Clutch replacement - important info

[Scoobimax]

Hi all,

As you may have seen on other threads, this winters projects have had a drivetrain focus.

The catalyst for this was to swap the clutch.

Now, I'd spoken to Chris Gadd last year who had done his clutch in 2014/15 so knew to purchase the Ford 2.8 version, even for the 2.9 S3.

What I didn't know was why, but I have been talking to Adrian who enlightened me that it's to do with the rivets on the clutch plate rubbing on the flywheel. You can clearly see this on the following picture where the rivet heads are half shiny where they've rubbed. Luckily this hasn't caused any serious damage to my flywheel but has ground/cut maybe 1/8" from the inner flywheel edge. What beats me is that this is clearly the original clutch so why would TVR fit it in the first place?



So the replacement is this one:



Which looks like this, and is clearly smaller, therefore won't catch the flywheel




I hope this makes sense and may be helpful for others in the future.

Cheers,

Max

[Oldred_V8S]

Bloody hell, good old TVR eh Max?
Good info!

[v8s4me]

That's rung a bell. I think there was a post on that issue many years ago. A Blue Peter Badge to anyone who can find it though.

[HvdWeerden]

v8s4me said:

That's rung a bell. I think there was a post on that issue many years ago. A Blue Peter Badge to anyone who can find it though.

This one ?? : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[v8s4me]

Well done Han! Award yourself the Blue Peter Badge

[TVRees]

Thanks for the info. Max, that's good timing as I'm also looking to get a new clutch for my S2.
I found this one on eBay - Is this the type you just bought ?

Clutch eBay

It looks the same to me.
Tim

[arhTVR]

Good plan to post this up so clearly Max! I was talking with Adrian@ this afternoon and he does not think this can be the original clutch, despite it looking as though the engine and gearbox have not been out before. It is certainly a strange looking clutch plate - quite different to the one out of my own S3!
Tony

[Scoobimax]

arhTVR said:

Good plan to post this up so clearly Max! I was talking with Adrian@ this afternoon and he does not think this can be the original clutch, despite it looking as though the engine and gearbox have not been out before. It is certainly a strange looking clutch plate - quite different to the one out of my own S3!
Tony

Can only assume the engine has been out then because that gearbox has NOT been dropped downwards before, only forwards.

[Scoobimax]

TVRees said:

Thanks for the info. Max, that's good timing as I'm also looking to get a new clutch for my S2.
I found this one on eBay - Is this the type you just bought ?

Clutch eBay

It looks the same to me.
Tim

Hi Tim,

I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable to advise you - I put the picture of the box above to help. From what I've heard and read, it's the ford 2.8 clutch that is required for a Type9 gearbox/flywheel.

The picture on the fleabay ad you linked above "looks" very similar.

[Scoobimax]

Oldred_V8S said:

Bloody hell, good old TVR eh Max?
Good info!

I'm reliably informed it's highly unlikely to be the original clutch, so I retract my earlier comment.

[Top Gear TVR]

My biggest concerns was the state of some of the release bearings available. Yuk

[ChrisGadd]

TVRees said:

Thanks for the info. Max, that's good timing as I'm also looking to get a new clutch for my S2.
I found this one on eBay - Is this the type you just bought ?

Clutch eBay

It looks the same to me.
Tim

HI Tim it's certainly the same size 242mm, although I haven't got the part no any more it looks to me like the correct part.

Chris