Clutch wear ?

[daves16v 1]

I've taken what appears to be a little used clutch off my breaker, can anyone tell me the starting thickness of the clutch plate and what is considered the minimum?

 

Cheers

Dave

[Harrier 1]

Dont know ,but if you have about 1-2mm lining from the rivets then would say its in good nick

[daves16v 1]

Dont know ,but if you have about 1-2mm lining from the rivets then would say its in good nick

 

Ok I'll drop my vernier on it.

[davidwort 0]

Bentley says only replace if there's less than 0.1mm to the rivet heads! think i'd replace it if I had got the box off and that was all that was left!

 

When I did my 8v recently the old clutch was heavy but there was still some clearance off the rivets, IIRC there was only a mm or two either side more material over the old one on the new one, so like Harrier says if you have 1mm to the rivet heads it's in good nick.

[daves16v 1]

Bentley says only replace if there's less than 0.1mm to the rivet heads! think i'd replace it if I had got the box off and that was all that was left!

 

When I did my 8v recently the old clutch was heavy but there was still some clearance off the rivets, IIRC there was only a mm or two either side more material over the old one on the new one, so like Harrier says if you have 1mm to the rivet heads it's in good nick.

 

Thanks David.

[dannyboy 0]

Silly question,is there any way to check for wear without removing the box? It is a Pita to remove the gearbox just to find the clutch is fine! I didn't think its possible unless someone has a neat trick?

[davidwort 0]

Only that it's heavy afaik, once it's worn down the extra distance, although small, makes the effort to press it higher, biting point doesn't seem to change like it does on a cable operated clutch.

[dannyboy 0]

Mines not heavy at all and was only new last year when I done the engine conversion but just before I left for Canada in July it gave it the beans on a flat road in third gear and the revs just bounced off the limiter instantly. It was like it wasnt in gear but the car was in gear,so changed the gear and it drove fine,very strange. The biting point is quite low,about 2 inch from the floor.

[guildmage 11]

Hmm, I have this slight worry clutch in my car could be on it's last legs. Still it's seems to drive fine, throughout gears, but when driving in traffic (1st gear), if I try to let go clutch completely (even slowly) without pressing accelerator pedal, my car start to "jumps" and behaves very erratic, almost to the point of stalling. It's only by pressing accelerator pedal I can keep it moving - that unfortunetly means that if driven in traffic I always travel quicker than everyone else. So there is a lot of clutch/accelerator pedal/brakes work involved to keep me going.

 

Should a Corrado 16V be able to drive forward (slowly) with 1st gear selected but feet not touching either clutch or accelerator pedal? Mine seem to be unable to do that.

Could that point into a worn clutch? It's hard for me to say if clutch is heavy or not. It's always been the same - I have no records of it ever being changed in the past (17+ years... - I bet I just answered my question now)

[davidwort 0]

I don't think the KE-jet system on the 16v can cope with that sort of crawling forward under it's own devices, AFAIK the digifant system was the first VW to be able to do that, but as you said you may be at the end of your clutch's life, a combination of wearing right down to the rivets and a weakening pressure plate usually means you start to get slippage in high gears (revs creeping up) under heavy load as the 'beginning-of-the-end'.

[Oldtax 10]

Personally, and i know almost nothing, I'd ask a specialist garage. JMR knows his stuff and is so friendly i think he'd tell you over the phone. heres the link: http://www.johnmitchellracing.co.uk/ He's brilliant

[dannyboy 0]

Guild,It sounds like clutch grab could be caused by splines on the input shaft "catching" on the clutch plate on re-engagement due to poor lubrication on splined shaft due to clutch dust,rust,metal burr,etc

made crawling in first gear very on/off engagement. But it could also be the rivets starting to bite the flywheel surface too

[daves16v 1]

Just checked with my vernier caliper, there is between 1.7 and 1.8mm available down to the rivet so I'd say it's pretty new, will post in the for sale section.