clutch

[dmcummins]

Ive dropped the motor and trans and was wondering on how to check the clutch for wear. I have no history on the car, its a 73, and while its out I thought Id check it for wear. At around $450 I don't want to just change it out, but I also don't want to have to drop the engine again to change it out later.

I havn't driven the car much prior to tearing into it. It didn't slip or chatter. The adjustment nut on the cable at the trans arm was screwed all the way in. I don't know if that means anything.

Thanks.

[North]

I would just change it, but maybe if its not oil covered and slipping or chattering, call the PP good and at least put a disc in.

I'm still saying repalce it all. Nothing like a brand new clutch

[echrisconnor]

There's probably a factory spec, but here's a start. First look at the flywheel. If it's nice and smooth that's a good thing. If it's scored, then you probably want to both have it resurfaced and replace the clutch.

Then look at the clutch disk. You should see rivets on the face of it holding the friction disks onto the body of the clutch. If the rivets are only a couple mm below the surface of the face, it's probably getting time to replace. If you've got somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-5 mm, it's probably close to new.

Also look to see that you have a spring centered clutch. The rubber centered ones are bad news.

[Superman]

Chris' description sounds very good, although I do not recall very much material, even on a new disk. According to my recollection, the space between the friction material surface and the tops of the rivets was perhaps just 2-4 mm. It seemed to me that after just a couple of mm of wear, the rivets would start touching. but, his knowledge is probably more accurate than my hazy recollections.

Unless the disk were basically new, I'd be very tempted (very very tempted) to install a new disk at least. And maybe you'd get away with that in the sense that the new disk might enjoy a full life (80K miles or whatever) before other clutch parts give out. But maybe not. And if the release bearing went out in six months you'd be removing the engine again.

[dmcummins]

Thanks guys, I probably won't pull the trans off the engine till this weekend but just wanted to know what to look for. The engine is not original to the car so I don't know if the clutch has been replaced or not.