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Yeah that's where I'm at. Going to start teardown later when I have time. I've done it before and I know I used antiseize and new hardware so it should be pretty easy this time.
The pedal linkage is perfect....and there's zero firewall flex.
Ok, started teardown this evening. Trans out, torque tube pulled back, exhaust off, starter and slave removed. I was hoping to pull the bellhousing tonight but I have work tomorrow. Will report back with the damage....
That ought to do it! Any further issues found after further teardown? Hope that it works better after all the new components are installed. BTW..I like the smilie eating popcorn..neat.. Good luck with the re-install..
:>) !
This morning I brought the pressure plate to my father and his team, who specialize in steel failure analysis for a major subsea engineering company. They inspected the crack and noticed that based on the profile and beach marks, it was fatigue induced.
The pointed out 2 discrete color regions: dark gray (approx. half of the crack length closest to the center) and a very light gray (the other half, closest to the ring gear). The latter section exhibited beach marks at 45*, and this was the fatigue region. The darker section had characteristics associated with tearing - where the region between the fatigue crack and the hole (between finger bases) gave way. This was likely the moment where I suddenly had strange clutch engagement, since the diaphragm was no longer able to fully retract the pressure plate.
Originally Posted by 924srr27l
Shish !!
Time for a new SPEC Clutch and aluminium flywheel ?
R
Already ordered a new Sachs kit (spring centered). I'm getting the SPEC push style with alum flywheel for the 951
Other way around - the dark section is the fatigue region where the flaw grew slow enough to rust over the newly exposed metal. The light section is where the flaw got large enough and the net-section small enough that the flaw unzipped over the rest of the section.
The flaw initiated at the stress concentration (hole), plus hoop stress of a spinning structure is higher as you go inward radially.
Interesting as your experience is a$$ backwards from my experience. When a Chevy pressure plate cracked on me it made a "sprongggg" noise and the pedal went soft but everything still functioned OK. The clutch could be made to slip to high gear if you tried. Clutches on most cars were easy to change out back then. My brother and I put a clutch in our Grandfather's Pontiac Tempest in less than an hour.
Ive seen plenty of the stock spring centered clutch discs break at the sheet metal tabs that connect the inner and outer ring, but never heard of the pressure plate failing.
That may be because the other clutches may have been a push style type clutch and not a pull type as we have in these cars. Hope that mine does OK for a while, when I get it back in the car..looks as though I'm gonna be on the sick list and quarantined for a while longer ...as of now..Hope that you do really well with the new ones, Michael..pulling for you...from New Hampshire.
Thanks guys! Parts should be here thursday. I also ordered a new TOB guide tube (thanks to Van's video where he recommended it), new needle bearings for the fork, a new pilot bearing, new exhaust gaskets all around, and new hardware for the pressure plate, bellhousing, slave, starter, torque tube, exhaust joints, transaxle connection points, and the 2 ground contacts on the bellhousing strap. I also have a few RMSs laying around so I may install one, although mine was replaced in 2006 and doesn't leak....don't want to jinx it. We'll see.
Oh, and Vanagon axles. One of mine had just started to fail in the last year, with no symptoms except for slight play at the hub side. For the price of these (EMPI, $61 each shipped) I can't be bothered to rebuild them.
01-14-2017, 04:24 PM
