clutch wear question.

[vash]

i am chasing an oil leak. i thought it was my flywheel seal, but now i am not so sure. using a flashlight and a mirror, it appears to be the breather gasket. needless to say, i am dropping the motor. i am 90% complete. the hard oil line stopped me cold. some gorilla musta tightened it. i am waiting for some large box wrenches from a friend.

question: at what point would you invest the $ to just go ahead and install a new clutch package? is there a measurement for the clutch disc to measure wear? basically, i am torn. do i drop the additional (approx $700) to just go ahead and do the clutch, because the motor is out? or do i just fix the leaks, hope it isnt the flywheel seal, and put it back? at this point i am a measley $100 into this thing. i will do my valve adjust too.

more info. searching thru the pile of reciepts, i found a PO had just the clutch disc changed. i assume to ditch the rubber center thing. no other parts done. this was 40,000 miles ago.

[azasadny]

Vash,
I replaced my clutch while I swapped engines last month and didn't really notice how much wear my old clutch had. My clutch has been on the car for over 10 years and about 60,000 miles, so I felt better about replacing it while the engine/tranny were out than waiting for it to fail. It's an easy job (clutch replacement) and the engine drop/reinstall was the hardeat part for me...

[Early_S_Man]

Cliff,

I don't think you have much to worry about with a 40K mileage clutch.

New clutch disks are 8.1 mm thick, +/- 0.4 mm, and the wear limit is 6.0 mm.

[SuperClyde]

What should you look out for to identify a wearing clutch?

[Early_S_Man]

Clyde,

As a clutch disk wears ... free play at the pedal will change. When you notice that the point of clutch engagement or release changes from what it used to be ... a clutch adjustment will be required. Depending on how often you notice such a change ... just be aware that the disk is getting thinner, and holding force is lower than when the clutch was new! I have seen dry clutch disks [no oil leakage ever got on them] wear to the point that they slip in 4th or 5th gear when going up an incline or when the engine is given full throttle.