ok some of you may have read my recent posts on my clutch troubles,

my clutch was slipping so put a whole new 180mm sachs clutch kit in the car, after that the clutch was shuddering a bit, but it was gripping well.

i have now just driven about 80kms from home when my clutch is slipping again!!

luckily my old mans place wasnt far from my destination and he came and snatched me to his place.

ive pulled the engine and there was a bit of oil in the bell housing, but after removing the clutch there was almost no oil on the clutch disc, tiny patches here and there on the outer edge but that was it, i cleaned up the flywheel and sanded the disc lightly i get any moisture from it and cleaned up the bell housing.

i didnt have a spare rear main seal so i cleaned up the old seal and put some sealant around the edge, then reassebled the clutch and put the engine back in.

its still slipping.

is it possible that i have bought a dud pressure plate? does this happen?

wouldnt the disc be more likely to shudder than slip with only a minute amount of oil on it?

any suggestions? ive got to try to drive the car home in a cpl of hours.

Nicko

Anthiron,
A teeny amount (which you've cleaned up) wouldn't let it slip all over the place. When you got that clutch kit, did you get your flywheel re-surfaced? They may have messed up the depth measurement.
And if you didn't get it re-surfaced it may be taper worn and now you've only got partial grip. That's another possibilty. Oh, as well as the cover being a dud.....

Some random thoughts and some places to start looking anyway...

HTH
Ctefeh

Are you certain the clutch is fully engaging when you release the pedal? try taking the cable off and retesting (start her in first and crash the gears to change).

Stephen

DID YOU REMOVE THE CLEAR FILM OF RUST PREVENTITIVE FROM YOUR NEW PRESURE PLATE WITH SOME THINNERS OR A WHITE SPIRIT as when you purchase a new clutch kit the presure plate will have a film of gue on it that is not visible but NEEDS to be removed before fitting.
And why the bloody hell are you tring to run a 180mm dia clutch in a Baja anyway as they were worse than useless in a 6volt 1200 Beetle let alone your car with 31" dia wheels.

Nick, you could always bring it to my place and we could compare clutch problems Seriously though try winding the clutch lever all the way off just in case the cable's getting stuck or hung up somewhere. BTW I'd prefer a juddery clutch to no clutch at all!

i ran the previous 180mm clutch, same brand, same disc, for about 3.5 years.

and yeah i know its not ideal but its worked before.

my flywheel face didnt get machined,....its also rather smooth, perhaps thats it.

no i didnt clean the pressure plate face, i wasnt aware i needed too.

ok i guess ill drop the engine tomorrow again and see how i go.

perhaps ill take it somewhere to get the flywheel machined as well.

Anthiron,
Make sure they do VW's. Both the disc surface and the clutch cover surface of the flywheel are machined to maintain a specific depth in relation to each other. Can't remember what it is off the top of my head...and I drive a semi-auto anyway:P..


Regards
Ctefeh

barry whats wrong with the clutch in the buggy? hows the cabrio coming along is it being repaired yet?

yeah i was gonna take it to a VW place and get them to outsource the machining, theres a decent VW near me,

im just sick of screwing around with the clutch.

The clutch fork fell to pieces on Sunday morning just as I was about to board the ferry in Tewantin, hopefully it's all sorted now, I've just got to finish up attaching wires and hoses and see. As for the cab, the panel shop in Noosa is still trying to source parts, I had to go in and give them a few more companies to try. I think the problem is getting the right steering rack for the thing. I know I want to keep everything kosher for that year but I'm starting to doubt whether it'll happen

thats bad news about the cab barry.

yeah ive had to replace the clutch fork on my baja as well, its not fun but not incredibly difficult.

could they not import parts from the USA?

Not likely to get a rhd steering rack from America. The one on it had to come from England. I don't know what the difference is between earlier racks if any but there must be something. The whole front bumper and shock absorbing mounts need to be replaced plus a door mirror!

well i pulled the engine again,

cleaned the pressure plate and disc again with thinners and then sanded the disc again and it is gripping again.......for now

i think ill have to get a 12v flywheel and starter.

Nick, I think I have a 12 volt starter at my place you can have if you don't have one on any of your collection. My buggy is back on the road now that I've had the engine out yet again ! It turned out that because I've a type 4 engine mated to an early gearbox the pressure plate was adapted to match the thrust bearing. This "adaption" finally fell apart and destroyed the clutch fork but now all is well and not only that but I may get the cab back this week Give me a call if you need anything.

thanks barry, ive got a 12v starter on the super that i can pull off.

still keen on that 36hp fan shroud though.

wouldnt u normally use the kombi flywheel and a kombi clutch? and the kombi thrust bearing?

thats good news about the cab!!