Dave---I hope you don't mind my including one of your posts to me, but
all of this ties in.
I was able to speak with Herman vdA this morning. (At least till his
voice started to leave him again) We both came to the conclusion that
the initial clearance (.125 +/) between the t/o bearing and the
clutch fingers is pretty much only there before the clutch is first
actuated. Once hydraulic pressure pushes the bearing against the clutch
fingers, there is no reliable force to push it back to the ".125". This
clearance could then be only a few thousandths, as the clutch knocks the
bearing back only so far. There is also the squirm of the O-ring trying
to pull back the bearing, once hydraulic pressure is relaxed. (Like what
happens at the front brake piston calipers) This squirm could account
for a few more thousandths of pullback. So, until one of us can actually
look into the bell housing to get a better look at this, it appears that
there is a clearance no where near the initial setting. (Nor should this
necessarily be a problem)
Herman said when he talked to McLeod Engineering, who did the design
work here,
the .125 recommended clearance was to ensure that there was plenty of
room between the clutch fingers and the bearing. (We know as the clutch
disc material wears down, the fingers move back, which reduces the
clearance at this bearing) They further recommend that "any squeals can
be remedied by lightly loading the
bearing, until it (the grease) warms up".
While this may do the trick, I doubt that Toyota vehicles need to go
thru this exercise. There must then be something different in the
materials used in the Toyota pressure plate/ fingers. (My observation,
not Herman's.)
Herman did say that there have been several updates to the bellhousing.
One of the first designs had a larger opening in the side where the
hydraulic lines pass thru. Possibly this is the one that Andy P. has,
that allows the bearing clearance to be adjusted from the outside??
>From all of this, we must keep in mind that this is a "conversion".
While it lives up to the promise of being able to bolt on a five speed
transmission to the TR, it does not have the advantage of year$ of major
auto co. R&D behind it.
Dick Taylor
From: DLylis@hyattvoi.com Date: Tue, Jun 20, 2006, 1:06pm (PDT+3) To:
tr6taylor@webtv.net (Sally or Dick Taylor) Subject: Re: HVDA conversion
Dick,
If I haven't told you, and according to my emails, I don't think I have,
when I pulled the old tranny out I found seven of the twelve bolts
between the bell housing and the rear plate present (two for the slave,
and two for the starter, so three others) and not a trace of a dowel
pin. The TOB was noisy when I got the car but it went away and ran
nice and quietly. Go figure. So I replace all the bolts, and the
pins, torque all to spec, and get a squeal. And I thought lead a good
wholesome life!
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