SKCC - Southern Kit Car Club. A Club for kit car owners across Southern England. Kent, Sussex, East Hants, Surrey, Berks, Middlesex, London

Clutches hey! So it turns out the new clutch and cover plate is shorter than the old on both with the cover plate and just the friction material. I don’t think the clutch with cover plate would be a problem but the friction material to the cover plate probably is. Thoughts?

On a different note I’m planning on fitting a cover plate instead of the oil breather on the exhaust side, pros/cons?

Sorry for asking is the friction plate round the right way??

I don’t see how that would make a difference. With the friction material the other way around the centre is less proud, 12mm vs 22mm. However the way I think it works is that the cover plate clamps the friction material to the flywheel, which is dependent on the thickness of the friction material. When you press the clutch pedal it pushes the release bearing against the cover plate spring (the fingers) which pulls the cover plate back, unclamping the friction material. It doesn’t touch the centre of the friction material. So either the cover plate isn’t clamping enough or it’s pushing against the release bearing, which isn’t the case as there was some play in the release arm with the pedal released. Confused! I’m hoping for some enlightenment when I speak the the clutch chap at Burton’s on Monday

You have to make sure you’ve got the friction plate the right way round or it can cause problems. Usually the plate catches on the flywheel bolts stopping it clearing but it could hold the friction material off the flywheel surface causing it to slip as well

It was installed as in the pic above, with the prouder spring assembly towards the gear box, either way round it doesn't seem to foul or catch. Also there are heat spots on both the flywheel and the clutch cover plate, which indicates (to me anyway!) that the splip was against both sides. My gut feel at the moment is that the cover plate and friction material are not compatible and the cover plate isn't applying enough clamping pressure and this would tally with the slipping and the high biting point.

One trip to Burtons and I have a very light wallet and a paddle clutch, pics to follow. They couldn't work out why it was slipping either and said that the clutch they sold me to cope with 250 bhp, wouldn't cope with 250 bhp of the torque a supercharger can generate. Not sure if I should be annoyed or pleased!!

Anyway there's a pinto flywheel to type 9 clutch going for sale shortly, 1 careful owner only been slipped a dozen or so times

ChrisL wrote:One trip to Burtons and I have a very light wallet and a paddle clutch, pics to follow. They couldn't work out why it was slipping either and said that the clutch they sold me to cope with 250 bhp, wouldn't cope with 250 bhp of the torque a supercharger can generate. Not sure if I should be annoyed or pleased!!

Anyway there's a pinto flywheel to type 9 clutch going for sale shortly, 1 careful owner only been slipped a dozen or so times

So Burtons don't know why it was slipping in one breathe and then said it wasn't designed to take the torque a Supercharged engine may put out?

What torque is your car putting out Chris?

At the time of the slippage the car was on injection via throttle body, no idea on torque but would be amazed if it was putting out more than 160ish BHP.

So reasons for slipping:
1. Too much power - unlikely the clutch should have been good for at least 180, and I bought it cope with 250, although pretty sure the chap selling it to me didn't grab the implications of a super charger, whereas the second chap did;
2. Incorrect fitment: Checked that this was OK, so not this one;
3. Contamination: No evidence of leaks so would have had to be contaminated during fitting, which is possible (we all feck it up now and again!) but why didn't it slip when I was tuning? lots of stomping on the loud pedal again not likely

So on balance option 1 looks likeliest but back to the "it should have been able to cope) argument.

Fitting the new one I made damn sure everything was cleaned with acetone and tipped off.
Managed to get the engine back in today - it was a complete pig. Hot side bolted on cold side to go...

Car's back together this time with the SC installed etc.
Had it idling up to temp and a few plays on the throttle, a ,little bit of squealing which passed. Will tighten up the belt tomorrow before trying again...

Well done Chris.
That didn't take long. Did you ask for a refund or discount from burtons. Glad youve put your week off to good use.