear. It is present in second and third too but is less
noticeable. I brought the car in to East Hollis Shell in Nashua, NH. They took
it for a drive and didn't see the clutch problem. The clutch did feel better
when I took it home but there was still a tiny bit of slip in first.

I also asked them to look into a metallic clunking sound when starting the car
and they said that the upper heat shield was broken and remove it. They said
that it wasn't really needed. When I turned on the car to go home, the clunking
sound was still there. I restarted the car and it was still there.

Questions:

	1) Is the upper heat shield necessary?
	2) Does it take a few weeks for a clutch to get broken in and
	   if not, are there any ideas on what this is likely to be?
	3) Any ideas on the clunking sound? It's coming from under the
	   hood on the passanger side

Aside on East Hollis Shell as it has been discussed here before.  Their
mechanic left to start a small motor appliance shop. Their service business
seems quite busy now and I think that they take on too much business (it took
six days to do the clutch). I wish I could find a place that fixed the problem
the first time. I almost always have to bring the car back for adjustments or
fixes for anything that isn't trivial.

Michael Moy
mmoy@us.oracle.com