Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:24:41 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Clutch change?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
HI Don.
pressure plates last really, really well.
what i find is that the friction on the forks and moving parts in there get rusty or tired or stiff.
'one' sign of a tired pressure plate is higher than usual effort is needed to disengage it.
I keep many of them in service ..
and if your current one is a good sachs, and doesn't seem all rusty really messed up ..
they keep it in service.
they're sorta nebulous ..they don't really fail, they just get tired-er and tired-er. I must have 8 of them around, not failed, not fresh ...just 'used' and more or less ok.
but a nice new pressure plate feels really smooth from the clutch pedal.
on any clutch,
if pedal effort is very high ....that's a sign of a pretty old clutch.
disc thickness affects leverage in the pressure plate I think, so high effort can be a sign of thing disc, but more likely a pressure plate with a zillion miles on it.
heck, one could even compresse the pressure plate, like in a drill press,
and with very smaring amounts of a stick grease...like motorcycle chain lube, carefully lube the pivot spots.
it can be hard to tell from the clutch pedal sometimes what is really going on ..
had one van drug in here recently with blown out 3rd gear...
the van's owners had no idea anything was not right about the clutch ..it did 'work' after all.
But I could tell at the pedal, it was both spongey feeling, like weak hydrualics,
then getting getting very high effort ....like stiff or tired pressure plate ..
it was both at once..
both weak feeling and spongey, and high effort from tired pressure plate.
along with a good trans it got a new disc and TOB and pilot bearing and clutch slave cylinder..
and new pressure plate too I think. Came out real smooth in the end.
yeah I'll have to be getting myself one of those 2.0 bliocks ..
say, do you know the engine code of that block ? ...two letters right above the hole in the block where the distributor normally goes on a 1.8 . ( my 16V has the dist at the end of one of the cams )
my 16V has a very exotic looking dual exh manifold too, and fancy twin pipe header ..
I'm gonna keep that system, and to do it really nicely ..
to retain that twin header pipe, modified, and get it all tucked in for a nice 50 degree install in a vanagon ...is going to be a little tricky .
so yes, it's tempting to keep it simple with the older exh manifold.
on m 16 V I don't have that choice, since the ports are very differently shapped in the head.
I like to build most things like that 'in place' right on the van .
or an a mock-up vanagon body ...I tack weld them sometimes, then take it to my welder guy for final welding.
I have occaisinally taken and entire engine, inverted, to my welder to have him build exhaust stuff on it, right 'in place.'
you get the best results with 'in situ' construction often.
May take longer ...but better results in the end. I always want it elegant, strong, long lasting and very easy to work on.
re the amount of time it takes ..
on almost any vanagon job ....I find that the 'main part' ...........like say 'R & R a head' ..
that part of the job is really only about 20, maybe 30 % of the whole 'real job' ...
which to me always involves restoration, rust repair and treatment, upgrading here and there , cleanning, servicing etc. etc. etc. So for me a 5 hour head R & R is usually a twenty hour re-sto job in the end.
Soon I will finally be able to start putting my 16 valve inline four gasser into my 87 GL 'mule' vanagon ...
that'll be fun.
just ran a DOHC 2.5 subaru engine in it for a while, prior to that engine's owner bring his van in ..
now that'll come out ....hopefully starting real soon,
and 16 V 1.8 starting to go in.
I often think we should do more in the way of putting inline four gas engines into vanagons ..
I'm too distracted doing waterboxer re-do's and diesel and TD installations and work, and subaru engine stuff ...I would like to do more inline four gas stuff.
I think you can get more than 2.0 liters out of them with a different crank, too. There's a whole hot rod world for inline fours I don't find time to tap into ...
saw one site .....DOHC 16 valve 1.8 turbo with up to 400 hp. Even 240 hp would be just wonderful.
One step at a time.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Don Hanson
To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans
Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 3:00 PM
Subject: Re: Clutch change?
On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 2:08 PM, Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
Hi Don,
the smart thing is to get a Sachs clutch kit ..
you get pressure plate, disc, and throwout bearing.
I've just excellent luck with those.
Thanks Scott...I will look at getting one of those sachs kits, though if I don't need the pressure plate I would rather just do the disc... am thinking I may be able to finish my whole engine upgrade for under $500 when all is done. Not bad for perhaps 20% more power and torque plus the forged crank upgrade and the under piston oilers that come with the newer 2.0 jetta block..
I still have to find an exhaust guy to weld me up a merge collector and bend a special downpipe to go back and around the rear of the oil pan....if I take the trouble to incorporate the dual outlet exhaust manifold I have from the newer head...I may blow that off till later and use my existing one..I can pop the head off with a few hours work anytime.. I think the exhaust might be better done with the motor in the chassis anyhow...the clearances are pretty tight for the exhaust routing in the 50 degree slant mount..
Don Hanson
