Clutch job 2.0

[mrsprite]

I get to practice my engine removal skills yet again! My clutch went south again (replaced it last September). I had hydraulic issues though and I think that was the real problem all along. It does give me the chance to seal up some oil leaks and fix a few other things that need attention. I discovered a few days ago that I have at least one (but likely two) broken valve guides, so new bronze ones will be installed. I also seem to have a dead drivers side shock....will have to e-mail Peter C about that (also replaced in Sept.)

What else? New 3/4" master cylinder (thanks Gerard!!), oil pump, oil pan gasket, timing chain, wheel bearings, brakes, axles (finally found a good set of EN-17's), K&N air filters, clutch (of course), upgraded radiator (trying to mount a Suzuki Swift unit with elec. fan) and installation of poly a-arm bushings.


The engine and trans are from an '82 Datsun 210 and the previous owner was using a stock Spridget 7/8" master cylinder with the stock Datsun 11/13" slave cylinder.....this is why I think the hydraulics are to blame for the clutch failures. A stock Datsun 210 has a 5/8" master cylinder....using that 7/8" threw the dynamics off quite a bit. Hopefully the new 3/4" master and new 7/8" slave will make things work a little bit better (it'll at least be closer to the stock Datsun plumbing).

Here are a couple of pics....I think I'm going to document things better this time.

For future reference, I am running an '82 Datsun A15 engine (1488cc) with factory twin Hitachi SU carbs on a custom manifold & a NISMO performance "GX" head mated to the stock 210 5-speed trans. that runs to a stock Spridget 3.90 rear end (future plans call for an RX-7 rear end swap).


Very dirty engine!

This notch is the only cutting that was needed to install the A15!

More to come as I work on it (pulling the engine tomorrow!).

 

[jlaird]

Thank goodness you are up in the cool part of the world.

While engine is out a good cleaning of everything in there is a good idea including the engine room its self. Makes putting things back so much nicer. I just love working on Miss Agatha without getting hands nasty.

 

[mrsprite]

Cool!? It's been pushing 100* for the past week......very hot (though not as muggy as you guys down south!).

The engine bay will definitely get a thorough washing. I've had a nasty oil leak since the last clutch job and it's a little messy in there.

 

[tony barnhill]

Ah, been there with the proverbial"clutch job"...hehehe...we're looking forward to the photos of the stripped & blasted body tub...hehehe

 

[jlaird]

LOL

 

[mrsprite]

I wish I had the money to strip the tub to bare metal......it needs a good paint job too. That'll have to wait until next year (maybe longer).

She's my daily driver, so I can't afford too much down time (otherwise I might just be tempted to start the restoration!).

 

[mrsprite]

Hmmmm....I just pulled the engine and removed the transmission. I forgot to remove the line to the oil pressure sending unit and it snapped off.....I thought I had removed everything, oh well.

Now for the interesting part. The clutch is in great shape! There is something not quite right though......it appears as though only the outer 1/4" or so of the clutch disc was making contact with the pressure plate. Does anyone know what would cause this? Is it possible that the flywheel is too far away? I had it resurfaced last year (and who knows how many times it was resurfaced before I got it), but I did not shim it, nor was there any shim on it before. It sort of makes sense.....if you remove some material from the flywheel but don't "replace" it the the surface of the flywheel is further away from the clutch. Granted, only by fractions of an inch, but that might make all the difference in the world.

Any thoughts? Here are some pics of the clutch.....you can easily tell where the contact was being made.

Here are some random pics:

 

[jlaird]

Try thousands of an inch.

Put a straight edge across the fly wheel to see if it is indeed flat. then kinda the same with the disc. Something rotten there.

 

[mrsprite]

I checked it out the best I could, but couldn't tell if anything was or wasn't flat. I am bringing the clutch & flywheel to a transmission shop in the morning to see what they say (I know the owners).

In the meantime, I have plenty of other things to do while the engine is out! Tomorrow....well, later today.....is degrease engine and engine bay day. I'm also going to pull off the head and get it ready for the new bronze valve guides. Then there's the replacing of the pan gasket (and a few other misc. gaskets), oil pump, pull off the rear hubs and replace the bearings, install the diff & axles, pull off rotors to get resurfaced, install new pads, install new drums & shoes, etc., etc., etc.

Should be fun!

 

[RonMacPherson]

You didn't show the flywheel, so I could not see how high the outer rim of the flywheel where the pressure plate bolts up is.

If a "stepped" flywheel, one where the clutch disc rests below the bolt hole ledge has been surfaced more than just a clean up cut, the outer ledge needs to also be trimmed down, otherwise you will not get full contact, just like what you are showing in your pictures.

