Please could someone explain how the clutch works?

epninety

I confess I've never owned a clutch alignment tool either, but it does do a much better job than most of the alternatives. I usually use various old sockets on a piece of threaded bar, and check the final alignment by eye / finger. Every time I do it though (probably 1-2 times a year) , I make a mental note to buy an alignment tool!

Keith

I bought the tool in the end, local motorfactors had it for £8, so bought one.

Flywheel change went well, clutch went on, and then the final bolt sheered, toss. Not sure if I should drill it out or not :S I removed the other 5 and used thread lock on them aswell as torquing them to the correct torque.

cyclonebri1

Keith wrote: »

I bought the tool in the end, local motorfactors had it for £8, so bought one.

Flywheel change went well, clutch went on, and then the final bolt sheered, toss. Not sure if I should drill it out or not :S I removed the other 5 and used thread lock on them aswell as torquing them to the correct torque.

Your clutch will be out of balance if you dont fit a new screw and could result in life shortening vibration. (the clutche, not yours:rotfl: )

Also it's not true that the clutch will vibrate if not centred. As said you will not relocate the gearbox input shaft if it's too far out, and even if it is slightly out the first time the clutch is depressed on completion the friction disc will "self align the last little bit as it is floating when the peddle is depressed.;)

Wig

Oh drat! You snapped a bolt.

Clutch cover bolt? Did you tighten them down each a little bit at a time in a five pointed star like pattern - or 6 depending on number of bolts.

The torque should only have been between 15 - 30 Nm depending on bolt size (M7-11/12mmsocket or M8-13mm socket), this is where it is useful to have small torque bar more accurate at low levels. I'm thinking if you snapped the head off you must have been torqing them too much.

As it is done now I would be tempted to just go for it, the flywheel is balanced, but I can't see a tiny missing bolt head having much effect. I'd suck it and see.

epninety

There's a fair amount of force on that sheet metal clutch cover plate... I'd want it to have a full set of bolts if possible. A distorted clutch could make it unpleasant to drive in the future. It's not going to be corroded in, so a left handed drill should have it out in a jiffy.

Easy enough to be not worth the bodge!

Keith

I'm going to leave it as it is for now, and fit the gearbox when I'm next off work on friday, the flywheel is a spare lighter version I had left over so if it does effect the drive of the car, I'll bin it and refit the original.

Trouble is, I've no idea if the engine I am fitting is in good condition, or if the poor gear change I suffered prior to engine failure was due to bad linkages, so it's a case of get it all together and hope atm.

If the car, drives badly, but the engine is fine then I'll whip the gearbox off and change the clutch, if the gearchange is poor with new linkages and oil then, I'll dump the gearbox and probably fit a new clutch and change the flywheel then.

At the moment, I just want to hear the bloody thing runnning!