TL/DR As the subject says, the friction material on the clutch disk is pretty common stuff. Not too costly to replace, if I can find a place that will do it.

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When I was a kid, I had a job in a tire sales place. I was the jr tire/shock installer. Started work at 13 after school, and had a VW beetle from the 60s. This is how cheap I was, and it was a different time. Back then, there was a catalog that came around every 3-4 months called 'JC Whitney, parts for ALL cars'. It was rolled up in a tube, or loose and came to the tire shop. My beetle was supported by JC Whitney for many years when I started driving at 15. Points, condensor, cap, rotor and wire kit was $7.95 plus a few bucks for shipping.

One fine SoCal day, I had the 2/55 AC going, and as I left the freeway, heard a 'snick-snick-snick' sound from the front when I applied the brakes. My older brother had a listen and said 'brake shoes. That's the rivet hitting the drum'. So, I get out the JCW catalog, and look up VW, and look up brakes, and they have a no-shyte: "Brake relining kit! Everything to make your brakes like new. Front or back, done in pairs! Get it now and drive safe!" It was I think $9 but no pics, and the only discription was 'pads, rivets, and springs'. Never having taken a brake drum off before, I had a general idea what was going on so I ordered it, and used the handbrake for the rest of the week driving to work and home.

Box shows up from JCW, and I dig in, and there it is. Four arcs of friction material, a box of brass rivets, and four springs with a loop and curl. I knocked the hubcap and dust cap off. Undid the nut and washer and pulled it apart. Three hours later, I had the old shoes off, new ones on, had learned how to rivet with a hammer and chisel and stuffed it all back together. Went over to the other side, and did the same. Viola, $9 front brake job.

 

Centerforce when in California would reline existing clutches with new material....also I remember a thread where someone got some relined BUT the thickness was too great and clutch would not disengage properly.

 

Thank you, will contact them.

 

doc,if you find anything please let us know,Ray and thanks

 

I had mine resurfaced at the local clutch guru. I don't remember it being terribly expensive. I took the entire clutch in so he could test it when the discs came back. Works like a champ

 

HR clutch in Bensalem PA did mine. 400 IIRC for dual disk re lining and machining to intermediate plate.

 

Euro Drive in Burlington, Ontario, Canada does them. I and others on RL have used this shop. Highly recommend them. Excellent service for around $100 CDN for a regular single disk clutch with standard friction material. Around $160 CDN for Kevlar for the same part. With the favorable exchange rate for you guys in the US, this is a real bargain. The shop has been around for decades, probably 40-50 years.

 

Off Topic:

JC Whitney is still out there. And still the same.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/?TID=gglsea...FQIKaQodRc0FBw

 

I have relined clutch discs ready to go for the early 77 to 86 cars.
Need someone to prove a pair for me - Doc want to be a volunteer?
Already been fitted on one car and worked fine but I would prefer a new set is fitted to a local car so I can get good feedback.

 

IIRC, that's the place I was planning to send mine to. Think he quoted me $65.00 per face with a Carbon/Kevlar material.

 

They are somewhat local to be. They have been around since the dawn of time and the shop looks the part. He correctly identified the clutch set up from sight and said they used to do a lot of them in 90s. I was happy with the work.

 

Submitting a stupid report log #48,839. I hadn't moved the car in a while, so I hopped in, pushed in the clutch and started it right up. After sitting for more than a month, she fired right up and ran smooth. Selected 1st gear, and started to move off, and noticed some slipping when I accelerated. Hmmmm, that felt weird. Rather than do any damage to the clutch, I went back and parked it.

Got out this am early and started poking around up in there, and found a barrel shaped cable or something had jammed behind the pedal stop, so the pedal didn't come all the way back. Since I hadn't been in the car for a while, I didn't notice the difference right away.

Moved the cable, tied it up out of the way, and the clutch works perfect again.

D'OH!! Homer strikes again.... uuuummmmmm beeeeeeeeeerrrr.

Sorry for the angst and loss of sleep I caused everyone. (ya, sure) Good info should I need it in the future.

 

Good to know, thanks!

 

Doc,
I do believe that Fort Worth Brake & Clutch on 287 at Rosedale could have done that for you. If, in fact, you had truly needed that service.

 

I should be pulling a clutch on a '79 this week. I'm game.