 

[mrsprite]

It is a stepped flywheel.......the shop that resurfaced it also trimmed down the outer part too.

Someone else has suggested that a bad master cylinder would cause this too. Something about the master not allowing fluid from the slave back into the master. I have had master cylinder issues for awhile and have a new 3/4" unit on order from Gerard, so I guess I'll see if that fixes things.



Here's the flywheel:

 

[mrsprite]

Time for an update. After further review.....it seems the pressure plate side of the clutch disc got saturated with grease from the input shaft/TO bearing (I guess I put too much on). That is why it started slipping.

I purchased a new disc and will be installing it in a few days.....still waiting for the head to come back from the shop. It's getting new bronze valve guides and a valve job to boot, so it should run a bit better than before.

Here's something interesting.....I found out (and maybe this is common knowledge, but I didn't know) that Centerforce I clutches are essentially stock replacement clutches with the counterweights added to the pressure plate. There is nothing special about the disc or the TO bearing or the pressure plate......only the counterweights are special. This was verified when I cleaned off the pressure plate and flywheel with brake cleaner. The gold paint rubbed off and this is what I found:

It seems they just painted an Exedy clutch gold, slapped on their counterweights
and called it good.


I also got some new front brakes. I didn't really need cross drilled rotors, but they were only marginally more expensive than stock ones, so I figured what the heck? I also installed a set of EBC green stuff pads. I used these before and loved how much bite they have.

Here's the final piece to the clutch puzzle:

A freshly rebuilt 3/4" master cylinder from Gerard.....thanks again!


I have also ordered a new Magnaflow muffler and I painted the header silver, so the exhaust will look and sound a bit nicer.

That's all for now. I had hoped to have her running this weekend, but the valve job took longer than I thought. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday I'll be cruising again.

 

[jlaird]

Nice, intresting about the clutch.

 

[mrsprite]

More pics......reassembly begins later today!!!


Nice Magnaflow to replace the generic (and really old) turbo muffler.....can't wait to hear her run.

Head after valve job. I broke two guides, so I decided to replace them all with bronze ones. It seems the previous owner mixed & matched guides and valves.....there were 3 different brands of valves (2 were even the wrong size!?) and two different brands of guides. One guide was oversized and my new one just fell right in. The machine shop had to custom make a guide to fit in the larger hole. Crazy stuff, but all is perfect again.

Here's what the pistons looked like.....yuck! I was burning more oil than I thought.

All polished up.

 

[Jayrz]

Mike,,,,

You have to remind everyone they are looking at an A-14 Datsun motor. Was scrolling through your pics wondering how many people were going nuts trying to figure out where you got an aluminum 8 port head.

But this last picture, really guy? Stock pistons? Get ou that Kameara catalog and buy a nice set of forged flat-tops and use these as ashtrays. C'mon,,,,DO IT!!!!

 

[mrsprite]

Hey Jay.....I did mention the engine in the first post (it's an A15 BTW!).

Believe me, when I pulled the head and saw the stock pistons I wanted to order a set of flat tops and rebuild the lower end too (hotter cam, etc.). I just ran out of money.

 

[mrsprite]

Just another update. I got the engine back in on Friday and fired it up Saturday.....everything works! I still have to install the exhaust and radiator, but she fired up after only 4 or 5 tries. I even pulled it in and out of the garage to check how the new 3/4" master cylinder was doing. It's too early to tell, but the pedal effort feels much lighter and the engagement isn't right off the floor anymore either. I'll have to wait until I can actually drive the car to see how it feels under normal driving (but for all intents & purposes it is 100x better than before).


Today is bleed clutch & brakes and double check connections & hoses. I'm going to install the exhaust and bring it to a shop this week to get the new muffler welded in. I would do it myself, but I suck at welding and the pipes need to be reduced in size and I just don't feel like dealing with it.


If all goes well, I'll be back to driving the Bugeye on Monday!

 

[Jayrz]

Jeesh Mike,

you sure are putting alot of work into a drivetrain we are going to end up replacing with a Silvertop 4AGE!

off to go flying as brian can't come over. call me. need you to listen to my B when it starts to cough,,,,,,then recover,,,,, weird prob

jay

 

[mrsprite]

Yeah, I know! :wink:

I can't wait to do the 4AGE swap. The money spent on the A15 isn't all wasted though. Having it running great will only help when it comes time to sell it to finance the 4AGE.

See you later today.

 

[Jayrz]

Dude!

is the friggin radiator in yet or not?????