You keep referring to "release fingers" on the flywheel. A flywheel is a big flat thing with a starter ring gear on it.
Did you indeed change the flywheel, or are you talking about the pressure plate- - - -the thing that bolts onto the flywheel? There are two distinct designs of pressure plate, one with a spring that the throwout bearing contacts that is flat when bolted on, and another with fingers that protrude back toward the TO bearing. The flat-finger pressure plate uses a long TO bearing, the other one uses a short one.
There is another design of pressure plate that uses 3 lever arms, called a Borg & Beck design. These are usually used on Ford and other non-GM applications. If you've got one of them, all bets are off, because you've got a non-stock setup.
Jerry
