So last night I broke the third freakin' clutch in 6 months...

[Celica RA45]

shell drake come over here with your pressure plate im in nth ringwood i wont to see if this pressure plate i have will fix your problem ,these are stronger than any excedy ,mostly on the straps ,so i need to see .giant tomato has the same problem
ring me on 0412 045 467 glenn

[oldcorollas]

lookin at the pressure plate.... when the engine speed is faster than the gearbox speed... and you engage, the straps are in tension.

for the straps to be in compression (and bend) the driveline speed must be higher than the engine....

do you have a habit of harshly engaging the clutch on downshifts or for engine braking???

perhaps harsh clutch treatment, which might loosen the rivets(?) that hold the straps to the friction surface and the cover, and then the friction surface gets a little off centre and things go totally to shit at high rpm??
it could be those joins which are causing the issues.. combined with creative clutch use?
(assuming it looks like this http://www.powerlabs.org/images/clutch.jpg)

[TheToyman75]

I am confussed. Can I see some pics of the damaged item. Not sure what you are reffering to as the Straps ?

What Clutch are you using ?

[gianttomato]

He's talking about the straps that go from the pressure plate to the cover plate.


My MX23 has been plagued by this problem - always happens to me on upshift, not downshift as is typical. I'm typically pretty gentle with clutches too.

Still haven't sorted the problem. Going to get one made with beefier drive straps - will use BGT in Hawthorn.

[Draven]

buy something other than exedy?

[Alex]

Are you using a t18/3t clutch?

Is the t18 clutch the same?, I know they fit, but are they stronger?

I ask because I fitted a standard t18 exedy clutch to my 2t/3t with the idea it was going to be heavier duty, I punished the crap out of it, lots of high rpm dumps, over the top comp lock ups and with grippy tyres and heavy rims, when I had the clutch out over 6months later, it looked like new

[Rodger]

Shelldrake,

The only real way of stopping flywheel bolts from coming loose is to dowel the flywheel to the crank. I'll find a picture in my collection tonight.

I have now had two flywheel bolt sets come loose. The first, years ago now, was on my race 2T so when I pulled the motor I put dowels in straight away and freshened it up. It has not come loose since.

I will have to report on how my Exedy H/D clutch holds out after reading all this. I have just put it in but nowhere near getting the enigne back into the car. Hopefully by the next CCG Dyno day.

It has happened recently to my mild 2T after a good thrashing at Wakefield (what I thought were spun bearings), this motor is now ready to rebuild when I find the time.

Regards

Rodger

[Rodger]

Shelldrake and others,

My doweled flywheel.



Two dowels between the bolts, the idea is to stop any movement allowed by the bolt hole size being slightly bigger than the bolts. Loctite is added to the bolts also.

Regards

Rodger

[Rinmax]

Eddie, you are just full of bad luck.

Get yourself down to the local Repco and get yourself a "Tub'O'luck" Just make sure its good luck you've got plenty of the bad stuff.

Seriously though, I hope you find the solution soon.

[shelldrake]

mIKE Hunt - This most recent clutch was actually your old one.

I like the dowel idea, except I would like to do it with the motor out of the car. Turdinator suggested shims in two of the flywheel holes to take up the slack. I think this is the way I will be going. going to get some new flywheel bolts today, then show bgt the clutch.

Ra45 - Will be down at some point this week, but will post pics in this thread anyway.

[Alex]

mIKE Hunt - This most recent clutch was actually your old one.

I like the dowel idea, except I would like to do it with the motor out of the car. Turdinator suggested shims in two of the flywheel holes to take up the slack. I think this is the way I will be going. going to get some new flywheel bolts today, then show bgt the clutch.

Ra45 - Will be down at some point this week, but will post pics in this thread anyway.

LOL! you did'nt get it from me, did you get it off Joey?

[Turdinator]

Pictures for those interested. Images are hi res so be patient.

[allencr]

Sorry, but I think this is more of a driving style and/or install, then a clutch problem, because it's shelldrake = 3 in 6 months vs. everyone else in the world = 1 in a life time.

[shelldrake]

We'll see how we go this round - New flywheel bolts, Made some shims to take up the slack in the flywheel bolt holes, will use loctite on the threads(after ensuring the threads are clean), new spigot bearing, different t-50 box, had the clutch modfied with thicker straps(and now have three on each location). I think loose flywheel bolts could have been the cause for the rapid wear/stress put on the clutch assembly. I'm sure missing gears is not healthy for a clutch, but it should be able to handle it.

[Turdinator]

Sorry, but I think this is more of a driving style and/or install, then a clutch problem, because it's shelldrake = 3 in 6 months vs. everyone else in the world = 1 in a life time.

Fair call but having been with shelldrake when the last clutch went and been driven around by him numerous times i'd say this is unlikely to be driving style. Also taking into account his and my car are very similar in spec and my lack of mechanical sympathy, i still haven't destroyed a clutch housing. This includes me doing compression lockups from time to time which should stress those straps more than anything else.