Custom Flywheel Height

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Hey all,

A few of you have made custom flywheels, or adapted centre release bearings to an existing flywheel, so looking for a bit of advice. How close to the face of the clutch should the release bearing be? Can a ballpark figure be used, or is it totally dependent on the bearing used?

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Nathan

[StuC]

Wouldnt that all depend on the throw of the slave fork? For example; the fork at rest position to extended moves 100mm at full extension. This means tghe bearing will also move this 100mm. Which bearing you use will depend on how much the pressure plate teeth need to depress to release pressure on the plates. They may only need 10mm of travel themselves for full release.
I suppose offsetting the flywheel towards or away from the crank will also then effect your measurements.
id suggest getting your clutch and pressure plate into a press to see how much you neeed to depress the teeth first - only bitch is you dont have a flywheel to use for support so you'll have to Maguyver something up for support underneath.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Oh I have a flywheel I can use It's just not fit to use on an engine

[StuC]

oh yeah - well get it in a vice, use an old bearing/spacer and see how far you need to depress it to get full release of the plates. Be gentle on the teeth and dont break them.

[allencr]

How close to the face of the clutch should the release bearing be? Can a ballpark figure be used, or is it totally dependent on the bearing used?

Sorry, can you explain the problem better, cause even after reading the previous stuff again these questions still confuse me.
The face of the clutch/pressure plate is the thickness of the clutch disk away from the flywheel face, and the release bearing is in contact with the pressure plate. The distance between the clutch face and the diaphragm's fingers contact the bearing is dependent on the clutch's design, its manufacturer & whether it is engaged or disengaged.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

That's cool, I'm just trying to work out what parameters I need to find out, I'm learning on the fly here. Pun intended.

I've got the height of the clutch to the fingers, above the munted flywheel. I'm just trying to work out how close I need to get them to the release bearing so it has enough throw to disengage. I now know that I need to find out how far the clutch needs to be depressed to disengage it so will do that tomorrow arvo. Once I've got that, I can add that to my theoretical distance and compare it to the throw of the release bearing.

[Billzilla]

Yeah we did it with the union of the Toyota 5-speed Corolla box to the back of the Suzuki Gti engine, everything had to be hand-made.
I strongly suggest measuring everything carefully, then measuring it all again. Then wait a day or two and measure it all again to be sure. Then repeat all that at least once more.
It can be a right pain in the arse.

[manny]

Nathan
I would suggest it would be concenric centre bearing and pressure plate dependant - with our Howe 82870 used between a 1UZ and W58 and then a R154, Howe recommend that "..there should be minimal to zero clearance between the bearing and the clutch fingers " - the clearance was achieved through the use of a spacer ring and some supplied shims.

[allencr]

OK. Also allow for wear, for the disk getting thinner, the flywheel & clutch face wearing down and the clutch's spring & pivots wearing. All will move the clutch fingers outwards except the wear on the fingers from the bearing contact. Whether the disk does or doesn't have those springy things between its friction stuff will determine how much travel the bearing will need from engaged to disengaged.