[T3] Clutch question

Wed Aug 27 20:00:48 PDT 2014

Is there any marking on the plate indicating its strength? I know Kenn

Daniel Du Vall
http://1peter4-10.org
http://volkswageninsanity.us

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org] On Behalf Of Keith Park
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 8:38 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: Re: [T3] Clutch question

Glad to hear Sarah is getting things worked out from the expert!
THe lever plates, even the stock ones were stiff, I hated the one I had in the old 73 many years ago, the diaphragm type is much more pleasant although on the light side, barely adequate for 65HP but it has held up in my 71 and you know I dont drive that lightly (load wise).  with the short 71 pedals and long 72 arm combo I do indeed have that heavenly light pedal, a good combo indeed!

Sarah's did feel stiffer than a stock lever plate, perhaps there are several lever plates that look the same but are different, could this be for a bus?
other make of car?  wouldnt be the first time the wrong parts were found in one of our cars.  I do prefer the diaphragm plate and spring disc.

Tell sarah her turn lense should go out next week!

Keith
Does F&S mark their plates with info on their pressures or weights? I know that there are a few Kennedy ones out there that look very similar and are actually very different strength wise. 

-----Original Message-----
From: type3-vwtype3.org [mailto:type3-vwtype3.org-bounces at lists.vwtype3.org]
On Behalf Of Jim Adney
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 10:45 PM
To: type3 at vwtype3.org
Subject: [T3] Clutch question

Sarah is here! Yes, Sarah from Brooklyn, NY, who we met at the Invasion, made it all the way to Wisconsin with Marigold, her '71 square. We had a number of things to try to sort out and one of them was the clutch.

We think most of the other things are sorted out, but there's a mystery in the clutch. When we got the engine out, the pressure plate was a German F&S 3-arm diaphram spring pressure plate and the driven disk was a Brazilian F&S spring center disk. Both appear to be correct for her '71. (No center ring on the pressure plate.)

Keith thought this might be a Kennedy plate, because the pedal pressure seemed heavy, but once we got to it, it all appears to be stock. We're looking for something obviously wrong, but the only thing that's wrong is something really strange:  

The disk appears to have plenty of life left in it. PP surface and flywheel surface look fine.

The spring center disk has 3 rivets that hold the 3 center plates (that contain the 6 springs) together. The heads of those 3 rivets have been partly worn away because they have been touching the inner edge of the diaphram spring in this PP. Clearly these 2 parts were never designed to play well together, even though they are both F&S.

I have a perfectly good F&S diaphram style (non-3-arm) PP that has plenty of clearance over those rivets, and I'll be happy to install it in her car, but this doesn't seem like it would have anything to do with the heavy pedal pressure.  

So here's my question: Has anyone seen this before? Does anyone think this should cause heavy pedal pressure? If so, why?

While we're at this point, I think we should also pull the flywheel and check the main seal and the gland nut pilot bearing.

So far we've replaced the missing thermostat, and the pushrod tube next to it, that the previous mechanic had dented when he removed the old thermostat. That pushrod had rubbed a hole in the pushrod tube. 
That explains a lot of Marigold's oil loss. The rest of the thermostat linkage was there, but it had a wrong spring installed. At least that spring kept the flaps OPEN!

New pushrod tube, thermostat, linkage, and spring are all installed and adjusted now.

We also found that the outboard spring anchors for the mech adv in the distributor had been bent over by the installation of a condensor mounting screw that was too long. I think that made the advance start at a much lower rpm, so that the timing was dependent on what rpm you timed it at. So Marigold gets a "new" distributor. That should make the timing much more stable.

Comments on the clutch, PLEASE?

--
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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