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Date:         Tue, 02 Apr 1996 10:10:00 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Maher, Steve (SD-MS)" <SMAHER@gi.com>
Subject:      Re: The Clutch Eater

>>Well, now things have happened again. This time, tho, the clutch is >>permanently engaged. If you push the clutch pedal to the floor, it feels > >Pilot bearing's dead

Hmmm, I was afraid of that. Might this mean, that maybe the clutch is engaging and disengaging somewhat normally, but the transmission input shaft is now locked directly to the flywheel and/or crankshaft by a frozen or jammed pilot bearing?

If so, getting the engine out will be a real hoot. :(

>>And, the part that worries me the most: that pounding, roaring vibration >>when engine RPMs are between 2500 and about 3200. Happens in all gears, > >Sounds like the flywheel isn't quite balanced right, did you ask Kennedy for >details. Did the pressure plate and flywheel come as a match balance set >that the PO put together out of alignment?

I don't know, but I don't think so. I've never seen these two parts come as a "matched set". Whenever I've replaced a clutch (on an upright engine), I've bought a new pressure plate, but resurfaced and re-used the old flywheel. I've always made the tacit assumption that the flywheel was correctly balanced, and so was the pressure plate, and that they could be bolted together in any of the six possible orientations to one another. Never had an imbalance or vibration problem, until now.

Kennedy takes a standard '80 Vgon flywheel, cuts out the center, and welds in a plug which is fabricated and drilled to fit the non-VW engine-- in this case the Chevy 60-degree V6. It would be very strange if they *didn't* balance the hybrid flywheel after doing this, but I guess anything's possible. I will find out. Depending on what the flywheel etc. looks like when I get it out, I may send it back to them for examination.

BTW, I've been told that type-4 engines don't have gland nuts. If this is the case, then where does the pilot bearing mount? Directly inside the flywheel? Inside the end of the crank? ...??? I've never looked at one, obviously. And, this Chevy engine might have a different arrangement than the original type-4 engine, although Kennedy once told me that the Chevy conversion uses the same pilot bearing as the VW (I had asked specifically about the pilot bearing).

>Screeching on acceleration? Clutch is slipping, how much did the PO skim >the flywheel? :( . Ask Kennedy about their disc choices, you may need one >of their beefier ones. This sounds wierd, gonna get costly fast if you >don't get the right fix. Tim

The PO bought the flywheel new from Kennedy (along with the rest of the kit), and I'm sure he bolted it right on. Then when the clutch failed and he sold it to me, He offered to put in a new clutch if I sent him the parts, which I did. I specifically asked him to take the flywheel and have it resurfaced, which he says he did and gave me the machine-shop receipt.

Don't know if the flywheel was genuinely new from Kennedy, or a rebuilt/ resurfaced one that they then modified for the Chevy engine. I assume new. So it shouldn't have had much off it by the time I got hold of it.

But... the screeching was occasional, and happened when I had the clutch pedal all the way in (idling at an intersection and briefly revving the engine), or partly out (revving the engine as I pulled away from the intersection in 1st gear).

Well, the search goes on. I hope to get it apart this weekend. Thanks for your help, tim-- Onward!

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Maher smaher@gi.com '80 V6anagon w/Chevy 2800 '66 Mustang Coupevertible, for sale

Check out the cars at http://www.lookup.com/homepages/76242/home.html

*** It takes all kinds to make this world. That's why we aren't all Irish. *** ---------------------------------------------------------------------


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