Video from Sandown Sprint today

jimnielsen · May 30, 2010, 08:53:07 PM

This is a short video of me chasing Alan Goodall in his Alfa 75 - at Sandown this morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9T-9asqTao

jim ~

aggie57 · May 31, 2010, 01:50:38 PM

What broke Jim? You went home early.....

Frank Musco · May 31, 2010, 04:31:49 PM

Seriously fast Jim, nice work.

jimnielsen · May 31, 2010, 04:42:11 PM

I broke the clutch again - well, sorta, because now that I have taken the gearbox out (again..) it appears likely that the problem was really caused by a fitting error on my part. I am going to cut a hole in the clutch bell housing so that I can see when the clutch forks are engaged with the release bearing.. the car has a pull clutch and you cannot see when the engagement ears on the bearing are in the forks. By the looks of the release bearing the forks were pulling on the wrong part of the bearing - and came off, causing the bent bits that you can see in the photo. At least I am getting quicker at removing the clutch.

jim,..

Jekyll and Hyde · May 31, 2010, 06:23:35 PM

Quote from: jimnielsen on May 31, 2010, 04:42:11 PM
I broke the clutch again - well, sorta, because now that I have taken the gearbox out (again..) it appears likely that the problem was really caused by a fitting error on my part. I am going to cut a hole in the clutch bell housing so that I can see when the clutch forks are engaged with the release bearing.. the car has a pull clutch and you cannot see when the engagement ears on the bearing are in the forks. By the looks of the release bearing the forks were pulling on the wrong part of the bearing - and came off, causing the bent bits that you can see in the photo. At least I am getting quicker at removing the clutch.

jim,..

Usually with those style of clutch, the bearing comes in two parts, and you have to clip them them together yourself. The reason why, is you put the other bit onto the clutch fork while the gearbox is on the bench, then once you've fitted the gearbox to the car, give the fork a good shove in the opposite direction to the way it would normally go to clip the bearing in...

jimnielsen · May 31, 2010, 07:06:55 PM

yes, that's how they come alright, however you can't get the release bearing off the pressure plate fingers after that process has been completed, making it a tad more difficult on 2nd and 3rd installations....

aggie57 · May 31, 2010, 09:48:02 PM

Shame. Car looked good until then.

Steve S · June 01, 2010, 12:00:01 AM

Quote from: jimnielsen on May 31, 2010, 07:06:55 PM
yes, that's how they come alright, however you can't get the release bearing off the pressure plate fingers after that process has been completed, making it a tad more difficult on 2nd and 3rd installations....

Hi Jim

Don't try and install the gearbox like that.

You can get the bearing off the fingers by removing the pressure plate and squeezing up the "spring flange" (I can't think of anything else to call it

) part of the bearing on the inside.

Jekyll and Hyde · June 01, 2010, 07:44:07 PM

Quote from: SteveNZ on June 01, 2010, 12:00:01 AM
Quote from: jimnielsen on May 31, 2010, 07:06:55 PM
yes, that's how they come alright, however you can't get the release bearing off the pressure plate fingers after that process has been completed, making it a tad more difficult on 2nd and 3rd installations....

Hi Jim

Don't try and install the gearbox like that.

You can get the bearing off the fingers by removing the pressure plate and squeezing up the "spring flange" (I can't think of anything else to call it ) part of the bearing on the inside.

Usually called a snap ring, I think. And yes, you can seperate the thrust bearing again by doing this. Small flat blade screwdriver, and a few inches of wire out of the mig welder to keep the ring compressed as you work around it. Don't forget to reposition the triangular plastic sleeve back over the snap ring to assist in refitting...

Didn't realise you hadn't replaced the pressure plate when you fitted the fancy new friction plate...

jimnielsen · June 02, 2010, 04:45:12 PM

Well, from those Ideas, I was able to get the release bearing out. Unfortunately, I had been listening to all the people who said that it could not be done..that didn't help!

Anyway, after a while you can do it in just a few seconds, but you have to know how.. I have made a brief video of the process for the curious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ud5bY0EZxA

This was using an old bearing/pressure plate that I had around..

However, I practically had the gearbox bolted up to the engine again already before this.. using a pressure plate with the bearing still attached. So all I really had to do was to make absolutely sure that I got the proper engagement between the clutch "forks" and the bearing - so I used ClutchCam (tm) for that purpose..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJt7HxPSmxc

This video wont mean anything to anyone really, but it does show the forks captive in the place in the bearing where it is supposed to be!

But next time i would simply remove the release bearing and install it on the forks, as if it was a new install, clutchcam can still be handy though, because its quite a job to reinstall the clutch just to fix errors..

jimnielsen · June 02, 2010, 07:43:48 PM

I have added data to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9b9PbrOGmds

Frank Musco · June 07, 2010, 11:38:30 PM

Jim,

Thanks for making the video on how to remove the bearing from the pressure plate. Excellent work.
Love clutch cam. I can see your in this time. Good for peace of mind when your casually travelling over 200 k and you have to change gear, in a real hurry!!!

Now I'll have to buy a car with a pull clutch, just to give it go myself.

Frank

jimnielsen · June 08, 2010, 06:28:45 PM

I can't see the justification for these "pull clutches", Frank - they are too much of a nuisance - and for what benefit? The clutch is so light that when I first got the car I thought that the clutch wasn't actually working! You have to be careful that you have a stop under the clutch pedal at the correct place or else you can damage the pressure plate..

anyway, I installed the new slave cylinder today (pic) - no problems - most of the old one is still somewhere near the exit to turn one at Sandown..

Ray Pignataro · June 08, 2010, 08:10:53 PM

Jim, and I think Frank will confirm this that is an alfa sud unit. mmm might be the best part of the car. lol.

Frank Musco · June 10, 2010, 11:12:26 PM

Ah yes, Good call Ray, looks identical to the Alfa sud unit. I'm not surprised, we know how good they are, the rest are just trying to keep up.

Now Jim, a soft clutch was designed with the Ladies in mind wasn't it

You've got power steering as well haven't you. What going on here!!! Can you take me shopping at Phillip Island, I know it will be a very quick trip.

Seriously though, I would like to know what the engineering is for this design.
For example, I have notice that the thrust bearing on a push clutch causes the fingers of the diaphram spring to wear so thin they collapse. Usually attributed to resting your foot on the clutch pedal constantly.

Maybe its cheaper to produce??? Clutches aint clutches is seems.