beran earms

I could use a little direction, I have searched for a tutorial for clutch adjustment, only to find lots of ideas and comments, (witty banter) for the procedure, but nothing step by step and definite. I'm sure there is something somewhere, so if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be great. Thanks in advance, JD

hacker-pschorr

You've experienced part of the problem already, not everyone agrees and never will.

Bottom line, when the clutch is disengaged the intermediate disc needs to be "centered" between the discs, or at least in a position where it's not touching either one enough that it causes the clutch to hang up. Even in a perfectly working system it may appear they are slightly touching - not much clearance in this system.

A very popular theory is to adjust the intermediate disc "all the way back" prior to installation. Once the clutch pack is full installed, the disc will be automatically centered and you are good to go.

Some of us (myself included) has never been able to make this method work. After much banter in many threads it was loosely agreed that if this method doesn't work, something in the clutch pack may be worn since this "should" work when everything is nice and new.


My method is pretty much foolproof. I cut a large hole in a spare bell-housing. While someone is holding the clutch pedal to the floor I rotate the engine and adjust the intermediate disc to be centered.

I know mechanics who use a ratchet strap from the clutch fork to one of the rear axles to accomplish the same thing without the bell-housing installed. This always seamed a bit dangerous to me, but it works.

This is my bell-housing and I'm currently working with Turbo Todd to come up with a "door" that can be cut open and installed on all my cars so I don't have to swap bell-housings to inspect the clutch. Frankly this is one of the biggest bone-headed moves by the 928 design team, not installing an inspection / adjustment window on these cars.

Dave928S

I'd be interested to hear of or see the detail, as I want to do the same on my '82. If Todd is doing it it's bound to be elegant

davek9

Agree with Hacker's above description and this has always worked for me, and it would be nice to have a modified lower on hand to make the "adjustment".

However as most do not and if you don't want to use a ratchet strap to disengage the clutch, a breaker bar can also be used, then rotate the clutch pack to the next "H" and do it again, when all three are centered your done.
Most of the time they will self center and no adjustment is needed.

hacker-pschorr

We've been tossing around many ideas over the years, it hasn't been a priority until now that I have multiple 5-speeds.

One idea was finding an off the shelf threaded round plug so we could just drill a large hole, thread it and screw in the plug. Easy to repeat but cutting those threads could be tricky, not much "meat" there.

Probably just going to make a metal plate the size of the hole, use threaded rivets on the bell-housing. The hole doesn't have to be as big as the one pictured above, next one will be smaller leaving some material to drill for the rivets.

davek9

How about making "tool" that depresses the Clutch Fork?
One that bolts to the existing two threaded Slave cylinder bolt holes and has a threaded rod that can be spun into the fork to open (depress) the clutch?
Using a power ratchet it would be quick to run in and out, this would require no mods to the car.

I'm thinking a plate like the Flywheel lock uses, only with a threaded hole for the rod, then you don't need two people

hacker-pschorr

That would work for adjustment, but I've had a few situations where the inspection hole was useful for diagnosing the problem, being able to watch the clutch in action while someone operated it with the engine running.

davek9

Ahh, understood, I was only considering the Adjustment part

mark kibort

the cut out has been a great modificaton when i was having a weak intermediate plate. the H adjusters would move at redline RPM where any vibration of the floating disc could move them.
as Hacker said, ,i have had NO luck on any car moving them all the way back in fact, thats the problem to a tee!!! they would move back and then the rear clutch disc is pressed via the int plate to the pressure plate and the driveline is not released and contiues to spin with force. this IS the problem of that adjustment technique

all you need to do is move the H adjusters so that there is a 1mm gap. this way, when the clutch is pushed, the discs all retreat off the flywheel , but too far as to touch the rear ward pressure plate fiction surface.

with the "hatch" and ill admit, min was less than pretty, you can adjust the H adjusters with out any hassle. if they are lose, the only other option and it is a permanent one, is to "pin" them... this requires adjusting them perfectly, and then driling holes through them and driving a cotter pin through the hole. then, they never willl move again. Ive been racing with mine for 6 years now , pinned. it shifts like butter, in all situations. the ONLY draw back to that is that if the cutch discs wear out, it will not self adjust, but ive never seen clutch discs wear out in the 250,000 miles of 928 ownership.