On the Last corner of the Last stage of the last day of Targa we got a big bang and then a bad vibration through the driveline. My first thought was driveshaft, but when we pulled up the vibration was still there and on take off there was a some bad shuddering so we figured it was the cltuch. Well the car got to the finish line and we had more pressing things to worry about (mostly getting a beer). The car then drove back from Hobart to Luanceston, then from melbourne to Paul's workshop in Berwick, the vibration did not get any better!.
This arvo i had a spare hour so i ripped the gearbox out and pulled the pressure plate off. The photo's tell the full story, 2 out of the 3 flex plates and broken all the way through, and the third one was holding on by the skin of it's teeth. This was a brand new Sachs pressure plate that had the rivets drilled and and unbrako bolts added, including adding a 3rd bolt. Looks like i might have to upgrade to a Porsch one next ?
Also managed to wear nearly 1.4mm off the Kevlar reinforced friction plate, so it's pretty much time for a new one, turns out 8 hard starts a day with a close ratio geabox comes at a cost!
PM sent. I may have the answer, then again, maybe not!!!!.....Regards......Ian
Hi guys,
Well I couldn't find any great solution to my clutch issues without going to a full AP paddle racing clutch setup but with all the road driving we have to do during rallies I really wanted to keep a more standard setup (not to mention the cost!)
So here are a couple of photo's of my first attempt at a solution. The tags originally failed as the couldn't handle the torque so I've added 3 sets of steel "fingers" that are bolted to the cover plate and slide up and down in a slot that I machined into the drive plate. These fingers should now take the majority of the torque and take the load of the spring tags.
Still need to get all balanced before I can put it back in the car, hopefully have it finished so I can test it out at the island in a couple of weeks.
quick update, got the clutch balanced during the week (almost not required based on the tiny amount of material removed) and managed to take it for a test drive on Saturday, all seems good, I thought there may be some knocking of the new steel "Fingers" resisting the torque of the drive drive plate but it was completely silent and the clutch engauges/dis-engauges perfectly, all ready for a good thrashing at the island on Saturday, can't wait!
After a very cold, wet and windy day (but lots of fun) at the island the clutch appeared to work very well.
And finally after about 10 years of trying I managed to crack the 2 min barrier in a 105 with a time of 1:58.8. Considering the conditions pretty happy with that!
Congratulations on breaking the 2 minutes.